The King is Coming (Matthew 3)

Matthew begins this chapter with a time reference, ‘In those days.’ Of course, he did not have any chapter divisions in his Gospel – they were added later so that we could find verses and passages. Instead 3:1 followed on from the closing verses of chapter 2. So ‘in those days’ must refer to the time that Jesus was living in Nazareth, which covers almost three decades. Matthew does not mention the connections between the family of Jesus and the family of John, and we have no idea if there had been any contact between them during the years that Jesus was in Nazareth.

The Announcer

John had waited thirty years before commencing his call to be the forerunner of the Messiah. Luke tells us that John had lived in the wilderness until he commenced to preach (Luke 2:80). Whatever else we can say about those decades, we can see that the time of preparation was a lot longer than the period in which he preached. We can see in this ratio a pointer to the seriousness of his call.

Yet we can also observe the suddenness of his ministry. From the point of view of the public, he seemed to appear from nowhere. John did not have to build a gradual influence over years of ministry. Sometimes God raises up a preacher from what seems to be nowhere and uses him in a dramatic manner.

Although his ministry was sudden, Matthew makes clear that it was successful. Many were drawn to listen to him and many responded in the sense of committing themselves to prepare for the arrival of the Messiah by being baptised. This had a tremendous effect on the religious hierarchy and they went to investigate.

When they arrived, they discovered that John’s message was stark as far as they were concerned. He had the same message for both groups. The Pharisees were the orthodox and the Sadducees were the liberals, but John put them together and called for them all to repent. Their sin was that they assumed that special privileges meant they did not need to repent. John reminded them that the truth was otherwise.

The final detail that we can mention about John’s ministry is that it was strategic. His calling was to make known certain truths about Jesus and of the imminent appearance of the kingdom of God. He was given a great privilege by God. Indeed, Jesus says elsewhere that John the Baptist was the greatest of the Old Testament servants because he had the role of forerunner.

The Announcement

John had a ministry of preparation as well as proclamation. As far as preparation for the coming of the Messiah was concerned, John told his listeners that they had to respond inwardly and outwardly. Inwardly, they had to repent and outwardly they had to be baptised.

John’s baptism is not the same as Christian baptism. Christian baptism connects us to the Christian church, but the baptism of John did not do so. Years later, Paul met some disciples of John the Baptist in Ephesus and when they believed in Jesus Paul baptised them. Those men had been baptised by John, but it is obvious that Paul did not regard John’s baptism as a Christian rite.

When a person was baptised by John they accompanied the ritual with personal confession of sin. The combination of baptism and confession was an indication that they believed the Messiah was about to appear. Christian baptism accepts the fact that Jesus has come.

John’s message of repentance has obvious applications for us, because it is how all sinners should respond to God. Repentance is always suitable and essential, whatever the stage in the development of God’s kingdom. What is repentance? It is sorrow for sin, it is turning away from sin, and it is always accompanied by personal trust in Jesus. The gospel invites us to repent, indeed commands us to do so. Perhaps we may find it hard to find in our hearts. In that case, we should ask Jesus for it because one of the consequences of his exaltation is that he can give repentance to sinners as a gift.

John also predicted what the Messiah would do when he came. Because of who he is, he would be able to do far greater things than John could do. While we do not know what his readers thought of the details he mentioned, we can see that his words cover what Jesus would do throughout his reign. Some of his actions would be gracious and others would be severe.

The gracious actions include giving the Holy Spirit and purification by fire. This is what Jesus does for each person who turns to him for mercy. John was stating that Jesus would turn his converts into saints. In contrast, John had many followers, but he by himself could not turn them into anything. Jesus commenced doing this on the Day of Pentecost and he continues to do so.

Another gracious activity that Jesus will engage in as King would be to gather his people into heaven (‘gather his wheat into his barn’). He partially fulfils that prediction when each of them dies, and he will completely fulfil it when he brings all of them into the new heavens and new earth.

The severe activity is the judgement he will engage in when the end comes. We are told many times in the Bible that Jesus will the judge of everyone, and that he will impose it without alleviation (‘burn with unquenchable fire’). That future situation is as guaranteed as the outpouring of the Spirit. It will be activity of the King before the new heavens and new earth comes.

The Anointing

It was customary for a King to be anointed when his kingship was authorised. We can think of how Samuel anointed David to be king long before it was public knowledge. So Jesus came to John for the anointing rather than John going to Jesus. Even the initiative for the anointing came from Jesus, which is another reminder that he was in charge.

John was reluctant to baptise Jesus because he imagined it would be inappropriate for Jesus to be linked to confessing sinners. The truth was the opposite because it had been predicted of the Messiah that he would be numbered with transgressors. In going through John’s baptism, Jesus the King indicated the kind of people he had come to help – those who needed deliverance from their sins. This was the purpose of the Father and by obedience to it by Jesus all righteousness would be fulfilled.

In addition, we see Jesus revealing great humility here as he takes his place among the baptised. Zechariah had pointed out that the Messiah would be meek, and a meek person is humble. It would have been easy for Jesus to remove Caesar from his throne, but since only proud men sat on it, it would not have been a place for Jesus to sit.  

The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus as a dove. We know that a dove is a symbol of peace. What kind of King would Jesus be? We get a pointer to the answer in this symbol. He would be a King who would provide peace. The contents of what was involved in providing peace would be revealed in more detail, but it would include him providing peace between God and man and peace between humans. The basis of the peace would be his accomplishment on the cross, and then he would send out his ambassadors with his message of peace.

The heavenly Father sent a word of commendation about Jesus. As has often been observed, here we have the opinion of heaven on the years that Jesus lived in Nazareth. Every moment of every day he had pleased the Father. And the Father shows his delight here when he speaks about his Son.

Application

Learn from John to admire the sinlessness of Jesus. There was not much in life that would cause John to move from a divine instruction. He was quite prepared to rebuke kings for their sins. Yet he recognised that Jesus was different from all other men because all others would have received John’s baptism if they had repented. John was reluctant to baptise a sanctified person. Yet when told what to do, he obeyed, which is an indication that he truly knew who Jesus was.

Learn from the baptism that the Trinity is involved in our salvation. From one point of view, the anointing of the King was a simple affair. None of the great of the earth were present. Yet that does not matter because each of the truly great from heaven were there. Each person of the Trinity did something great on this occasion. Their presence reveals the great interest they had in providing salvation for their sinful people.

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Learn from Jesus his desire to bring about all righteousness. After all, it was predicted by Isaiah that a king would reign in righteousness. He would live a life of righteousness, as stated in the Father’s assessment at the baptism of the thirty or so silent years, which pleased the Father. Jesus died to make righteousness available, and when we trust in him his righteousness is imputed to us. And then by the Spirit, he enables us to live a life of righteousness.