The Beloved Son

January 3, 2010

Lesson: Matthew 3:1–17

Key Verse: Matthew 3:17

Introduction

John the ‘Baptizer’ (Mark 6:14) was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth, relatives of Mary the mother of Jesus. While Zechariah was discharging his priestly office, an angel of the Lord visited him. The angel told him that he and Elizabeth would bear a son: “and thou shall call his name John. And thou shall have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him (Christ) in the spirit and power of Elijah to …to make ready a people for the Lord” (Luke 1:13–17). Thus John grew up to become a priest in the temple, receiving the call to preach “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3). John was chosen of the Lord to be the forerunner of Christ Jesus: “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matt. 3:3).

Our Lord Jesus spoke of John as: “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist” (Luke 7:28). The Lord had promised his people an Elijah who would be the herald of the Savior: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” (Mal. 4:5). The Son of God spoke of John as a fulfillment of this promise: “That Elijah is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him” (Mark 9:13).

John the Baptist was a great prophet of the old covenant who became the bond between the Old and New, preparing the way for him who is truly the only Prophet, Priest, and King, Christ Jesus. As the forerunner of Jesus, John looked to him as “he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire” (Matt. 3:11).

Question: What did Jesus have to say about John the Baptist?

John’s Message: Matthew 3:1–6

John the Baptist came “preaching in the wilderness of Judea.” The prophet-priest of Almighty God preached, not to a barren wilderness, but to crowds of people in a wilderness of darkness. The gospel which he preached was this: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The message was for Israel to turn from unrighteousness to the Lord who would refine them with fire and bring them into his kingdom. The prophet spoke of John, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

The Lord Jesus declared: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. …he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Mal. 3:1–3).

That which was a wilderness of unrighteousness would become a desert blooming with the righteousness of God. Repentance in the heart of the believer turns him to the heart of Christ. We are but wanderers in a wilderness of sin “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest” (Isa. 32:15).

Christ is the sovereign Lord of the kingdom which comes from above. John was making the path straight to Christ, so that those looking upon him in faith would shed tears of repentance and know the grace of forgiveness from the one and only true Savior. Grace was poured out of heaven into the hearts of God’s people through the heart of him who shed his blood on the cross. As Jesus said, as he passed the cup: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28).

People went out to hear the prophet in the wilderness, from “Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region around about Jordan” (3:5). It is recorded that they were “baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins” (3:6). Repenting, they made a public acknowledgment of their sins. Confession of our sins is our admission that we have transgressed the law of God, that we have sinned against our Creator. If we say that we “have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

Question: What is the meaning of repentance?

The Warning: Matthew 3:7–12

Many of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to John’s baptism and he questioned them: “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” John challenged their motives in coming to him. Jesus knew the heart of those present when he later spoke of them, saying, “And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him” (Luke 7:29–30). Those who knew that they were sinners were justified of God; those who reasoned within themselves that they were not sinners rejected the counsel of God.

John speaks to them forthrightly, giving them the benefit of the doubt as to their reasons for coming to hear him: If you have come to hear the counsel of God then, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.” Did they come as vipers to spew poison upon his words or to repent before God? John warned them that they could not answer his question saying that they had Abraham as their father.

It is by the fruit of repentance that we are able to claim to be children of Abraham. The fruit of repentance are the acts of a repentant heart. John warns those who would come with an outward act of repentance and not show the fruits of repentance. The one who repents from the heart is one who hates the sin that is in him. He seeks to die to the sin that he once did and desires the righteousness of God. He seeks to do the greatest good that is found in Christ his Savior.

John points the people to the Christ who will come after him: “he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire.” Only Christ can baptize one with the Holy Spirit. This baptism is the true cleansing of the heart as the Holy Spirit purges the reign of sin from our lives, as with fire, and applies that work of our Savior who gave of himself on Calvary’s cross for us.

The warning is emphasized as Christ is shown to be the One with a fan in his hand to “thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” So the hypocrites and unbelievers, the wicked of this world, will know only everlasting torment.

Question: What are the fruits of repentance?

The Beloved: Matthew 3:13–17

One day, Jesus came to John at the Jordan River “to be baptized of him.” Jesus was now thirty years of age. His work as our High Priest on earth was about to begin. For when the time that was set in heaven came, the Father sent his Son to “redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4–5).

John refused to baptize Jesus saying, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” (3:14). Jesus answered: “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.” Jesus placed his confirmation on both the work of John and of himself by being baptized. John prepared the way through the preaching of repentance, and Christ confirmed the forgiveness of sins by accepting the sins of his people upon himself.

Christ humbled himself that we might have life. He took upon himself, as our High Priest, our sins, including the guilt and punishment. He did not need to be baptized unto repentance. He was sinless, the very Son of God. Jesus was the One of whom the prophet spoke: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). Thus Christ began his ministry as the Priest who offered himself on the cross for our sins.

John came filled with the Spirit of God to the Jordan. He now would witness what the Spirit had previously told him: “he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). John, therefore, baptized Jesus and the heavens were opened and John saw “the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.” The Father’s voice then spoke from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Question: Why did Christ accept John’s baptism?

Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2010 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.