The theme of fruitfulness can be traced throughout the scriptures. In the last blog, we examined Isaiah 5, which contains the song of the vineyard. God the landowner lovingly cultivated the vineyard of Israel so that it might produce the fruit of righteousness & justice.
Through obedience to the covenant, the children of Israel could offer to God a rich harvest of righteousness. Covenant faithfulness would bring divine blessing. They would enjoy prosperity, peace and life in the promised land. Moreover, they would serve as the light of the world. For God called Israel, not just for their own sake, but in order to reveal himself to all nations. God had promised that through Abraham’s descendants, blessing would come upon the whole world. In this way, the entire creation would be rescued from sin & death.
It’s vital that we keep this background firmly in mind as we turn to the New Testament.
All four gospels introduce the story of Jesus by describing the ministry of John the Baptist. Isaiah had prophesied that there would be a special messenger whose task it would be to prepare Israel for the coming of her Messiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.”
John was no stranger to confrontation. Here is how Luke summarizes his message: “John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:7-9)
What can we learn from John’s words?
(1) Like Isaiah, John saw that Israel was called by God to produce the fruit of righteousness & justice. This aligns with Genesis 19, where the LORD declared, “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Remember, God created humanity in his image so that they might govern the world wisely, allowing the creation to flourish. This divine vocation could only be accomplished if humans worshiped the one true God & lived in obedience to his commands. In other words, they must act righteously and ensure that justice prevailed on earth.
Tragically, humans rebelled against the good purposes of their creator (Genesis 3). Rather than enjoying God’s blessing, human beings (& the creation itself) were subjected to the curses of alienation, enmity, misery, suffering and ultimately death itself.
God responded by appearing to Abraham (Genesis 12). God’s covenant with Abraham would be the eternal vehicle through which God would rescue the entire creation. Abraham’s descendants, the people of Israel, were called to fulfill the crucial role given to humanity right from the beginning. They would reflect the divine image by doing what is right & just.
But like Isaiah and many other Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist saw that Israel was failing to fulfill her divine vocation. Rather than the good fruit of righteousness & justice, they had produced the rotten fruit of avarice, deceit and injustice. John exhorted them to repent of their wickedness and produce the fruit of righteousness.
(2) The account of John the Baptist affirms the Biblical principle that human beings will ultimately be judged based on what they’ve done. (This blog has examined this key principle in many other biblical passages: Revelation 20:11-15, Romans 2:5-11, Matthew 13:47-50, Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Corinthians 5:10, John 5:28-29 & others)
John’s message came with a stark warning. If Israel didn’t mend her ways, God’s anger was bearing down upon them. John’s language might shock some Bible readers. He called the crowds a “brood of vipers” or a bunch of snakes! John announced that, without repentance, God’s wrath would soon come crashing down upon Israel. He used the vivid metaphor of an axe, poised & ready to chop down a tree. This figure of speech isn’t difficult to interpret: the tree is clearly the people of Israel and the axe is God’s impending judgment.
This theme of judgment is reinforced just as few verses later. John says this about the coming Messiah: “His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Although John altered the metaphor, the message is the same. The Messiah will be the agent of God’s judgment. He will be like a farmer who gathers wheat into his barn but burns up the chaff. John here draws upon Old Testament imagery found in passages like Psalm 1. The wheat are the righteous who will be welcomed into the Messiah’s eternal kingdom. Meanwhile, the chaff are the wicked who will suffer eternal punishment.
Although this urgent message of warning was given to Israel 2,000 years ago, John’s words apply just as much to us as they did to the Israelites who first heard him. God calls all people to bear the right kind of fruit. People who don’t produce righteousness will be like trees that are cut down and thrown into the fire.
Many people are uneasy about addressing the subject of judgment. But even though it might be uncomfortable or even frightening to think about God’s anger, but we cannot afford to ignore it or explain it away. It’s a reality which must be squarely faced. We live in a world which has been deeply marred by iniquity & injustice. God would not be good if he allowed such wickedness to continue ruining his world forever. God’s just judgment will certainly come upon those who persist in evil.
It’s true that God is loving and kind. He patiently warns people to turn away from their sins before it’s too late. John the Baptist desperately warned Israel to repent & bear the right kind of fruit. As God’s ambassadors, we must do the same.
(3) The ministry of John the Baptist makes it quite clear that changed behavior is necessary for salvation. Far too many Christians deeply misunderstand the nature & scope of salvation. They think that it’s impossible for us to produce the good fruit of righteousness which God requires. Instead, we passively trust in Jesus, whereby we’re given “credit” for his righteousness.
This flawed framework simply cannot be reconciled with the words of John the Baptist. John made it abundantly clear that the Messiah would pronounce judgment based upon the fruit that we bear – not just our belief but our behavior. Failure to produce good fruit will result in certain & severe judgment.
Happily, John gives us the key to understanding how this works out: “But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
John declared that the coming Messiah would be the one who would baptize his people with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Spirit gives the followers of Jesus the power to produce the good fruit which God requires. As we’ve noted before, if your soteriology does not factor in the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit, then you’ve failed to fully grasp the full scope of salvation.
(4) John hints that the composition of Israel, God’s covenant people, would be radically altered. It seems that many in Israel comforted themselves with the thought that God would certainly bless them. They didn’t need to fear divine judgment. After all, they were the children of Abraham!
Not so fast, says John: “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”
What did John mean by this cryptic language? We can’t fully understand it without reading the rest of the New Testament. But this much we can say: John saw that Jewish ethnicity would not shield anyone from God’s coming wrath. What mattered was whether you produced the right kind of fruit. Those who engaged in violence, greed & immorality could not rely on their status as Abraham’s physical descendants to escape God’s anger. Rather, the true children of Abraham would be the loyal followers of the Messiah. He would baptize them in the Holy Spirit, enabling them to produce the good fruit of righteousness & justice.
