Matthew 4:12-17 People Saw a Great Light!

Matthew 4:12-17  When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.  Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:  “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”  From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

The kingdom of God represents a new age, a different environment.  John the Baptist talked about this kingdom when he called out the Pharisees and Sadducees: You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And 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.  (Matthew 3:7-9)  John was telling them the covenant between Abraham and God would not save them.  Their position of genetic inheritance would not save them.  Even their supposed dedication to the law would not save them, and their imagined position of favoritism with God because of being priests would not save them.  A new kingdom was coming that would be so righteous that every jot and tittle of the law would have to be completely fulfilled, slavishly obeyed or they would face eternal damnation.  The 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.  (Matthew 3:10)  This kingdom Jesus talked about was a place of great light with no darkness.  The kingdom held so much light that eternity was there.  This light goes far back to Genesis 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  (Genesis 1:1-4)  The creative power of God in and through Christ, the light of the world, had come to Earth, and this regenerating light came to Zebulun and Naphtali—to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:  “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.  Jesus Christ, He is the pure light, the complete light.  Jesus represents the opposite of darkness—no darkness or sin is found in him.  People walk in darkness, blind, at best in the shadows of light.  The law helps to reveal light, but does not penetrate the souls of men outside of Christ.  Consequently, they walk in the shadows, seeking goodness and purity, trying to be lights.  But lacking light in their souls, they are not lights.  The redeemed are the lights of the world, for God has made them new creatures, capable of holding the light of God in their souls.  But without this light within, they are but people who walk on the fringes, trying to be good, but never quite good enough to please a righteous, pure, and eternal God.  By faith, Jesus completes the task of holiness for us, for He is holy.  Jesus governs everything, and He alone separates light from darkness.  Jesus is the full manifestation of God, illustrating all that is good, all that is truly creative, new, alive.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  (John 1:1-5)

After John the Baptist’s imprisonment, Jesus withdrew to Galilee.  Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum.  He continued John’s mission of preaching repentance: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.  John was in prison, but the message must go on: repentance.  The people were becoming sensitized to the need of changing their lives to the better.  Even the priests must change the way they lived and ministered, for God was not satisfied with the Jewish people’s way of life.  John’s message called them to come out of their darkness into the light.  Of course, seeking a better life through obedience to the law had always failed the Jews.  The Old Testament explicitly tells this story of failure of faithfulness to God by following laws and regulations.  But due to John and now Jesus’ ministry, a religious revival was taking place in Israel.  People’s ears were opening to the truth.  They flocked to Jesus, gathering around him to hear his ministry.  But Jesus did something John could not do and that was to perform miracles testifying of a supernatural kingdom beyond what the people had experienced in their present sinful world.  The people realized Jesus was greater than John the Baptist because He could do supernatural wonders, and they were amazed.  Consequently, not only John’s followers gathered around Jesus, but many others, even some of the priests, became followers and advocates of his teachings.  Jesus’ ministry was validated constantly by the healings, miracles, and works He performed.  These miraculous happenings surpassed their ability to understand; they were impossible, beyond mathematical probabilities.  Because of these marvelous acts of Jesus, the crowds were eager to hear his teachings, introducing them to a realm many of them could not believe, a supernatural existence, life after death.  When Jesus talked to the Sadducees, He told them they were sadly mistaken about their view of another existence after death.  The Sadducees were very skeptical about life after death, even though they were the chief priests of the Temple, where the eternal Spirit is supposed to abide.  Their teachings were firmly implanted in many people.  Jesus told the Sadducees that they were ignorant of the word, their supposed area of expertise.  “About the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?  He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”  (Matthew 22:31-32)  They were not only ignorant of life after death, they also were ignorant about the power of God.  He changes people dramatically after their demise; there is no need of marriage after death, the relationships between people will be changed completely.  In heaven, people will be more like the angels without these natural needs and relationships.  The power of God is a creative force; new creatures will be made by their trust and faith in Jesus, the Christ.  The knowledge and wisdom of man is far surpassed by the knowledge and wisdom of God.  We cannot perceive or even imagine God’s dimension, his kingdom, eternity, his likeness outside of Christ.  Our thinking is encased within the chemical, electrical impulses of our fleshly brain, trapped in a creation made by the word of God, unable to understand the full reality of God and existence.  

The great light, Jesus Christ, came to earth to release people from bondage to sin, and to make them new creatures, capable of existing forever in a perfect dimension, spiritually alive, known as the children of God.  Laws and regulations could not have changed the people of Israel enough to enter into the reality of God.  Eternity would not be inherited by those who are trying to perfect themselves by following laws and obeying regulations.  The imperfections of humans are part of their Adamic DNA.  The decision to disobey God at the beginning of time changed them from being dependent on God’s presence, his life, to those who wish to navigate life alone without God’s companionship, leadership.  By breaking the covenant between man and God, man became temporal, not eternal.  His sin was too degrading, too evil, to allow existence forever.  Jesus, the great light, brought a creative light to the world.  New creatures were to be made, and this new creation would depend upon faith, not laws, or efforts.  This new creation would be a gift of God.  He gave himself to mankind, by giving mankind Jesus.  Jesus is life—through Jesus people now have life eternally.  But faith is necessary for new life to spawn in men and women.  Faith in the perfect one, makes people in the image of the perfect one: Jesus Christ.  No other avenue of belief or dedication will lead men to eternity.  Jesus is the gate, the path, the river, the sea to eternity.  The children of Israel escaped the prison of Egypt by going through the sea.  Jesus is the sea: He is the way of escape from the bondage of sin.  No other escape is possible without going through the sea.  We who are in Christ have passed through the sea; we are eternal, alone with Christ forever.  Jesus said John the Baptist would be the least in heaven.  John knew Jesus and who He was: the Son of God.  He said he wasn’t worthy to baptize Jesus; Jesus the Son of God should be baptizing him or putting him right with God.  But even though John lived a perfect life of dedication to God, he is the least in the kingdom of God.  Why?  Perfection comes from Jesus, not dedication, not self-will.  Perfection is a gift from God, not man’s efforts, even the best of efforts as John the Baptist’s life reveals.  Breakfast friends, glory in the work of Jesus and not your works, no matter how good they are.  You are a new creature in Christ Jesus.  See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!  (1 John 3:1)  Amen!  

  

Matthew 4:1-11 Worship and Serve!

Matthew 4:1-11  Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”  Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.  “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down.  For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”  Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”  Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!  For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

In the above passage, both Jesus and the devil use the word of God, wielding the sword against each other and revealing clearly that the powerful dynamics of the scriptures should be evident in our lives.  Jesus locked the door on the devil’s use of scripture by quoting the essential aspect of all scripture: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.  This statement is the essence, the foundation, of every covenant God made with man.  The Creator does not tolerate any other belief in his creation.  Judgment will fall on those who reject his absolute authority.  There is no other God to serve but him.  Jesus would serve only his Father no matter what the devil offered him; no kingdoms, no bribes, no rewards could deter him from serving God.  Jesus said, By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. (John 5:30)   Only God must be obeyed, lifted up, honored, and worshipped.  No other human, deity, lifestyle, imagination can be substituted for the Creator of the universe.  In today’s society, as with the ancient societies, substitutions for God and for serving him alone have always been sought.  This basic error of Adam and Eve is deeply embedded in the genetics of mankind.  People elevate philosophies, ideologies, religions, and manmade assumptions above the Creator.  These exceptions to God’s divine authority inevitably promise peace, prosperity, health, longevity, and the like.  We see much of this propagated on our televisions.  The purveyors of these different approaches to life display their discovery of a better way to live outside of serving God.  At best they are as hawkers in a carnival, promising you a tantalizing experience if you will only pay your fee.  In the different tents you will find the tallest man on earth, or the half monkey half man specie, or the fattest woman on earth, or the sword swallower, and so on.  But if you enter one of those tents, you will be disappointed by the shabbiness of it all. The tallest man in the world will appear unhealthy.  The snake woman looks like someone who has faced ridicule and abuse all of her life.  The smell of the environment and the dirtiness of the sawdust on the ground reeks with failure and unhappiness, an errancy from the goodness of the world.  The allurement of the hawker’s spiel, all of his promises of excitement and amazement, turn to disappointment after viewing what is inside.  The hawkers are men of deception, deceivers of life’s realities, painting a  false and impermanent picture.  Yet the world chases after people who promise a better life than serving God.  These false prophets sell their books and their snake oil to the dissatisfied with life who seek to buy a panacea for a better, more purposeful existence.  This constant seeking for a reality other than God denotes the rebellion in the heart of mankind: I will find a better way than serving God.  Jesus’ words shut up the master hawker, Satan.  Jesus knew: God is the only authority.  He alone makes life worth living: He is the excitement, the peace, and the prosperity in life.  HE IS AND HE ALWAYS WILL BE EVERYTHING!  He deserves COMPLETE SERVICE.

The temptations that Satan offered Jesus, the man, centered on this world.  The tempter came, saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  Jesus answered in his hunger for He was in the midst of fasting 40 days and nights, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.  This quote comes from Deuteronomy 8 where we read how God tested the Israelites by letting them go hungry for a while.  He tested them about whether they would remain his people or let hunger separate them from their allegiance to him.  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  (Deuteronomy 8:3)  We see Jesus responding to Satan with these inspired words while He experienced the condition of hunger.  The lack of food and strength in his body was not going to separate him from serving his Father God.  Then the devil used another temptation of the flesh: Jesus’ safety, protection.  If you are really God’s own, you will be protected by him.  “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down.  For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”  If you are truly the Son of God on earth, God will make your life secure, comfortable, and at peace.  Test God by throwing yourself off this mountain.  If you are his Son, He will protect you.  His angels will come to your rescue.  Jesus responds: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test."   How often do we Christians hear those words of uncertainty in our ears?  If you really are a child of the Most High would He not come and deliver you from this perilous situation?  Why, if you are God’s cherished child, does He not send an angel to rescue you?  You testify of being a child of the Most High, where is your God now?  Of course, these words are often heard in difficult times, but Jesus has the appropriate words to repel them.  Do not put God to a test, he if faithful to the end, put your trust in him for He is trustworthy.  As Paul wrote to the church, But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:19)  

Nonetheless, Satan never leaves us alone for long.  His favorite angle of attack tempts us to serve our own fleshly desires—his way of living.  Eat, drink, and be merry; build, work and strive, then you will be happy.  The world will be yours if you abandon the idea of serving God, accepting his role for your life.  Serving God and his purposes keeps you in a rut, forbidding you to participate in the activities that bring joy to the flesh.  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  If you allow me to direct your life, the world will become your oyster; people will be knocking on your door, wanting your favor.  You will be one of the world’s elite, attractive and wealthy with the kingdoms of the world open to you for the taking.  You will rise to the top in life as the next millionaire, the next famous singer or actor.  You will be the renowned artist, athlete, or composer.  “Just serve me,” remains the devil’s beseeching words.  Serve me day and night, serve me with disciplined intent.  I will make you famous.  Serve me, and all you ever dreamed of will come to your life.  You will have the splendor of life.  Of course, chasing this wishing star of the night will be a wasted effort even if you have everything you ever wished for.  Satan fails to tell you that it will all turn into dust when you die.  Rather than eternity written on your souls, you will have darkness, despair and death as your inheritance.  The devil’s ways of living never end happily. There are many pitfalls along his path.  He is a liar!  You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman.  For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.  (Genesis 3:4-5)  But you will die, and judgment comes after that.  Will your alabaster jar of life have perfume in it to anoint Jesus or will it contain the stench of a wayward life?  Satan’s ways are always consistent, attacking the Creator himself.  As Eve was influenced by the devil to question God’s authority, Satan used this tactic with Jesus. “You will gain so much more if you only open your heart to one other than the Creator.  With Eve, the devil said, “All of creation is at your hands if you serve other than God."  With Jesus, he said, "You can have all the kingdoms and notoriety of the world if you serve me.”  These temptations are alive and well in our day.  They tempt us because Adam’s DNA is embedded in us.  Because of our strong fleshly desires, we want to win the world, become significant, change to the fast lane in life.  We often desire to uniquely supersede God’s ways, rejecting the words obedience and servanthood, words that will cause us to lose our lives, not to win life.  But, if we serve our selfish, worldly desires, real peace, security, and love will always be a little beyond our reach.  Peace, contentment, and love are not over the next hill, somewhere in the future in the carnal life as the devil promises.  No, real peace is found by living IN CHRIST by faith.  Home is IN HIM NOW.  We use God’s word to combat the devil’s lies.  We are children of God: no greater honor can be bestowed on us.  The devil knows that, but he will always try to knock us off the path that leads to heaven.  Dear friends, no matter what the trial, you are on the road that leads to eternity in the chariot of Christ your Savior.  

Note: Dad is wondering if anyone noticed that last week he wrote John 3:11-17 rather than Matthew 3:11-17 as the scripture reference for the study.  I normally do not check that part of the breakfast, but I will from now on.  We are just curious about whether you are reading the breakfasts and if so, whether you catch our mistakes.  You probably were just being nice not to point it out.  Thank you. 

John 3:11-17 The Way, the Truth, the Life!

John 3:11-17  I baptize you with water for repentance.  But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His 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.”  Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”  Then John consented.  As 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 alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Today’s passage reveals a miraculous happening at Jesus’ baptism:  As 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 alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  Probably many people were baptized before Jesus that day, but no others before or after him had this heavenly confirmation of God’s pleasure or his satisfaction in their lives.  Only Jesus received this validation of right standing with God.  All the others were baptized for their sins, expressing repentance through the ritual of baptism.  Raised from the water, the others determined to improve their lives by following God’s demands more explicitly in their daily walk.  Only Jesus stood as the righteous One, before and after baptism.  He alone received praise and honor from God.  Jesus pleased God, for his walk, his words, and his deeds reflected God’s goodness.  His life fulfilled a covenant with God, complete dependence on God and his will.  Sin stained all the others John baptized that day, for they had the oil of darkness penetrating their very nature.  Washing with water would not do away with this indelible stain, just as a stain of olive oil on one’s clothes remains when clothes come out of the water in the washing machine.  When John lifted the other people out of the water in the river, the stain of breaking God’s covenant permanently marked their lives.  The convention of baptism could not change their inner makeup.  Only God changes the heart; man cannot change his inner nature by his own efforts.  Outside of Christ, the covenant-breaker’s stain exists permanently on his life.  Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  (John 14:6)  For those who were baptized, repentance was a good thing—a desire to lead a better life is always good.  The desire to get right with the Creator is positive.  Many people want to do better, but they do not want a Savior.  Doing good in life is not a bad desire, but the stain of sin will never be washed away by good intentions or baptisms.  Often people wish they could go back in their lives to an earlier time, to erase some of the wrong doings, the offenses that they perpetrated in their lives, but that is impossible.  The stain of our sins remain, permanently.  The awfulness of wrong thoughts, words, and deeds can never be completely forgotten or abandoned forever.  The stain of one who is a covenant breaker with God and man will always be there no matter our good thoughts of redemption, even if we repent with tears.  Sin is stable: water will not wash it away, only the blood of Jesus—the One who pleased his Father.

In Jesus’ baptism we see an intervention that changes this ceremony into a divine happening.  In John’s baptism we see a man baptizing other men and women.  Even a very good man such as John was still a man baptizing another man.  This whole procedure was good, but earthly; otherwise, the event pertained only to the actions of men.  But on this day, God involved himself with this ceremonial happening.  As we noted above, God came down like a dove and rested on Jesus.  Then they heard a voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  God involved himself, and He pierced the clouds and spoke out loud to make his presence known.  His Spirit alighted on Jesus, confirming that the man Jesus was his Son, the Messiah.  Jesus in the flesh is the Messiah: God with mankind.  We see what John meant when he said: I baptize you with water for repentance.  But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His 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.  Jesus, the Son of Man, would dwell with men; He would open the words of God to men; He would perform mighty miracles, and his words would separate the wheat from the chaff.  For some would believe in his works and take hold by faith of his works on the cross, but others, especially the elite of the world, would reject him and his deeds.  They would be the chaff winnowed out on the threshing floor.  God would separate his newly born from the chaff, those of the sinful world who rejected him.  The Holy Spirit, the resurrecting power of God, abides in the wheat that is set apart.  They have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.  He, the eradicator of sin, has created new life for the covenant breakers, bringing them to the Father God in complete holiness.  That day on the river Jordan, Spirit of God alighted on Jesus, indicating that Jesus had a holy mission, the cleansing of sin from man’s DNA.  The seed of Adam was to be destroyed, and the seed of Jesus was to be permanently revered and held forever in heaven. The born again will be washed clean, made alive evermore, because God dwells in them and they dwell IN GOD.  As we read in the word, But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  (1 John 1:7)

Generally, people in our day no longer worship idols.  Mankind has progressed in every way—we have computers, processors that can quickly discover intricate secrets of nature and of existence.  We can number the hairs on the heads of men, keep track of every animal that lives on this planet.  In so many ways, we are like God, at least as envisioned by the primitives.  Why do we need this idea of the corrupted man in need of salvation?  We know a healthy mind accentuates goodness, not evil; a healthy mind should be positive, not negative.  Mankind is now more than ever in charge of his own destiny; he does not even have to rely on gender, race, and status to get ahead or to determine his restrictions.  The world in many ways is open to all of mankind; the closed doors of the past have been cracked open; societal norms, mores and restrictions have been pushed aside.  We have more freedom now than humans have experienced from the beginning of time.  Why this sin question then?  Why bring men back under the bondage of good and evil?  The answer is that man’s heart has not changed.  He has a multitude of ways to experience evil, darkness, or harm to others.  Even today in an educated, rational existence, men are caught in the quicksand of sin, always sinking lower and lower.  The flesh and its pursuits has no boundaries.  Men and women today can engage their minds quickly through the computer into the most wicked dens of darkness.  An investigation of computer blogs, sites, and destinations would open up a plethora of dark images.  Young and old are involved; male and female unite, determined to explore evil.  Our sophistication, rational thought, and civilized enlightenment has led us to more sin, not less.  Yes, we do positive things.  But this is not what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is all about.  We are to do good things.  Adam and Eve broke covenant with God by partaking of the tree of good and evil.  Their decision contaminated them from the inside out.  People may do good, but the stain of covenant-breaker remains upon their lives.  They are self-driven, not God-driven.  The law fleshed out the covenant to the Israelites, but the Israelites could not fulfill their part of the covenant, even though they said many times: “Yes, we will do it; we will obey the commands of the Lord.”  But the Old Testament reveals their failure to fulfill their part of the covenant: obedience to God the Creator.  View your own lives honestly.  How many laws designed for the benefit of society have you broken, laws meant for protection, peace, safety, and unity?  We justify our actions in the moment because we are special and our need makes the action okay.  That is why we break the speeding laws without feeling guilty.  We may cut corners on our taxes or take advantage in selling things to others.  The Bible says, every man does what is right in his own eyes.  The baptism of John did not change the heart’s condition, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit changes the soul to righteousness: GOD IN US, WE IN HIM!  Consider this:  You baked a chocolate cake, but you mistakenly put salt in place of the sugar.  Now, you have a bitter tasting cake.  As a frugal person, to save the cake you cover it with an inch of chocolate frosting.  Problematically, once you eat through the frosting, you will find the cake inedible.  So it is with God and his creation, mankind.  No matter how much frosting of good works you put on the covenant-breaker, when the veneer is washed away, the covenant breaking sinner is exposed.  He is inedible, contaminated, stained indelibly.  Just as the cake could not be saved by adding sugar, mankind cannot be saved by good works and a pleasing outward appearance.  The salty cake had to go, and a new cake had to be baked.  God has made a new cake of you.  Paul wrote, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  You are completely  pleasing because you recognized the ONE who is completely pleasing to God.  By faith, you have taken his life for yours; it is no longer your life that you live, but the covenant-keeper’s life you live: Jesus Christ.  He alone is ACCEPTABLE TO GOD ALMIGHTY FOREVER.  

Matthew 3:1-10 Prepare the Way

Matthew 3:1-10  In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ’Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”  John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist.  His food was locusts and wild honey.  People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.  But 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?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And 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.  The 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.

These verses offer a quintessential example of God’s thoughts on those who believe they have a right to live any way they desire because of their special position with God.  As Abraham’s seed, the priests in particular thought themselves preferred by God.  John the Baptist told the Pharisees and Sadducees to repent, for God saw their impurity, pride, and lack of love for others.  God rejected their erroneous teachings, their conventions, traditions and rules about the commandments of God.  Knowing their hard hearts, God understood they were covenant breakers, even teaching sons to break the established covenant that the children would take care of their aging parents.  Instead, the teachers allowed the sons to say they gave their resources to God in alms.  John saw their desperately wicked hearts, telling them they could not hide their self-will and evil intentions.  Only God’s enduring patience kept them from fiery judgment.  Claiming Abraham as father offered no protection, for God will judge every man on his own merits, and all have sinned and displeased the Lord.  Right now, John said, the ax is poised at the root of all who live, to be cut off from God forever.  God is a consuming fire of righteousness, a perpetual, unstoppable force, eradicating all wickedness forever with no patience for waywardness.  Anyone who is not fully righteous will face the judgment of God on his or her life.  The destination of sin?  Thrown into the fire.  John asked, Why do you, the priests of Israel believe in a special dispensation because you are priests?  God does not accept your assumption of rightness with him; He knows your hearts and your intentions.  He can take the stones at your feet and call them to serve and praise him, giving him the deference He deserves.  I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  These stones could become true children of Abraham, with sure allegiance to their God, not serving as self-deluded hacks, claiming to know God, but their hearts, lifestyle, and intentions remain far from God.  John expressed all of this to the priests who are like vipers to God, nesting near the paths of life, ready to strike the innocent, the vulnerable.  Given their position of authority, they are highly respected and considered spiritual leaders, but they heap heavy burdens on people, teaching the traditions of men rather than God’s will.  John said their hearts are as stones, hard against God’s mercy, grace and love, unyielding to God’s desire to reconcile his people to himself.  Instead they stand in the way, unwilling to be baptized, unwilling to follow the people in repentance, insensitive to recognizing a new work in Israel.  They will reject the Messiah, despising him and eventually killing him on the cross.  When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”  “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”  He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”  (Luke 19:37-40)  Yes, the stones would recognize God in Jesus Christ before the spiritual leaders of the Jewish community would recognize him as God.  

John’s mission was to call the people back to God through the tradition of baptizing in water.  For years, Gentiles who wanted to belong to the Jewish faith had to be baptized to cleanse them of their Gentile ways.  They in essences had to be born again.  John who was called at birth by God was given the mission of calling the Jewish people back to God.  An angel spoke to Zechariah, Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.  He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.  He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.  He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.  And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  (Luke 1:13-17)  He was not to drink any alcohol—not to be a wine bibber, for his call for repentance must not come from an alcoholic induced origin.  No, he was to lead a pristine, disciplined life, so the people would consider his voice pure, from God himself.  The Holy Spirit set him apart to a rudimentary, rugged, and solitary lifestyle: consequently, he could hear the voice of God free from distractions such as the competing activities, ideas and voices that prevail in the community of man.  People of status and elders in the faith could have influenced his ideas about God and his mission.  But in the wilderness, he sat before God just as the apostle, Paul, learned in the wilderness about God’s intentions, and as Christ learned about God and resisting the devil in the wilderness.  Man’s knowledge is foolishness to God because man’s wisdom goes only so far, depending on circumstances and his personal experiences.  God’s wisdom is beyond the rational and the scope of man’s thinking; therefore, in John we see a man learning from God in the wilderness.  John cried out to a whole nation: repent or God will judge you with the fire of hell.  The people heard his voice and came to him to be baptized in water, to repent and to serve God rather than themselves.  He was reorienting the people spiritually, causing them to think deeper than their own self-willed agenda in life.  He was preparing the way of the Lord so people could accept the spiritual words of Jesus as the carpenter from Nazareth became the Rabbi to many.  In Jesus they found the wisdom of God and the power of God to heal.  His life impacted the people so greatly that they began to think of him as the deliverer of Israel, the one to overthrow the Roman occupation.  John prepared the way; Jesus became THE WAY.  Good News had come to the people through the man Jesus; the man who called himself the Son of Man.  

Jesus, not the teachers in the temple, would fulfill the covenant of Abraham: blessing the whole world through the faith of Abraham.  Abraham believed God would give him and his descendants the land of Caanan, a heaven on Earth.  As Christians, we believe God has a Promised Land for us: our faith rests in that hope.  Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, purchased that land for us through his sacrifice on the cross when He stopped the hand of judgment on the world.  John, in his analogy of the ax at the root of the tree (all trees), infers that all people are in the precarious position of judgment from God.  Because all people have been made in God’s image, all should be exuding God’s image in their lives.  People should be performing works of righteousness in their lives.  John, full of the Holy Spirit and God’s knowledge of the condition of the world, cries out for repentance—to serve God rather than the self.  Of course, later on John baptizes Jesus, following God’s will, obeying the Holy Spirit’s desire for all people to repent and to follow God.  After Jesus is baptized, He begins his mission to redeem the world.  The people are ready for Jesus’ voice, but the Pharisees, the religious elite, reject the voice of God through the words and deeds of Jesus.  He could not touch their stony hearts, just as Moses could not penetrate Pharaoh’s heart when the Israelites were in Egypt.  We know God performed miracles before the eyes of Pharaoh to push him to let the Israelites go.  But when he did release the Israelites, he repented of his decision and chased them to the Red Sea.  There he drowned, experiencing God’s judgment.  The  Pharisees had to see Jesus’ miracles before they would believe, but finally, just at the right time, they chased after Jesus to his figurative Red Sea.  Their priestly order would drown at the cross when Jesus died for all.  Now people who wanted to be right with God, would find their rightness with him by their faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Jesus would become their high priest by dying on the cross.  Although God’s judgment was rolling towards mankind as a ferocious lion, at the cross Jesus ran ahead of God’s holy fire of judgment.  Outside of Christ, nothing, no man, could stop this devouring judgment.  God would put mankind in the pit of hell; humans would be discarded as useless, selfish, unthankful, godless, worthy only for destruction.  

But we see Jesus running ahead of God righteousness, his fiery judgment, the path that God must follow, for no imperfection can be allowed to enter eternity.  Sin must be judged, annihilated.  Mankind, covenant breaker, must be dealt with permanently.  Jesus, the Son of God himself, stood in the path of judgment with his hands raised high to stop God in his righteous intentions of getting rid of his own creation.  Jesus knew this God, so ferocious, so mighty and righteous that man has no words or conceptions to describe him and his holiness, for he cannot even look upon sin without judging it.  Isaiah attempts to describe God: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”  At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.  (Isaiah 6:1-4)  This vision caused Isaiah to fear for his life, for who can look on God and live.  John was crying in the wilderness for people to repent, holding back God’s judgment.  Through the ages sacrifices were given to hold back God’s judgment.  But the road was clear: nothing stood between God’s eventual judgment of all mankind, nothing would satisfy God, nothing would deter him from the journey.  No sacrifice, no willingness to obey his covenants, no purity in actions and thoughts would prevent God from traveling down this road to destroy the fallen race of Adam.  But Jesus, the first fruit of the cross, the perfect sacrifice, jumped ahead on this path of holy judgment.   He puts his hands up, those hands scarred by the spikes, telling God, I have paid the price; I have closed this road of your righteous intentions.  I have closed the book on their unrighteousness, for I have paid the price for every sin that they have ever committed.  Jesus came, Immanuel, God with us.  He stopped the wrath of God.  He said, “It is finished.”  We do not have to write another chapter for our redemption; the book is closed; the road to destruction has been blocked.  John’s cry was for repentance; he paved the way for the one who would complete the task of making man right with God.  Amen!  Accept your free gift today!