Category: Matthew Chapter 3

We have here the account of our Lord Jesus Christ’s baptism. This was His first step when He entered on His ministry. When the Jewish priests took up their office they were washed with water (Exod. 29:4): when our great High Priest begins the great work He came into the world to accomplish He is publicly baptized.

We should notice, firstly, in these verses, the honour placed upon the sacrament of baptism. An ordinance of which the Lord Jesus Himself partook is not to be lightly esteemed; an ordinance to which the great Head of the Church submitted ought to be ever honourable in the eyes of professing Christians.

These verses describe the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ: it is a ministry that deserves close attention. Few preachers ever produced such effects as John the Baptist: “There went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan.” None ever received such praise from the great Head of the Church: Jesus called him “a burning and a shining light” (John 5:35); the great Bishop of souls Himself declared, that “among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” Let us then study the leading features of his ministry.

John the Baptist spoke plainly about sin. He taught the absolute necessity of “repentance,” before any one can be saved; he preached that repentance must be proved by its “fruits”; he warned men not to rest on outward privileges, or outward union with the Church.