John the Baptist
John the Baptist
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The Kingdom
In those days, John the Baptist arrived in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”
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All four Gospels begin their accounts of Jesus’s adult ministry by introducing John the Baptist. Luke even describes John’s birth and shows he was related to Jesus.1 While Jesus still lived quietly in Nazareth, John arrived in the wilderness of Judea, a remote region of arid hills bordering the southern end of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. John called the Jews to repent in preparation for the imminent arrival of the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of heaven, a name used exclusively in Matthew, is not a kingdom in heaven. Long before Jesus’s birth, the Jews stopped pronouncing the divine name, Yahweh, to avoid misusing it. Instead, they would say “the Lord,” “the Name,” or “heaven.”2 So the kingdom of heaven means Yahweh’s kingdom, the kingdom where Yahweh rules. It’s synonymous with the kingdom of God3 In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus defined the kingdom as the accomplishment of God’s will on earth.4
The arrival of the kingdom fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy made when Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of an image made of gold, silver, bronze, and iron mixed with clay. The four materials represented four powerful kingdoms, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Out of the fourth kingdom, Rome, would come a kingdom set up by God, which would destroy all the others. God’s kingdom would start out as a small stone but would eventually grow into a mountain filling the whole earth.5 John announced the approach of this kingdom. The divine King was coming to reclaim his right to rule on earth just as he rules in heaven.
The Herald
[John]’s the one spoken about through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice calling out in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord!
Straighten his highways!’”
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Matthew continues the theme of the coming divine King by paraphrasing Isaiah 40:3:
A voice is calling out,
“In the wilderness, prepare the way for Yahweh!
Straighten a highway in the Arabah for our God!”
The ministry of John the Baptist fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy about a herald who would call the people to prepare a straight highway through the wilderness for the King to use on his way to claim his throne in Jerusalem.6 Heralds often preceded kings and other dignitaries to announce their coming so the people could make necessary preparations, including leveling the roads by removing stones and filling in potholes.7
Following the Greek Septuagint translation of Isaiah, Matthew has the voice call out in the wilderness. But in the Hebrew, the way is prepared in the wilderness. John the Baptist fulfilled both forms. Matthew also abbreviates the last line, but Isaiah gives more detailed information about the location of the prophecy. Yahweh’s highway would pass through the Arabah, the plains of the Jordan Valley. John ministered at the southern end of the Arabah, where it overlaps with the wilderness of Judea.
Matthew also follows the Septuagint in using the Greek word kyrios (“the Lord”) in place of Yahweh’s name. But John prepared the way for Jesus. This is the first verse that clearly equates Jesus with Yahweh. Of course, John didn’t prepare a literal road. He called the people to prepare their hearts and minds through repentance. Only those who repented would be ready for the King’s arrival.
A Second Elijah
John wore clothes made from camel hair with a leather waistband tied around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey.
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First-century Jews awaited the Messiah to save them from Rome. But first, they expected the prophet Elijah to return in fulfillment of Malachi 4:5. John’s wilderness ministry, his dress, and his lifestyle, would have quickly reminded them of Elijah. Jesus affirmed that John partially fulfilled the prophecy, though Elijah himself will come before the end.8 Events and people in Scripture foreshadow similar events and people in the future, a concept called typology9 John was not Elijah, but their ministries shared striking similarities.
At the end of Elijah’s ministry, he left Jericho, a city in the wilderness of Judea, and crossed the Jordan. There, a whirlwind took him up into heaven, so he never died.10 Where Elijah disappeared, John appeared. John’s clothes reflect the similar description of Elijah as “covered in hair with a leather waistband around his waist.”11 Both John and Elijah ate simple diets that reflected their pursuit of God over worldly riches. John ate what could be found in the wilderness, and Elijah ate what God miraculously provided.12
Most significantly, both prophets preached essentially the same message, rejecting both the political and religious leaders of the day and calling the people to turn back to God. Elijah opposed the wicked rulers Ahab and Jezebel and the priests of Baal.13 John opposed Herod Antipas and the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees.14 John and Elijah depended on God’s provision, in contrast with these elites, who depended on their wealth and power.
A Brood of Vipers
People from Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region of the Jordan went out to [John the Baptist], confessing their sins, and he immersed them in the Jordan River.
Now he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he immersed. “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath about to come? Produce fruit worthy of repentance. Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have our father Abraham.’ I tell you God can raise up children for Abraham even from these stones.”
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Word spread of the appearance of this new prophet announcing the coming of the kingdom. People came from all over Judea and beyond to hear John’s message of repentance. Many believed him and confessed their sins. As a sign of their repentance, John immersed them in the waters of the Jordan.15 This immersion represented the washing away of the sins they had just confessed.
Israel’s religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees, also came to the place where John immersed. Scripture doesn’t say what they intended, but John didn’t believe they had any intention of repenting, calling them a “brood of vipers.” All vipers are venomous snakes. Through the venom of false teachings, the religious leaders preyed upon the people.16 The Pharisees overburdened them with a long list of manmade laws called the tradition of the elders.17 The Sadducees represented the wealthy priests, who controlled both the temple and the Sanhedrin and maintained power by collaborating with Rome.18
John then reveals the fate of those unprepared for the coming kingdom. They would experience wrath. To escape the wrath, they would have to bear the fruit of repentance. No mere ritual washing would suffice. Nor would their belief that righteousness came simply from being a descendant of Abraham. Instead of toxic venom, they needed to produce nourishing fruit. Such fruit would feed the people. But if they refused, God could replace them by raising children for Abraham from even stones. Or from an even more unlikely place—the other nations.
Holy Spirit and Fire
“Already the axe lies against the root of the trees. So any tree that doesn’t produce quality fruit will be chopped down and thrown into fire. I immerse you in water into repentance. But the one coming behind me is mightier than I am, and I don’t deserve to even carry his sandals. He’ll immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire. He’s holding the winnowing fork to clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat in the barn. But he’ll burn the chaff in fire that can’t be extinguished.”
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Though John warned the people about the coming wrath, he denied any role in bringing it about. He had come merely as a herald to prepare for another coming behind him.19 John humbly admitted he didn’t even deserve to carry the dirty, smelly sandals of the coming one, and only slaves did that.20 John could immerse them in water, but the coming one would have the power to immerse them in the Holy Spirit and fire. On the repentant, he would pour out the Holy Spirit, as promised in Joel 2:28–29. But he would throw the unrepentant into fire.
John used two metaphors to emphasize both the nearness and the completeness of the judgment. In the first, an orchard owner stands ready to chop down those trees that aren’t producing fruit. He’s already placed the axe against the wood where he wants to make the first cut, meaning he’s about to swing. But instead of chopping the trunk, he has dug down to the root. A new tree may grow from a stump, but severing the roots guarantees the tree will die and never return. The owner will then throw the unproductive trees in a fire.
In the second metaphor, a farmer stands holding a winnowing fork, ready to clear his threshing floor. He has already threshed the harvest, removing the grain from the stalk. Winnowing will separate the precious wheat kernels from the inedible chaff. The farmer will then gather and store the wheat but burn the chaff “in fire that can’t be extinguished.” If the fire goes out too soon, it won’t burn all the chaff. But an inextinguishable fire will consume every last piece.
Both the severed root and the inextinguishable fire represent complete destruction. Those thrown in the fire don’t remain there alive forever, as if the tree and the chaff wouldn’t burn. Revelation 20:10 describes the eternal torment of the devil, beast, and false prophet. But otherwise, the fate of those not recorded in the Book of Life is death and destruction.21 Innate immortality is the original lie of Satan, while God’s truth affirms the reality of death.22 The fire burns forever because of the eternal nature of the second death, from which there will be no resurrection.23
All Righteousness
Then Jesus arrived at the Jordan from Galilee to be immersed by John. But John tried to prevent him. “I’m the one who needs to be immersed by you! Yet you come to me?”
“Accept it for now,” Jesus answered, “because it’s appropriate for us in order to fulfill all righteousness.”
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As John prophesied, the King came to the Jordan behind him. But Jesus didn’t come to claim his throne or to judge the unrepentant. He came to be immersed with the rest of the crowd. Confused, John resisted. He immersed as a sign of repentance, and Jesus had no need to repent. Rather, John humbly recognized his own need to repent and be immersed by his King. But Jesus saw a deeper meaning John couldn’t see, so he commanded his servant to simply accept a situation he didn’t understand “for now.” Everything John predicted would happen, just not yet.
As an explanation, Jesus said only that John had to immerse him “to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus didn’t just refrain from sinning but also actively accomplished every righteous deed his Father desired of him, as prophesied in the Old Testament (the Law and the Prophets).24 This included his immersion by John. Yet nowhere does the Old Testament require water immersion. Instead, Jesus once again fulfilled his status as the prophet like Moses by passing through the water just before entering the wilderness for forty days.25 Likewise, Moses was “immersed” in the Red Sea before entering the wilderness for forty years.26
Like Moses, Jesus didn’t enter the water alone. To fulfill all righteousness, Jesus had to be immersed by John. John represented those who repented in preparation for the coming kingdom. For the Israelites, the Red Sea crossing served as their passage out from slavery in Egypt into life as a free nation.27 In the same way, Jesus’s ministry would lead the repentant out from slavery to sin into life as free citizens of God’s kingdom.
Jesus Immersed
Then John agreed, and Jesus was immersed. Immediately, he came up from the water, the sky was opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down like a dove and settling on him. A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son. I’m very pleased with him!”
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John accepted Jesus’s command and immersed him in the Jordan. Then Jesus immediately stood up and saw the sky split open. Like a dove, God’s Spirit descended through the opening and fluttered down to Jesus. It settled on him and remained there. A voice from heaven identified Jesus as his Son and expressed his paternal pleasure. This beautiful picture clearly shows the three persons of Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all playing a different role in Jesus’s earthly ministry. Yet their unity of purpose is clear.
Jesus’s immersion marked the beginning of his ministry. He did nothing until after receiving the Spirit’s empowerment and his Father’s blessing. John the Baptist predicted Jesus would immerse the citizens of the kingdom in the Spirit.28 But despite the number of people John immersed, only Jesus received the Spirit before Pentecost.29 The kingdom couldn’t come in earnest until Jesus had cleansed the citizens of their sins. But since Jesus had no need of cleansing, he could enter immediately.
- Luke 1:5–66.
- For example, the prodigal son in Luke 15:21 didn’t literally sin against heaven. He meant he sinned against God.
- France, Gospel of Matthew, 101; Turner, “Matthew,” 57; Wilkins, “Matthew,” 23.
- Matthew 6:10.
- Daniel 2:31–45.
- Isaiah 40:9.
- Isaiah 40:4.
- Matthew 11:13–14; 17:10–13; see also Luke 1:17.
- John 3:14; Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:21–22; Hebrews 9:9–14; see Typology. As with metaphor, typology doesn’t require exact equivalence. It highlights similarities without denying differences.
- 2 Kings 2:5–11.
- 2 Kings 1:8.
- 1 Kings 17:6, 10–16. Leviticus 11:22 declared locusts a clean food for the Israelites, and eating them was not uncommon.
- 1 Kings 18:16–19:2.
- Matthew 3:7; 14:3–4.
- Derived from the verb baptō (“to dip”), the Greek word usually translated “baptize,” baptizō, means “to immerse, submerge, plunge.” Jesus would later adopt water immersion as the sign of the new covenant, but here it serves as a sign of repentance. Acts 19:1–5.
- Matthew 16:12.
- Matthew 15:1–6; Luke 11:46.
- Matthew 26:57, 59; John 19:15; Acts 5:17.
- The Greek word opisō means “behind,” not “after.” John was not referring to someone coming later in time but to the King coming behind him on the road he’d prepared.
- Keener, Bible Background Commentary, Matthew 3:11.
- Psalms 9:5–6; 37:20, 38; 92:7; 104:35; Proverbs 10:25; Isaiah 66:24; Malachi 4:1–3; Matthew 10:28; Romans 2:12; 6:23; Philippians 1:28; 3:18–19; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; James 1:15; 4:12; 5:20; 2 Peter 2:6, 12.
- Genesis 2:17; 3:2–4.
- Revelation 20:14; 21:18.
- Matthew 5:17.
- Matthew 4:1–2; see Exile to Egypt; The Massacre of the Innocents; Herod’s Death.
- Exodus 14:27–29; 15:22; Joshua 5:6; 1 Corinthians 10:2.
- See The Divided Sea.
- Matthew 3:11; see Matthew 12:28.
- Acts 2:1–4.