John the Baptist prefaces the approach of the Son of God by a means of comparison to himself. John’s message to the masses were clear, repent & be baptized. Notice he was not in the public square, he was not in the synagogue, he was in the wilderness & they came to him. The essence of this message & his place is felt in this statement.

Matthew 3:11 ¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John setting the table for the long awaited Messiah. Notice the 3 pts. here. First he examines his approach baptism for the purpose of repentance as an outward sign to the world you are a changed person. You have shown in baptism a means to rise from the water cleansed by the spiritual effects of our wicked nature & the curse of the sin nature within.  The people went for repentance because they recognized their need for a savior. Look around you look at the culture. How obvious has corruption become. How much have we embraced the things that are against what the Bible tells us we should be about?

Look beyond just politics. Look at what is now a cultural norm. Chaos. Looting of stores, shootings, legalizing drugs, laws making pedophilia legal. Look at postings on social media. It is an echo chamber because everyone wants a voice, just wanting to be heard, beyond that it is a playing field for complaining, belittling & divisiveness.

We were told six years ago to forego relations with people who disagree with us on politics & health, yet the Bible tells us to “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Romans 12:18. Can’t we see we do need a Savior & we do need to repent before him. Casting off & turning from this world system or pride lust & hatred. John offered that with the move that someone who can do more & is greater than he because he is more powerful.

More powerful That means more authority. John had the authority of the word of God & this message to come clean before the Creator of all things & in doing so demonstrates it by mentioning the sandals he is not fit to tie. There is more here than just speaking of footwear. The sandals are the lowest piece of covering on the body. In that part of the world when you displayed the bottom of your sandals you were saying you are beneath my feet, further, when a guest came into your house, it was the cultural norm to kneel before them and take their sandals off welcoming them in. This is the lowest most contaminated articles of clothing. Contaminated by the world & its dirt & waste.

John said I am not fit to carry them, but he goes beyond because he shows humility. He is saying the one who is coming has greater authority than the one who delivered the message repent & be baptized. Greater than the one who was sent alerting them to the need for a Savior & repentance. Have we in these end times understood the need to recognize this need. The need to have no debt and no offense to God Almighty? John said that this one that is coming, & doing so with greater power but he has a purpose in doing so.

Baptizing you.

From a derivative of bapto; to immerse, submerge; to make whelmed (i.e. Fully wet); used only (in the New Testament) of ceremonial washing. This is submerging in water as a means to display being covered as in death, but instead of dirt, you are covered in water, rising up cleansed & alive, but there is a controversy on this practice as some say it is absolutely necessary to be saved to which the Bible says that is not the case.  You are saved by grace not by works. The value of baptism is a sign to the world that we are called to communicate. That the world is not enough, you are nothing & have no eternal future without the blood of the Lamb of God to pay your sin debt & draw you closer to him and away from the lure of the world.

But here is where we DIG DEEP.  There is two baptisms here though.

John is speaking of more than just the common utilized baptism of being submerged in water. In some denominations the second is the more important. But let’s examine this by going further into the movement. The same word for fire is used in Acts 2:3.

Acts 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

Some of you may be confused why I am not sticking with the context of John  the Baptist & moving to the birth of the church. That is fine, so hear me out please. The tongues are of fire. Fire is the basis for this entire series & this fire is not just the fire from a fireplace, it is not the fire from my chili either. Fire is hot. Fire burns & fire consumes. It needs an igniter & an accelerant. John is saying that the one who is coming who has authority is baptizing to bring Holy Spirit & fire. In Acts, the Spirit fell upon those who were seeking waiting on God acting in obedience, which is submission not indoctrination by the way, full submission brought them the 3^rd member of the Trinity, brought them tongues of fire. All was prefaced previously in Acts.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus gives the directive & the info as to what is to come & come after. Notice the Spirit comes first then the fire came after and it coincides with the command of Jesus here to act for him. The fire is the after effect of the submitting to Jesus as Savior because we are all broken & in debt to the purity commanded by our Creator. It is easy to look past the connection Biblical fire has to this.

Here is the direct meaning.

Matthew 3:12  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Before we get into the verse, let’s get into the meaning of fire. This is the follow up verse to where we started & it has the same meaning in verse 11. Pur (Poor) in GR. fire. In Scripture, fire is often used figuratively – like with the “fire of God” which transforms all it touches into light and likeness with itself

God’s Spirit, like a holy fire, enlightens and purifies so that believers can share more and more in His likeness. Indeed the fire of God brings the uninterrupted privilege of being transformed which happens by experiencing faith from Him. Our lives can become true offerings to Him as we obey this imparted faith from God by His power.

Notice John is speaking in terms tied to agriculture, because that is what this audience would understand.  Wheat harvest occurs @ Pentecost. Pitchfork used to separate tossing into the air. What remains is separation from the world. He is saying the one to come which is Jesus, is gathering and separating wheat to put into his barn, because that is what is valuable. This passage also ties to rapture theory but there will be no rabbit trails here today because the subject is Biblical fire.

John is saying that Jesus is coming & he is bringing the recognized need to be baptized & repent but once you are he is going to bring with him the fire of God inside of you. This is baptism of fire. Tongues of fire a spiritual gift for a purpose to go further take the fire of God to others & by the Spirit ignite them because the fire of God transforms all it touches into light & likeness with itself!

It will burn you, it will burn inside wanting to get out. The fire within of the saving power of Jesus Christ will take you place you would not have gone, communicate with people you would not have communicated with & with authority that without you could not do what he called you to do with a boldness & courage you would not have. The fire of God is indeed a fire of life!