OUR FATHER WHO INTRODUCED HIS SON AS HIS BELOVED SON IN WHOM HE WAS WELL PLEASED

The third chapter of the book of Matthew begins with an introduction of a man named John the Baptist who operated in the Judean wilderness preaching a message of imminient arrival of the kingdom of God and that repentance was to prepare for when the eternal kingdom touched down.

John's origin is described in the book of Luke chapter 1 verses 5 - 25. His father was a temple priest named Zechariah and one day, while conducting an incense burning ceremony in the temple, an angel named Gabriel appeared to him and told him that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son who would be a delight to them and who would be great in the sight of the Lord.

Zechariah was skeptical at this news because his wide was barren and they were both advanced in years.

In response to Zechariah's incredulity, the angel struck him mute and he was unable to communicate except by gesticulation and writing. After Zechariah's service in the temple was complete, he returned home and his wife became pregnant as the angel has said and when the child was born, Zechariah's speech was restored.

Matthew's text picks up the narrative of John's life when he was an adult and preaching in the wilderness around Judea to the people who came out to hear him.

He lived an austere life of rough clothing and a crude diet of locusts and honey.

 His message to the people was that the arrival of the Kingdom of God was imminent and that they needed to prepare by repenting which was be signified by the confession of sins and being baptized in water.

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

Make His paths straight.’ ”

4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

John was a very zealous and uncompromising preacher and when members of the religious sects came out to hear him, he castigated them for being a contigent of vipers. He wondered out loud who had warned them to flee from the coming judgment and condemnation. Now they were out there with him, he instructed them to repent in a way that resulted in disearnable changes in their lives. He warned them to stop trusting in their claim of validation based on their descendancy from the patriarch Abraham because that privilege could be conferred on anyone and anything.

John warned that the hour of judgement was coming and anything in the established religious order that did not yield acceptable fruit would be cut down and burned.

John painted a picture of a exeedingly great baptizer to come who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire instead of mere water like John did. John foretold the arrival of a  judge who would screen out the members of the religious order who were operating on the threshing floor on which the temple was built. The entire establishment was going to be subjected to scrutiny, verdicts and sentences.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

One day, as John was conducting this rite on the banks of the River Jordan, the Lord Jesus arrived that the location and asked John to baptize Him. John had recognized Jesus as the one for whom his whole ministry was set up point towards and he was rightly reluctant to fulfil Jesus' request because he knew that Jesus was the Son of God sent from heaven to take away the sins of the world and he felt that it was Jesus who should have baptized him and not the other way around.

Jesus gently assured John that it was appropriate for him to baptize Jesus in order that all the tally marks of righteousness could be filled in. 

John then agreed to baptize Jesus and when he had done this, Jesus emerged from the water with heaven opening above Him and the Spirit of God set down on Him. 

Against this backdrop, the voice of the Father spoke from heaven certifying the standing of the Lord Jesus as His beloved Son and certifying that He was approved of for having met the standard of God.

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Amen.

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