Scripture Study: Matthew 3

Matthew 3  •  5 min. read  •  grade level: 6
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Matthew 3:7-127But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:7‑12). Seeing the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he calls them the “offspring of vipers” and demands that they bring forth “fruits meet for repentance.” It is no use saying they were the children of Abraham; they must have to do with God about their sins. The judgment of God will fall on every unrepentant sinner, no matter what religion he professes. The ax is laid at the root of the tree. Man’s trial to produce fruit is nearly over; unless there is good fruit, the tree must be cut down. The King, the Judge, the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost will test every one; the good, that is, those who confess their sins and thus own their badness, will be baptized with the Holy Ghost; and the others, in their sins, will be baptized with the fire of God’s judgment, the wheat will be gathered into His garner; the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire.
In reply to John, He says, “Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Who could fulfill righteousness but the Lord Jesus? All the rest of us are sinners against God. Nor is this Christian baptism. Christians are not fulfilling righteousness when they are baptized, for they are baptized unto the death of Christ, thus owning they have no goodness. We do not keep ordinances to obtain righteousness, for Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:3030But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)). John’s baptism has nothing to do with Christianity; it belongs entirely to the Jewish dispensation.
The Lord Jesus did fulfill righteousness here on earth. Here He associates John as forerunner with Himself, and associates Himself with the remnant of Israel, who confessed their sins. The good trees were those who confessed they were bad, they were the true saints; it was there they must begin, casting themselves on the mercy of God, deserving only judgment.
Jesus takes His place with them. He could have no sins to confess except those of the nation. It was all grace on His part, as on the cross.
Our sins, our guilt, in love divine,
Confessed and borne by Thee,
The gall, the curse, the wrath were Thine,
To set Thy ransomed free.
How comforting to poor failing saints it is to see that when one confesses his sins, the Lord is with him in it.
When John heard His purpose, then he baptized Him, and Jesus went up straightway out of the water, And, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him.
And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. And lo! a voice from heaven, saying, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Here we get the Godhead fully revealed. God will not allow any mistake here; this is the sinless Man; the Father’s delight is in Him. “Him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:2727Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. (John 6:27)). In this Man the Holy Spirit could take His abode. Now that redemption is accomplished, the Holy Spirit can dwell in believers, witnessing that the work of Christ has cleansed them from all sin. On the saints before redemption, the Holy Spirit came, and John was full of the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb, but He did not dwell, He was only a visitor. Jesus is the perfect One, the Father’s delight. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Compare Mark 1:1111And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Mark 1:11), “Thou Art” — the Servant owned as Son. Luke 3:2222And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (Luke 3:22), “Thou Art” — the answer to the dependent Man’s prayer; here in Matthew it is, “This is” — God thus defends Him before men from all thought of being anything less than His beloved Son, in whom He had found His delight. What a comfort to those earnest, repentant ones to find the Lord in grace among them as one of them in their true position before God: to comfort their hearts by His kindness, to sympathize with their sorrows and difficulties; pointing out the way, and leading them along as the true Shepherd of the sheep. He could not go with men in wickedness, but He could and did go with the repentant remnant.
Well the blessed Saviour knew it would lead Him on to death, the only way by which Israel or man could be saved. Such was His great love, nothing could turn Him aside from doing the will of the Father, and from making atonement for sin.
“When blood from a victim must flow,
This Shepherd by pity, was led
To stand between us and the foe,
And willingly died in our stead.”