MATTHEW
CHAPTER 3
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
OBSERVATION
STAGE
The purpose of
the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the
normative rules of language, context and logic 
which limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Matthew.
This will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more
importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective
comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.
Remember that
something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in
view.
I)
[Mt 3:1-12]:
A)
IN THE DAYS WHEN JESUS RESIDED IN NAZARETH, JOHN THE BAPTIST CAME
PREACHING IN THE WILDERNESS OF JUDEA SAYING "REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM
OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND." IN THE CASE OF THE MESSAGE OF JOHN OF
REPENTANCE UNTO REMISSION OF SINS, THE WORD REPENT CANNOT MEAN TO DO
GODLY WORKS IN ORDER TO RECEIVE REMISSION (FORGIVENESS) OF SINS, AS SOME
CONTEND; BECAUSE DOING GODLY WORKS CANNOT ERASE SINFUL DEEDS. NOR CAN
REPENT MEAN TO TURN FROM SIN IN THE SENSE OF NOT COMMITTING SINS ANY
MORE; FOR THAT IS A TASK WHICH IS NOT POSSIBLE GIVEN THE SINFUL NATURE
OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL. AUTHOR MATTHEW DECLARED THAT JOHN WAS THE PROPHET
SPOKEN OF BY ISAIAH - A VOICE OF ONE CRYING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS:
'PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD, STRAIGHT MAKE HIS PATHS' - A FIGURATIVE
MESSAGE WHICH CONVEYED THE SPIRITUAL MEANING THAT IF EVERY ONE OF ISRAEL
TRUSTED ALONE IN THE LORD ALONE TO DELIVER ONE FROM ONE'S SINS AND BE
PROVIDED WITH THE GIFT OF GOD'S PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHIN ONESELF
THEN THAT WOULD PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD AND HE WOULD COME AT THAT
TIME TO RULE. THIS WAS TO BEGIN AS A CHILD BORN OF AN ISRAELITE MAIDEN /
VIRGIN - A SON AND CHILD OF ISRAEL; DESCRIBED IN ISAIAH TO BE WONDERFUL,
COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE; AND SHOULD
ALL ISRAEL BELIEVE IT WOULD BE COMPLETED BY THE LORD'S ESTABLISHING OF
HIS EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF HEAVEN RULE OVER THE WORLD ON THE THRONE OF
DAVID FROM JERUSALEM THROUGH HIS PEOPLE, ISRAEL
1)
[Compare Mt 2:19-23]:
2)
[Compare Isa 49:7]:
3)
[Compare Isa 53:2-3]:
4)
[Compare Ps 22:6]:
5)
[Compare Mt 1:18-23]:
6)
[Compare Mt 3:1-3]:
7)
[Compare with Isa 40:1-5]:
****** EXCERPTS
FROM THE BOOK OF ISAIAH ******
IN
VIEW OF THE IMMINENT RETURN IN ANCIENT TIMES OF ISRAEL FROM BABYLONIAN
CAPTIVITY TO A JERUSALEM WHICH WOULD BE REBUILT, A VOICE OF A PROPHET
CRIED OUT TO THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM TELLING THEM IN A FIGURATIVE /
SPIRITUAL SENSE, NOT A LITERAL SENSE, THAT IN THE WILDERNESS THEY WERE
ALL TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD IN THE SENSE OF MAKING THE WAY OF THE
LORD RIGHTEOUS; AND IN THE SAME SENSE, MAKE A STRAIGHT HIGHWAY FOR OUR
GOD IN THE DESERT, AND LIKEWISE HAVE EVERY VALLEY LIFTED UP, EVERY
MOUNTAIN AND HILL LEVELED, AND UNEVEN GROUND BECOME SMOOTH AND ROUGH
PLACES A PLAIN, I.E., SO THAT THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL WOULD BE
CHARACTERIZED AS HAVING THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD THUS HAVING REMOVED THE
SPIRITUAL HINDRANCES WITHIN THEMSELVES TO THE COMING OF THE LORD AND HIS
RIGHTEOUSNESS SO THAT ALL MANKIND WOULD SEE THE GLORY OF THE LORD WHEN
HE COMES TO RULE OVER HIS EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON THE EARTH, AS
DECLARED BY THE PROPHET TO BE TRUE, FOR ISAIAH DECLARED THAT THE MOUTH
OF THE LORD HAD SPOKEN IT TO HIM. SO THE TIME OF THE LORD'S RULE WOULD
BEGIN WHEN EACH ONE OF NATIONAL ISRAEL, TO WHOM THE MESSAGE OF THE
PROPHET CRYING OUT WAS EXCLUSIVELY DIRECTED, RESPONDED TO IT EVIDENTLY
VIA A MOMENT OF FAITH ALONE IN THE COMING LORD ALONE TO DELIVER ONE FROM
ONE'S SINS SUCH THAT EACH ONE WOULD BE PROVIDED WITH THE GIFT OF GOD'S
PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHIN ONESELF UNTO ETERNAL LIFE AND BY THAT
PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD TO COME TO RULE OVER HIS EVERLASTING KINGDOM
OF HEAVEN ON THE EARTH THROUGH HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL. NOTICE THAT THIS
REPENTANCE CANNOT MEAN DOING GODLY WORKS IN ORDER TO RECEIVE REMISSION
(FORGIVENESS) OF SINS IN ORDER TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AS SOME
CONTEND; BECAUSE DOING GODLY WORKS CANNOT ERASE SINFUL DEEDS. NOR CAN
REPENTANCE MEAN TO TURN FROM SIN IN THE SENSE OF NOT COMMITTING SINS ANY
MORE; FOR THAT IS A TASK WHICH IS NOT POSSIBLE GIVEN THE SINFUL NATURE
OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL. ISAIAH INDICATED PREVIOUSLY THAT THIS OUTCOME WAS
TO BEGIN WITH A CHILD BORN SUPERNATURALLY OF AN ISRAELITE MAIDEN /
VIRGIN - A SON AND CHILD OF ISRAEL, WHO WOULD BE DECLARED WONDERFUL,
COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE WHO WOULD
COME TO ESTABLISH HIS EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF HEAVEN RULE OVER THE WORLD
UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID FROM JERUSALEM THROUGH HIS PEOPLE, ISRAEL AS
BOTH GOD AND MAN
[Compare
Isa 7:14-16]:
[Compare
Mt 1:18-23]:
[Compare
Isa 9:6-7]:
[Compare
Isa 6:3 NKJV]:
****** END
OF EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK OF ISAIAH ******
B)
JOHN THE BAPTIST CLOTHED HIMSELF IN CAMEL'S HAIR, WITH A LEATHER BELT
AROUND HIS WAIST; HIS FOOD WAS THE FOOD OF A POOR MAN: LOCUSTS OR LARGE
GRASSHOPPERS AND WILD HONEY - CORROBORATING HIS LIFE AS A PROPHET OF GOD
IN THE WILDERNESS. PEOPLE FROM JERUSALEM, JUDEA AND THE REGION AROUND
THE JORDAN RIVER CAME TO HIM; CONFESSING THEIR SINS, THEY WERE BAPTIZED
BY HIM IN THE WATERS OF THE RIVER - SYMBOLIC OF HAVING REPENTED TO TRUST
IN A COMING MESSIAH WHO WOULD DELIVER ONE FROM ONE'S SINS UNTO ENTRANCE
INTO HIS EVERLASTING KINGDOM RULE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ON THE THRONE OF
DAVID WHICH HE WOULD HAVE BEGUN IMMEDIATELY HAD ALL ISRAEL REPENTED.
NOTE THAT JOHN'S WATER BAPTISM WAS TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY CONFESSION OF
SINS SO THAT THE BAPTISM WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD
C)
WHEN JOHN THE BAPTIST SAW MANY PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES COMING TO HIS
BAPTISM - MEN OF THE POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS RULING CLASSES OF ISRAEL -
HE INDICATED THAT, LIKE A NEST OF VIPERS, THEY HAD A DEADLY INFLUENCE ON
THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL ESPECIALLY RELATIVE TO DELIVERANCE FROM SINS AND
ENTRANCE INTO THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BECAUSE THEY HAD NEITHER
REPENTED TO BELIEVE IN THE COMING MESSIAH TO DELIVER THEM FROM THEIR
SINS UNTO ENTRANCE INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF HEAVEN NOR SUBMITTED
TO HIS BAPTISM SYMBOLIZING THAT REPENTANCE, NOR BORE FRUIT TO
CORROBORATE ANY REPENTANCE - FALSELY RELYING ON THEIR DESCENDANCY FROM
ABRAHAM FOR SALVATION. HENCE THEY WOULD NOT SUCCEED IN AVOIDING THE
TEMPORAL WRATH TO COME WERE THEY TO BE ALIVE AT THE INCEPTION OF THE
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN - WHICH WAS IMMINENT SHOULD ALL ISRAEL REPENT
D)
JOHN DECLARED THAT HE WATER BAPTIZED ISRAELITES SYMBOLIZING THEIR HAVING
REPENTED TO FAITH IN A COMING MESSIAH TO DELIVER THEM FROM THEIR SINS
UNTO ENTRANCE INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. JOHN SAID THAT HE
WHO WAS COMING AFTER HIM WAS MIGHTIER THAN HIMSELF, WHOSE SANDALS HE WAS
NOT WORTHY TO CARRY. JOHN WENT ON TO SAY THAT THIS ONE WOULD BAPTIZE
CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD REPENTED BY CAUSING THEM TO BE IMMERSED /
INDWELT WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. FURTHERMORE, HE WOULD BAPTIZE WITH FIRE IN
THE SENSE OF JUDGING THOSE THAT CHOSE NOT TO REPENT BY IMMERSING THEM
INTO THE UNQUENCHABLE FIRE OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT - AN ACTIVITY RESERVED
FOR GOD ALONE - THE SON OF GOD
II)
[Mt 3:13-17]:
A)
JESUS CAME UPON THE JORDAN RIVER TO JOHN THE BAPTIST TO BE BAPTIZED BY
HIM. JOHN OBJECTED SAYING, "I HAVE NEED TO BE BAPTIZED BY YOU, AND
YOU ARE COMING TO ME?" IMPLYING THAT JOHN VIEWED JESUS AS THE
MESSIAH WHO WAS WITHOUT SIN, HENCE NOT NEEDING DELIVERANCE FROM SIN, NOR
AN ACT SYMBOLIZING IT. NEVERTHELESS JESUS ANSWERED, "PERMIT IT TO
BE SO NOW, FOR THUS IT IS FITTING FOR US TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS"
- A REFERENCE TO AN ACT OF SYMBOLIZING HIS MISSION - TO BE AN ATONING
SACRIFICE FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD. WHEREUPON, JOHN BAPTIZED HIM;
AND JESUS WENT UP IMMEDIATELY FROM THE WATER AND BEHOLD THE HEAVENS WERE
OPENED TO HIM AND HE SAW THE SPIRIT OF GOD DESCENDING AS A DOVE COMING
UPON HENCE INDWELLING HIM TO EMPOWER HIM IN HIS MISSION; AND A VOICE OUT
OF THE HEAVENS, SAYING 'THIS IS MY SON - THE BELOVED, IN WHOM I HAVE
FOUND DELIGHT ATTESTING TO HIS MISSION AND HIS DIETY
CONTINUE
TO MATTHEW CHAPTER 4 
