Matthew 3:1-12
John The
Baptist Prepares the Way for
Jesus
3:1
In those days John the
Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2
and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
near."
3 This is he who was spoken of
through the prophet Isaiah:
"A voice of one calling in the
desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.' "
4 John's clothes were made of
camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his
waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
5 People went out to him from
Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the
Jordan.
6 Confessing their sins, they
were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was
baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming
wrath?
8 Produce fruit in keeping with
repentance.
9 And do not think you can say
to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I
tell you that out of these stones God can raise up
children for Abraham.
10 The ax is already at the root
of the trees, and every tree that does not produce
good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the
fire.
11 "I baptize you with water for
repentance. But after me will come one who is more
powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to
carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
with fire.
12 His winnowing fork is in his
hand, and he will clear his threshing floor,
gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up
the chaff with unquenchable fire."
-
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to
change the way that we think, and the way that
we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
John The Baptist Predicts
the Coming of Christ
- A footnote here is that
you can read the profile of John the Baptist in
John 1.
-
-
- John is calling for
repentance in these passages. The rewards come
to those who will believe and repent but there
will be a terrible time for those who choose not
to listen.
-
-
- Christ came first as a
servant to be sacrificed on the cross for our
sins but will come again as our King and Lord.
-
-
- John the Baptist knew
this and was desperate to prepare for the coming
of Jesus to start a ministry which would live to
this day and all the days to come.
-
-
- It's ironic that John
called the Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of
vipers in that these are some of the very people
who would later call for the crucifixion of
Christ.
-
Both John the Baptist and
Christ were a threat to the religious leaders of
the day because they were pulling people away and
causing them to lose some of their power.
-
- With that said it makes
perfect sense that the Pharisees and Sadduces
tried to quieten John and later found a way to
silence Jesus to retain their control over the
people, not to mention protecting their
financial status.
-
- John the Baptist had a
calling to prepare the people to meet Christ. In
the same way we need to be prepared to meet him
and help others to see how Jesus can bring
meaning to their lives by following the example
Christ left for us.
This does not mean that we
become like a monk and wear a long robe but it does
mean that we should strive to follow the two
commandments Jesus deemed as most important: To
love God and to love each other.
-
- Can we at least
make an effort?
Love in Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Verses about John the Baptist are from
Life Application Study Bible: New International
Version
Comments are welcome. Please email
me with any questions or comments you
may have.
Another Scripture
Reading
Matthew
1:1-17 -
The
Genealogy of Jesus Christ - Read through the
ages of the line
of Jesus.
You may have,
at one time or another, asked yourself the
question; "Who is Jesus Chirst?". This passage for
Baptist study is about the family line from Abraham
to Jesus but He is so much more if you study
further.
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