1In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" 3For 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."' |
4Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7But 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? 8Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9and 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. 10And 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. 11I 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. 12His 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."
John's coming was foretold by the prophet Isaiah. He was to prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. But how does one do that? You do that by making things ready and by removing obstacles. He is making the people ready by letting them know that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He is removing obstacles by having them repent of their sins. He is baptizing as many as he can call to repentance.
But he didn't just quietly, humbly take on this task. He did it with a vengeance! I get the impression that with a big booming voice that could be heard even in a wilderness, he called everyone to repent. He is very outspoken in what is needed and what is to come. They must get ready! The time has come!
He must have been a memorable character. His clothes and eating habits were eccentric enough to be recorded in the Bible. Though footnotes in my Bible say this helps to tie him to the prophet Elijah who also wore camel's hair and ate locusts.
Note, he called and baptized everyone. All of Jerusalem, Judea, and the region around there came to him to be baptized. I don't think he was only calling Jews. He told pious Jews that just claiming Abraham as their father was not enough to save them from the wrath that is to come. By saying God is able to raise up children to Abraham from the stones I think he was telling them that God can make anyone a child of Abraham, including non Jews, those who are not direct descendants of Abraham.
It is apparent that he did not like the Pharisees or the Sadducees. He called them a brood of vipers, snakes. He accused them of coming to be baptized not so much because they wished to repent, but simply to flee the wrath that is to come. He talks of being worthy of repentance. But note, he baptizes them anyway. Even though he doesn't approve of them, doesn't think they are worthy, he does not judge them by denying them a baptism. He leaves that judgment to God. Imagine being John, putting all your energies into clearing the path for Jesus and having some of the biggest obstacles come and ask to be baptized. It would be hard to leave that judgment to God, but John did.
He talked of bearing fruit worthy of repentance. You cannot just rely on family connections or the fact that you go to church regularly or that someone else is praying for you to be saved in the final judgment. If we never bear good fruit, why should we be saved? For every tree which does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. But note, he says to bear fruit worthy of repentance. He doesn't say to bear good fruit so we can earn the right for repentance. We will all be given forgiveness of our sins if we simply repent, regardless of how worthy we are. For in reality, no one is worthy of it. If we truly repent, our slates will be wiped clean and we will have the chance to bear good fruit. We bear good fruit not so we can be forgiven, but because we are forgiven.
John baptized with water, for the repentance of sins. With this baptism sins would be forgiven, slates would be wiped clean. But the One who is to come will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. With this baptism, the Holy Spirit will be with you to help you bear good fruit. For in the end, in the final judgment, the good will be separated from the bad. No one will be overlooked as He thoroughly cleans out his threshing floor. We will all hope to be the wheat, the fruit of the plant, rather than the chaff which produces no fruit, as the chaff will be burnt up in the fire. The Holy Spirit will help us to bear good fruit so we too can avoid the unquenchable fire.
But first we must repent of our sins, to prepare the way for the Lord, to make His paths straight to our hearts. He will bring to us the Holy Spirit who will help to bring us to final salvation.