The Wisdom of John the Baptist

Matthew 3:9-10

“Do not persume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John the Baptist offers us readers a profound revelation in this verse as he confronts the Pharisees and Sadducees, the leaders of the two prominent Jewish religious and political groups during the time of Jesus.

It’s relevant to understand, from the perspective prior to the coming of Jesus, that the Jewish community believed that simply being Abrahams physical descendants, it guaranteed their place with God in heaven. Essentially they believed that being the chosen people of God from the promise made to Abraham and his descendants, that they were inherently closer to God than non-jews, also known as gentiles, or goyim. The Jewish community practiced their faith with the belief that their ancestry, their bloodline alone, was enough for salvation, in many cases to the extent that they would receive the glory of heaven regardless of their personal actions.

Genesis 17:7

"And I will establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation."

John the Baptist is so heinously rejected by the religious leaders of the time as they believe that he is teaching in opposition to this promise of Gods covenant. John warns Isreals religious leaders that God’s judegement is coming for them, and it’s this kind of talking that leads to him eventually being killed. John is proposing a radical claim that the religious leaders of the time are living with a belief that God will not focus his wrath on the Isrealites, the children of Abraham, simply because of their birthright.

This causes a violent uproar across a multitude of Jewish groups, as those he points his fingers towards are trusted spiritually due to their ancestry, covenant status and law abiding hierarchy. Yet John warns them, lineage does not equal righteousness. He goes on to call for the spiritual leaders to repent and to be baptised, and this is a mighty redefinition of who truly belongs in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 3:11

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

John illustrates that the spiritual leaders of the time have begun to act in ways that contradict the word of God, and they do so through the arrogance that they are the chosen ones, and this arrogance has blinded them which will lead to their destruction. For they exist currently in a state of hardened hearts, they assumed they had the golden ticket through the narrow gates, but John now tells them, they must repent.

This cultural and religious assumption of the time is continually shattered as we enter into the Book of John:

John 8:44

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.”

Jesus proposes the analogy of fatherhood to clarify how the religious leaders of the time could not claim to be the true sons of Abraham despite their claim of descendancy. Truly the children of God would be spiritually receptive to the word of God, just as John is, just as the disciples are, just as millions of Christians world wide are open to the eternal waters of Christ. As John warns them, Jesus confirms.

John 8:47

“Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

If we are to refer back to the quote of John the Baptist we can decipher too an elegant word play in his speech, a poetic metaphor that reaches into both the creation of man and the expansion of Gods people.

Matthew 3:9

“God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham”

God can create children from stones just as he created Adam from dust. In Hebrew, as we look towards the Old Testament, the word Adam and Adamah are etymologically linked as both sharing the same root. Adamah refers to the earth or the ground, rich fertile soil from which humans are made, and Adam refers to a human being, or man which is seen to symbolise humanity's origin from earth, born from the dust, by God.

John the Baptist directly challenges the idea that God has limited himself to the Israelites, by saying that if he wanted to, he could simply make more children from even stones. John expounds this in a way that utilises the common knowledge of the creation story. If God can make children from the dust of the earth, he can certainly make more from the stone of the earth.

With this too, John the Baptist pronounces, to the leaders of the church, that even stones can be made into more faithful children than the unrepentant religious elites. This intricate verse also foreshadows the inclusion of the gentiles into the faith, the new sons of Abraham, more faithful children springing up from the earth. 

John challenges the supremacy of the religious leaders of the time by telling them that God has not confined to those with physical heritage. This subtle nod of raising new children of Abraham comes to us as a powerful foresight of the new covenant, one that reaches beyond the confines of the Jewish people and touches all nations which can be seen to more closely represent the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham:

Genesis 12:3

“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

The true children of Abraham, spiritually, are the ones who trust in God like Abraham did, whether Jew or non-Jew.

Galatians 3:29 

“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. Not by birthday, but instead by faith. It is faith in God that defines people.”

It is not about the bloodline, it is not a bloodline covenant. Jesus illustrates to the non-jewish community that the covenant of God has transcended physical bloodlines. It is instead through the passions of our heart, our actions and our faith that determine our standing before God.

We are shown right from the start of the New Testament from the wisdom of John the Baptist, that this is a faith for everybody, no one is unwelcome, unless of course, they choose to be through their actions. With this too, the leaders of the spiritual culture of the time of Jesus, a person with a high position in this world that does not bear good fruit is a person who does not know God. 

Stand tall my brothers and sisters, for we have been called into the family of God through our saviour Jesus Christ, may we hear his words, may we cleanse ourselves in the waters of repentance and walk down the righteous path together to be resurrected in spirit.

John 8:51

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”