“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 throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:11-12

Why did John come “preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”(v. 1-2)? Why did he live out in the wilderness, in rather strange dress and diet, and call upon all to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins? Why did he rebuke those whose repentance was feigned?

It was because he was sent of God to prepare the people for the coming of their Messiah and Savior. He was to make them ready for the coming of the LORD God Himself in the person of the Christ, as promised in Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3 and 4.

What did John say? “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 throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John called upon all people to repent - to acknowledge and confess their utter sinfulness and to trust in the mercy of the LORD God for the sake of the coming Messiah. John baptized with water and assured God’s people of mercy and forgiveness for the sake of the Christ, that “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

But, as John testified, one was coming who was mightier and higher than he. In fact, this one was so much greater than John, being the LORD God Himself in human flesh (cf. John 1:1,14), that John wasn’t even worthy to carry His shoes.

John, the servant of the Most High God, baptized with water, but the coming Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He it is who pours out His Spirit upon us in our baptism and cleanses our hearts and souls by bringing us to acknowledge our sinfulness and place our faith in the perfect life and innocent sufferings and death of the Christ. By His Spirit, Christ gives us faith, forgiveness and life in His name.

But the risen Christ will also baptize this world with fire on the Day of His return in judgment. He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor, gathering all who trust in Him into eternal life, and casting all who continue in sin and unbelief into the unquenchable fires of hell (cf. 2 Peter 3:7).

O merciful God, make us ready for the glorious return of Christ Jesus through true repentance and faith in His name.

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture from the King James Version of the Bible.]

For the Record, Pages 4 on 12/08/2010