Contents:
• The two cousins. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.
• Jesus being mightier than John.
• John ate grasshoppers.
• Repentance
• Jesus’s baptism – Is baptism required for salvation?

Before reading this commentary, I encourage you to first read the text of Matthew chapter three.

Jesus Christ and John the Baptist are cousins because Mary and Elizabeth were related. But even before he was born, john the Baptist knew that Jesus was the messiah. The bible says in Luke chapter 1,

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:41)

Mary, at that time was pregnant with Jesus.

Verses 1-2
At the beginning of chapter 3, Jesus and John are now adults and in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.

But what a coincidence, that’s the exact same thing that Jesus is going say. As a matter of fact, the very first words that Jesus preaches at the start of his ministry, after he returns from fasting in the desert, are “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

So what do we make of that? When both the greatest profit who has ever lived and Jesus the Messiah are both saying repent, it’s probably pretty important, So let’s examine this and understand what they’re talking about.

But before we do, let me give you a reminder; how do we get into the kingdom of heaven? Is it by being a good person? No; because we can not earn salvation. If salvation could be earned, people would have something to brag about. They would be inclined to stand before God and say, “Look at how great I was”.

But Ephesians 2:8-9 states;

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

So we can not earn our salvation by being good or by doing good works. Salvation is by faith. Then what is the purpose of repentance? Why are both Jesus and John, these two cousins, telling everyone to repent?

First of all, what does repent even mean?

I don’t like arguing with strangers on the internet, but sometimes I find myself doing so over the doctrines of Christianity. It was just recently that a Christian made a post stating that Jesus never said “Repent”. I entered into the conversation with my disagreement and the discourse quickly devolved into this stranger arguing with me over the meaning of the word repentance.

This commentary is very intentionally, not meant to be scholarly in nature. Its purpose is to be read by the ordinary Joe and the average Sue. It was not my intent to dive head first into Greek words, root words and forms of verbs that often make bible commentaries a burden to read. However, on this occasion I think it’s necessary if we want to understand what Jesus and John are proclaiming.

And to the ordinary Joe and average Sue, despite what I just said, if you have any interest in Bible study, I would encourage you to consider acquiring a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Anytime you read something in the Bible, and wonder what it means, a concordance can be a valuable tool to help you understand the passage.

Just be aware that Strong’s was written exclusively for the King James. If you read a different version of the Bible, there will be occasions that you’ll need to convert the passage in your bible, into the King James translation in order to look up in the Strong’s concordance, the exact word that was used in the bible. That in turn will allow you to identity the original Greek or Hebrew words.

The conversion is a simple process, just type your scripture reference into the internet followed by the letters KJV and you’ll instantly receive the way the verse was written in the King James. Then you’ll be able to know what word to look up in your Strong’s concordance. They do make concordances for some of the other bible translations; However, the Strong’s concordance is the most common and easiest to find. I got this one at a thrift store and probably paid a couple of dollars for it. You can probably do the same.

So, when we look up the word Repent, we find this Greek word μετανοέω, which means To think differently. To reconsider. To morally feel guilt after doing something bad. As we proceed further into the book of Matthew, we’re going to see that Jesus wants us to love God and to love other people. In John 14 Jesus it says;

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him (The Holy Spirit), because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. (John 14:15-17a)

If Jesus Christ, asks you to do something, you can not just give him the big middle finger. You can’t reject Christ, and love Christ at the same time. Now we all stumble into sin, we all make mistakes and errors, but to look to Jesus and say, “I’m not going to do what you say!” is a rejection of Jesus.

Again, if Jesus asks you to do something and you refuse, that is an act of rejecting Christ. We can not reject Christ and enter into the kingdom heaven. Fortunately, however, as long as you are alive, Jesus’s instruction, and John’s instruction, are still relevant. repent. In other words, as long as you are still living, you are still under God’s grace and there is still time available to you, to accept Christ and to put your faith and trust in Jesus. But the moment you depart from your body, that’s the cut off. Time’s up.

What Jesus wants us to do is to turn from, that is, to think differently about our sins. He wants us instead to follow him and put our trust and reliance upon him. That is, in and of itself, the very definition of faith. You are putting your trust in Jesus Christ, Thus, when Jesus Christ says, “don’t do that, instead do this”, you are able to trust him and are willing to do what he has asked of you.

If Jesus asks you to do something, and you don’t do it, you are rejecting what he asked you to do. You are rejecting Christ.

Again, I want to emphasize, that I’m not referring to the stumbling into sin. We live in a dark and fallen world, and stumbles, trips and falls are unavoidable. But I’m talking about the very deliberate and intentional rejection of Christ’s commands and teachings. That, in and of itself, is a rejection of Christ.

Verses 3-6

John ate grasshoppers. To me, that’s disgusting. Why does the bible mention this? I think it may be to show John’s humbleness and to compare him to Elijah. John doesn’t wear fancy clothes and eat fine foods. He’s like a homeless person. He’s out in the wilderness, rather than in the city. He wears camel hair clothing and eats insects. I suspect that if you and I encountered john the Baptist today, we might be inclined to avoid him, a man at the river wearing rags and eating bugs. But many people in Israel heard about what he was doing, and went out there to see him and be baptized by him.

Verses 7-10

But when John saw the Pharisees showing up at his location, he scolded them and ridiculed them by asking, “Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”

Coming Wrath? What’s he talking about? Our culture today would proclaim that Jesus loves everyone. That he’s an all loving God, and doesn’t send anyone to hell. There’s even an American pastor who wrote a book claiming hell is empty. So what is this talk about God’s coming wrath?

Many people today, both Christians and non-Christian alike, view Jesus as only the meek, mild, loving, compassionate person that came 2,000 years ago. But they never consider the Jesus that is coming back.

Our all loving Jesus is a God of Justice. And when He comes back, that period of Grace will be over. That’s when he will pour out justice and wrath.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. (Romans 1:18)

Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and slipped away. When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. So the servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

‘No,’ he said, ‘if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’ (Matthew 13:24-30)

And when Jesus explained this parable to his disciples he said;

“The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness. And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13:37-43)

Verse 11

John says that the one who is coming is more powerful than he is. John is referring to Jesus, the Messiah. John has been described in the bible (Luke 7:24-35), as the greatest of all prophets, but John says he’s not worthy to even untie the sandals of Jesus. This tells us that Jesus is more than a profit, he’s more than a good teacher, and as we continue into this New Testament Commentary, we’re going to see that Jesus is not only a mighty man, but that he is God himself.

Verse 12

Jesus’s winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

This is exactly what was just discussed a moment ago from the parable of the weeds and the wheat. But first notice that John says the winnowing fork is already in his hand. That was spoken 2,000 years ago. How much closer are we today to that moment when Jesus clears the threshing floor?

Verse 13

Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. Jesus said regarding baptism, “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”

Is baptism required for salvation?

The Christian walk takes an entire lifetime. It’s not necessary for us to know every answer before we can follow Jesus Christ in Faith. I myself, am 53 years old and have been following Jesus since my twenties. And I don’t yet have all the answers.

Here’s what I know. Salvation is by faith. The thief on the cross was not baptized. However, Peter said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Again I say! It’s not necessary for you to be a theologian in order to follow Jesus! Just go get baptized, follow Jesus and then don’t worry about it. I’m not going to have consternation over a theological debate. Just get baptized, and afterwards give praise to Jesus. It’s not necessary to fully understand every theological discussion before you can have faith.

So then what’s the answer? Is baptism required for salvation? The answer is, “I don’t know”. But I’m not going to worry about it because I’ve been baptized and I’ve put my faith in Jesus. You should do the same.

Verse 16

As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.

What is that about? That’s the Holy Spirit. As we proceed through the gospels and The New Testament as a whole, we’re going to see the value and importance of having the Holy Spirit in you. So if you have never received the Holy Spirit before, know this:

Matthew 7:7-8 says;

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

So if you ask for the Holy Spirit, if you seek the Holy Spirit, If you knock he will answer. Because what did it say there in verse 8? “For everyone who asks receives”.

What then does that look like? How does one ask? Very Simple….”Lord, may I have the Holy Spirit.”

Ask that, and keep asking it until you receive the Holy Spirit. Remember that verse said Seek after it, and The Holy Spirit will be given to you.