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.
Bob
Pardue
is a member of First
Baptist
Church
in Lancaster, SC. He is ordained
from Rich Hill Baptist in
Lancaster.
Want
to place this passage and
commentary on your website or
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This
article may be freely reprinted
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website. The author's name, bio,
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intact and be included
with every reproduction.
Bob
Verses are from Life
Application Study Bible: New
International Version
Comments are welcome.
Please email
me with any questions
or comments you may have.
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