OUR FATHER WHO SENT A HERALD TO POINT TO THE MESSIAH PART 1

Mathew chapter 3 verses 1 - 12 tells of ministry of John the Baptist starting with the prophetic reference to him in Isaiah 40 verse 3;

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness

‘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. 5 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.

7 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 comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and 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.”

John, living an austere life in the wilderness wearing camel hair clothing with a diet of locusts and honey, was a compelling voice crying out in the wilderness that drew people from the relative comfort of the cities and towns where they lived out to the inhospitable desert to listen to him. And his voice stirred them to repentance and they confessed their sins and he baptized them in the Jordan river.

To be drawn, to confess sins and to be baptized were the first steps that were required to be inaugurated into the new life that God was sending to the world and so the ministry of John was the dress rehearsal in preparation for the long awaited arrival of the Messiah.

Among the people who came out to hear him were the members of the religious establishment of the time and John, calling them a brood of vipers, warned them that their repentance needed to actually bear the fruit of repentance if they were to be saved. Their main problem was that their corruption was so great that the arrival of the Messiah could not been entrusted into their hands to officiate and thus had to be routed through unofficial channels such as John himself.

He warned them that their claim to having Abraham as their ancestor was not going to exclude them from the judgement to come. Actual righteousness that stemmed from actual repentance was the ingredient that was needed to be spared from the coming wrath and not a pedigree of birth.

John, comparing himself with the one whom he was  heralding, said that the coming Messiah was of such great stature that there was no one worthy to even carry His sandals. John described the ministry of the coming Messiah as one of a blazing unquenchable fire. 

Whereas he (John) baptized with water for repentance, the Annointed One who was to come would baptize people in the Holy Spirit of God and fire and He would be a winnower who would separate the sinners and the righteous and would bring great judgement upon those who had not repented.

Amen.

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