Unshaken: Chapter a Day
Pastor Chris Plekenpol and his guests explore the Bible together one chapter at a time. They offer practical insights, theological depth, and real-life applications. Dive in for engaging discussions that bring God’s Word to life, one chapter at a time!
Unshaken: Chapter a Day
Matthew 3 Discussion
The waters of the Jordan River set the stage for a pivotal moment in salvation history. Matthew Chapter 3 introduces us to the wilderness-dwelling, locust-eating prophet John the Baptist, whose thunderous call to "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" echoes across Judea's dusty landscape.
John's ministry serves as the perfect bridge between the Old Testament prophetic tradition and Jesus' arrival. With unflinching boldness, he confronts the religious establishment—Pharisees and Sadducees alike—calling them a "brood of vipers" and warning that spiritual heritage without heart transformation is worthless. The ax is already at the root! As we discuss in this episode, God's most pointed rebukes throughout Scripture are aimed at shepherds and leaders, not because God dislikes them particularly, but because their influence shapes entire communities.
When Jesus appears at the Jordan, requesting baptism from his cousin John, we witness a moment of divine revelation. The Trinity manifests as the Father's voice thunders from heaven, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Son stands in the water. But what strikes us most profoundly is the Father's declaration: "This is my beloved Son, with him I am well pleased." This statement comes before Jesus performs a single miracle or teaching—he is loved for who he is, not what he does. This reality transforms how we understand our relationship with God through Christ. As Jesus prays in John 17, the Father loves us just as He loves Jesus.
For anyone who has longed for a father's blessing or approval, this chapter offers a healing balm. In Christ, you are not merely tolerated but deeply loved by your heavenly Father. You are not a "human doing" but a "human being," cherished for who you are in Him.
Have you been baptized yet? If not, what's holding you back? As we note in this episode, baptism might be the easiest command Jesus ever gave—someone else even does it for you! If Jesus himself was baptized "to fulfill all righteousness," shouldn't we follow his example? Listen, share, and join us tomorrow as we continue our journey through Matthew, one chapter a day.
And welcome back to A Chapter, a Day.
Pastor Holland:Keeps the devil away.
Pastor Plek:It's Pastor Plek here, along with Pastor Holland, and we are talking Matthew, chapter 3. Quick outline you've got John the Baptist beginning his ministry saying repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then he warns the religious leaders that show up and he calls them a brood of vipers, which is always kind of fun. And then he says listen, I baptize with water, but someone greater than me is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And then Jesus comes to John. John resists, knowing Jesus is greater, but he says hey, let's do it this way.
Pastor Plek:I love how Jesus is gentle with John. Let's do it to fulfill all righteousness. And then the key verse for me in this chapter and I would love to hear what you think, han he says this is my beloved son, or probably a better translation this is my son, the one I love. With him, I am well pleased. And then, finally, he uses natural signs and divine revelation. Sorry, that's how the chapter ends, with this kind of like awesome statement of how great Jesus is. Okay, so talk to me now, holland, as you read this, as you kind of lean into what sticks out to you in this chapter.
Pastor Holland:So baptism is kind of the theme of this chapter, right? John the Baptist, oh nice. Not John the Presbyterian, not John the Catholic, okay, john the Baptist came preaching, preaching, repent, and you know he baptizes Jesus. But before he does that, he says in verse 11, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who's coming after me is my dear than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, which is pretty awesome. And you know, we see the fulfillment of this in the book of Acts when the Pentecost, right, the spirit of God comes down like tongues of fire on the heads of the people in the upper room, right, and they're baptized and filled with the spirit. And so I think it's interesting, though I talked to someone recently who was saying you know, do we really need to be baptized with water? Because it says, right, here Jesus is going to baptize us with fire and the Spirit. Oh nice, what would you?
Pastor Plek:say to that? I'd say Jesus got baptized. Fulfill all righteousness, Boom yeah. So why not just do it, Jesus? If it was good enough for Jesus, how much more is it?
Pastor Holland:good enough for you. There you go, yeah. So I agree, I think Jesus is our example, yeah, and him getting baptized, and you know we talked about this a little bit. We'll look at Jesus as you know, the true Israel right. We talked about that in chapters one and two, I think.
Pastor Plek:Or the better, Israel Is that? What do you think? Is it true or better? True and better.
Pastor Holland:True and better. How about that?
Pastor Holland:Yeah yeah, he, if you think of baptism as a passing through water, nice, and then what does he do? In the next chapter we're going to see, he goes into the wilderness. Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea before going into the wilderness, right? And so, yeah, jesus is in one way fulfilling all righteousness as the true and better Israel who, when he goes into the wilderness I'm going to save some of this for next chapter, I guess but he passes, you know, he's faithful to God, as opposed to Israel who grumbled the whole time, faithless, they're whiners. But he's also, then, our example of for us passing through the waters of baptism so that we might walk through the wilderness of this life awaiting the promised land of heaven.
Pastor Plek:Pretty cool, yeah that's a preach right there. Okay, here's a couple things that stood out to me. People are prone to religious pride. You've got John is rebuking them for saying don't say we have Abraham as our father, for out of these stones, out of these rocks, he can make descendants of Abraham. Yeah, and I think there's a spiritual pride that the Pharisees and Sadducees had, which I think is interesting, that Pharisees were the one.
Pastor Plek:Jesus would have been in the Pharisee camp, more on the conservative side. Sadducees were more liberal, more like you know what. It's really one of the first five books of the Bible. Is there really a resurrection? Probably not. This is all you get. You might as well make the best of it while you're here, because this is all there is. And so Jesus, being of the Pharisee denomination, was kind of, but was on with them. But he's denouncing both of them for their claim for religious superiority of like. We are descendants of Abraham and John's. Like.
Pastor Plek:The ax is at the foot of the tree, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself. That's right. How about this? People often need a bold confrontation to wake up. Yeah, and John is not. He is not polite, that's a good way to put it. Yeah, brute of vipers. He calls them a brute of vipers and challenged them to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and I think he was using strong words to shake up some spiritual complacency and reality of like you are not good, like of your own self you are not good. Any thoughts there on that for your perspective?
Pastor Holland:Yeah, the strongest words of rebuke in the Bible are always directed toward the leaders, the shepherds. Yeah, oh, that's powerful. And God's prophets always confronted the shepherds, the kings, the rulers, right, because they're the ones who are leading the rest of the people. So where the shepherds go, the people follow. Where the kings go, the people follow, whether into godliness or idolatry. And so here you have the shepherds of Israel as idolatrous, hypocritical, replacing God's commands with the traditions of man. Right, and you have John the Baptist, just like the prophets before him, calling them out, confronting them directly. It's not just like an angry temper tantrum or a young, immature guy who doesn't know how to control his tongue. This is righteous rebuke toward the spiritual shepherds of Israel.
Pastor Plek:Okay, here's another one. God brings grace and judgment. Notice you, remember we brought this verse up a bunch. Jesus is the one who baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire, symbolizing both purification and judgment, depending on someone's response to him. Yeah, which is sort of a wild thing to think about, Like Holy Spirit for those who accept him, fire for the ones who don't. Yeah, I don't know if I ever thought of that until we kept harping on this one verse. Okay, the other one for me that just is so cool is verse 17. You have a Trinitarian like you have God the Father's voice Rest in peace modalists.
Pastor Holland:Yeah, you're done. Yeah, because here, god, the Father's voice Rest in peace.
Pastor Plek:Modalists. Yeah, you're done. Yeah, because here God the Father is there. You hear his voice, you see the Holy Spirit alight on him like a dove, and then you have Jesus himself and the voice says this is my, or this is my son, the one I love. With him, I'm well pleased.
Pastor Plek:And I think, whenever you wonder about a father's blessing, a father's love, this is the picture for me that I want to, kind of the knowledge that I need to if I was going to apply this. This comes into my application. Knowledge to believe here it is that God loves me like he loves Jesus. And I know that from John 17, 23, where Jesus says I pray that, as I am in you and you are in me, I am in me and you in me, that they may be perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me. And this is Jesus not praying for the disciples who are sitting right there. He says, verse 20, I do not ask for these only, but for those who will believe in me through their word. So, in John 17, this, like Jesus prays, you would love them, father, like you have loved me.
Pastor Plek:And then, when you read the verse in that context. This is my son, like I have sonship, I am an heir, I am connected to God. He is taking ownership of me as a father, the one I love, and beyond that, it's not just like he, you know, it's like, okay, I guess that's my lousy inheritance son who's just been, you know, lazy his whole life. No, this is the one I love. I am loved by God in the way that he loved Jesus, and there is deep intimacy there and I love to soak in that thought and then also with him, I'm well pleased and remember, jesus is loved before he's done a lick of ministry. It is just. He is love before he's done a lick of ministry, it is just he is not. He's not a human doing, he's a human being and he is love for who he be. And so, therefore, god loves me, thank you. God loves me for who I am. Yeah, in Christ, in Christ.
Pastor Holland:I thought you were going to say for who I be.
Pastor Plek:For who I be, and so I appreciate that and that, that, to me, is powerful. And no matter who you are, you need a father's blessing, a father's love, and if you were never able to get that from your earthly father, you can claim it here from your heavenly father.
Pastor Holland:That's good. My example to follow get baptized.
Pastor Plek:Nice.
Pastor Holland:It is the easiest command of Jesus to obey. Yeah, it says. Sends out the apostles, go make disciples, baptize them To be baptized. You don't even do it. Someone else does it for you. Easiest command of Jesus to obey you don't even do it. Someone else does it for you. Easiest command of Jesus to obey. I've met quite a few Christians recently, though, who have questioned whether or not they should be baptized, and do we still do that anymore? Wasn't that just for back then? It's an area like kind of I was shocked, but an area of confusion, I think, and so just to say right now, jesus was baptized. He commanded his apostles to go and baptize. You should be baptized if you're a believer in Jesus and easy command to obey and a powerful sign of the grace of God, and you know that he washes away our sins, that we're united to Christ and his death and burial and resurrection, and that we walk in newness of life. Be baptized.
Pastor Plek:Love it. Go and do likewise. Thanks for watching. We will see you tomorrow on A Chapter A Day.
