Matthew 3:1 – 12

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ”

4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

This information is at least 25 years after the information written at the end of chapter two. Christ was a young child in chapter 2 verse 21, now he is about 30 years old. (Luke 3:23)

John became known for what he did, he baptized or immersed those who were repenting of their sins.

The wilderness was an area which was not cultivated or inhabitad. We will find he was preaching and baptizing in the area of the Jordan river.

John is telling people to stop sinning and prepare for becoming a member of the church, “kingdom is at hand” means the time of the church will be soon.

John quotes a prophecy from Isaiah 40 which is about him preparing the way for Jesus ministry. He is preparing the people so they are more ready to accept the teaching of Jesus Christ.

In those days prophets tended to be those who inhabited the wilderness ways and were not sophisticated dressers or eaters. John wore camelhair instead of silk, linen, or woolen garments. He had a leather belt around him to keep the loose garment close to his body.

John's diet consisted of clean and pure food, locusts which were among the clean foods which Jews were allowed to eat. Wild honey is what is deposited in hollow trees ore crevices of rocks, it is also a pure food of the vegetable class, honey is also known as one of the few foods which will never spoil.

Verses 5 and 6 tell us many people in the province of Judea and the city of Jerusalem came out to hear John and accepted his teachings so they were baptized when they confessed their intention of repenting of their sins.

The word baptized is from BAPTIZO, which is defined by Thayer as “Proplerly to dip repeatedly , to immerse, submerge or to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water.” Strong difines it as “ to make whelmed (fully wet)” This why John was using the Jordan, he needed enough water to fully submerge his subjects.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees were two of the main sects of Judaism in those days. The Parisees were mainly lawyers and the Sadducees were very political and also did not believe in life after death. They were not known for their spirituallity and as Christ lists they had many traits which were morally unrighteous. Thus John calls them brood of vipers.

John tells them they need to show their repentance by their actions, not just talking about it. “Actions are louder than words.”

John knew the pride these Jews had in being descendants of Abraham, and they leaned on their having Abraham as a father so he tells them if they think being descendants of Abraham is so important, they should think again, because God could make Jews of every rock in the promised land.

He tells them their time of importance is about to end, because they are not very fruitful of a plant so God is going to rip up their religious system and give his people a new covenent which is based on the blood of His Son.

John now talks about preparing for Christ, he tells us his baptism for remission of sins is not like the two baptisms which will be given by Christ, the first will be to guide the apostles, (Baptism of Holy Ghost) Acts 2, and the Baptism of fire, on the judgment day.

He uses the example of the shoes to show how little he is worth compared to Christ.

Christ is going to harvest the good and burn the evil on the judgment day.