Straight Paths, Good Fruit and Unquenchable Fire

Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ³ For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”

⁴ Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; ⁶ and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; ⁹ and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰ The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:1-12 (NASB)

Today when I read this passage in Matthew, a few questions came to mind: 

1.  How was John the Baptist supposed to make God’s paths straight? 

2.  What does “fruit in keeping with repentance” look like?  

3.  What is this very disturbing picture of Jesus with something akin to a pitchfork and hell fire all about (All that’s missing are the horns, right?!)?

My initial research took me to Isaiah 40.  Verse 3 is quoted in Matthew, but, for context I began with the first two verses and read through the two following verses: “Comfort, O comfort my people”, says your God.  “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.” A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.  Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley.  Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 40:1-5

What I first realized is that the ultimate message was to be one of comfort and tenderness.  The people were to be told that their warfare had ended and their iniquity had been removed.  This was not meant to be a message of condemnation, as it is often pictured, but one of hope!  Not only that, but I saw that it was not John the Baptist’s job to clear the way for the Lord, or to make his paths straight; rather, his was to be the voice calling the people to clear the way for the Lord and to make his paths straight.  So, how were the people supposed to make God’s path straight?

In all four of the gospels, we read that John preached to the people the message of a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.  The passage in Matthew has John calling the religious leaders of the day a “brood of vipers”, and asking them who warned them to flee from the coming wrath.  He also told them not to rely on their credentials as Abraham’s children, since God could turn the stones into Abraham’s children if he wanted to.   Luke goes even further, and applies those words to all who came out to hear John’s message and then details the different groups, such as tax collectors and soldiers, who asked John what behavior was required of them.  John answered each of them with specific instructions. 

From these passages of scripture, I began to see that the way the people were to prepare a straight path for the Lord was by squarely facing the reality of their sin.  They needed to stop thinking they were acceptable to God because of their personal goodness or their ancestry.  They needed to examine their specific behavior requirements and find themselves wanting.  They needed the law to be laid down, to show them that they actually needed a place to run, to escape the coming wrath.  They needed to see their need, so that nothing would impede their grateful acceptance of rescue when it arrived.

This understanding also answered my next question about what “fruit in keeping with repentance” looks like.  It looks like humility.  It looks like shedding all dependence on my own goodness.  It looks like recognition that I am no better than anyone else, that we are all in the same boat and that boat is sinking. It looks like desperate longing for rescue and, ultimately, great relief and joy when the good news is revealed.

But, what about that picture of Jesus with the winnowing fork ready to clear his threshing floor; gathering his wheat into the barn but burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire?  This is a picture of the harvesting process where the wheat is tossed into the air with a fork so that the wind can blow away the worthless parts such as the husks, hulls, shells, etc., leaving only the grain.  The chaff is then burned. 

Some consider the wheat to represent those who recognized their need for a savior and accepted the offer of rescue through Christ, with the chaff representing those who saw no need for rescue.  I prefer to picture Christ taking all of those who believe in him and tossing us into the air so that the wind gently blows away all of our worthless and even damnable efforts to be good enough, until all that remains is wheat, made perfect in his righteousness.  Then, all of the evidence of our fearful and fruitless struggle is burned with unquenchable fire, because, finally, we are eternally safe in Him.