Matthew 3

Questions and Proposed Answers

(See Accompanying Matthew 3 Literally Rendered on this site.)

Note: This document has not been finely edited. It is written during studies. Please expect to find errors in spelling, words missing, etc. If you use the document and desire to participate in editing it, please do so. I will need the number-letter address along with a partical quote of the error, and what you know or think it should say. Please send it to james842@eeweems.com.

1. a) What was Yokhanan proclaiming? He was proclaiming a command: Repent and information: The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.

1. b) Was Yokhanan a Baptist? He was not a Baptist. No Baptist existed until the Anabaptists who were against infant baptisms. Yokhanan was a Jewish son of a high-ranking priest, and was thus in line for a ranking priesthood.

1. c) Why would Yokhanan have any success making a proclamation in the wilderness versus in the city? First, the wilderness of Judaea is not far from the city. Secondly, folks were drawn to hear him. The wilderness was quiet, had hills (so that Yokhanan had an acoustic podium), and lacked trees to interfere with sight. Thirdly, Yokhanan’s message was about a voice calling in the desert; therefore, he needed to call in the desert (which is what the wilderness actually is). Yokhanan had a great drawing; many folks desired to hear him and responded to his call. In the city, Yokhanan would be subject to authorities that might not like his influence. They didn’t have authority over the desert areas that Yokhanan used.

1. d) Why did Yokhanan use the wilderness (desert) of Judaea instead of other locations besides the reasons given above? Its proximity to Jerusalem, the true capitol of all Israel is very important.

2. a) From what were the Israelis being commanded to repent? The Israelis were confessing their sins (see verse 6). Thus, repentance was from sin.

2. b) What does repentance mean? The Hebrew word means to turn or to return. The difference between the two is whether the person had been there in the first place, or whether this was a new change. Verse 6 indicates that they confessed their sins.

2. c) What is a kingdom? It consists of a king (a monarch), the king’s subjects, a land, and a rule of law.

2. d) What is the kingdom of the heavens? This is a kingdom whose ruler is temporarily located in the heavens. Thus, it is identified by location.

2. e) What is the kingdom of God? This is the kingdom that belongs to God. While the wording is the same as in kingdom of the heavens, the heavens don’t own the kingdom. The Whitehouse of Washington, D.C. is not owned by Washington, D.C. The Whitehouse of the president, while not being owned by him, is for his usage during his administration. Thus, when the president speaks, some will report it by saying, “Today, the Whitehouse declared that illegal aliens…” The two kingdoms are one and the same, but the descriptions (kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven) are distinct and vital.

2. f) In what respect had the kingdom of the heavens drawn near? Yokhanan made the legitimate offer of the kingdom arriving in Israel in his day if certain conditions were met. If they were not met and the kingdom still came, Israel would be destroyed, in which case Messiah could not come (because of His promises). The conditions include all Israel (still alive) coming to faith and righteousness. Thus, the kingdom had drawn near in the respect of time and location.

2. g) Did the kingdom of the heavens arrive in or after Yeshua’s day? It hasn’t yet arrived.

2. h) If the above is true, why didn’t Yeshua bring the kingdom as He promised? Yokhanan didn’t promise the kingdom in his day, but instead announced that it had drawn near. Yeshua didn’t bring it because of the terrible slaughter of the vast majority of Jews that would necessarily take place immediately after its arrival. The kingdom of the heavens is incompatible with sin. The entire book of Ezekiel includes a description of the Spirit of Yehovah going into exile because of Israel’s sin.

Yeshua elsewhere stated,

Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

The nation mentioned in this verse is Israel. No other text replaces Israel in the plan of Yehovah. Thus, Israel will be that nation.

2. i) Did Yokhanan expect that the kingdom of the heavens would arrive in his day? He certainly did. This was the reason why he was so shaken when it didn’t arrive even to his arrest and execution. Yokhanan lost his faith over this issue. Had he read texts carefully and literally, he would not have made that error. He read as most today read, thinking themselves the center of the fulfillment of the plan of God. He found out that this was not the case when Yeshua would not even ask for his life.

3. a) Who is ‘he’ who was spoken by Isaiah the prophet? Yokhanan is the fulfillment of that text.

3. b) What text is in mind?

Isaiah 40:3 A voice is calling in the desert: “Turn ye the way of Yehovah! Straighten-ye in the arid-region a highway for our Gods! ⁴Every valley shall be lifted and every mountain and hill shall lower. And the crooked-item is to a straight-item. And the rough-terrains are to a cleft [in the mountains: a pass]. ⁵And the Glory of Yehovah will be revealed. And they shall see─all flesh─together. For the Mouth of Yehovah spoke!”

3. c) What voice would be calling in the desert? That is the voice of Yokhanan the Immerser.

3. d) What is that voice calling? He is calling for the Israelis to turn the way of Yehovah and to straighten a highway for ‘our Gods’ in the steppe.

3. e) Why is the voice in the desert? The proposed answer is given above; the terrain is best for sound being carried. It is also where Yokhanan resided. A desert is noted for the difficulties finding ready food and ready water. If the Israelis who find themselves in the desert will obey this command, Yehovah will supply them.

3. f) What does “Turn ye the way of Yehovah” mean? This means to turn from any other way (which is a sinful or unprofitable way) to the one single way of Yehovah (which is a way of righteousness). This will also refer to the literal way they need to go to survive and arrive at Mount Zion.

3. g) What is this way? It is the way of righteousness according to Yehovah’s standards. It is the way of life, the way of everlasting life. It is describing a clearly marked place for one to walk, the Biblical description of how one leads his or her life. It obviously has an ending: a destination, and that is not the destination described in Pilgrim’s Progress, since that book set the destination as the ‘Celestial City’. Heaven is not a proper destination; the Millennium is a proper destination, and the New Earth is also. Yet, Mount Zion is the physical destination, and the only way to come to Mount Zion during the Tribulation will be to turn the Way of Yehovah. Yokhanan was addressing folks in history. The Spirit of Yehovah through him was addressing those who will respond in the future.

3. h) What steppe is in mind in this text? Since a steppe is flat, semiarid and often grassland, this doesn’t describe much of Israel, though part of the eastern side adjacent to Jordan is steppe. I propose that this is the steppe mentioned here.

3. i) Why must the steppe in particular be the location of the future straightened highway? This is part of the gathering, but a different part. This is where the Gods of Israel will travel on His way to Mount Zion. Thus, this text is giving away this information for readers who will carefully consider it. Yeshua will be coming from the city of Botzrah when He is heading for Zion. His garments will be covered with blood from the slaughtering He will do (Isaiah 63).

3. j) How can a group straighten a highway? This is accomplished by curve removal. Much straighter highways have replaced many curvy highways.

3. k) What is the need for highway straightening? If this is the Way of Yehovah, and if folks will be turning the Way of Yehovah (that is, entering into it in order to be saved from physical death and enemies), the highway that is for the Gods of Israel will be used by the returners. They don’t need an inefficient and curvy road system; they need one that is the shortest route and the easiest to see potential enemies. I propose that this route will be for returners who use the very way Yeshua will follow.

3. l) Why construct a highway? What is wrong with just marking trails? It is to keep returners from floodwaters! A highway is essential in order to avoid being washed to death during a flood.

3. m) The pronouns ye and our appear to refer to different groups. Identify ye and our. Yokhanan is the voice; he is the speaker in this text. He spoke to the Israelis, calling them ye. The Israelis are responsible to do the highway straightening. Our seems to refer to a larger group, but of the same group of Israelis. Thus, the ye in that case would be a subgroup of the ‘our’ constituents. Both would then be Israelis. Yet, I cannot exclude the non-Jewish Saints from our in this text. If that is true, the subgroup of the Israelis are responsible to build this highway so that non-Jewish Saints can accompany Jews making returns to Mount Zion.

3. n) If the good guys are fleeing during the terrors of the Tribulation and the enemies on their tails, how in the world will they have the equipment, the time, and the desire to participate in physical road building? I propose that returners will come to obstacles that they will not be able to circumvent while they are being chased by enemies. They will therefore ask Yehovah to move mountains and do other such things, including walking on water, and He will. If He can part the Red Sea when enemies are chasing the Israelis, He certainly can do the same during the Tribulation.

4. a) Why did Yokhanan wear camel’s hair, of all materials to wear? I propose that this was a poor man’s material. Light garments would have been extremely expensive, whereas skins that could be acquired when an animal died would be far less expensive.

4. b) Why wear a leather girdle, and what is this girdle? I also propose that this is another way to describe a belt, and perhaps one with back support, since he did much walking. The terrain required some form of belt in order to avoid snagging cacti.

4. c) What are these locusts? They are grasshoppers. They are not related to the tree by the same name.

4. d) Why did he eat wild honey? The locusts provided protein, and the wild honey provided carbohydrates. His diet was very good for hard desert work.

4. e) What does this diet tell about Yokhanan? He was a desert ‘mountain man’. He lived off the land, and he was not dependent upon cities.

4. f) How did Yokhanan come to be a desert dwelling hermit? He wasn’t truly a hermit at least later in life; he had contact. It appears that his parents died early in his life. His family may have been the target of assassination, since he was legitimately in the priestly line. Murders in the priestly line had begun around this time. (I don’t have proof of this.)

5. a) Why did Jerusalem and all Judea, etc. go out to him? Yokhanan spoke and ‘preached’. This reputation spread. The Israelis were looking for something Spiritual to happen. They also tended to believe in reincarnation. Yokhanan was a haunting and preaching character who spoke the truth with authority. His messages were exciting, and his calls touched their hearts. They were ready (or so they thought) for some type of interaction from God.

5. b) Why didn’t the text indicate that all Jerusalem went out to him? Jerusalem is inside Judea, so that all Judea going out to him would include all Jerusalem.

5. c) What ‘country’ was around the Jordan? The word country means territory. This is the Jordan River; the country of Jordan didn’t exist at that time. There were settlements where water could be found. Folks came from up and down the Jordan River areas to hear Yokhanan.

5. d) What does Yokhanan mean? It means “Yo (Yehovah) favours.”

6. a) What was the purpose of Yokhanan’s immersion?

Mark 1:4 Yokhanan did baptize in the wilderness, and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

This baptism is not akin to any form of modern-day ‘Christian’ baptism, though a number of denominations will think that it is. These folks were repenting of specific sins before they were immersed. A repentance baptism is not the type of baptism declared in Acts or in Matthew at the end.

They were immersed as a separation from their former sins. It was not associated with salvation.

6. b) Was this baptism for remission of sins? It was not for remission of sins; that would be a form of blasphemy.

Sin remission is the full payment of justice for sins committed. It is like a remittance in business. A person makes a purchase, then is billed. The person then (if honest) sends a check with the remittance copy. A receipt is then returned, indicating that the debt has been remitted.

Acts 2:38 was wrongly rendered from Greek into English:

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

This expresses a theological error. A proper rendering would be worded like this:

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus, the One anointed for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

This indicates that Jesus (actually, Yeshua) is the One anointed for sin remission. The term Christ (from the Greek, Christos) either refers to a title or to an assignment. If the title is used rather than the assignment in a text, the text will give error. Yeshua was the One anointed by Yehovah to bring sin remission.

The baptism itself only accomplishes what the person being baptized has determined to do. It is an act and a declaration of a point of cut-off from former sins. Its benefit is to the person, not to anyone else, if the person truly refuses to return into sin.

Yokhanan was immersing folks whom he knew were not born of God. This immersion cannot be compared with immersion of folks in faith. They are not the same. Some were in faith, and were immersed by Yokhanan, but their own immersions were not the normal immersion that Yokhanan did. Anyone who is not born of God can be immersed after repenting (including turning) from sin. That doesn’t affect any salvational change, and it doesn’t require salvation.

Yokhanan knew they were not born of God (with a few exceptions); that was not a problem to him and to his disciples, because the issue was whether Israel even in unbelief would obey the Torah while in the land. That is was is necessary for Yehovah to do benefits to Israel.

In order for Salvation to come, the person must meet certain absolute prerequisites. These include:

• A Biblical and proper fear of the Biblical Yehovah
• Faith in the Word of Yehovah (all of it)
• Hearkening to the Word of Yehovah
• The request for Salvation
• Turning to Yehovah from idols or whatever the person had or didn’t have as an object of faith
• Receiving a love of the Truth

 

Plus, Yehovah must also do certain things, including:

• Immersing the person into the Body of Messiah (an act that is invisible, and isn’t related to any water or physical form of baptism)
• Applying His Grace to that person for Salvation
• Recreating that person
• Giving that person a love of the Truth

6. c) What is the benefit and purpose of sin confession? Verbal sin confession can be the first step to turning from that sin. It can be; that doesn’t mean that it is. A person who confesses sins is sometimes demonstrating the type of humility that a person who won’t admit a problem doesn’t have. Those who have sins that they won’t confess also have areas they hide, showing that they may desire to do the sin again, and don’t desire others to know about it.

6. d) Did all who confessed their sins truly mean what they were doing? It isn’t likely. If all had meant what they said, Yeshua would have had many more faithful followers, and Israel would have been ready for the Kingdom of God.

7. a) What is a Pharisee? This is an Israeli who is a separatist (being the meaning of Parosh, Pharisee in Hebrew) from the world and sin. In other words, a true Pharisee believed in being righteous at all times in behaviour, belief and word. All who are born of God must follow the same supposed standards of the Pharisees. That doesn’t mean that all Pharisees were righteous; some were not. Some were. Considering all Pharisees as hypocrites, evildoers, etc. is wrong. Yeshua Himself told the Israelis to do as the Pharisees said, because He said that they sit in Moses’ seat.

Matthew 23:1 Then Yeshua spoke to the multitude and to His disciples ²saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do!”

7. b) What is a Sadducee? This is an Israeli who claims to be part of a righteous group (the meaning of Sadducee in Hebrew) that only acknowledged the Torah (first five books), didn’t believe in a resurrection of the dead, and proved to be very liberal in Biblical interpretation. Some of the Sadducees challenged Yeshua and His literalness. Thus, we can safely say that modern Christianity follows the teachings of the Sadducees (without the Torah, and thus, without anything) in practice, practicality, and decisive lack of literal views of many texts.

7. c) What are distinctions between Pharisees and Sadducees? Those distinctions include how literally the Bible should be taken, what books are the Word of God, whether or not there is a resurrection of the dead, and what type of life should a believer lead (righteous or not). The Pharisees had among them true Saints. The Sadducees had among them truly violent rebels who succeeded in bringing on the ire of the Roman empire to the degree that the Temple was burned.

7. d) Why would a Pharisee come to John’s type of immersion? These particular ones didn’t recognize that they had a sin problem at all, so their reasons for coming didn’t include a heartfelt desire to confess sins and be immersed. It was to look good in the community; it was only for outward appearances. They had no stock on John’s immersion. (Other Pharisees who were born of God were quite the opposite, and knew the vital importance of John’s position and his work.)

7. e) Why would a Sadducee come to John’s type of immersion? It would be for the same reason as the Pharisees. That is why John prophetically put them in the same category. Anyone at this time who openly spoke against John would be greatly diminished in the eyes of the common Israelis. This was politically stupid.

7. f) Why wasn’t John pleased that these two highest-ranking groups came to his immersion? It was more of a mockery than anything spiritual. They had come, among other reasons, to see (as in, to spy) what John was doing and teaching and to be seen. They also demonstrated their spiritual insincerity.

7. g) Who is John calling a viper? John is referring to their parents.

7. h) Why did John call their parents vipers (instead of calling them vipers)? He was indirectly calling them vipers, but he was insulting them in a far worse manner by indicating that they came from viper stock. This is far more hard-hitting than calling them vipers, since folks often think fondly of their parents. It is worse than calling them ‘sons of bitches’. This means that their very nature was viprous.

7. i) Was John doing right to call them and their parents by such terms? He was right, because he was speaking prophetically: he was quoting Yehovah. Yeshua said similar things.

7. j) Why didn’t they respond by killing John (perhaps in secret)? John was very popular and respected by the best of the land and by the common folk. (Anywhere there’s a big crowd, a politician will show up.)

7. k) Were they forewarned of the coming wrath? They didn’t believe the Word of God, so they took no forewarnings. Thus, the answer is that they were not. That is not why they had come. (Again, I am referring to a subgroup of the Pharisees that wasn’t righteous, and all the Sadducees.) Yet they were, because the Bible stated it clearly (if one takes the Bible literally). Nothing is clear in the Bible if it isn’t literally read.

I am proposing that John’s question is rhetorical in nature: they didn’t come to flee from any wrath; they thought they were in cozy with God.

7. l) What wrath is this? It is the wrath of Yehovah, referring to the Tribulation. I do not understand this to refer to everlasting wrath of the Lake of Fire and Sulfur.

7. m) Is fleeing from the wrath to come appropriate? It is appropriate if the person’s flight is to Truth and to Yehovah. That is literally what folks will be doing during the Tribulation who go to Mount Zion and who help others on the way.

7. n) What was John’s view of the timing of this coming wrath? John thought that it was right around the corner, and thus involved these specific Pharisees and Sadducees (as well as all Israelis who were not right with Yehovah). His timing problems will lead to the destruction of His faith in Yeshua at a later time.

8. a) Can the Pharisees and Saducees of the ‘viper’ ilk produce fruits worthy of repentance? Yes, since they are commanded by the Spirit of God to do so. Yehovah never commands what cannot be done through His own power. They cannot in their present states with their present mindsets.

8. b) Can anyone produce fruits worthy of repentance? Yes; if one has truly repented, that person will produce fruits worthy of that repentance. This is not a text indicating that John believed that fruits worthy enough would be necessary first before repentance. Everyone born of God has this responsibility and privilege.

Yet, producing fruits worthy of repentance before repentance cannot be ruled out, otherwise the Sheep/Goat Judgment (Matthew 25:31 and following) would be ruled out.

8. c) What is repentance? It is turning from a particular set of actions to an opposite set of actions. A person can repent from sinning to righteousness, but a person can also repent from righteousness to sinning. It isn’t a verbal issue; it isn’t the same as confession. This is a matter of true turning.

8. d) What are some impetuses for repentance?

• Some will repent once they become filled with sorrow for the destruction their sins have wrought.
• Some will repent once they gain a hatred for sin and its consequences.
• Some will repent out of a newly acquired fear of Yehovah.
• Some will repent because they fear the wrath of Yehovah.
• Some will repent because they now understand how their ways and their beliefs were false, and how the ways and teachings of Yehovah are Truth.

8. e) To what is therefore attached in texts above? It is attached to sentence before it. Supposedly the Pharisees and Sadducees that John excoriated had come in order to flee from the wrath to come. If that is the case, they would thus begin to produce fruits worthy of repentance. If they came for some other reason, however, they would not produce such fruits.

9. a) What logic did the supposed spiritual leaders use to circumvent repentance and doing works worthy of that? They used their being from an ancestor, Avraham in order to declare themselves in a good light before Yehovah.

9. b) Would God ever raise children to Avraham from stones? First, the text declares His ability. I don’t think that many outside of liberal camps would doubt Yehovah’s ability to turn stones into children of Abraham. So this question has to do with what God would do rather than with His ability.

Consider the following:

• All humans are made from soil.
• Stones are made from soil.
• Thus, humans are made also of stones in the soil.
• Stones are not living. Non-saints are not alive in the Biblical use of everlasting life; they are dead while they live. (Stones are not really dead. They have no life.)
• The Bible refers to Jewish Saints as living stones. Yeshua is also called a stone. Thus, if Jewish Saints are living stones, and are built into the House of God, the same is true of non-Jewish Saints, for they are also part of the same Body.

One thing must be established in order to answer this question: “Would there ever be a need to do so?” If the answer is, “Yes!” then Yehovah would do it. He only does what is needful and useful for His plan and for the benefit of His creation. John stated this prophetically. In other words, I suspect there will be a need.

10. a) What trees are these? These trees refer to humans. The Bible often enough has tree personifications. Psalm 1 uses the simile: the man is like a tree… Thus, this is not an easily misunderstood picture.

10. b) What axe applied to the trees? Identify the axe… An axe is a tool. It is used in this case to cut down a tree. Since a person is a tree, this axe is a tool in Yehovah’s hand to cut down persons. We have not identified how this tool will appear, but many in this human forest will die when it is applied.

10. c) Why is the axe applied to the root? That is where life is. If the axe were used higher than the root, the tree might come back again.

10. d) What forest is this with these trees in this simile? This is the forest of Israel. We are still in Matthew, and John’s prophetic warnings are still to the Jews.

10. e) What event occurred in John’s day that would indicate that the axe is already applied? I know of no event that occurred in John’s day. The man was a prophet, and he prophesied of things to come. Yet, he was mistaken about timings, and thought that wrap-up events would occur in his own day. I suspect that these very words are the ones that entrapped him later when he thought that Herod, Herodius, etc. should be among the chopped trees, when he himself ended up dead, and not them. The axe is applied, but I do not see any chopping in Yeshua’s and John’s day; that chopping awaits the Tribulation. That is when roots will especially be chopped. Every holocaust, in the meantime, is also an obvious chopping. Consider how many genetic lines of Israel were cut permanently during the Holocaust. Yehovah has instituted intentional thinning of the forests of Israel by the cutting of millions of individuals (each being ‘a tree’) at one time.

10. f) If the tree thinning is Yehovah’s judgment against Israel in a cycle of holocausts, does this mean that trees bearing good fruit will be spared the cutting by the axe? This axe is in Yehovah’s hand. He never misses His target, and He never targets the innocent. Thus, the axe will not come against the trees bearing good fruit. That does not mean that enemies of Yehovah and of the Saints won’t manage to kill the righteous; they will, but they are not inflicting the justice of Yehovah in the process.

Yehovah gives warnings before swinging that axe. Those who heed the warnings must leave “the forest” during that cutting time, or take the risk of being collateral damage at the hands of evildoers in order to benefit a few.

10. g) What constitutes good fruit? Good fruit is always nourishing and beneficial ‘for eating’ and thus, for providing sustenance for life. It also contains the seed in itself that can sprout and produce another tree that will produce good fruit. Thus, keeping alive comes from eating good fruit. Therefore, whatever makes for true and good life that one can give to another, and that contains the seed in itself for producing another fruit-producing tree will be good fruit.

Many examples of good fruit are found in the Bible, but yet this concept is one that is harder to grasp than most Biblical concepts.

Consider the following examples of producing good fruit:

• Moshe did as Yehovah commanded. The intention was to give life by challenging Pharaoh’s false gods.
• Moshe took the Israeli slaves out of cruel slavery; that was a good work.
• Caleb feared Yehovah and did what was right: he believed Yehovah. That was a good work.
• Joseph did a good work in Egypt, saving the entire Middle East from starvation. He did good works as a slave and as a prisoner. He saved them regardless of their being pagans. He did a good work.
• Sarah did a good work. Hebrews chapter 11 describes the various good works of some. She herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Many more examples exist. All good works are the product of good fruit.

10. h) Can a non-saint produce good fruit? Yes. If good fruit could save, they would be saved.

10. i) Will one who is born of God always do good works? There are cases where they haven’t. This answers the question in a sad way. That will make for the great distinctions in rank in the Kingdom of the heavens.

10. j) Can one who is born of God continuously not do good works? (This includes not doing bad works.) This text states that any tree not producing good fruit most certainly will be ‘axed’ and cast into fire. That is damnation as clearly as daylight.

10. k) What if a fearer of Yehovah doesn’t have occasion to do good works? Consider a tree. It doesn’t move (except during earthquakes and big winds), and it may not have a single human visitor. Yet, it can produce an abundance of excellent fruit that just falls to the ground and is ingested by organisms.

In the same light, a person will always have occasions (seasons) to bring forth good fruit whether anyone picks it or not. Fruit production is seasonal.

The owner of all trees is Yehovah. Any tree that would have produced good fruit, but never had the means would be able to blame Yehovah for that.

10. l) What is this fire? This is the Lake of Fire and Sulfur.

10. m) Why did Yehovah need to add sulfur to the Lake of Fire? Why wouldn’t fire be enough? Sulfur burns hot, and it is cleansing. Thus, the picture is that of persons who are always unclean.

10. n) Does Yeshua love everyone, according to this verse? John’s introduction of the Lake of Fire and cutting folks down like they are deadwood shows only contempt.

11. a) What was the purpose of John’s baptism, according to this verse? His baptism was specifically unto repentance. This wasn’t rededication.

11. b) From what were these Israelis repenting? They were repenting from sins they actually had done. Their violations were of the Teaching (Torah).

11. c) Why was water associated with repentance? Water is associated with a barrier. When the Israelis exited from Egypt, they went through a dried water barrier through which the Egyptian army could not pierce. That was a baptism. All baptisms have a barrier in mind through which the one being baptized goes.

The most common ‘Christian’ baptism is a death baptism: being immersed into Yeshua’s death. Death is a barrier taking one from slavery (to sin) to freedom (which is slavery, since it always includes responsibility) to righteousness.

In the same way, John’s baptism had a barrier in mind: sin itself. Repentance was the crossing of that barrier if and only if the person quit sinning.

11. d) Where folks repetitiously immersed after sinning again? I cannot prove this, but I don’t think John or his disciples would have tolerated that great violation.

11. e) Why did so many desire to come to John to turn from sin (repentance) publicly? He was a priest of the Levitical order. He spoke Truth. His speeches attracted many. Some came because of the glamour, but others came because of the conviction. Life under Roman occupation drove many Jews to look for some brightness during a terrible, frightening, mentally torturous time. Some wanted to know what was necessary for Yehovah to be pleased enough to turn Israel from Israel’s present dire state. It was a setup for a ‘revival’.

11. f) Who is coming after John? This is Messiah Yeshua.

11. g) In what way is Yeshua mightier than John? Yeshua is all-powerful (omnipotent). He is more powerful in every sense of the word.

11. h) What is the pertinence of Yeshua being mightier than John in this text? John was not as Jacob. Jacob wrestled with Yeshua, and prevailed. John will disagree with Yeshua, and will not prevail. Jacob did prevail, and insisted upon a blessing. John’s faith will fail.

11. i) Why is John not fit to bear Yeshua’s sandals?

First, which is higher, Yeshua’s sandals, or His image? His image is far higher than His sandals.

Who is fit to carry Yeshua’s image? All humans are fit in the view of Yehovah Who placed that image on every human. Therefore, with that image comes responsibility. Anyone with the image of God must render to God what is His property: the image. Thus, each has a responsibility to give himself/herself to God.

He will not carry out his responsibilities before Yehovah by giving Himself to Yeshua in faith in Yeshua. His faith will destruct. The man was a prophet. He spoke infallibly while prophesying. He said things about himself that were not only true, but were Truth. He wasn’t just being self-effacing; he was giving the ‘low down’.

John expected Yeshua to arrive as a mighty king. That will be true when Yeshua comes to Mount Zion in the future. John was totally confused about timings and events of arrivals. John thought the kingdom was coming at that very time.

John was expressing the greatness of rank of Yeshua above himself, and how unworthy John was to carry even His sandals. He was also expressing the omnipotence of Yeshua as a contrast to John’s own weak power. John is saying who the Messiah is, and that He is coming. John and Yeshua had mamas who loved each other and who visited each other. It seems obvious that John and Yeshua would have been children together at various times, and that they heard and knew that Yeshua is the Messiah.

John was deflecting the great attention given to himself toward Yeshua who really was and is the important One of Israel’s history. Folks may have thought that John was the one (the Messiah). He determined to apprise them that he is not the Messiah.

11. j) Why are sandals mentioned in particular? In the Middle East, even today, the bottoms of shoes are considered the dirtiest part of a person’s dress and person. They are left at the door, and in some traditions the bottoms are never elevated toward another’s face unless to insult that person with great intent. Carrying sandals for another person, then, would be an act of great humiliation.

11. k) Is being immersed with the Holy Spirit and with fire good? These are two opposite immersions. They are not connected as one immersion. Since they are opposite, the combination is not good and not bad, but both: very good and very bad. This refers to a division of where Israeli folks will end up.

11. l) What is the purpose of being immersed with the Holy Spirit? This is to take a person from death into everlasting life.

11. m) Define spirit as used in the Bible: The essence of God is not physical. He is a spirit: that is, He is a being that is real, and incorporeal: non-physical. A spirit is a living entity or is a life-giving entity. Everything that has a spirit is alive. Removing the spirit is removing life. Therefore, the spirit is the object in which life exists or through which life exists.

God is spirit; therefore He is the source of life as well as life itself.

11. n) Define Holy Spirit: Holy means owned. Spirit is defined above. Thus, a Holy Spirit is an owned, incorporeal living entity that also is able to give life, and is the Life. A better expression than ‘Holy Spirit’ is ‘Spirit of the Holy-One’ referring to the Spirit of Yeshua, the Holy One of Israel. (In truth, every spirit, demonic or otherwise, is holy by definition; each one belongs to someone or to Yehovah. And then, every spirit in the universe comes from Yehovah—referring to its source, not to its disposition—and every living thing owes its life to the Owner of all life in the universe: to Yehovah.)

11. o) What is the purpose of fire immersion? This is the judgment of the damned. The purpose is to truly punish those who defiled the image of God to their deaths.

12. a) What is a winnowing fan? It is a fan used for chaff separation (winnowing).

12. b) If the winnowing fan is in His hand, what does the chaff represent? The chaff represents the bad guys, as Psalm 1 reports:

Psalm 1:4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

12. c) How much respect does Yeshua have for the ungodly in this judgment? He has the amount of respect that folks looking for wheat have for chaff; He has none.

12. d) What is His floor? This text contains a picture common to the Israelis: that of a winnowing of grain. When grain is winnowed, chaff that is very easily separated from the husk (wheat kernels) is blown. The process is accomplished by throwing the wheat into the air; the kernels fall quickly and the chaff spins slowly. When a hand fan is moved, the chaff blows away from the kernels. This process is repeated until the kernels are close to chaffless. The floor is a section beneath ground level outside so that the chaff is blown out of the floor area, but the kernels fall back into that floor area.

This picture is used to describe how Yeshua will separate the wheat (the Israelis who are or will be born of God) from the chaff (the Israelis who will never believe) using Yeshua’s fan. His fan will blow the chaff Israelis into a flame, burning them up, while the wheat Israelis will be gathered to Mount Zion.

The floor, then, is the location of the separation (or the locations of the separations).

13. a) Why did Yeshua come to be immersed by John? Yeshua came to fulfill all righteousness. Being immersed by John or one of his students was part of righteousness. Yehovah had sent John. John’s messages were important, and being immersed by him was vital.

13. b) What was the purpose of John’s baptism?

Mark 1:4 John baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins.

The word unto indicates direction and the final goal. The baptism was of repentance. Those desiring to repent from sin were baptized. Their sins were not remitted. If their baptism was serious and they feared Yehovah, the next step would be to obtain sin remission. This is more clearly seen in the following text where the word christos in Greek is translated instead of transliterated:

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, “Repent! And every one of you be baptized in the Name of Yeshua, the One-anointed for the remission of sins! And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!”

This baptism is not the same as John’s baptism; their purposes are different. John’s baptism was a repentance baptism; the baptism that Peter addressed was into Yeshua, the One that the Israelis had not yet known.

Sin remission is never by water; it is only valid when it is by the blood of a worthy and perfect sacrifice.

14. a) Was John’s hindering Yeshua in respect? Yes. John felt his own personal lower rank than Yeshua, and thus he determined to hinder Yeshua because of his own unworthiness.

14. b) Did John really hinder Yeshua in the way we understand hindering? We see hindrance as being far more drastic. John was determined (at first) to reverse the baptism so that Yeshua would immerse John. That is his hindrance; he isn’t immediately cooperating with Yeshua by immersing Yeshua.

14. c) Did John need to be immersed by Yeshua with the baptism that John himself performed on others? I believe John! He needed that immersion for repentance; only, Yeshua immersed no one. (We propose that this is to avoid judging each one’s salvation: those whom Yeshua would refuse will be damned, and those whom Yeshua would immerse will be or are born of God. This would have made idols out of those who were immersed by Yeshua, and this would throw into disrepute any baptism done by others after Yeshua’s time. Yeshua will not judge before the time.

John 12:47 And if any man hears my words and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I didn’t come to judge the world, but to save the world.

14. d) Why was John so taken aback that Yeshua would come to John to be immersed? John had preached repentance. For what did Yeshua to repent? It made no sense to John.

15. a) Why would Yeshua say, “Permit now” as if He is acquiring something akin to permission from John? The expression appears to be more a command than an acquisition of permission. Yeshua was telling John that this must occur.

15. b) Identify us in this text: They must be the Israelis. It is always becoming to the Israelis to fulfill all righteousness.

15. c) What does becoming mean? It means a combination of appropriate and attractive.

15. d) What is becoming to the Israelis in this text? It is becoming to the Israelis to fulfill all righteousness! Anything short of that isn’t becoming; it is totally ugly and inappropriate.

15. e) What did Yeshua’s being immersed by John have to do with the Israelis fulfilling all righteousness? Yeshua is classifying Himself as being one of the Israelis. (Every other Israeli must do likewise: that is, fulfill all righteousness in order for anything to be done right.)

15. f) Why did John concede and ‘permit’ Yeshua to come to him for immersion? He did what he was told; his respect for Yeshua was very high and total (at this time).

16. a) Did Yeshua repent before He was immersed? He had nothing for which to repent.

16. b) Why did He go immediately up from the water after His immersion? The only reason I could consider why He would not have immediately left the water would be to make a speech. Yeshua made no speech. Yeshua had no intention of detracting from John’s ministerial work.

16. c) Why were the heavens opened to Him? The heavens opened so that He (and folks around Him, if they also were permitted to see) could see the Spirit of God descending.

16. d) Were the others able to see the opening of the heavens? If they heard the voice in verse 17 (which they did), they also saw the heavens opened.

16. e) Like what does the opening of the heavens appear? We have no idea. This event would be frightening.

16. f) Who saw the Spirit of God descending? We know that at least one being saw the Spirit of God: John. We haven’t established whether others saw this or not. The Bible notes that the Spirit of God visibly appeared, but that doesn’t mean that others saw this event.

We proposed that the crowd needed to see the Spirit of Yehovah descend, since John had been speaking of Yeshua in a special way, and this would give some confirmation to John’s claims about Yeshua’s rank.

16. g) Why did the appearance of the Spirit of God come in the form of a dove (of all animals or representations)? The text does not state that the Spirit of God appeared in the form of a dove. It stated that the Spirit of God descended in the same manner that a dove descends.

16. h) How does a dove descend? Is it straight down? It flutters down. It is not a rapid descent.

16. i) What does this slow descent demonstrate? A slow rate of descent is easier to see. It is also more gentle. Had the Spirit of Yehovah descended like an eagle or like lightning, a very different characterization of the Spirit of Yehovah would have resulted. A child will rarely be afraid of an item descending slowly like a dove.

16. j) What was the appearance of the Spirit of Yehovah, and how did those who saw the Spirit know that this was the Spirit of Yehovah? If the appearance is the same as in other places in the Bible, the Spirit appeared as a cloud. This is how the Spirit of Yehovah physically appeared with Israel after leaving Egypt. The Spirit was a cloud by day and fire by night.

17. a) What is the source of the voice? The source must be Yehovah the Father.

17. b) Why did Yehovah identify the source in the text? He did by saying, “This is my Son.” No more identification is necessary.

17. c) What does beloved mean? The Greek root, agapao, traces to the Hebrew ahavah meaning to pant after with great desire, but not necessarily involving lust. It is the strong Hebrew word for love, for seeking the highest, best interest for another without regard to self.

17. d) Why did Yehovah need to think well of Yeshua? First, think well is a verb indicating that Yehovah had very good regard for Yeshua. Of course, He would, since Yeshua is part of Him.

Yeshua volunteered to life mortally, suffer sickness, die painfully, be brutalized, and shed His own blood, being despised by His own in order to accomplish Salvation, Redemption, and not having to pour the cup of wrath (that filled up from the sins of Israel) on Israel.

Yeshua is therefore a hero before Yehovah. Yehovah sees heroism, and records it, as well as declaring it. Yehovah needed to think well of Yeshua, since Yeshua will be the ultimate example of a hero who refused to sin and who refused to become bitter against those determined to kill Him. He instead provided everlasting life for them and for all by His heroism.