John the Baptist was no shy, retiring type! This camel-hair clothed prophet who lived on locusts and wild honey was no shrinking violet. On the contrary, John was a man on a mission, ‘a voice calling in the wilderness’, a prophet sent by God to prepare people for the imminent arrival of the Messiah. And so today, as Matthew’s Gospel shares John’s message with us, we see him boldly calling people to repent and pointing them to Christ. Because John’s twofold message was, firstly, that real repentance is essential. And secondly, that Jesus is the magnificent Messiah.
Let’s look briefly at both these elements of John’s message.
Real repentance is essential
Firstly, when it came to his call to repentance, John wasn’t one to mince his words! Like your archetypal Yorkshireman John said what he meant and meant what he said!
And yet there are times in life when clarity, conviction and straight-talking are exactly what’s required, aren’t there? If we see someone in imminent danger, for example, we will want to shout out strong words of warning.
John evidently saw his hearers standing in a perilous position. John believed a day of divine judgement was coming, and at least some of those within earshot were at serious risk of God’s condemnation!
And so in today’s passage John uses shocking, uncompromising language to call his hearers to true repentance. Listen again to verses 7 to 10 – John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptising, and said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 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. The axe has been laid to the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Its an understatement to say that John risked offending his hearers with those stark words(!), but he clearly believed they needed to be said. He evidently wanted to warn Jewish religious leaders of God’s coming judgment, and caution them against any sense of spiritual complacency. He clearly believed that real, genuine repentance was essential if they were to be saved.
It is striking that John calls the Pharisees and Sadducees “a brood of vipers”, since the Old Testament repeatedly describes the enemies of God as ‘snakes’. Despite being Abraham’s ancestors, these members of the Jewish religious elite were sinful snakes facing God’s judgment rather than sheep obediently following their Good Shepherd.
John clearly believed that they needed to be shaken out of their complacency and reminded that repentance is essential to be right with God. Their Jewish pedigree was insufficient to guarantee God’s favour, they needed to be actively walking in the way of the Lord and living his way.
We need to watch against similar complacency among people we know – and even within our own hearts. We need to challenge any thought that someone is in a right relationship with God just because of their Christian upbringing, their baptism certificate or their dutiful church attendance. John’s words remind us that fruitful, obedient faith is what truly pleases God, not any of those other things.
It is repentance and faith in Christ that elicits God’s forgiveness, not anything else we might say or do. And so every human faces a stark choice – to pursue persistent disobedience that deserves God’s wrath, or to repent and receive his grace. John’s words leave us in no doubt – real repentance is essential for salvation.
Point people to our magnificent Messiah!
John was a man clearly on a mission from God, a man with a heaven-sent message to share. But compared to the magnificent Messiah who was soon to come, John knew that he himself was nothing. And so, as we read in verse 11, John said: “I baptize you with water. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
With his God-given insight, John knew that the true Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth, not himself. John knew that Jesus was so holy that he himself was not even worthy to touch his shoes. A Messiah so divine that he could baptise his people with the Spirit of God and so righteous he would one day judge the world with fire.
If John’s hearers wanted forgiveness from sin, deliverance from divine judgment and spiritual power to live transformed, holy lives – then they needed to look to Jesus, not to him. John knew that he himself was only a signpost, not the saviour. A witness, not the Word made flesh. John knew that Jesus was the Messiah promised by the prophet Isaiah (in our first reading). Jesus was the true a descendant of David, a God-given king who would rule his people “with justice and integrity.”
It remains the privilege and responsibility of every Christian today to point people to Christ. Our ambition should not be self-promotion but Saviour-promotion . Our purpose is to point people to Jesus, the Heaven-sent redeemer of all who trust in him.
- For it is in him alone that forgiveness can be found. It is through him alone that our relationship with God can be restored.
- And it is from him alone that the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit can be received.
What a magnificent Messiah we can point people to!