Matthew 3:11-12

Matthew 3:11-12

“In one case, I baptize you in water into repentance.  But in another case the one who comes after me has a significantly higher status than me – of whom I am not worthy to carry away a sandal.  He will baptize you all in the Holy Spirit and fire – of whom the winnowing shovel is in His hand and He will make His threshing floor clean and He will gather His wheat into His storehouse.  And He will destroy the chaff by burning by a fire that cannot be put out.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

John says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  I don’t know about you, but that sounds like an incredible foreshadowing of Pentecost to me!  When Jesus enters into our life, we receive the Holy Spirit!  When Jesus enters our life, we are irrevocably changed because God’s ways start to replace our ways.  Here we see the tie back to the word repentance.  John baptizes with water as a symbol of the inner working of repentance that is brought on by an encounter with Christ.

Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit?  How do you know?  Where is the Spirit at work in your life?  Where are you being changed by God right now?

Second Thought:

The Greek word that John uses with respect to Jesus’s sandals means “to carry off.”  It is usually used in connotation to something heavy and burdensome.  So why is John using this in connection to Jesus’ sandals – something that is typically considered light?  I think John is making two points.

• First, I think John is talking about the weight of Jesus’ mission.  What Jesus came to do is to save the world.  That’s no easy task!  Even the light things that Jesus did had an eternal dimension to them.  So John is making an analogy here to the fact that Jesus’ mission is so important to the world that even the lightest part of Jesus’ mission cannot be borne by Him.
• Second, let’s also forget what the sandal was.  This was a day and an age without paved roads where the typical means of transportation involved an animal.  So there would be dirt and dung all over the roads.  By talking about the sandal, John is also talking about the nastiest and most disgusting thing on a typical human being.  John says that he is not even worthy to carry the nastiest part of Jesus.  This is absolutely a comment of humbleness.  Jesus is so much greater than John that John can’t compare with the nastiest part of Jesus.

Where do you compare with Jesus?  Do you live like this?  Would the people around you believe your answer to this question?  If so, why?  Is not, what does that say?

Third Thought:

When Jesus entered the world, an automatic sorting took place.  There are two easily definable camps: those who love Jesus and those who do not.  Jesus came to save anyone who wants it, but this does not mean that all will take it.  So there will be a sorting.  Jesus will sort out all those who are in Him (the wheat) and bring them into eternal life with God in heaven (the storehouse).  However, the rest of the world will be swept away out of the threshing floor and burned with an unquenchable fire.*

How do you feel after reading about God’s judgment?  Why is it important to consider this point now?  Why is it important to make sure one is wheat and not the chaff left behind?  Is that important enough to consider right now?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 3:13-15

*It is interesting to note, though.  The fire is unquenchable (eternal), but that doesn’t imply the torment and agony of those who are cast into the fire is eternal.  We tend to make that assumption, but the Greek doesn’t make that clear.  In fact, if we continue with the analogy of fire we get to a separate conclusion.  In a fire, wood is burned up and eventually consumed until it ceases to exist anymore.  More wood is added, making the fire last longer than that which is being burned.  Having said that, I don’t mean to cause anyone to doubt what they’ve been taught about Hell.  The torment could very well be eternal.  But we should be clear that in the vast majority of references in the Bible it is the fire that is eternal, not the torment.