Sorry for not giving my weekly lesson in a long time. I apologize.
Matthew chapter 3 fulfills a prophecy of Isaiah (Esias is the Greek version of Isaiah) where John the Baptist is the voice crying in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord, and making His way straight. That prophecy was written in Isaiah 40:3.
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to see John baptizing. The Pharisees were the religious hierarchy of the Jews that in their mind wanted to keep order. They were lovers of the traditions of men and loved money. The Christians have their own version of the Pharisees, and they will be exposed in this generation. They will sell out the Lord for money and for “world harmony”. The Sadducees didn’t believe in life after death. They were the intellectual, personal geniuses of their time. Their religion was the written law, which begs to question where do they think the law came from? This generation has its Sadducees also, and they can’t keep their mouths shut. They are already exposed. There will be things they will wish they could take back, but for many what they have said it is a matter of public record. The Pharisees and Sadducees were very close, which shows the Pharisees weren’t really concerned for the things that were of God. What mattered was what they had or could get tangibly.
John called them for what they were. He warned them of what’s to come. Not only was Jesus on his way, but so would his judgment once the Great White Throne Judgment comes. When Jesus returns, that ends this age and this age alone. At no time in the New Testament the phrase “end of the world” has the word “world” go back to “κοσμοσ” (cosmos) in the original Greek, which is their word for “world”. Each time the word “world” was “αιων” (ahee-own), which is the Greek word for age. In Revelation 20, it describes another age (since Jesus’ return ends this age) where Satan is in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. Once that millennia is over, Satan is loosened from his prison and is allowed to try to deceive those that still need to make a choice. Those that are deceived try to make war with the saints, but God stops them and ends that age. Then the final judgment begins. Even those that have made the right choice will have their works tested by the fire of judgment.
Jesus came to be baptized of John, and right away John knew who he was. As Jesus said, the sheep know the voice of the shepherd. Those like John know more than the voice of the Shepherd. John felt he wasn’t worthy to baptize Jesus with water and said to Jesus “I need to be baptized of you”, which is a different baptism. The baptism of faith is simply accepting Jesus as your Saviour. Finding your own personal salvation. The baptism of water is a public showing that you are going to live your life differently from that point on. While the baptism of water is important, the most important is the baptism of faith.
God came from a cloud once Jesus was baptized and said He is well pleased with His Son. What that meant was Jesus had not sinned at that point. Jesus had the ability to sin, so don’t let anyone or any denomination’s doctrine teach you otherwise. Jesus went to the desert specifically to be tempted of Satan. If Jesus didn’t have the ability to sin, where would the temptation come from?
