Matthew 3:7-12

It seems that Jesus and John the Baptist shared a common distrust of the religious right...hmmmm. Things are not always as they appear on the surface. Beware of the little foxes of pride and envy for those are the very things that kill true Christianity. We are to be united, as one Body, by the power of the Holy Spirit not by the traditions of men. Without Him we are like wandering sheep without a Shepherd with Him we are gathered in His name to accomplish His will.

As roads were repaired, smoothed, straightened, and leveled before a king came, so John was preparing a spiritual road for the Messiah before His arrival. John likened his ministry to God’s ax, clearing His orchard of dead wood—especially that which did not bear the fruit of repentance. John identified people with himself and his message of repentance by water baptism; the One coming after him was so much greater that He would unite people to Himself by means of the Holy Spirit. John knew that the kingdom to come would be characterized by a great display of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God’s people.

It would be the work of the Messiah to accomplish this, to baptize His people in the Spirit. But those who rejected Him the Messiah would baptize with fire, which is probably a figure for God’s judgment. In His first advent, Christ baptized in the Spirit. When He comes again, He will baptize with fire.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were two prominent groups in Judaism during the time of Christ. Both groups claimed to be true followers of Judaism, but their beliefs were considerably different. The Pharisees were primarily associated with the laymen of Israel. In doctrine, they held not only to the Law of Moses and Scriptures, but also to a whole body of oral tradition. Their activities were centered in the synagogue. On the other hand, the Sadducees were associated with the priestly caste, for whom worship was centered in the temple. Extremely conservative, they based their beliefs essentially on the Pentateuch—the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy.

Matthew 3:7-12

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.”