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Introduction
Jesus, Himself, later confirms John as having been His prophet when He says,
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? ...A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and
more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:“‘I will send my
messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’” (Luke 7:24-27).
And, lest we take the prophecies of John for granted as many have, when the
angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, John’s father, before his conception, Gabriel
spoke this prophecy of John,
“And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17).
“Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (v. 7c)
this healing, these ‘well-fed calves’ would ‘go out and frolic’, ‘trampling over
the wicked’ (v. 2b).
So, we are told that the people would repent or face sudden judgment.
The righteous people would suffer and need healing and would only receive it
once the evildoers had been judged for their wickedness. When they had been
renewed, their suffering at the hands of these wicked ones and the Name of the
Lord would both be vindicated. The “coming wrath” refers to God’s judgment
against the nation of Israel which culminated in 70AD and not the individual’s
punishment in eternal torment.
To avert this judgment John charges this ‘bag of snakes’ to...
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can
say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ (vs.8,9a)”
“I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for
Abraham.” (v. 9b)
John builds upon the previous statement which urged them not to
rely upon their genealogy. With this elaboration, the Baptizer severs the
people of God from this seeming ethnic necessity. We have already made
the case that through his ministry Gentiles were to be capable of coming
into covenant with God so long as they “revered His Name” (Malachi
4:2).
Eventually God did raise up children to Abraham from among the
‘stoney-hearted’ Gentiles. The Gentiles, or non-Jews, were regarded as
stocks and stones to the Jewish people. Indeed, Christ regarded Himself
as but a stone when He stated,
“Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the
builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is
After this, Jesus continues this effort of divorcing salvation from ethnicity
by showing that faith and genuine love for God were the signs of being the
covenant people of God, not ethnicity or law-keeping.
Just a few chapters later Jesus states that,
The Preteristic Parables (Part 1)
“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and
will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in