The teaching resumes in Matthew 2:19–23 after Herod’s death. An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream in Egypt and instructs him to take the young child and his mother and return to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead. Joseph arises, takes the child and his mother, and comes into the land of Israel. Fearing that Archelaus is reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he is warned according to a dream and turns aside into the region of Galilee, dwelling in a city called Nazareth. This fulfills what was spoken by the prophets: He shall be called a Nazarene.
The term Nazarene derives from the Hebrew word for branch. Isaiah 11:1 states that a rod shall come forth from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Nazareth was held in low esteem. When Philip tells Nathanael that they have found Him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, Jesus the Nazarene, the son of Joseph, Nathanael asks, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). This aligns with Isaiah 53:3, where the Servant is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and with Psalm 22:6, “I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.”
A Nazarene from Nazareth is distinct from one under a Nazirite vow in Numbers 6. Under the Nazirite vow a person separates himself to the Lord, abstains from the fruit of the vine, allows no razor upon his head (producing long hair), and does not approach a dead body even if parents die. Jesus drank from the fruit of the vine and raised the dead, so He was not under a Nazirite vow. A Jewish man under the Law did not wear long hair except under such a vow; long hair is a dishonor to a man (1 Corinthians 11:14). Jesus lived according to the Law in dress and appearance, set apart from the Gentiles so that one could identify a Jew by looking at him.
Matthew 3 introduces John the Baptizer heralding with authority the message of the kingdom of the heavens in the wilderness of Judea. He calls for repentance, which means a change of mind, not remorse, because the kingdom of the heavens is at hand. Israel should have been waiting for the Messiah according to Scripture, yet they were not believing. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah: a voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight (Matthew 3:3).
John is clothed in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food is locusts and wild honey. This appearance associates him with Elijah, who was known as a hairy man wearing a leather belt (2 Kings 1:8). He comes in the character of Elijah, not as Elijah himself (Matthew 17:10–13). Eating locusts demonstrates strict adherence to the dietary requirements of the Levitical law (Leviticus 11:21–22). Honey symbolizes the goodness and sweetness of God’s message.
Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan go out to him and are immersed by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. Confession arises as a response to the change of mind concerning the coming Messiah. Under the Mosaic Law, immersion relates to renewal and washing (Leviticus 8:6). This is distinct from immersion in the Church. Hebrews 6:1–2 lists the doctrines of baptisms among the elementary principles that are left behind for maturity. Immersion does not save; Christ did not send Paul to immerse but to preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:17). For the Christian, immersion is a result of salvation. It relates to a good conscience through the resurrection of Christ—an answer of a good conscience toward God, not the removal of the filth of the flesh (1 Peter 3:21). It is a public declaration of having been immersed into Christ’s death and raised to walk in newness of life.
When many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to the immersion, John calls them a brood of vipers and asks who warned them to flee the wrath that is coming. He commands them to bear fruits worthy of a change of mind. They are not to think that they will be saved simply because they are of the seed of Abraham, for God is able to raise up children to Abraham from stones. The axe is already laid to the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear proper fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The trees represent Israelites who do not believe. The fig tree is predominantly used in relation to Israel’s failure to produce fruit.
John immerses with water unto a change of mind, but the One coming after him is mightier, whose sandals John is not worthy to carry. He will immerse with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Immersion with the Holy Spirit refers to being immersed into one body, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free (1 Corinthians 12:12–13). Fire refers to judgment: the winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor, gather the wheat into the barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:16–17). This begins the purging of Israel.
