As John is baptizing, we get
this little bit:
7 ¶But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (Matthew 3:7-8)
The question John puts to the Pharisees and Sadducees—“who
hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”-- has always puzzled me. It seemed so odd. I couldn’t get a grasp on what he was
trying to say. It is obvious he is
trying to persuade them to repent, but what exact argument he was making seemed
garbled.
Eventually I realized John was demonstrating great discernment
about their spiritual state. John
knew they knew they had been called
to repentance. He also knew they
knew they would suffer the wrath of God if they didn’t repent. He also knew they were uncertain about whether
their sins were that serious and whether they really needed to be concerned
about them. (Of course we know the
answer to that—all sins require repentance.) He also knew they were uncertain about the source of this message.
The warning to repent was an opportunity to flee from the
wrath (of God) to come (at judgment day), and John asked them to consider what source would want
them to repent and escape God’s wrath.
It’s an easy answer—it’s God.
Satan doesn’t encourage repentance; only God does. So they needn’t hesitate to repent and
worry about the source of the message.
It’s a good message today. Who tells
us we’re fine how we are and we don’t need to change? That’s a message Satan would like us to swallow. Who instead warns us to repent? God.
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