1In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
“Those days” were days in which Jesus was still living in Nazareth (2:23; Mark 1:9). John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, not in the city of Jerusalem. The temple was still in Jerusalem, but the glory of God had not been present in the temple since its departure from the city (see Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4,18-19; 11:22-23). Jerusalem was not right with God. John’s presence in the wilderness matched his message that Israel in its present condition was not ready for the coming of the Messiah. The Word of God came to John there in the wilderness (Luke 3:2).
John’s message was, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom that the prophet Daniel spoke of in Daniel 2:44. Daniel said to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Daniel said that the God of heaven would set up a kingdom that would have no end. It would crush and replace the other kingdoms on earth. Because it will be set up by the God of heaven, that kingdom is called “the kingdom of heaven” or “the kingdom of God.” Jesus referred to this kingdom using both of its names in Matthew 19:23-24.
John said that the kingdom of heaven was “at hand.” That means that the kingdom had “drawn near.” The kingdom was near because the One who would be the King was then in the world. God’s chosen King was about to offer God’s kingdom to Israel. “Repent” means for a person to change their mind. The people of Israel were not ready for the arrival of God’s kingdom because of personal sins and because of trust in their own righteousness. They needed to recognize their wrong actions as unacceptable before God and to seek cleansing and righteousness from Him. When John said, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand,” he implied that when the kingdom came, there would be consequences for those who did not repent.
3For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Matthew uses here a quote from Isaiah 40:3. That chapter in Isaiah begins with the words, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. It is a chapter about God bringing blessing to Israel. Verses 3-5 of that chapter say,
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye 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 shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
The comfort for Israel will be given through the coming of the LORD. When “LORD” is capitalized in the Old Testament, it means “Yahweh,” the name of God. The comfort for Israel will be given through the personal coming of Yahweh. Isaiah prophesied of a voice that would tell Israel to make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Isaiah prophesied that God Himself would come and people would see His glory. The apostle John said, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Jesus is Yahweh. The comfort for Israel and blessing for all nations on earth would be given through the coming of Jesus.
What does it mean to “make His paths straight”? If a coming king is a hostile invader, people would not want him to have any easy access roads. But if a coming King is to be welcomed, people would want to open the way for his coming. The same is true in our world today: people who reject the Lord Jesus try to put up obstacles against His Word, but people who receive the Lord Jesus want His Word to be heard and accepted.
4And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
John did not make himself a debtor to the world for provision. That would have been contrary to his message. Also, his clothing made him to resemble the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). John the Baptist was not himself Elijah, as he said in John 1:21, but he ministered in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:16-17). The prophet Malachi said that Elijah himself would come back to minister before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD (Malachi 4:5). Probably one of the two witnesses spoken of in Revelation 11:3-12 will be Elijah. Jesus said concerning John the Baptist, “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come” (Matthew 11:14). John the Baptist had a ministry at Jesus’ first coming in the form that Elijah will have at Jesus’ second coming. Elijah himself was not present at Jesus’ first coming because God knew that Jesus would be rejected. Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for our sins was in God’s plan.
5Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
The Jordan River was the place where Israel first entered the land of Canaan. At that time, the waters of the river were miraculously held back so that the people could go across on dry ground (Joshua 3:14-17). Now, the people are returning to the Jordan River to confess their sins against God who gave them the land.
The prophet Isaiah said, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes...” (Isaiah 1:16). The people who came to John’s baptism were confessing their sins. While their baptism in the Jordan was probably a ceremony of washing from sins, those who were baptized were thus declaring that they believed in and desired to be ready for the coming kingdom of heaven.
John’s baptism was not the same as Christian baptism today. Christian baptism is a ceremony of symbolic death and resurrection with Christ. It is for individuals who have made a decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Those who are baptized come in recognition that they are sinners and that Christ fully bore the judgment they deserve for their sin. But they do not come confessing their sins. Rather, they come in faith that all of those sins were fully paid for by the blood of Christ. Confession is for people after they are saved. People who are already saved confess their sins to God in order to remain in close fellowship with Him (1 John 1:9).
John’s baptism was for Israel, a nation that was redeemed by God through the blood of the Passover Lamb when they came out of Egypt. The firstborn of Israel were spared from death because of the blood of the Passover Lamb. The firstborn thus became God’s property. The firstborn represented the rest of the nation, so Israel became God’s redeemed (purchased) nation (Exodus 12:23-30; 13:1-2; 15:13). The blood of the Passover Lamb pictured the blood of Christ who was to come.
Israel was thus a redeemed nation, but not every Israelite was a true believer. Every Israelite who believed in and wanted to be ready for the coming of the kingdom of heaven was invited to John’s baptism. They confessed their sins because they were members of a redeemed nation that was out of fellowship with God. But the coming King would know whether each person’s faith and repentance was genuine or not, as we will read in verses 10 and 12 of this chapter.
7But 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.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were two sects of Judaism. They had in common that they both counted themselves to be righteous. John called them a “generation of vipers.” Jesus also later called the Pharisees the same thing (Matthew 12:34). John asked these religious Jews, “who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” John made two important points in that question: (1) the coming of the kingdom of heaven will bring God’s wrath against people’s sin, and (2) those who think that they are righteous in themselves are blind to their need for cleansing.
John also told the Pharisees and Sadducees that they should bear fruit that matched a claim to repentance. They had come in pride, not in repentance. It was God’s will that all Israelites come to John’s baptism – if their heart was right with Him. Otherwise their coming was a desecration of the holiness of the ceremony. Similarly in the church today it is God’s will for every believer to be baptized as a testimony of his or her faith in Christ and to partake of the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Christ. But if anyone who has not believed gets baptized or if anyone partakes of the Lord’s Supper without being in right fellowship with Him, their participation is a desecration of the holiness of these ordinances.
The Pharisees and Sadducees thought that they were righteous because they were descendants of Abraham, to whom God gave promises of blessing (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-21; 17:1-22; 22:15-18). But John warned them that physical descent from Abraham without a heart right with God meant nothing. God could easily make the stones on the ground become living children for Abraham.
10And now also the ax 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.
In the metaphor John used, every person is compared to a tree. John said that the nearness of the kingdom of heaven meant that God’s ax of judgment was already in contact with the life-canal of any tree that does not produce good fruit. Jesus said, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 7:18-19). John warned the Pharisees and Sadducees that their confidence in their religious heritage would not save them. A corrupt tree, even if it claims to be religious, cannot produce fruit that God will accept.
John spoke of One who would come after him who “is mightier than I.” John was speaking of the coming King. Jesus is strong – He has the strength to give blessing, and He has the strength to bring judgment. Jesus is also One who is worthy of more honor than we can give. John said that he himself was not worthy even to carry Jesus’ sandals. This Jesus would baptize His people with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (The words “and with fire” are not found in many of the Greek manuscripts here in Matthew but are clearly present in Luke 3:16.)
Jesus’ baptizing His people with the Holy Spirit took place at Pentecost (Acts 1:4-5; 2:1-4). Every believer today is baptized with the Holy Spirit at the moment they believe (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13-14). Jesus will baptize unbelievers (the corrupt trees) with fire at His second coming, at the end of His thousand year reign on earth (Revelation 20:15). Verse 12 says the same thing in parallel form: “whose 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.” The wheat are those who believe; Jesus baptizes them with the Holy Spirit when they believe. The chaff are those who do not believe. Jesus will baptize them with fire at their day of judgment. John said that the threshingfloor is His, and the wheat is His. The Lord Jesus is the One who has the right to judge.
Acts 2:3 says that on the day of Pentecost, “there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” These tongues of fire help to explain the tongues in which the believers began to speak on that day. Peter’s message on Pentecost was a message to the Jews who were in Jerusalem, Jews who had rejected and crucified their Messiah. The disciples began to declare in Gentile languages to the Jews present in Jerusalem the mighty works of God (Acts 2:5-12). This was God’s sign to the Jews that they should repent (see 1 Corinthians 14:21-22). If they did not repent, “tongues of fire” would come on Jerusalem. That judgment came when the Romans besieged the city and burned the temple in 70 A.D.
13Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Jesus came from Nazareth (Mark 1:9) to where John was at the Jordan River in order to be baptized by John. Why did He do that? In order for Jesus to be able to die as the unblemished substitute to bear the penalty for Israel’s (and our) sins, He had to be a perfect Israelite. It was God’s will that every Israelite come to John’s baptism to declare their belief in and readiness for the coming of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said to John, “thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” Jesus had no sin to repent of and no sin to confess. But as a member of the nation of Israel, He declared by John’s baptism His anticipation of and readiness for the coming of the kingdom of heaven.
16And Jesus, when he was baptized, 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: 17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
In verse 14, John said, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” How did John know that Jesus was the One he’d spoken of whose sandals he was not worthy to carry? In another place John also said, And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost (John 1:33). John was expecting the Spirit to descend on someone, but it hadn’t happened yet. Yet God gave John perception to recognize that this Person who’d come to him for baptism was the Messiah.
Jesus and John saw the Holy Spirit descending out of heaven like a dove and coming upon Jesus. We don’t know if anyone else saw this or not. The dove is an emblem of purity. When Noah released a raven and a dove from the ark after the flood, the raven was content to land wherever it could, clean or not. The raven did not come back. But the dove returned to Noah because it found no rest for the sole of her foot. Only when Noah released the dove the third time did it not return.
In verses 16-17, we are clearly shown the Tri-unity of God. We hear the voice of the Father out of heaven, we see the Spirit of God descending out of heaven, and we hear the Father declare, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
This declaration of the Father powerfully draws together at least four Old Testament references:
(1) Proverbs 30:4 says,
Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?
We can know the name of the Son of God only by divine revelation. His name is Jesus.
(2) In Genesis 22:2 God said to Abraham,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Abraham’s love for his unique son Isaac pictures the Father’s love for His unique Son Jesus. Jesus is the Father’s beloved Son.
(3) Psalm 2:6-10 says,
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Yahweh the Father decreed that His Son would be King over all the earth. The day of the Son’s being begotten is the day of His resurrection from the dead (Acts 13:33). That is the day when the Son who had humbled Himself as a man was exalted to receive His rights of Sonship.
(4) Isaiah 42:1 says,
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
The Lord Jesus is the One in whom the Father delights. In Him the Father is well pleased.
When the Holy Spirit descended on Him at John’s baptism, Jesus was ceremonially anointed for His active ministry as Prophet, Priest, and King. The word “Messiah” or “Christ” means “Anointed.” In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil. The oil symbolized the Holy Spirit. Jesus was God’s Anointed One from His birth. The angels said to the shepherds, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Jesus was the Christ when He was born. Jesus was anointed in His humanity with the Spirit of God when He was sent from heaven by the Father. Isaiah 61:1 says, The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,.... In Isaiah 61:1 the verbs “anointed” and “sent” are in parallel form. The anointing happened when the sending happened. The Holy Spirit was upon the human Jesus from His birth. Indeed, when Jesus was still a child of twelve years old, he said to Mary and Joseph, wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? (Luke 2:49). The anointing at John’s baptism was a ceremonial, symbolic one, just as John’s baptism was a ceremonial event.
John’s baptism was in anticipation of the coming of the kingdom of heaven. The coming King would baptize His people with the Holy Spirit, thus bringing the blessings the New Covenant (Ezekiel 36:27). The King would also ultimately bring judgment on those who do not receive Him. Jesus is that Anointed King. Jesus came in humility to John’s baptism because He would be the sinless substitute for Israel at the cross. When He was baptized by John, the Father ceremonially anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and declared that this One was the awaited King, the beloved eternal Son of the Father who was sent into the world.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.