Matthew 3:1-12 - Our Winnowing Savior

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

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Gospels: Week 2 - Jesus' Preparation & Beginning of Ministry

We're visiting a different book each day as we work through all four gospels chronologically over the coming months.

Matthew 3:1–12 (NASB95)

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.

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 not 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.”

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 72

Q. Does the outward washing with water itself wash away sins in baptism?

A. No, only Jesus Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit

cleanse us from all sins.

Summary

We didn't get to spend nearly enough time in the prophets as we read through the Old Testament over the first half of the year, but those we read through were certainly unique and colorful - especially Ezekiel! Remember what a prophet is: whereas a priest is one who represents the people to God, a prophet is one who represents God to the people. God used prophets in times before His Word was made complete to reveal Himself to His covenant people - often by using the prophets to convict His people of their sin and call them to repent.

The Old Testament ends with numerous short books that don't get turned to often enough written by the minor prophets (minor in the sense that their books are shorter than those of Isaiah or Jeremiah, not that they're less important). But the final Biblical prophet isn't found in the Old Testament at all; rather, we read of him in all four of the gospel narratives: the strange man simply known as John the Baptist.

Notice how Matthew introduces John. It's hard for us to not focus on his eccentricities like his camel hair garment and diet of locusts and wild honey. But John's oddities aren't the first thing Matthew mentions. Rather, the first thing he reports is that John came preaching. All throughout scripture, but especially in the New Testament, preaching is the primary means by which God communicates with His people.

Matthew then quotes the prophet Isaiah to introduce John as the one who made ready the way of the LORD - the one Isaiah said would cry out in the wilderness, announcing comfort, comfort to God's people, because their hard service has been completed and their sins had been paid for (Isaiah 40:1-5).

  Dig Deeper  

Although John came preaching the comfort that Isaiah had prophesied about centuries earlier, he himself didn't bring the comfort. John, like any good preacher, pointed away from himself to the mightier One: Jesus Christ. John simply baptized with water for repentance - a practice not uncommon in ancient near eastern religions to demonstrate contrition. In other words, all John could do was help people recognize that their spiritual filth needed to be washed away. But such washing would take more than just the physical water John baptized with, it would take a baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire.

But the Spiritual baptist John pointed to wouldn't bring the comfort Isaiah wrote of either - at least initially. He'd first come to winnow - that is, to separate the wheat from the chaff so that the chaff could be set aside and burned up with unquenchable fire.

Jesus certainly brings the comfort Isaiah prophesied about and that you long for. In fact, that's what people primarily associate Him with: comfort and peace, and most people expect Him to deliver this comfort by simply affirming them and their choices.

But John the Baptist, the Bible's final Old Testament prophet, describes Jesus as a winnower thoroughly clearing the threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn. It's only as the chaff in your life is winnowed out, which includes both your own indwelling sin and the brood of vipers who seek to pull you away from the barn so to speak, that you'll experience the comfort and peace the gospel promises.

True gospel preachers, beginning with John the Baptist and continuing to this day, do not come with a message of comfort made possible by sprinkling some water here and there in your life. They come bearing the same exact message that both John and Jesus proclaimed: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who brings comfort to His wayward people by calling them to repent;

  ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would experience this comfort as you continually repent (literally: think different) in Christ;

  ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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