1 Now in those days John the
Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand.”
3 For this is the one referred to
by Isaiah the prophet when he said,
“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE
WILDERNESS,
‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,
MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!’”
4 Now John himself had a garment
of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts
and wild honey.
5 Then Jerusalem was going out to
him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan,
6 and they were being baptized by
him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
The Baptist of Many Faces
Let’s start out with a discussion
of verse three – there’s actually a lot more there than it appears at first
glance. The Old Testament reference
(Isaiah 40:3) is used to refer to John in
all four Gospels. This is a pretty
rare occurrence, begging the question: Why?
Well, as we see in Scripture,
there was a lot of confusion over who John the Baptist actually was at this
time. For example, in Matthew 16:13-16
when Jesus is asking who disciples who different groups say He is, they tell
him that some groups think Jesus is a reincarnation of John the Baptist. Herod certainly thought so (Matthew
14:1-2). And in Mark 11:27-33, it
becomes clear that many of the Jewish people thought John the Baptist was
another prophet of old, whereas the “religious” crowd saw him as a
charlatan. We even see that Biblically,
John both was and was not Elijah come again in the flesh (Matthew
11:13-14…that’s a weighty and fascinating issue we’ll get to in a couple of
months when we get to Matthew 11).
With all these different theories
going around, it makes sense why the Gospel writers wanted to identify precisely who this important character
was: the prophesied prophet who would come to herald the coming of the Messiah.
There’s an important lesson here:
a person can appear to be many things…and usually, only one is true. We need to exercise great discernment and
seek God’s guidance, especially in matters that affect our faith.
What’s with the Wild Get-Up?
So, clearly John was a bit of a
rebel when it came to fashion and diet.
Was there a reason for it, or did he just prefer scratchy clothes and
crunchy bugs?
I see three reasons: First, it made another direct link to Elijah
evident (see 2 Kings 1:8) – so, it served as another to point out who he
was. Second, it was really, really
weird. Think about it – if you have
something to say and you want people to pay attention to you, what do you
do? You do something weird, because
people are naturally drawn to weird stuff.
Throughout the Old Testament, you’ll see that a lot of the prophets
actually did this in order to get people’s attention. And third, he lived in the wilderness
(another purposefully weird act), and these resources were available to him
there.
7 But when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of
vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 “Therefore bear fruit in
keeping with repentance;
9 and do no suppose that you can
say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from
these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
10 “The axe is already laid at
the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire.11 “As for me, I baptize 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 baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire.
12 “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.”
In Cognito
Among the swarming crowds that
came to be baptized because they were genuinely repentant, there were also some
Pharisees and Sadducees there for all the wrong reasons. What were those reasons? A couple of definite possibilities are: (1)
It was the in vogue act of holiness of the day, and they wanted everyone to think of them as 100% holy
so they could maintain their false sense of religious superiority (see Matthew
23:5-7). (2) They were there to spy the
situation out. They felt threatened by
John for the same reason outlined above – he was drawing attention away from
them – so they probably wanted to find fault in him to trap him, like they did repeatedly to Jesus.
This teaches us something that is
still very applicable in our world today: Just because someone looks like they’re doing all the
“Christian” things does NOT mean they are a genuine believer or that you should
trust their council without any critical thought.
So What is the Point of Baptism?
In this passage, John
specifically differentiates between the Pharisees and Sadducees getting
baptized for show, and the regular people getting baptized because they are
compelled to repent. So clearly, the
physical act of getting dunked in the water means nothing – rather, it is tied
to a heart issue.
We know from Colossians 2:12 and
Romans 6:3-4 that baptism is symbolic of dying to ourselves just as Christ died
(when we go into the water) and given a new life just as He rose from the dead
(when we come out). But…at the point
where John is baptizing, these things hadn’t happened yet. So what did it mean to the people who John baptized?
I think of it sort of like a
marriage ceremony – it was a way to make a public
declaration that this was something they were firmly committed to and were
actually going to stick with. This same
purpose carries over into baptism today.
But we also see that there’s
another sort of baptism – baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Denominations get into huge fights over this
and the issue would take an entire post of its own to sort out, but the basic understanding is that there are
two types of baptism (bare bones here):
1 – The physical baptism in
water. This is the one everyone is
familiar with – the submersion in water you get after becoming a believer that
is a public declaration of faith and serves a symbolic purpose.
2 – Spiritual baptism. It is important to understand here that the
word baptism just means an immersion.
Okay, so when you become a believer, the Holy Spirit fills you, sealing
you as “saved.” But the Bible also
addresses that in many cases, the filling with the Holy Spirit is
two-fold. The second part of the
baptism of the Holy Spirit (which is generally accepted as a special
empowering, perhaps when you get your spiritual gifts) is said Biblically to
come through the laying on of hands (e.g. Acts 19:5-6). This assumption is supported by Acts 2:1-4,
which features a special filling of the Holy Spirit in already-saved people,
and ties in the baptism of fire.
As you can see, this is a really
complex topic, and many different views on it all have Biblical basis. Here are a couple of excellent resources if
you’re interested in learning more: http://christiananswers.net/q-acb/acb-t004.html
John the Trash-Talker
It drives me crazy when people
make the false assertion that Christians can’t say anything bad about
anyone. The fact of the matter is, when
someone’s doing something wrong, there are many times when we are actually supposed to say something (see THIS
study for a more in-depth discussion of the topic) – evidenced by the fact that
John is calling the religious hypocrites out here, something that Jesus also
did many times. So let’s look into what
point he’s making:
·
They’re not bearing fruit (see Galatians
5:22-23)
·
They’re not genuinely repenting
·
They’re assuming that because they’re Jews (that
is, descended from Abraham), they automatically have God’s favor regardless of
what they do. We see the same fallacy
today when people assume that because they were raised in a Christian home,
they’re Christians even though they don’t actually have a real relationship with Christ.
And so, John gives them a pretty
stern warning: either be a good tree that produces fruit, or God will chop you
down and throw you into the fire. This
is not cruel; this is justice. This is
further made clear in verse 12, when John teaches that Christ will have mercy
those who follow Him (the “wheat”) but will send those who reject Him (the
“chaff”) away from His presence.
13 Then Jesus arrived from
Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
14 But John tried to prevent Him,
saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
15 But Jesus answering said to
him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting to fulfill all
righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
16 After being baptized, Jesus
came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he
saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
17 and behold, a voice out of the
heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Why Was Jesus Baptized?
It’s a logical question – even John
the Baptist had to ask it. But different
people interpret Jesus’ answer, “to fulfill all righteousness,” different ways.
One explanation is that He did it
for the sake of appearance – in a good way, of course. Because many people at the time saw it as a
basic means of showing loyalty to God, Jesus getting baptized would point this
out. It was also a way to show that He
supported the practice of baptism. In
addition, it was a way for God to demonstrate His glory (verses 16-17).
Another explanation is that He
was being baptized in the place of those believers who would not be able to be
baptized. You see, there are two “ordinances”
that Christians are commanded to participate in in Scripture – communion and baptism. Some people teach that these are necessary to
salvation – as assertion that I vehemently
disagree with. That would be salvation
through works, not through faith.
Participating in communion and baptism is obedience to His commands –
therefore, it is evidence of our
changed heart, not a way of earning
entrance into heaven. However, it still
stands that they are a commandment. But
consider death bed conversions – including the thief on the cross next to Jesus
to whom He said, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). According to this explanation of Jesus’s
baptism, He was baptized in the place of those who could not be, just as He
died in our place.
My Beloved Son
Just imagine the scene: You’re
one in a huge crowd of people all standing by the shore of the river waiting to
be baptized by the famous prophet John, clad in camel hair. You’ve been waiting for hours as the line
progresses, and you’re next. The man
being baptized right before you looks perfectly normal. But as he wades out to the prophet, John’s
eyes get huge and they seem to be having an intense conversation. Finally, John dips him below the water, and
as he raises up, the clouds burst open with light, God’s voice *literally*
thunders from the heavens, and a dove actually lands on the man’s shoulder.
Think about all the people who
saw this – including the Pharisees and Sadducees. And yet, only some of them chose to believe
in the Christ. Shocking, isn’t it, how
much we can see and yet refuse to believe.
The same rings true today.
Let’s Make it a Discussion
What sticks out to you about this
account? What examples can you think of
today that clearly speak the glory of God, yet people refuse to believe? Is there anything else you’d like to comment
on or ask?
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