25 The baptism of John, whence was it? of heaven or of men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say to us, Why then have ye not believed him?
But though he had done so many signs before them, they believed not on him, that the word of the prophet Esaias which he said might be fulfilled, Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? On this account they could not believe, because Esaias said again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Although indeed from among the rulers also many believed on him, but on account of the Pharisees did not confess [him], that they might not be put out of the synagogue: for they loved glory from men rather than glory from God.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye do not believe. The works which I do in my Father's name, these bear witness concerning me: but ye do not believe, for ye are not of my sheep, as I told you.
How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and seek not the glory which [comes] from God alone? Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is [one] who accuses you, Moses, on whom ye trust; for if ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye do not believe his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
Ye have sent unto John, and he has borne witness to the truth. But I do not receive witness from man, but I say this that *ye* might be saved. *He* was the burning and shining lamp, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have the witness [that is] greater than [that] of John; for the works which the Father has given me that I should complete them, the works themselves which I do, bear witness concerning me that the Father has sent me.
And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, he baptises, and all come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it be given him out of heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. He that has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices in heart because of the voice of the bridegroom: this my joy then is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who has his origin in the earth is of the earth, and speaks [as] of the earth. He who comes out of heaven is above all, [and] what he has seen and has heard, this he testifies; and no one receives his testimony. He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true; for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things [to be] in his hand. He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.
And they asked him and said to him, Why baptisest thou then, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet? John answered them saying, I baptise with water. In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know, he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose. These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptising. On the morrow he sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said, A man comes after me who takes a place before me, because he *was* before me; and I knew him not; but that he might be manifested to Israel, therefore have I come baptising with water. And John bore witness, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptise with water, *he* said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with [the] Holy Spirit. And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.
Now in those days comes John the baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh. For this is he who has been spoken of through Esaias the prophet, saying, Voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: prepare ye the way of [the] Lord, make straight his paths. And John himself had his garment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his nourishment was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the country round the Jordan, and were baptised by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Offspring of vipers, who has forewarned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce therefore fruit worthy of repentance. And do not think to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for [our] father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And already the axe is applied to the root of the trees; every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. *I* indeed baptise you with water to repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not fit to bear; *he* shall baptise you with [the] Holy Spirit and fire; whose winnowing fan [is] in his hand, and he shall thoroughly purge his threshing-floor, and shall gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
for I say unto you, Among them that are born of women a greater [prophet] is no one than John [the baptist]; but he who is a little one in the kingdom of God is greater than he. (And all the people who heard [it], and the tax-gatherers, justified God, having been baptised with the baptism of John; but the Pharisees and the lawyers rendered null as to themselves the counsel of God, not having been baptised by him.) To whom therefore shall I liken the men of this generation, and to whom are they like? They are like children sitting in the market-place, and calling one to another and saying, We have piped to you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. For John the baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say, He has a demon. The Son of man has come eating and drinking, and ye say, Behold an eater and wine-drinker, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners; and wisdom has been justified of all her children.
in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, [the] word of God came upon John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district round the Jordan, preaching [the] baptism of repentance for [the] remission of sins, as it is written in [the] book of [the] words of Esaias the prophet: Voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of [the] Lord, make straight his paths. Every gorge shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked [places] shall become a straight [path], and the rough places smooth ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. He said therefore to the crowds which went out to be baptised by him, Offspring of vipers, who has forewarned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce therefore fruits worthy of repentance; and begin not to say in yourselves, We have Abraham for [our] father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And already also the axe is applied to the root of the trees; every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into [the] fire. And the crowds asked him saying, What should we do then? And he answering says to them, He that has two body-coats, let him give to him that has none; and he that has food, let him do likewise. And tax-gatherers came also to be baptised, and they said to him, Teacher, what should we do? And he said to them, Take no more [money] than what is appointed to you. And persons engaged in military service also asked him saying, And we, what should we do? And he said to them, Oppress no one, nor accuse falsely, and be satisfied with your pay. But as the people were in expectation, and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John whether *he* might be the Christ, John answered all, saying, *I* indeed baptise you with water, but the mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not fit to unloose; *he* shall baptise you with [the] Holy Spirit and fire; whose winnowing-fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his threshing-floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. Exhorting then many other things also he announced [his] glad tidings to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him as to Herodias, the wife of his brother, and as to all the wicked things which Herod had done, added this also to all [the rest], that he shut up John in prison.
And Zacharias his father was filled with [the] Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be [the] Lord the God of Israel, because he has visited and wrought redemption for his people, and raised up a horn of deliverance for us in the house of David his servant; as he spoke by [the] mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began; deliverance from our enemies and out of the hand of all who hate us; to fulfil mercy with our fathers and remember his holy covenant, [the] oath which he swore to Abraham our father, to give us, that, saved out of the hand of our enemies, we should serve him without fear in piety and righteousness before him all our days. And *thou*, child, shalt be called [the] prophet of [the] Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of [the] Lord to make ready his ways; to give knowledge of deliverance to his people by [the] remission of their sins on account of [the] bowels of mercy of our God; wherein [the] dayspring from on high has visited us, to shine upon them who were sitting in darkness and in [the] shadow of death, to guide our feet into [the] way of peace. -- And the child grew and was strengthened in spirit; and he was in the deserts until the day of his shewing to Israel.
And an angel of [the] Lord appeared to him, standing on the right of the altar of incense. And Zacharias was troubled, seeing [him], and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, Fear not, Zacharias, because thy supplication has been heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And he shall be to thee joy and rejoicing, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great before [the] Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with [the] Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And many of the sons of Israel shall he turn to [the] Lord their God. And *he* shall go before him in [the] spirit and power of Elias, to turn hearts of fathers to children, and disobedient ones to [the] thoughts of just [men], to make ready for [the] Lord a prepared people.
And they come again to Jerusalem. And as he walked about in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders come to him, and they say to him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority, that thou shouldest do these things? And Jesus answering said to them, *I* also will ask you one thing, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John, was it of heaven, or of men? answer me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say, Why [then] have ye not believed him? but should we say, Of men -- they feared the people; for all held of John that he was truly a prophet. And they answering say to Jesus, We do not know. And Jesus [answering] says to them, Neither do *I* tell you by what authority I do these things.
Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God; as it is written in [Isaiah] the prophet, Behold, *I* send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way. Voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of [the] Lord, make his paths straight. There came John baptising in the wilderness, and preaching [the] baptism of repentance for remission of sins. And there went out to him all the district of Judaea, and all they of Jerusalem, and were baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed in camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, There comes he that is mightier than I after me, the thong of whose sandals I am not fit to stoop down and unloose. *I* indeed have baptised you with water, but *he* shall baptise you with [the] Holy Spirit. And it came to pass in those days [that] Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptised by John at the Jordan. And straightway going up from the water, he saw the heavens parting asunder, and the Spirit, as a dove, descending upon him. And there came a voice out of the heavens: *Thou* art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight.
But I say unto you that Elias has already come, and they have not known him, but have done unto him whatever they would. Thus also the Son of man is about to suffer from them. Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the baptist.
But as they went [away], Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed moved about by the wind? But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in delicate raiment? behold, those who wear delicate things are in the houses of kings. But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet: this is he of whom it is written, Behold, *I* send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say to you, that there is not arisen among [the] born of women a greater than John the baptist. But he who is a little one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. But from the days of John the baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and [the] violent seize on it. For all the prophets and the law have prophesied unto John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, who is to come. He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Matthew 21
Commentary on Matthew 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the two main hinges upon which the door of salvation turns. He came into the world on purpose to give his life a ransom; so he had lately said, ch. 20:28. And therefore the history of his sufferings, even unto death, and his rising again, is more particularly recorded by all the evangelists than any other part of his story; and to that this evangelist now hastens apace. For at this chapter begins that which is called the passion-week. He had said to his disciples more than once, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and there the Son of man must be betrayed. A great deal of good work he did by the way, and now at length he is come up to Jerusalem; and here we have,
Mat 21:1-11
All the four evangelists take notice of this passage of Christ's riding in triumph into Jerusalem, five days before his death. The passover was on the fourteenth day of the month, and this was the tenth; on which day the law appointed that the paschal lamb should be taken up (Ex. 12:3), and set apart for that service; on that day therefore Christ our Passover, who was to be sacrificed for us, was publicly showed. So that this was the prelude to his passion. He had lodged at Bethany, a village not far from Jerusalem, for some time; at a supper there the night before Mary had anointed his feet, Jn. 12:3. But, as usual with ambassadors, he deferred his public entry till some time after his arrival. Our Lord Jesus travelled much, and his custom was to travel on foot from Galilee to Jerusalem, some scores of miles, which was both humbling and toilsome; many a dirty weary step he had when he went about doing good. How ill does it become Christians to be inordinately solicitous about their own ease and state, when their Master had so little of either! Yet once in his life he rode in triumph; and it was now when he went into Jerusalem, to suffer and die, as if that were the pleasure and preferment he courted; and then he thought himself begin to look great.
Now here we have,
The disciples who were sent to borrow this ass are directed to say, The Lord has need of him. Those that are in need, must not be ashamed to own their need, nor say, as the unjust steward, To beg I am ashamed, Lu. 16:3. On the other hand, none ought to impose upon the kindness of their friends, by going to beg or borrow when they have not need. In the borrowing of this ass,
Observe,
Now, concerning this great multitude, we are here told,
The hosannas with which Christ was attended bespeak two things:
Upon this commotion we are further told,
Mat 21:12-17
When Christ came into Jerusalem, he did not go up to the court or the palace, though he came in as a King, but into the temple; for his kingdom is spiritual, and not of this world; it is in holy things that he rules, in the temple of God that he exercises authority. Now, what did he do there?
There also he silenced the offence which the chief priests and scribes took at the acclamations with which he was attended, v. 15, 16. They that should have been most forward to give him honour, were his worst enemies.
Just now we had Christ preferring the blind and the lame before the buyers and sellers; now here we have him (v. 16), taking part with the children against priests and scribes.
Observe,
Mat 21:18-22
Observe,
Christ therefore hungered, that he might have occasion to work this miracle, in cursing and so withering the barren fig-tree, and therein might give us an instance of his justice and his power, and both instructive.
Observe,
Mat 21:23-27
Our Lord Jesus (like St. Paul after him) preached his gospel with much contention; his first appearance was in a dispute with the doctors in the temple, when he was twelve years old; and here, just before he died, we have him engaged in controversy. In this sense, he was like Jeremiah, a man of contention; not striving, but striven with. The great contenders with him, were, the chief priests and the elders, the judges of two distinct courts: the chief priests presided in the ecclesiastical court, in all matters of the Lord, as they are called; the elders of the people were judges of the civil courts, in temporal matters. See an idea of both, 2 Chr. 19:5, 8, 11. These joined to attack Christ thinking they should find or make him obnoxious either to the one or to the other. See how woefully degenerate that generation was, when the governors both in church and state, who should have been the great promoters of the Messiah's kingdom, were the great opposers of it! Here we have them disturbing him when he was preaching, v. 23. They would neither receive his instructions themselves, nor let others receive them. Observe,
Now, in this dispute with them, we may observe,
Christ had often said it, and proved it beyond contradiction, and Nicodemus, a master in Israel, had owned it, that he was a teacher sent of God (Jn. 3:2); yet, at this time of day, when that point had been so fully cleared and settled, they come to him with this question.
Now this question is concerning John's baptism, here put for his whole ministry, preaching as well as baptizing; "Was this from heaven, or of men? One of the two it must be; either what he did was of his own head, or he was sent of God to do it.' Gamaliel's argument turned upon this hinge (Acts 5:38, 39); either this counsel is of men or of God. Though that which is manifestly bad cannot be of God, yet that which is seemingly good may be of men, nay of Satan, when he transforms himself into an angel of light. This question was not at all shuffling, to evade theirs; but,
Thus Christ avoided the snare they laid for him, and justified himself in refusing to gratify them; Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. If they be so wicked and base as either not to believe, or not to confess, that the baptism of John was from heaven (though it obliged to repentance, that great duty, and sealed the kingdom of God at hand, that great promise), they were not fit to be discoursed with concerning Christ's authority; for men of such a disposition could not be convinced of the truth, nay, they could not but be provoked by it, and therefore he that is thus ignorant, let him be ignorant still. Note, Those that imprison the truths they know, in unrighteousness (either by not professing them, or by not practising according to them), are justly denied the further truths they enquire after, Rom. 1:18, 19. Take away the talent from him that buried it; those that will not see, shall not see.
Mat 21:28-32
As Christ instructed his disciples by parables, which made the instructions the more easy, so sometimes he convinced his adversaries by parables, which bring reproofs more close, and make men, or ever they are aware, to reprove themselves. Thus Nathan convinced David by a parable (2 Sa. 12:1), and the woman of Tekoa surprised him in like manner, 2 Sa. 14:2: Reproving parables are appeals to the offenders themselves, and judge them out of their own mouths. This Christ designs here, as appears by the first words (v. 28), But what think you?
In these verses we have the parable of the two sons sent to work in the vineyard, the scope of which is to show that they who knew not John's baptism to be of God, were shamed even by the publicans and harlots, who knew it, and owned it. Here is,
In Christ's application of this parable, observe.
Mat 21:33-46
This parable plainly sets forth the sin and ruin of the Jewish nation; they and their leaders are the husbandmen here; and what is spoken for conviction to them, is spoken for caution to all that enjoy the privileges of the visible church, not to be high-minded, but fear.
Now see,