Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Matthew 3


Matthew 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”a]">[a]

4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you withb]">[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you withc]">[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Footnotes:
  1. Matthew 3:3 Isaiah 40:3
  2. Matthew 3:11 Or in
  3. Matthew 3:11 Or in

1 comment:

  1. Yesterday, my wife asked me why the book of Matthew was the first book in the New Testament. I am not quite sure what the answer is, but it is pretty cool how it ties in so well with the Old Testament. Matthew 1 and Matthew 2 shows how the birth of Christ from a virgin mother, in the line of Abraham, line of David, from Bethlehem fulfills OT prophecies that were spoken hundreds and some thousands of years before the birth of Christ. Matthew 3 is the same way as it shows how John the Baptist fulfills OT prophecies, as he fulfills Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1 (check those verses out!).

    I used to think that John the Baptist was a weird dude because he wore a garment made of camel hair, eating locusts and wild honey as his primary diet. However, I found out from my study Bible last night that garment of camel's hair was commonly worn by nomadic desert dwellers. Also, locusts and honey was not an unusual source of food for people living in the desert (lots of protein I bet). So John the Baptist wasn't as weird or crazy as I thought.

    Matthew 3 ends with one of the coolest scenes in the Bible: the baptism of Jesus Christ. This scene is the first (and only?) time the Trinity is shown at work all at once. The Father speaks, the Spirit descends on the our Lord Jesus Christ. One cool thing about the descending of the Holy Spirit like a dove... this is what an Biblical scholar named Craig Blomberg said, "...the most obvious reference would be to the activity of God's Spirit in creation, just as Genesis 1:2 spoke of him 'brooding' or 'hovering' over the waters. Jesus now begins a work of re-creation."

    That is just awesome... the flow of Scripture... even how the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters in the book of Genesis, the Spirit descends like a dove (hovering down like He did in Genesis) onto Jesus. So coooool!!!!

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