Series: Jesus in the Wilderness
Read: Matthew 3:1-12
John the Baptist must have been a strange sight to behold. He dressed in an outfit made from camel’s hair tied together with a leather belt and ate locusts and wild honey. If you know anything about me, then you know that I like to grow my beard long during the winter. I start with No-Shave-November, followed by Decem-Beard, then Janu-Hairy, Fur-Buary, and, finally, Mustache March. But, this year I decided against it.
I can also relate to John in his minimalistic aesthetic. I only own one pair of jeans. This really bothers my wife. So much so that she bought me a second pair for my birthday, but I made her return them because I couldn’t betray all the people I’ve told that I only own one pair.
You might think I’m strange, or simply trying to stand out from the crowd, but I really just like to live differently. I’ve even eaten bugs on occasion when challenged by my friends. But John the Baptist wasn’t living in the wilderness to boost his social media profile. He was the real deal, a true outlier, but one who truly embodied the message that he preached.
Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand
John’s appearance certainly mirrors his message. Today, we might discount him as an unstable individual spouting nonsense on a soapbox. But although his attire might have caught people’s eye, it was consistent with his preaching.
He is calling people to repent. People must forsake the pleasures, treasures, and securities of this world in favor of the glory of God’s Kingdom. This is not a popular topic in our day. We are much more interested in hearing how to improve our lives. This message is not only countercultural today, but it was back then as well. It literally demands that we humble ourselves, acknowledge our need for forgiveness, confess our sins, and submit to the will of God. There is no other way for salvation. It’s not a casual conversion. We must give God complete control, not simply invite Him into our lives.
By wearing handmade clothes from camel’s hair and eating locusts, John is proclaiming from his actions, as well as his words, the limitations of the kingdom of this world. He has forsaken comfort for the sake of ministry. This is parallel to the ministry of Jesus who lowered Himself from glory in heaven to come and live among His own creation. John is demonstrating the greater value of knowing Christ and the worth of serving in His Kingdom.
John is the forerunner of Christ. No one would have perceived him as the Messiah, especially by his appearance, but they certainly saw him as a prophet. He is preparing the way of the Lord. He is leveling the lofty mountains and filling in the deep valleys. He is paving a road for the Messiah and that requires a major reconstruction. People don’t like change. They resist it even when it is for their own benefit. But without significant change, the world cannot be saved.
Water Baptism
The fact that people responded positively to John’s message is remarkable. The people were being oppressed. They were living in darkness. There wasn’t much hope for them. They were looking for something better and they came to John to be baptized.
This is the opposite of what contemporary church leaders will tell you about how to grow a large crowd. That might be due to the relatively rich lifestyles that we live and lead. You certainly wouldn’t want a pastor that looks like he hasn’t showered in years yelling at people to repent and pressuring them to walk down the aisle and get baptised. It shows the difference between those who are comfortable with their lives the way they are and those who are desperate for something better.
Baptism was a common practice for Jews. I’ve been to Jerusalem where they have been doing excavations under the temple mount and they show these bathing pools where worshippers would baptise themselves as a form of ritualistic cleansing before coming into the temple. However, this wasn’t so much a sanitary process. The water would have been dirty and after hundreds of people had already been through the water before you, a little gross. It was the symbol that was important. It demonstrated the need for cleansing before coming to worship.
Nowadays, we have to wash our hands with sanitizer at the door. As much as that is a reminder of the global pandemic that we are all cautious of, we could give it a new meaning for us as we remember to confess our sins and cleanse ourselves from all unrighteousness as we gather to worship.
But in this scenario, the Jews were being baptized by John. They weren’t doing it for themselves, and they weren’t doing it in Jerusalem. This was a public proclamation of their confession of sins. They knew what separated them from God. They were not saying, “Baptize our neighbors.” They presented themselves to be baptized and submitted to the call to repentance. They were leaving the temple area to go out into the wilderness. This demonstrated the hollow worship that was taking place in the temple and the emptiness the people felt in the wilderness of their lives.
A Brood of Vipers
The message of repentance was amplified as the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to see what John was up to. Refusing to baptize them, calling them a brood of vipers he condemns them, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” There’s a lot that needs to be deciphered here. FIrst, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were on opposite spectrums of the theological and political spectrum, yet, they were united here in their concern of what John was doing. Likewise, they were mutually condemned because they did not demonstrate the fruit of repentance. They were not interested in the Kingdom of God. They were only concerned in controlling their own power. They would have been the only people attending John’s service that didn’t need to worry about where their meal was coming from that day. They were simply scouting out John to determine if they needed to align themselves with him or publicly reject him.
They wouldn’t have had a problem with the message of repentance, they just didn’t think it applied to them. The religious leaders weren’t concerned with coming face to face with God. They thought very highly of themselves. John warns them of the wrath of God because no one will escape it on their own merit. No one can stand before God without being cut down and consumed.
They would, however, have been concerned with the announcement of a new Kingdom. They had established themselves comfortably with the present regime. Change would mean that they would control and interests would be vulnerable. This is what they couldn’t accept. They loved this world and the treasures that it offered them. As a result, they would be cut down with it.
The religious leaders are a contrast to John the Baptist. He had forsaken the pleasures of this world, wearing garments of camel’s hair and eating locusts. The Pharisees and Sadducees had an unhealthy allegiance to this world that they were not willing to forfeit for the treasures of God.
Fire Baptism
There is a cleansing imagery associated with water baptism, but it’s not enough to wash away the sin with water. Shakespeare beautifully portrays this in Lady Macbeth, constantly washing her hands trying to get rid of the blood. The water might wash the outside, but we need to be cleansed from within.
John understands the reality of who God is. He isn’t even worthy to carry the sandals of Jesus. His response is simple. Stop trying to present yourself to God in your best possible light, forsake your own effort, humble yourself and repent. Then, and then alone, God will have mercy on you and save you from your sins.
He will replace your unrighteousness with the righteousness of Christ Himself and fill you with the Holy Spirit. Then you will be able to stand before the throne of God and avoid His wrath. Those who refuse to bow the knee will not be so fortunate. Anyone who does not repent will be cut down, thrown out as chaff, and burned with fire.
What is preventing you from repenting? Are we holding anything back from Christ’s redemptive work? Do we understand the necessity to confess our sins and humbly repent? Are we living as though we have been giving the righteousness of Christ? Are we fully devoted to the Kingdom of God?
Adam Miller is the president and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church. This article is a condensed version of one of his sermons.