Apologiaway: Matthew Chapter 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. Matt 3:1-4 (NIV)

1. Who is this weird guy?

Little is actually known of John, although we do know that John was a Levite, one of the special tribe set aside by God to take care of all of the work associated with the temple (Numbers 1:50-53). John was the son of Zechariah, a temple priest of the lineage of Abijah, while John’s mother Elizabeth was from the lineage of Aaron (Luke 1:5). John was also related to Jesus as their mothers were cousins (Luke 1:36). John lived a rugged life in the mountainous area of Judea, between the city of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. It is written that he wore clothes made out of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His diet was a simple one—locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4). John lived a simple life as he focused on the kingdom work set before him. John the Baptist is not to be confused with the disciple John who was one of the 12 followers of Christ and wrote the Book of John. John the Baptist was a Nazarite(from Nazarite nazar, “to dedicate”). He led a life of dedication to God and was unique in that he was filled with the Holy Spirit from before his birth.

“For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.Luke 1:15

A Nazarite was a Jew bound by a vow to leave the hair uncut, to abstain from wine and strong drink, and to practice extraordinary purity of life and devotion, the obligation being for life, or for a certain time.

2. What does it mean to repent?

The Greek word for repent is “metanoeo” which means to think differently or change your mind. The word picture is, you are walking north and you turn completely in the opposite direction and you walk south.

Acts 3:19 (NIV) Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”

Proverbs 14:12 (NIV) There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Many people on the ocean liner Titanic lost their lives because they were convinced that there was no danger and they would not get into the lifeboats. Many of the life boats were only half full because people believed the Titanic was unsinkable. On April 15th 1912 at 2.00 AM they became casualties because of wrong thinking. God is telling us to change the way we think, turn from sin, turn to Him.

3. Who is the “one crying in the wilderness”?

This is a reference to a prophesy in Isaiah 40 which speaks of one who would come announcing the soon coming of the messiah. It was customary for a “forerunner” to come before a king would ride into a town. The “forerunner” would warn the people that the king was coming and to clean things up and get ready. John is known as the “forerunner” to Jesus.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

” Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”Isaiah 40:3-5

There is also a reference in Malachi 3:1

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.

And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple,

Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight.

Behold, He is coming,”says the LORD of hosts.

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and then a period of silence for over 400 years until John the Baptist show up here on the scene in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, announcing the coming Messiah.

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. Matt 3:5-6 (NIV)

4. What was this baptizing thing about?

The symbolism of John’s baptism likely had its roots in OT purification rituals (cf. Lv 15:13). Baptism had also long been administered to Gentile proselytes coming into Judaism. The baptism of John thus powerfully and dramatically symbolized repentance. Jews accepting John’s baptism were admitting they had been as Gentiles and needed to become the people of God genuinely, inwardly (an amazing admission, given their hatred of Gentiles). The people were repenting in anticipation of the Messiah’s arrival. The meaning of John’s baptism differs somewhat from Christian baptism (cf. Ac 18:25). Actually, Christian baptism altered the significance of the ritual, symbolizing the believer’s identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Ro 6:3–5; Col 2:12)

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.” Matt 3:7-13 (NIV)

5. “Brood of vipers!”? That’s pretty tough talk for a man of God, isn’t it?

John the Baptist was a no nonsense, straight talking guy. He called a spade a spade. Jesus himself called John the Baptist the greatest man ever born.

Matt. 11:11“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist

The Pharisees and the Sadducees were the ruling religious establishment that had become self righteous and corrupt. Jesus himself tore into them latter in the book of Matthew, calling them snakes and hypocrites. These were the people opposed to Jesus throughout his ministry and conspired with the Romans to have him killed. They controlled the temple, which was the center of all Jewish life. When Jesus threw the “money changers” out of the temple, this was a direct attack on the corrupt money changing operation that the Sadducees used to extort millions from the Jewish worshippers. At that time all Jewish people were required to sacrifice an animal at the temple as a part of the sacrificial “sin covering” system set up by God in the Old Testament. The Sadducees said you could not bring your own animal into the temple, you had to buy one from them, on which they made a profit. On top of this they would not accept regular money. You had to change your money for “temple money” to buy the animal. On this money exchange they charged you an extra percentage which they put in their own pockets. Both John the Baptist and Jesus knew the hearts of the religious leaders were not right.

Pharisees and Sadducees.

The Pharisees were a small (about 6,000), legalistic sect of the Jews who were known for their rigid adherence to the ceremonial fine points of the law. Their name means “separated ones.” Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees was usually adversarial. He rebuked them for using human tradition to nullify Scripture (15:3–9), and especially for rank hypocrisy (15:7, 8; 22:18; 23:13, 23, 25, 29; Lk 12:1). The Sadducees were known for their denial of things supernatural. They denied the resurrection of the dead (22:23) and the existence of angels (Ac 23:8).

Unlike the Pharisees, they rejected human tradition and scorned legalism. They accepted only the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) as authoritative. They tended to be wealthy, aristocratic members of the priestly tribe, and in the days of Herod their sect controlled the temple (see note on 2:4), though they were fewer in number than the Pharisees. Pharisees and Sadducees had little in common. Pharisees were ritualists; Sadducees were rationalists. Pharisees were legalists; Sadducees were liberals. Pharisees were separatists; Sadducees were compromisers and political opportunists. Yet they united together in their opposition to Christ. MacArthur, John: MacArthur Study Bible NASB

6. What did John mean about the Pharisees and the Sadducees saying that “Abraham was their father”?

They felt that since they were decedents of Abraham they were justified before God and were allowed to operate by their own set of rules rather than obeying God’s law. They felt that if they appeared to be righteous to the people around them, they could ignore what God thought. They took pride in living by the letter of the law, while violating the spirit of the law. Jesus was much harder on their hypocrisy than the sin of the prostitutes and scoundrels.

John answered their prideful attitude with the comment

“For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”, and then went on to warn them of impending judgment.

Salvation does not come as a birthright (even for the Jews) but through faith in Christ (Ro 2:28–29; Gal 3:7, 9, 29). these stones. John may have pointed to the stones in the Jordan River. NIV Study Bible.

7. What does John mean about being baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire?

On the Day of Pentecost ( Pentecost means “count 50” in Greek), 50 days after Passover the Holy Spirit came upon and indwelt all believers. This was a new dispensation of time. This was the beginning of the Church age, the age of grace, and a time when God, in the form of the Holy Spirit would be living in each believer. Now the Spirit of Truth or the Spirit of Christ would be in each believer.

This was what the prophet Jeremiah referred to in Jeremiah 31:33-34 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.Rev 20:14-15 (NIV)

The fire refers to being thrown into hell fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matt 3:13-17 (NIV)

8. Why would Jesus have to be baptized?

Jesus’ baptism marked the beginning of his Messianic ministry. There were several reasons for his baptism: (1) The first, mentioned here, was “to fulfill all righteousness.” His baptism indicated that he was consecrated to God and officially approved by him, as especially shown in the descent of the Holy Spirit (v. 16) and the words of the Father.

Ps 2:4,7 the Lord and His Anointed One…… “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father

; Isa 42:1) “This is My Servant; I strengthen Him, ⌊this is⌋ My Chosen One; I delight in Him. I have put My Spirit on Him;

All God’s righteous requirements for the Messiah were fully met in Jesus. (2) At Jesus’ baptism John publicly announced the arrival of the Messiah and the inception of his ministry (Jn 1:31–34) I didn’t know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I watched the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him. 33 I didn’t know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One you see the Spirit descending and resting on—He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God!”

. (3) By his baptism Jesus completely identified himself with humanity’s sin and failure (though he himself needed no repentance or cleansing from sin; see Heb 4:15 and note), becoming our substitute (2Co 5:21). (4) His baptism was an example to his followers. NIV Study Bible.

· ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes

· MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes

· NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.

· JVM ….J Vernon McGee,

· ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary

· BN …..Barnes Notes

· WBC…… Wycliffe Bible Commentary

· CN …… Constables Notes

· IC……….Ironside Commentary

· NET………Net Bible Study Notes.

· JFB…………..Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary

· VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies

· CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark

· BDB………….. Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)

· Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT

· Johnson………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.

· NTCMM…………..The New Testament Commentary: Matthew and Mark.

Back to the Wayback Machine.

The Mishnah, the written codification of the oral tradition, lists “forty less one” (Shabbat VII.2) categories of work prohibited on the Sabbath. e.g., spinning, warping, sewing, and dyeing. Other areas included the agricultural activities implied in the use of a finished product, such as linen cloth. These would include sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, and winnowing.

A tailor was advised to put down his needle a half-hour before sunset lest he inadvertently carry it on the Sabbath while searching for fleas in his cloth (Shabbat I:3).

The rabbis carefully distinguished between wearing and carrying. They had to decide if a woman’s hair clip, for instance, was worn or carried. If carried, then it would be a burden and forbidden on the Sabbath.

Items normally used for work could not even be touched on the Sabbath. They were mutzkeh (off-limits) for fear of “accidental” use. The mutzkeh rules developed out of the idea of “fences,” those rules meant to keep one even holier by avoiding anything even close to sin. For instance, if the use of a tool, such as a hammer, violated the Sabbath, then the tool itself became mutzkeh on the Sabbath, and contact with it meant defilement.

To open a refrigerator door on the Sabbath, one must first disconnect the interior light (before the Sabbath) lest one violate the injunction against “kindling,” as modern interpretations consider that using or turning on a light comes under the category of “kindling.” Letting warm air into the refrigerator also creates a problem, because that will cause the compressor to activate before it otherwise would have. This would cause the compressor to “spark,” also a Sabbath violation. Therefore, one has a timer installed to run the compressor motor at set intervals, rather than a thermostat, which the door’s opening would indirectly affect. Another proposed solution: open the door only when the compressor is already running.

In this massive amount of legalism is the world which Jesus was born into. Rabbis spent years arguing over the fine points of the written and oral law as they missed the purpose of the law. These were subjects discussed and taught in the synagogues, the local congregations which operated in villages all over Israel outside of the temple and the control of the corrupt wealthy powerful Roman supported Sadducees.

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