John the Baptist

A real time. God’s Word came when Tiberius Caesar ruled Rome, Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests (3:1-2). This really happened, to real people, in a real place. God spoke first. “The word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness” (3:2). John did not invent his message. God gave it to him. Why the wilderness? The wilderness was a dry, empty desert. People had to leave their busy towns and walk out to hear God’s message. Repentance. John preached “a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (3:3). Repentance means turning around: turning away from sin and turning back to God. Remission means forgiveness, with sins sent far away. Getting the road ready. Isaiah wrote, “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight” (3:4). When a king was coming, workers fixed the road. John was getting people’s hearts ready for Jesus. Valleys and mountains. “Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low” (3:5). Proud hearts need to be humbled. Hopeless hearts need to be lifted up. Crooked ways need to be made straight. Good news for everyone. “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (3:6). Salvation means God rescuing us. This rescue is for every kind of person, everywhere. What this means for you. God still speaks through His Word. When He shows you a sin, turn back to Him right away. He is always ready to forgive you and help you start again.

History, not legend (3:1-2). The fifteenth year of Tiberius was around AD 28 or 29. Pilate governed Judea, Herod Antipas ruled Galilee, and Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas held the high priesthood. The good news about Jesus happened in real history. The word came (3:2). God called John the way He called the prophets of old: His word came to him (compare Jeremiah 1:2). For about four hundred years Israel had heard no new prophet. Now God spoke again, and He spoke in the wilderness, not in the temple. Repentance (3:3). The Greek word is metanoia (say: meh-TAH-noy-ah), a change of mind that turns the whole life around. It is more than feeling sorry: “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Remission (3:3). The Greek aphesis (say: AF-eh-sis) means release, like a debt canceled or a prisoner set free. John’s baptism showed that a person was turning to God. The forgiveness itself would come through the One John announced. Isaiah 40 (3:4-6). Isaiah wrote these words to comfort God’s people. The road is prepared for God Himself: “Make straight in the desert A highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). So the One coming after John is the Lord. The messenger. Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, promised, “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me” (Malachi 3:1). John is that messenger. All flesh (3:6). All flesh means every kind of person, Jew and Gentile alike. Simeon said the same when he held baby Jesus: “For my eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:30). Application. Repentance is not one door you walk through and then forget. Christians keep turning back to God whenever His Spirit shows them a sin: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9).

God’s message came to John out in the desert. John did not make up his message. God gave it to him. John told people to repent. To repent means to turn away from sin and turn to God. It is like walking the wrong way and then turning around. John baptized people who wanted to turn back to God. Long before, Isaiah said a voice would get the way ready. In those days, workers fixed the road before a king came. John was getting hearts ready for Jesus. God wants every person to see how He saves. That includes you!

John lived in the desert. God gave him a message. John told people to turn from sin. He got their hearts ready for Jesus.

Strong words. John called the crowds a “Brood of vipers!” (3:7). Vipers are poisonous snakes. Some people came to be baptized only for show, with no plan to change. God’s anger at sin. John asked, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (3:7). Wrath means God’s holy anger against sin. Because God is good, He will not ignore evil. Real fruit. “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance” (3:8). Fruit is what grows from the inside out. When a heart really turns to God, it shows in what we do and say. No free pass. Some people said, “We have Abraham as our father” (3:8). They thought belonging to the right family made them right with God. It did not. Stones into children. John said God was able to “raise up children to Abraham from these stones” (3:8). God does not need anyone’s family name. He looks at the heart. The ax. “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees” (3:9). The ax was already in place. It was time to turn to God, not later but now. Fruit comes from Jesus. We cannot grow good fruit by trying harder on our own. Jesus said, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit” (John 15:5). What this means for you. Going to church or having Christian parents is a great gift, but it does not make you right with God. You need your own heart turned to Jesus.

Brood of vipers (3:7). Matthew tells us many Pharisees and Sadducees were in the crowd that day (Matthew 3:7). When a field fire spreads, snakes rush out ahead of it. John pictured people running from judgment without any change of heart. The wrath to come (3:7). Wrath is God’s settled, holy anger against sin, not a quick temper. Jesus later said that for anyone who will not believe, “the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Fruits worthy of repentance (3:8). Worthy here means matching. A changed life must match the claim of a changed heart. Fruit does not cause repentance; it shows that repentance is real. Children of Abraham (3:8). Many in Israel trusted their family line back to Abraham. Paul later taught that Abraham’s true children are those who share his faith (Galatians 3:7). Stones (3:8). God does not need anyone’s family line. He can make children of Abraham out of anything, even stones, and He does it by grace. The ax at the root (3:9). The ax was not trimming branches. It rested against the root, ready to strike. Judgment was near, and it would go to the root of the matter: the heart. Fruit from the Vine. Jesus is the Vine (John 15:5). Good fruit is the Holy Spirit’s work in a person who belongs to Jesus: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Application. Ask yourself honestly: Is there any part of my life where I say I follow Jesus, but my actions say something else? Bring that part to Him. He does not turn away anyone who comes to Him honestly.

John used strong words because he cared about the people. He called some of them “poisonous snakes.” They wanted to be baptized, but they did not want to change. God’s anger against sin is real. But God also gives a way to be forgiven. John said a changed heart shows on the outside. A good tree grows good fruit. Some people trusted in their family. They said, “Abraham is our father.” But God looks at each person’s heart. Having a good family does not make you right with God. You need your own heart to turn to Jesus. Then He will grow good fruit in you.

A good tree grows good fruit. A changed heart does good things. God looks at our hearts. He wants us to turn to Him.

A good question. The people asked, “What shall we do then?” (3:10). When God speaks to our hearts, the right answer is to ask what He wants us to do. Share. “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none” (3:11). A tunic was a long shirt. Turning to God makes us generous. Food too. “And he who has food, let him do likewise” (3:11). Likewise means the same way. God’s love in us reaches out to hungry people. Tax collectors. Tax collectors worked for Rome and often took extra money for themselves, so people hated them. John told them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you” (3:13). In other words, be honest. Soldiers. John told soldiers, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely” (3:14). Intimidate means to bully or scare someone. Accuse falsely means to tell lies about them. Be content. “And be content with your wages” (3:14). Content means satisfied and thankful. Wanting more and more is what led people to cheat. Right where you are. John did not tell tax collectors or soldiers to quit their jobs. He told them to live for God in those jobs. Not a ladder to heaven. These good things do not earn forgiveness. They are the fruit of a heart God has changed. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). What this means for you. Ask God, What should I do? Maybe it is sharing, telling the truth or being thankful for what you have.

What shall we do? (3:10, 12, 14). Three groups asked the same question. Real repentance is practical. It reaches the closet, the money bag and the way we treat people. Two tunics (3:11). The tunic was the inner garment, a long shirt worn next to the skin. Many poor people owned only one. Giving away your spare one meant real love for a real neighbor. Tax collectors (3:12-13). Rome sold the right to collect taxes, and collectors kept whatever extra they could squeeze out. Many Jews saw them as traitors. Yet these men came to be baptized. Later the tax collector Zacchaeus showed the same fruit: “If I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold” (Luke 19:8). Soldiers (3:14). These were probably soldiers serving Herod or Rome. The word for intimidate pictures shaking someone hard to frighten money out of him. Their power was meant to protect people, not to rob them. Content (3:14). Greed sits underneath each of these sins. Contentment trusts God to provide. Hebrews 13:5 gives the same call and the reason for it: God has promised never to leave us. Right where they were. John did not send people away from their work. He called them to be honest and kind exactly where they were. Fruit, not payment. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). The fruit John asked for follows a turned heart. It never buys forgiveness. Application. Think about what repentance looks like in your own world: your phone, your money, your friends and your words. Pick one clear change to make this week, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

The people asked John, “What should we do?” John told them to share. If you have two shirts, give one away. Share your food with hungry people too. Tax collectors often cheated people out of money. John told them to be fair and honest. Soldiers sometimes bullied people to get money. John told them to stop and be happy with their pay. John did not tell them to quit their jobs. He told them to love God right where they were. These good things do not earn God’s love. They show that a heart has really changed.

People asked, “What should we do?” John said to share. Share your food and clothes. Be fair and kind.

Is John the Christ? The people “reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not” (3:15). Christ means the Anointed One, the King God promised. Pointing away from himself. John said, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming” (3:16). John could have taken the honor. Instead he pointed to Jesus. The sandal strap. Untying sandals was a servant’s lowest job. John said he was “not worthy to loose” Jesus’ sandal strap (3:16). That is how great Jesus is. The Holy Spirit. Jesus would “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (3:16). Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to live in everyone who trusts Him. Wheat and chaff. “His winnowing fan is in His hand” (3:17). Farmers tossed grain into the wind. The heavy wheat fell, and the light chaff blew away. One day Jesus will separate those who belong to Him from those who do not. Brave John. John told Herod his sin was wrong, and Herod “shut John up in prison” (3:20). Speaking God’s truth can cost something. Jesus baptized. Jesus had no sin to turn from, yet He was baptized with the people (3:21). He came to stand with sinners, because He came to save them. The Father and the Spirit. The Spirit came down “like a dove,” and the Father said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (3:22). What this means for you. Like John, you can point your friends to Jesus. He is the One who saves.

Expectation (3:15). Israel was waiting for the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King God promised. Christ means the same thing. Many wondered whether John was the one. Mightier (3:16). John’s whole work pointed beyond himself. Later he said it plainly: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). The sandal strap (3:16). In that culture, untying a master’s sandals was a slave’s job. John placed himself below even a slave before Jesus. Spirit and fire (3:16). John’s water baptism was an outward sign. Jesus would give the Holy Spirit Himself. At Pentecost the Spirit came with “divided tongues, as of fire” (Acts 2:3). Fire also pictures purifying, burning away what is worthless. The threshing floor (3:17). A winnowing fan was a wooden fork used to toss grain into the wind. The same Jesus who gives the Spirit will also judge: “the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (3:17). Unquenchable means it cannot be put out. Good news (3:18). John “preached to the people” (3:18), and the word means to tell good news. Even a warning about judgment is good news when it leads people to the Savior. Herod Antipas (3:19-20). This Herod was a son of Herod the Great from Matthew 2. He had taken Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. John rebuked him to his face, and Herod locked him up. Jesus’ baptism (3:21-22). Jesus was praying when heaven opened. The Father’s words echo Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1, naming Jesus both Son and Servant. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all present. Application. Your life can be like John’s: a signpost pointing to Jesus, not to yourself.

The people wondered if John was the Christ. The Christ is the special King God promised to send. But John said Someone greater was coming. John was not even good enough to untie His sandals. Jesus would give the Holy Spirit to His people. John was also very brave. He told Herod the ruler that his sin was wrong. Later, Herod put John in prison. Before that, Jesus came to be baptized too. The Holy Spirit came down on Him like a dove. God said, “You are my Son and I love you.” John wanted everyone to look at Jesus, not at him. We can point our friends to Jesus too.

John said Jesus was greater. John was not even good enough to untie His sandals. Jesus is God’s own Son!

🎉 All words found!