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Bible Study		January 3, 2010
Proclaimed in Baptism

Lesson

Israel had gone for 400 years without a prophet. Not since Malachi had God sent someone to deliver His words to His people … and this was not because they were living sinless lives. But this prophet was to be different from his predecessors. Stop me if you have any questions … or wait

Kings of that time sent out heralds to announce the arrival of the king and to prepare the path the king would travel. With that tradition as the model, this prophet was to announce the arrival and to prepare the way for the Messiah. From Matthew chapter 3:

¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea ²and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." ³This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
   "A voice of one calling in the desert,
   'Prepare the way for the Lord,
      make straight paths for him.'"

It's interesting to note and worth remembering that the words the prophecy attributes to John (the voice in the desert) are not the words of John's ministry. Instead they constitute the mission of John.* This is similar to Isaiah saying that the Messiah would be called Immanuel, but he was named Jesus.

This saying "repent, the kingdom of heaven is near" will also be part of Jesus' message. And Jesus will continue with the practice of baptism. The connection between repentance and the kingdom is not stated explicitly here, but the implication is that entry into the kingdom requires repentance.

⁴John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

John lived the most minimal lifestyle possible, relying entirely on God for his sustenance. "Although God calls only some disciples to such a lifestyle (Mt 11:18-19), this lifestyle challenges all of us to adjust our own values. Others' needs must come before our luxuries (Lk 3:11; 12:33; 14:33), and proclaiming the kingdom is worth any cost."1

"Blinded by our society's values, we too often preach a Christianity that merely "meets our needs" rather than one that calls us to sacrifice our highest desires for the kingdom. Too many Western Christians live a religion that costs nothing, treats the kingdom cheaply and therefore does not demand saving faith. Saving faith includes believing God's grace so sincerely that we live as if his message is true and stake our lives on it. May we have the courage to trust God as John did, to stake everything on the kingdom (13:46) and to relinquish our own popularity, when necessary, by summoning others to stake everything on the kingdom as well."2

⁵People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Jews would have recognized baptism - the physical act symbolizing spiritual cleansing. It would not have been new to them because it was part of the process whereby proselytes (Gentiles desiring to convert) became Jews. So by accepting this baptism, the Jews that John was preaching to were accepting that they were no different from Gentiles in their need for repentance and cleansing from sin. This foreshadows the commission given by Jesus - to bring the Gentiles into the fold.

In an effort to understand how the Jews would have perceived John's message I searched through some Jewish writings. Because of the effect that Christianity has had on modern Judaism it isn't possible to be certain what the Jews of Jesus time believed about repentance and forgiveness. So the following quotes may not be representative of that time; but they are still interesting.

"Teshuvá [(Repentance)] is the key concept in the rabbinic view of sin, repentance, and forgiveness. The tradition is not of one mind on the steps one must take to repent of one's sins. However, almost all agree that repentance requires five elements: recognition of one's sins as sins (hakarát ha-chét'), remorse (charatá), desisting from sin (azivát ha-chét'), restitution where possible (peira'ón), and confession (vidúi)."3

"We are first to acknowledge our "sins" against others, and then make reparations. In turn, we ask for forgiveness and it is expected that just as each of us hopes that others will forgive us, we are expected to forgive others for their sins against us. Thereafter, we can turn to our failures in our relationship with God. We are assured that if we are sincere in our repentance, then God will forgive us."4 Remember this is a Jew writing to Jews. Words could have come from apostle Paul

⁷But 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?

Plainly some of the religious elite had some understanding of what was going on. Later, Jesus asked, how do you see the signs of the weather so clearly and miss the signs of the times. Not everyone missed the signs of the times, as we see here.

By the words "coming wrath" we see that John, like most other Jews of his time, believes in, let's call it, the A Plan, where the Messiah would set up his earthly kingdom immediately, giving his Spirit to the righteous and judgment to the wicked. It isn't until Matthew 11 that we see John realizing that what he is seeing in Jesus' actions is not what he expected. In those verses he has his disciples ask Jesus if he is really the One.

John continues with his tongue lashing of the Pharisees and Sadducees in the verses below.

⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹And 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.

One of the problems the Jews had was their belief that they were a better people, because they were the Children of God. John is saying here that being the son of Abraham will not save them from the coming wrath.

¹⁰The 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 will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹²His 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."

This passage contains one reference to wrath and two references to fire that are clearly related to judgment. It seems Matthew's account is making it clear that the third reference to fire - that of the fire of Jesus' baptism - is not additional information about the Spirit, but a reference to torment, like the others. John is saying that Jesus will bring the Spirit and judgment.

Threshing and winnowing of a harvested grain crop was a much less automated process in those times than it is now. The grain was brought to a place called a threshing floor. There the harvested stalks were rubbed together usually by beating them. This would break off the straw and the outer husk of the grain. Then this combination was shaken in the air using a winnowing fork. Generally the straw would stay in the fork and the rest would fall. The breeze would catch the lighter husk (chaff) and separate it from the grain. The result of doing this for a while would be two piles, one of grain and the other of straw and chaff. The chaff was too tough to be edible and was often burned, sometimes for heating homes, sometimes just to dispose of it.

This winnowing analogy tells us something more. John says "he will clear his threshing floor", which means everyone will be judged. Everyone is either chaff or grain. When the grain is in the barn and the chaff is burned there is nothing remaining.

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

John knows that Jesus is without sin and so has nothing to repent from. Therefore baptism for Him would be meaningless. John also knows that Jesus is greater than him and will bring the better baptism, that of the Spirit. But Jesus insists.

¹⁵Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.

¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

This event marks the beginning of the ministry of Jesus and the beginning of the period in John's ministry where he was to become less, while Jesus was to become more.

Conclusion

John's message has much for us to hear.

1. Our place in society and our genealogy are nothing in God's eyes. Only repentance and forgiveness matter. Without these we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

2. Jesus felt that repentance and baptism in water was important, even for Him. So how could we reject it? Some people believe it is unimportant.

3. While the Holy Spirit that John said Jesus would bring did come as a result of the completion of Jesus' mission, the threshing floor and fire are still to come.

4. We are to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. If you have truly repented you will make every effort to sin no more and instead grow and be productive

Questions For Discussion

When Jesus insists on being baptized, He says it should be done "to fulfill all righteousness". What is meant by this?

Given a truly repentant offender, what do Christians believe about forgiving men and being forgiven by God?

Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached "The kingdom of heaven is near". Did the kingdom of heaven come?

1 http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/Warnings-Wilderness-Prophet

2 http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/Warnings-Wilderness-Prophet

3 http://www.crosscurrents.org/blumenthal.htm

4 http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_c/bl_yomkippur.htm