Matthew 3:1-12

Have You Changed Your Mind?

By Johnny Tatum

 

The purpose of this study is to present the ministry of John the Immerser, the herald who pointed to the Lamb of God, Jesus of Nazareth, and who called Israel to "change their mind".

PART 1: John THE POINTER

 

Jesus of Nazareth

 

As presented in our Matthew 1:1-17 study, Matthew proved that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah (literally, "the Messiah "anointed One"), the King. First, he showed that legally Jesus had the right to be the King of the Jews because He was the legal descendant of Joseph. Luke proved that physically Jesus had the right to be the King of the Jews because He was the physical descendant of King David through His mother Mary.

As presented in our Matthew 2:1-12 study, Matthew described the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and the appearance of the magi (kingmakers) from the east.

As presented in our Matthew 2:12-23 study, Matthew gave the historical accounts from the infancy of Jesus . Herod (the "great") tried to prevent this Child from becoming the King of the Jews. How? He had all of the male babies who were two years old and younger in Beit-Lechem (Bethlehem) killed. Why was this not more known in recorded history? Apparently, in that same month, Herod killed 3,000 of the leaders of Israel. He had also killed his wife and three of his sons. So if Herod's atrocities were ranked, killing 15 baby boys was nothing for him; that was just a bad morning.

The royal family fled to Egypt, where they stayed until Herod died. Later, when they returned to Israel, they learned that Archelaus (another "jewel" of that Herod family) was the new ruler. Just as his father did, Archelaus killed 3,000 Jewish pilgrims who were in Jerusalem for the Passover ("Pesach") G_d confirmed to Joseph to stay away from Jerusalem and to take the royal family to Nazareth (Nazareth) where they stayed for about 30 years.

 

What do we know about Jesus 's life in Nazareth ? You can read all kinds of fanciful stories about His childhood in Nazareth , but we really do not have much recorded history. We know that Nazareth was the place where Joseph and Mary had other children, so Jesus did have some half-brothers and half-sisters (siblings related through Miryam).

What do we know about Jesus during this time? We do not know very much. Luke wrote:

The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of G_d was upon Him. (Luke 2:40)

Additionally, he gave us a glimpse of the Child when He was twelve years of age at the Temple of Jerusalem where He sat in the midst of the teachers, listening and asking questions. Thereafter, He returned to Nazareth and He was willingly submissive to His parents. Then there is silence in the New Covenant (Testament) about Jesus until He was a fully-grown man (about thirty years of age) and when He started His public ministry.

 

The Herald

Before Matthew described the beginning of the Messianic ministry of Jesus he told of the herald (forerunner) to Him as prophesied by Isaiah in the Old Testament :

A voice is calling, Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 40:3-5)

 

What Was the Purpose of the Herald?

G_d did not want anybody to miss the Messiah .

There was to be no doubt Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah because:

However, just in case somebody missed all of that -- God wanted to make sure NOBODY missed Him -- He sent somebody ahead of Jesus the Messiah to point to Him:

There He is right there!

That was the ministry of John the Baptist: to "POINT". He was a pointer!

Note to Those Using English Versions of the Bible: The old word Baptist was a word from Elizabethan times, which meant "immerser, baptizer".

In the text, the pointer was called John the Immerser (although I would have called him John the Pointer), because immersion (baptism) was the visible part of his ministry. When people would see John the Immerser, the thing that they would notice first was that he was immersing people. However, the primary focus of the ministry of John the Immerser was to point to Jesus the Messiah .

 

Matthew 3:1-12

 

1 Now in those days

That is interesting. What days? Matthew just finished writing about Jesus of Nazareth as a Child (see Matthew 2:23), and then in his very next statement he said in those days, though 30 years had gone by! Remember that Matthew was writing 20 or 30 years after those events had happened. So Matthew was looking back and saying In those days when Jesus of Nazareth was with us.

John the Immerser came, preaching in the wilderness of Judah ,

The wilderness of Judea would have been the area to the east of Jerusalem , a barren area of rolling hills that was desolate.

saying,

Let us stop here for a moment.

By that time, at least four thousand years had gone by from the beginning of time, from the beginning of the human race. And throughout those thousands of years, the Jews had been looking for the King of the Jews (the Messiah ) and for the Kingdom of Heaven. Then the herald comes.

A Question to Ask Yourself: If it were your job to announce that the long awaited Kingdom and King were finally here, what would you say? And, if you could just say one word, then what would that word be? John the Immerser's word was:

"Repent,

for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,

Is at hand meaning "right here".

 

3 For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of Adonai (the Lord), make His paths straight!'"

4 Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair, and a leather belt about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

To be honest with you: John the Immerser does not seem like the kind of person who would draw crowds.

To be more honest with you: If John the Immerser was here today, we would avoid him like the plague (black death). We could be nice and say that he was "different" or he was "unique", but really, he was a "weirdo" (an eccentric).

 

It is difficult to know why people went out to see him, but they did…

5 Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judah , and all the district around the Yarden (Jordan);

The population center that Matthew carved out was about 800,000 people. That is not how many people went to see him, but [out of that large population base] countless individuals did.

 

6 And they were being immersed by him in the Yarden River, as they confessed their sins.

The original is written in a different tense. It reads as they were confessing their sins.

Why? What was it that John the Immerser was doing or saying that was so powerful that people flocked to go see him?

 

<Private Message>

I believe between verse 6 and verse 7 there is a private message that John was telling that is not in the text.

 

Even the leaders came out to see him…

7 But when he saw many of the P'rushim (Pharisees) and Tz'dukim (Sadducees) coming for immersion,

By the way, how did John know they were P'rushim and Tz'dukim?

He said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

Do you see something interesting here? He said They were coming for immersion, and he said Who warned you to flee? He was accusing the leaders of fleeing when they were coming!

Why was John the Immerser rejecting these leaders?

 

8 "Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance;

What kind of fruit was John the Immerser looking for? What was he expecting to see? And how did he know what they were thinking?

 

9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves,

Not exactly; actually, it reads…

And do not begin to think that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Avraham (Abraham) for our father'; for I say to you, that G_d is able to raise up children of Avraham from these stones.

Why do you suppose the leaders were thinking anything about Avraham?

 

And look at this wonderful message. Would you walk 20 miles to hear this?

10 And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

11 As for me, I immerse you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will immerse you with Holy Spirit and fire."

 

Another appealing picture…

12 "And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Why did people walk all that way to go hear this?

 

Abba (Father), would You help us answer the question Why did people walk all that way to go hear the message of John the Pointer, John the Immerser? As You know, it is difficult for us to understand how the long-awaited Messiah came with His Kingdom and people were excited about His coming, but then John the Immerser seems to have given us a message that does not seem particularly appealing.

If there is a private message between verse 6 and verse 7, and in accordance with Your Scripture, would You reveal it to us today? Most importantly, would You help us correctly divide the Word of truth through the power of Holy Spirit?

Abba, may we understand that You established Your Kingdom during the time of Jesus of Nazareth , the Messiah , with the house of Israel and also to the Gentiles.

We pray in the name of Jesus whose great name will be blessed forever and to all eternity. Amen and amen.

 

Questions to Ask About John the Immerser and His Message

First, John the Immerser came announcing the Kingdom of Heaven. After ALL of those years, the Kingdom was finally here:

Why was the one command he gave to repent?

Second:

Why did he attack the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and, he said they were not showing fruit, for what fruit was he looking?

Third, and really, the big question:

What was so appealing about the message that people would go out in waves to hear it?

 

On a superficial level, it seems that John the Immerser had a different conception of the Kingdom than did Jesus. Jesus came preaching grace, mercy, and forgiveness. John the Immerser came preaching judgment.

Did Jesus the Messiah and John the Immerser have a difference of opinion?

 

Let us seek the answers to these and other questions during the study.

 

Next:

Matthew 3:1-12, PART 2: DINNER IS NOW SERVED -- LOCUSTS & TREE RESIN!

 

Matthew Overview, PART 5, HOW DOES ALL OF THIS CHAOS SET A STAGE?

Matthew 2:1-12, PART 2: FOLLOW THAT STAR!

Matthew 2:12-33, PART 3: EXPOSING THE ONLY ONE

 

Back To: Matthew Series Page

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We want to express our appreciation to Mitchell and Dawn Kolodin for their excellent work in transcribing and editing this entire Matthew study.

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