1704 | Matthew 3:4
“ A voice of one calling in the wilderness,‘ Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” a q
4 John’ s clothes were made of cam el’ s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. r His food was lo custs s and wild honey. 5 Peo ple went out to him from Je ru sa lem and all Ju dea and the whole re gion of the Jor dan. 6 Con fess ing their sins, they were bap tized by him in the Jor dan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Phar i sees and Sad du cees com ing to where he was baptiz ing, he said to them:“ You brood of vi pers! t Who warned you to flee from the com ing wrath? u
8 Pro duce fruit in keep ing with re pen tance. v
9 And do not think you can say to your selves,‘ We have Abra ham as our fa ther.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is al ready at the root of the trees, and ev ery tree that does not pro duce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. w
11“ I bap tize you with b wa ter for re pen tance. But af ter me comes one who is more power ful than I, whose san dals I am not wor thy to carry. He will bap tize you with b the Holy Spirit x and fire. y 12 His win now ing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his thresh ing floor, gath er ing his wheat into the barn and burn ing up the chaff with un quench able fire.” z
The Baptism of Jesus
3:13-17pp— Mk 1:9-11; Lk 3:21,22; Jn 1:31-34
13 Then Jesus came from Gal i lee to the Jor dan to be bap tized by John. a 14 But John tried to de ter him, say ing,“ I need to be bap tized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus re plied,“ Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to ful fill all righ teous ness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was bap tized, he went up out of the wa ter. At that mo ment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God b de scend ing like a dove and alight ing on him. 17 And a voice from heaven c said,“ This is my Son, d whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” e
3:3 q Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1; Lk 1:76; Jn 1:23
3:4 r 2Ki 1:8 s Lev 11:22
3:7 t Mt 12:34; 23:33 u Ro 1:18; 1Th 1:10
3:8 v Ac 26:20
3:10 w Mt 7:19; Lk 13:6-9; Jn 15:2, 6
3:11 x Mk 1:8 y Isa 4:4; Ac 2:3, 4
3:12 z Mt 13:30 3:13 a Mk 1:4 3:16 b Isa 11:2; 42:1
3:17 c Mt 17:5; Jn 12:28 d Ps 2:7; 2Pe 1:17, 18
e Isa 42:1;
Mt 12:18; 17:5; Mk 1:11; 9:7; Lk 9:35
4:2 f Ex 34:28; 1Ki 19:8
4:3 g 1Th 3:5 h Mt 3:17; Jn 5:25; Ac 9:20
4:4 i Dt 8:3
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
4:1-11pp— Mk 1:12,13; Lk 4:1-13
4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wil der ness to be tempted c by the devil. 2 After
fast ing forty days and forty nights, f he was hun gry. 3 The tempter g came to him and said,“ If you are the Son of God, h tell these stones to be come bread.”
4 Jesus an swered,“ It is writ ten:‘ Man shall not live on bread alone, but on ev ery word that comes from the mouth of God.’ d” i
a 3 Isaiah 40:3 b 11 Or in c 1 The Greek for tempted can also mean tested. d 4 Deut. 8:3
reluctance to overuse God’ s name. God’ s kingdom is more a reign than a realm, more a power than a place. With the arrival of the Messiah, God’ s rule in heaven is breaking into human history and will extend to earth in new and powerful ways. 3:3 This fulfills Isa 40:3. make straight paths for him. A forerunner would come to prepare God’ s people morally for the Messiah’ s arrival. 3:4 John’ s clothes. Reminds people of Elijah the OT prophet( 2 Kgs 1:8). His food. Reflects the simple, austere fare of poor wilderness dwellers. 3:5 People went out to him. Because his preaching is powerful. 3:6 Confessing their sins. Evidence of repentance. they were baptized.“ Baptize” means to dip or immerse. John most likely immersed people in the Jordan River to symbolize their death to sin and the spiritual cleansing associated with the new way of life they were beginning. 3:7 Pharisees and Sadducees. Two key Jewish leadership sects. Pharisees scrupulously obeyed the biblical laws and the traditions that had grown up around them. Sadducees tended to be in the majority among temple authorities and were willing to accommodate Rome to keep the peace. These leaders are coming not to be baptized( cf. Luke 7:30) but to check up on John. brood of vipers. Suggests that their teaching is spiritually poisonous. John’ s response in vv. 7 – 10 drips with sarcasm: he speaks as if they were pretending to follow him, and he points out that their lifestyle does not demonstrate repentance. They are in danger of trusting solely in their ethnicity and thus coming under God’ s judgment. 3:11 – 12 John predicts the coming Messiah, whose baptism will involve the purifying work of the Holy Spirit or the judgment associated with“ fire,” depending on how people respond to him. 3:12 winnowing fork. See Ruth 3:2. Here winnowing is figurative for the separation of the righteous(“ wheat”) from the wicked(“ chaff”). 3:13 – 17 The ministries of John and Jesus now intersect. John 1:19 – 36 and 3:22— 4:3 show how extensive this intersection was. Here Matthew focuses solely on Jesus’ baptism. 3:13 – 15 John the Baptist recognizes that his role and Jesus’ role seem reversed: the inferior immerses the superior. John sees no need for Jesus to submit to a rite symbolizing a person’ s repentance from sin. But Jesus recognizes his baptism will“ fulfill all righteousness”( v. 15). He models God’ s will for his people and puts his stamp of approval on John’ s ministry. 3:16 – 17 Jesus’ baptism becomes the occasion for God himself to testify to Jesus. The
Holy Spirit anoints him, commissioning him for his ministry, and the heavenly voice combines snippets of Ps 2:7 and Isa 42:1 to indicate Jesus’ regal and suffering servant roles. All three persons of the Trinity appear, united but distinct.
4:1 – 11 Instead of moving immediately to his public ministry, Jesus must be tested first. Adam and Eve yielded to temptation so that sin entered this world( Gen 3). The Israelites failed their test and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years— another kind of testing( Deut 8:2 – 3). How would the Messiah-designate respond? He resists temptation, thereby remaining qualified for his mission of being a sinless sacrifice for the sins of humanity. Luke 4:1 – 13 narrates topically, not chronologically, reversing the last two temptations. 4:1 The Spirit of God always guides Jesus, but only the devil( not God, see Jas 1:13) actually tempts him. Jesus goes to the wilderness just as John frequently ministered there( 3:1). 4:2 – 4 The first of three temptations appeals to Jesus’ intense hunger after not eating for 40 days. But Jesus must never use his miracle-working abilities for self-serving reasons. God will sustain him, and spiritual nourishment takes priority over physical sustenance( Deut 8:3).