Matthew 3
I. \\#Matt 1:1-3:17\\ The Presentation of the King
A. \\#Matt 1:1-2:23\\ The Offering of the King
1. \\#1:1-17\\ The King is Offered to the Reader
2. \\#1:18-25\\ The King Is Offered to Joseph
3. \\#2:1-11\\ The King Is Offered to the World
4. \\#2:12-23\\ The King Is Offered to Herod
B. \\#Matt 3:1-17\\ The Announcement of the King - In this chapter, Jesus is
identified by a human and a heavenly witness.
1. \\#3:1-12\\ Announced by John
a. \\#1, 4\\ John’s Person
(1) \\#1\\ His name-"John the Baptist"-He was John the
Baptizer. So called because the mark of his ministry was to
immerse those into water who had accepted his message.
(2) It is interesting to note his lack of credentials.
(a) John has no genealogical record.
(b) He is not introduced as a priest, scribe, or prophet.
(c) John never performed a miracle.
(d) John was the first in God’s long line of PREACHERS.
(3) "in the wilderness of Judaea"-It appears that John not only
preached in an uninhabited area but lived there too.
Wilderness does not necessarily mean that nothing would grow
there for since water was there, it likely did. It means
that no one lived in the area.
(4) \\#4\\ "the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a
leathern girdle about his loins"-John wore basic attire
made from animal by products, probably because they were
less expensive and more durable. John did not make an easy
life for himself.
(5) "and his meat was locusts and wild honey"-A simple diet of
food which required minimal time and effort to produce.
b. \\#2-3\\ John’s Preaching
(1) John’s message had two parts.
(a) \\#1-2\\ "preaching… Repent ye"-John’s message was
directed to man’s on-going problem, sin and the need
to turn from it.
(b) "the kingdom of God is at hand"-However, John gives a
new reason to turn from sin; namely, God’s promised
King (the Messiah) and His kingdom are close.
(3) \\#3\\ This fulfilled the passage…
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
c. \\#5-6\\ John’s Power
Matt 3:5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round
about Jordan,
(1) Great crowds came to hear John speak. No doubt this man, who
was filled with the Holy Ghost from birth, had conviction and
understanding that those of that day had never known.
(2) \\#6\\ "confessing their sins"-John’s preaching helped the
common man see that much of his behavior was sinful. And
more, it encouraged them to publically say so and turn from
it.
(3) "And were baptized of him in Jordan"-John the Baptizer
immersed those into the River Jordan, the main source of
water, as an outward demonstration of their inward cleansing
from removed.
(4) While it is not stated, there is no doubt that John then
encouraged those newly baptized to offer the appropriate sin
sacrifice. This would have been a necessary instruction as
Israel was still under the law. Not to have done so might
have provoked the religious leaders.
d. \\#7-12\\ John’s Position
Matt 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
(1) \\#7-8\\ John was adamant about the need for true repentance.
(a) The failing of Israel to humble themselves and make a
lasting turn to God had caused the nation to suffer
greatly and had damned many a soul.
(b) \\#7\\ "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees"
i. Both were powerful religious groups, with varying
views, in Israel.
ii. The fact that John, seeing these groups wanting to
be baptized, demanded more from them than a mere
profession of their change, indicates that there
was deep-seated corruption in the religious system
at that time.
iii. "O generation of vipers"-Addressing them in such
a manor makes it certain!
(c) John demanded more than mere lip service of repentance
from those who had a history of professing to walk with
God while still wearing robes of hypocrisy.
i. Since these were the religious rulers and since they
had a known history of religious guile, to be
certain the Pharisees and Sadducees were not
repeating their old habits, John wanted evidence of
their repentance.
ii. John’s position shows both the need for repentance
and the need for high accountability for those who
are in the ministry.
(2) \\#9-10\\ John was adamant that Jews need a Savior.
(a) \\#9\\ "And think not to say within yourselves" - John
perceived the Jewish pride and arrogance, so telling
them what was in their heart even before they could
vocalize it.
(b) "We have Abraham to our father" - The arrogant thought
of these religious leaders was that because they were
children of Abraham, they had no sin from which to
repent.
(c) \\#10\\ "now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees"
i. The root of a tree is its source. The source of
every person’s relationship with God stems back to
the covenant God made with Abraham.
ii. John is saying that when judgment from God comes, He
will not only examine the atheists and non-
believers, but also the "root of the tree," the
Jews themselves.
iii. John was stating that no man, even a Jew, is exempt
from the judgment of God.
(d) "every three which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down, and cast into the fire" - Hence, every tree, even
a Jewish one, which has not borne the fruit of
repentance, will be judged and cast into hell.
(3) \\#11-12\\ John was adamant that Messiah was soon to come.
(a) \\#11\\ "I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance" - John describes his ministry and his
baptism as being temporary.
(b) "but he that cometh after me is mightier than I" - A
Greater is coming.
(c) "whose shoes I am not worthy to bear" - John, a very holy
man, was far inferior to the coming One.
(d) "he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire"
i. The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead.
For one to baptize with God, He must BE God.
ii. The fire was most likely a reference to the judgment
that Christ would bring. To a lesser possibility,
perhaps John was referring to the sheer power that
this filling of the Holy Ghost would bring. However,
the remainder of what John says, indicates the
former is the more likely.
Matt 1:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and
gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire.
(e) With the familiar image of separation of the wheat and
chaff, John demonstrates how Messiah will separate those
who do repent from those who will not, and those who
will not will be cast into an "unquenchable fire."
i. "the fan" - Apparently, when the wind did not blow,
workers used a hand fan to force a breeze so that
the chaff could be blown away from the wheat.
ii. Christ’s presence and preaching would be that fan,
exposing those who had repented from those who had
not.
iii. Unfortunately for them, as John suspected, many of
the Pharisees and Sadducees had not.
2. \\#3:13-17\\ Announced by the Father \\#Mark 1:9, Luke 3:21\\
a. \\#13\\ "from Galilee to Jordan" - Galilee is in the northern
part of Israel. This indicates that Jesus was baptized in the
upper regions of Jordan.
b. \\#14\\ "But John forbad him"
(1) John began to refuse.
(2) "I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me?"
(a) John, knowing who Jesus was, knew that Jesus alone was
God, holy and sinless; therefore, Jesus needed no
baptism at all.
(b) John also knew that if anyone ought to be administering
the baptism, it was Jesus and that he himself, a man
born in sin, needed to repent before the Christ.
(3) Although not stated at this time in words, John’s hesitancy
to baptize Jesus demonstrates that Jesus was One of greater
worth and honor than himself. \\#John 1:29, 34, 36\\ tell us
that John either had or would very soon make a very plain
accouchement as to who this Man was.
c. \\#15\\ "Suffer it to be so"
(1) To suffer means to endure or tolerate it.
(a) Jesus told John to accommodate to these things.
(b) Notice, Jesus did not tell John that he was wrong about
what he had said. He was very, very correct.
(2) "thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness"
(a) Jesus was born under the law and prophets.
Matthew 11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am
not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law,
(b) Jesus had come to fulfill the requirements of both and to
be Messiah, He must.
(c) Jesus was telling John that this is the right thing to
do.
(d) "Then he suffered him" - So John obeyed.
d. \\#16-17\\ "when he was baptized"
(1) \\#16\\ And Jesus… went up straightway out of the water"
The passage says that Jesus was brought up out of the water,
indicating a immersion into the water, as the word "baptism"
means.
(2) \\#16-17\\ "he saw the Spirit of God… and… a voice from
heaven" - The Trinity is manifest together. Jesus, the Son
of God was coming out of the water, the Holy Spirit
descended, and God the Father spoke.
(3) "This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" - The
Father announced to those present who Jesus is.
(a) Jesus is God’s Son - Not in a physical sense. God did
not "birth" Jesus into existence. As God, Jesus has
always been. Jesus is God’s Son in the sense that they
are of the same nature, character, and existence.
Humans cannot fully understand the Trinity because we
have never known anything like it. Even so, we can
accept and believe the Trinity.
(b) Jesus is the beloved Son - God not only tells us who
Jesus is, but He also describes the emotional bond
between them. God loves the Son.
e. \\#16\\ "the Spirit of God descending like a dove" - The dove has
become a recognized symbol of the Holy Ghost.
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