Jesus and John Fulfill All Righteousness

The Revealing of Jesus, the Son of God and the Messiah.

Welcome to this study of Matthew's Gospel, a collaborative effort between Mary Barmore and Alice C. Linsley. We will use Mary's study notes and Alice will add some notes of historical and anthropological relevance.

After you read Matthew Chapter 3 answer the questions. Check your answers by scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Introduction

Matthew Chapter 3 introduces some of Jesus' relatives, including the priest Zechariah, his wife Elizabeth, and Jesus' cousin John the Baptizer (also known as the "Forerunner"). They are people who believe God's promise concerning the Messiah who would come to save His people from their sins. 

The first chapter of Luke's Gospel provides these details about John the Baptist and his family:

John was the son of a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. In ancient Israel there were 24 priest divisions (mishmarot, meaning the "watches"). One of them was the division of Abijah. These served in rotation at the Temple in Jerusalem. 

The divisions were located in different settlements, including Bethlehem and Nazareth. According to 1 Chronicles 24:15 Nazareth was the home of the eighteenth priestly division, ha·pi·TSETS (Happizzez) or Aphses in some Bibles. Abijah was the eighth division.

During the Old Kingdom (c. 2575-2130 BC) the Hebrew priests of the Nile Valley were organized in groups called "phyles". Each phyle served a two-week duration at the royal temple before returning home. The organization of priests in Israel appears to have developed from the earlier Hebrew phyle system.

Luke explains that when it was time for a division to serve the priests went to Jerusalem for a week. Afterwards they returned to their homes. Each division served twice a year. The division of Abijah would have served at the end of Iyyar (mid-April to mid-May) and again at the end of Marheshvan (mid-October to mid-November). We don't know at which time the angel appeared to Zechariah.

Zechariah's wife Elizabeth was barren but miraculously conceived as foretold by an angel who appeared to Zechariah while he was serving in the Temple. The angel said: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:13-17)

Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. She declared, "The Lord has done this for me. In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people." (Luke 1:23-25)

When Mary visited Elizabeth, the babe in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy. Being filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41), Elizabeth confessed Mary’s unborn baby as "my Lord".

Before Jesus began his public ministry, he came to John to be baptized. Though the Hebrew believed in God Father and the Spirit of God (Gen. 1) at Jesus' baptism the Holy Trinity was made manifest as was the divinity of Jesus.

Matthew, Chapter 3

1. What message was John preaching?

2. What details about John tell us that he was not a worldly man?

3. Where did John perform the baptisms?

4. How does John describe the difference between his baptism and that of the Messiah?

5. Where had Jesus been before he came to John?

6. How did John react when Jesus asked to be baptized by him?

7. What reply did Jesus give John about righteousness?

8. What happened when Jesus came up out of the water?

9. What sign over Jesus' head spoke of his divine Sonship?

10. Who heard the voice of God the Father?

1. John's message was a call to repentance in order that his Jewish people would be prepared to receive the Messiah. Paul explains this to some Christians in Ephesus who knew only of John's baptism. Paul told them, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus."

2. John's clothing was made of coarse camel hair, and he subsisted on locusts and wild honey.

3. John baptized people in the Jordan River, the principal water system of Israel. The Hebrew name for the Jordan River is Nehar haYarden and the Arabic name is Nahr al-Urdun. The words Yarden and Urdun mean "descender" because the river flows south from a higher elevation. 

The place where John was baptizing was in the wilderness. Going to see him required effort, involved some discomfort and expense. Only those serious about their spiritual condition sought to be baptized by him. 

Isolation away from the cities characterizes true prophets. In Judges 4:4-6 we read that the prophet Deborah sat under her Palm between the cities of Ramah and Bethel, and the Israelites had to leave their cities to go to her. Likewise, Abraham consulted the Moreh (Seer) whose Oak tree was between the cities of Ai and Bethel (Gen. 13). John recognized that some of the Jewish leaders did not come seeking the baptism of repentance. He called them a "brood of vipers" and warned them about the coming judgement. 

4. John states that he baptizes with water, but the Messiah (the Christ) will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. This was fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2). In the Book of Acts there are several examples (Acts 4:31, Acts 10).

5. Jesus came to John from Galilee. He grew up in Nazareth of Galilee, and his closest followers were from Galilee. It was to Galilee that He returned and met with His disciples after His resurrection. At the Last Supper He informed his disciples: "After I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” (Matthew 26:32) There Jesus ate a breakfast of fish with his beloved disciples (John 21:7-12).

6. John recognized Jesus' superior authority as the Messiah, and he considered himself unworthy to baptize Jesus.

7. Jesus told John that baptizing him "is fitting for [them] to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus and John together "fulfill all righteousness" (1) by publicly foreshadowing the way sin can be forgiven; (2) by fulfilling the prophet's calling to proclaim the Kingdom, (3) by doing what pleases the Father, and (4) by acknowledging each other's spiritual authority.

8. The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove alighted on Jesus and the voice of Jesus' Father in heaven declared, "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased".

9. The heavens opened and the Spirit descended like a dove and hovered over Jesus' head. In the dispensation of the Church the dove over a person's head symbolized divine favor. This is why some images of the Virgin Mary show her with a dove hovering above her. This painting of the Annunciation by Joos van Cleve is an example.

Among Jesus' early Hebrew ancestors (4000-2000 BC) the sign of divine favor was the sun over the head of the one chosen to serve. This is why Hathor, the mother Horus/HR, appears in ancient images overshadowed by the sun. Consider how this belief is expressed in the solar imagery of James 1:17. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

    

Hathor conceived by divine overshadowing (cf. Luke 1:35). Hathor is the archetype of the "Woman" who would bring forth the Seed of God (Genesis 3:15).

Usually, the sun rested in the horns of the bull. This sign of divine favor is represented by the initial Y in the Hebrew names of many righteous men of the Bible: Yaqtan (Joktan); Yishmael (Ishmael); Yitzak (Isaac); Yacob (Jacob); Yehuda (Judah); Yosef (Joseph); Yetro (Jethro); Yeshai (Jesse), Yonah (Jonah), Yeroboam (Jeroboam), Yosedech (Josedech) and his son Yeshua (Joshua) who wore the double crown (Zechariah 6:11). The name Jesus originally had the initial Y also. (See Why the Name Jesus?) The initial Y is a solar cradle.

10. The voice of God the Father was heard by both Jesus and John. Luke's account of Jesus' baptism agrees with Matthew's account. John's act of obedience in baptizing Jesus was rewarded by an experience that only he and Jesus Christ shared. 

It is evident from Matthew Chapter 3 that there can be no fulfillment of righteousness apart from faith in the Holy Trinity.

Next week, we will investigate Matthew Chapter 4. Please share this with your friends and join us for more deep digging.