The Second Sunday of Advent is on December 4, 2022.
Readings for Year A can be found here.
The Gospel reading is as follows (emphases mine):
Matthew 3:1-12
3:1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the Wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,
3:2 “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near.”
3:3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
3:4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
3:5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan,
3:6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
3:8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance.
3:9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
3:10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.
This is a long post, so grab yourself a cuppa and a snack.
To set the background for John the Baptist, it had been 400 years since God had sent the Jews a prophet.
Malachi was the last. This is Malachi 4, with which the Old Testament ends:
Judgment and Covenant Renewal
4 [a]“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea proclaiming (verse 1) repentance, for the kingdom of heaven was near (verse 2).
Matthew Henry’s commentary points out that both John the Baptist and his cousin Jesus were of humble families and led unremarkable childhoods, yet figured mightily in God’s plan:
Glorious things were spoken both of John and Jesus, at and before their births, which would have given occasion to expect some extraordinary appearances of a divine presence and power with them when they were very young; but it is quite otherwise. Except Christ’s disputing with the doctors at twelve years old, nothing appears remarkable concerning either of them, till they were about thirty years old. Nothing is recorded of their childhood and youth, but the greatest part of their life is tempos, adelon—wrapt up in darkness and obscurity: these children differ little in outward appearance from other children, as the heir, while he is under age, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all. And this was to show, 1. That even when God is acting as the God of Israel, the Saviour, yet verily he is a God that hideth himself (Isa 45 15). The Lord is in this place and I knew it not, Gen 28 16. Our beloved stands behind the wall long before he looks forth at the windows, Cant 2 9. 2. That our faith must principally have an eye to Christ in his office and undertaking, for there is the display of his power; but in his person is the hiding of his power. All this while, Christ was god-man; yet we are not told what he said or did, till he appeared as a prophet; and then, Hear ye him. 3. That young men, though well qualified, should not be forward to put forth themselves in public service, but be humble, and modest, and self-diffident, swift to hear, and slow to speak.
Matthew says nothing of the conception and birth of John the Baptist, which is largely related by St. Luke, but finds him at full age, as if dropt from the clouds to preach in the wilderness. For above three hundred years the church had been without prophets; those lights had been long put out, that he might be the more desired, who was to be the great prophet. After Malachi there was no prophet, nor any pretender to prophecy, till John the Baptist, to whom therefore the prophet Malachi points more directly than any of the Old Testament prophets had done (Mal 3 1); I send my messenger.
Henry describes this wilderness, sometimes called a desert, of Judea, which has biblical significance:
It was not an uninhabited desert, but a part of the country not so thickly peopled, nor so much enclosed into fields and vineyards, as other parts were; it was such a wilderness as had six cities and their villages in it, which are named, Josh 15 61, 62. In these cities and villages John preached, for thereabouts he had hitherto lived, being born hard by, in Hebron; the scenes of his action began there, where he had long spent his time in contemplation; and even when he showed himself to Israel, he showed how well he loved retirement, as far as would consist with his business. The word of the Lord found John here in a wilderness. Note, No place is so remote as to shut us out from the visits of divine grace; nay, commonly the sweetest intercourse the saints have with Heaven, is when they are withdrawn furthest from the noise of this world. It was in this wilderness of Judah that David penned the 63d Psalm, which speaks so much of the sweet communion he then had with God, Hos 2 14. In a wilderness the law was given; and as the Old Testament, so the New Testament Israel was first found in the desert land, and there God led him about and instructed him, Deut 32 10. John Baptist was a priest of the order of Aaron, yet we find him preaching in a wilderness, and never officiating in the temple; but Christ, who was not a son of Aaron, is yet often found in the temple, and sitting there as one having authority; so it was foretold, Mal 3 1. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple; not the messenger that was to prepare his way. This intimated that the priesthood of Christ was to thrust out that of Aaron, and drive it into a wilderness.
The beginning of the gospel in a wilderness, speaks comfort to the deserts of the Gentile world. Now must the prophecies be fulfilled, I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, Isa 41 18, 19. The wilderness shall be a fruitful field, Isa 32 15. And the desert shall rejoice, Isa 35 1, 2. The Septuagint reads, the deserts of Jordan, the very wilderness in which John preached.
As the prophets did before him, John the Baptist exhorted his audiences to repent, to turn their lives away from sin:
Those who are truly sorry for what they have done amiss, will be careful to do so no more. This repentance is a necessary duty, in obedience to the command of God (Acts 17 30); and a necessary preparative and qualification for the comforts of the gospel of Christ. If the heart of man had continued upright and unstained, divine consolations might have been received without this painful operation preceding; but, being sinful, it must be first pained before it can be laid at ease, must labour before it can be at rest.
John MacArthur looks at the Greek word for ‘proclaim’, or ‘preach’:
It says in verse 1, “He came preaching,” and the Greek word there is “to herald,” “to announce,” “to proclaim,” kerusso … Also, it’s interesting that it says, “In those days came John,” and the verb “came” there is literally used in the Greek to speak of the arrival of an official. The arrival of an official. John was an official herald announcing the arrival of a king; and you know his message in verse 2? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And “at hand” means it’s imminent, it’s the next thing …
Kerusso, the noun form is krux or krux, and it means “a herald.” Literally, “one who with a loud voice announces the arrival of a king” – a herald. And so he was heralding. He was heralding, and what was he heralding? “Repent!” That was the message. “This kind of King demands that you repent.” In other words, He wants you to worship Him, but you can’t worship Him legitimately until you get sin out of the way. You can’t come to Jesus Christ and just worship Him first. First, you’ve gotta deal with your sin. That’s what he was saying.
He was saying to Israel, “Look, you just can’t accept the King and begin to worship the King. You’ve gotta get rid of your sin.” In fact, it’s the identical message that Jesus preached when He came. Matthew 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach.” And what did He say? “Repent.” Same sermon. Jesus and John preached the same sermon. The word “repent,” metanoeo, means more than just sorrow. We think of repentance, and we say, “Oh, he’s so repentant. He’s weepy, and he’s sorrowful.” That isn’t what the word means in the Greek. It means “to turn around.” It means “to be converted.” It means a change of opinion. A change of purpose. A change of direction. A change of mind. A change of will. A change from sin to holiness.
Broadus, who has written a classic commentary on Matthew, says, “Wherever this Greek word is used in the New Testament, the reference is to changing the mind and the purpose from sin to holiness. It implies sorrow for sin, but that’s not what it means. It means to turn around.” It is 2 Corinthians 7 that talks about godly repentance, godly sorrow, that turns you around, and that’s what John was saying. He wasn’t just saying, “I want you to feel sorry for your sin.” He was saying, “I want you to change from sin to holiness. You will never have the kingdom. You will never have the King until you turn around.” The message really could be better translated, “Get converted. Get converted.”
MacArthur discusses Matthew’s use of the words ‘the kingdom of heaven’:
The precise phrase, “the kingdom of heaven,” is not found in the Old Testament; but it is an Old Testament concept. This is why I say that. Nebuchadnezzar, for instance, in Daniel 4:37, refers to God as “the king of heaven.” Daniel 2:44 calls Him “the God of heaven”; and Daniel 4:25 says, “He will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed.” Now, the God of heaven, the King of heaven, God and heaven are then associated. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God then are associated terms.
Now, Matthew uses the term “kingdom of heaven” 32 times; and he is the only gospel writer that ever uses it. Mark doesn’t use it. Luke doesn’t use it. John doesn’t use it. They use “the kingdom of God,” and there may be a special reason for that. As I tried to point out from Daniel, and there are many other illustrations, heaven and God were thought of as synonymous. God was the King of heaven; and the reason Matthew may use it is because Matthew’s gospel is a characteristically Jewish gospel; and one thing about Jews that you learn historically as you study Judaism is that a Jew would never say the name of God; and in deference to that, they would substitute frequently the term “heaven.”
MacArthur explains what the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, is:
The kingdom of heaven has two aspects. Two aspects – the outer and the inner, and sometimes, in the gospels, the outer is in view, and sometimes the inner is in view. Let me show you what I mean. In the broadest sense, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, includes – watch this – everybody who professes to acknowledge God. Now, in Matthew 13 we’ll see that, that the kingdom of heaven’s got in it wheat and what? Tares, right? That the kingdom of heaven is like a great big bush with birds in it; and you’ve got the true and the false, the real and the non-real.
So in the outer sense, the kingdom of heaven is, is everybody that professes; but in the inner sense, it’s only the really regenerated, born-again, genuinely saved people; and in some passages, the inner is in view; and in some, the outer; and we’ll see that as we go through Matthew. The big circle of profession includes the true and the false. The little circle only those truly born again in Christ.
Now, tracing the kingdom will help us a little bit. Let me give you a quick little historical look at the kingdom. We’re gonna go flying by, so hang on. There are five distinct phases in the kingdom. Five phases. I, I tried to reduce a very difficult subject to simple terms so I could understand it and pass it on to you simply.
First of all, it’s talking about the rule of God. The rule of God over the hearts of men and over the world. Both are included. Now, the first phase of this thing is the prophesied kingdom, the prophesied kingdom. For example, Daniel said that God is gonna come and set up a kingdom, a kingdom that’ll never be destroyed; and Daniel foresaw that Christ would be the King of that kingdom. It was a prophesied kingdom.
The second thing, the second phase of this is what you could call the present kingdom or the at-hand kingdom; and that was the kingdom described by John the Baptist. He was saying, “The prophesied rule of God is now imminent. It’s now ready.” Jesus said it. The twelve said it. It’s at hand. It’s coming. It’s imminent. It’s near. The rule of God, the reign of Christ, both internally and externally – it’s here.
Then the third phase of the kingdom was what I call the interim phase. The prophesied, the imminent or at-hand, and the interim; and, there, the kingdom is described in this way. After the King was rejected by Israel, the King returned to heaven, and the kingdom now exists in a mystery form. Christ isn’t literally in the world, literally reigning, literally sitting in Jerusalem ruling the kingdom; but He reigns a kingdom in the hearts of all who acknowledge Him as Lord, right? So it’s an interim kingdom, the mystery form. So you have the prophesied, the at-hand, which would’ve been both earthly and internal, the whole thing; and when they wouldn’t accept the King, the kingdom went inside; and now in a mystery form is in the hearts of those who believe. And, as Paul says in Romans 14:17, “The kingdom of God is righteousness and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.” It’s internal.
The fourth phase of the kingdom is what I call the manifest phase. You start with the prophesied, the at-hand, the interim, and then the manifest; and this is the literal, thousand-year millennium that is to come. It will involve an external rule where Christ literally rules, physically in the earth, and an internal where He rules the hearts of the believing people.
The book of Revelation talks about this. Jesus, in Matthew 16, gave people a glimpse of this in the transfiguration. So what do you have? You have the prophesied kingdom, the at-hand one, the interim one, the manifest one for a thousand years; and finally what I call the everlasting kingdom. Second Peter 1:11, Peter calls it, “The eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The fifth and final phase.
Now, that’s generally the flow of the kingdom. The Old Testament prophesied a kingdom — a kingdom that would be external, where they would literally be in the earth; and the earth would be the place of the kingdom; and the earth would be ruled by the King; and it would also be internal, the hearts of the believing people would submit to that reign. And John and Jesus and the twelve said it’s at hand. But it was rejected, and so an interim, internal kingdom has taken form now that we call this mystery age. But one day the kingdom will be manifest internally and externally, and then that thousand-year kingdom will exist and, at the end of that, an everlasting kingdom.
This bit is particularly interesting:
So John was talking about the at-hand. Now listen to me – had they received John, and had they received Christ, there never would have been the interim – you understand that – there never would have been the mystery church age. They would have gone into the thousand-year manifest kingdom and from there right into the everlasting kingdom, and John would have been that Elijah and it would have all been fulfilled. But when they killed the forerunner and they killed the King, the whole thing was future postponed and in the meantime the mystery kingdom dwells in the hearts of believing people. And Christ may not be reigning in the world, but He’s reigning in my heart, right, and your heart. So John was calling the nation to turn its back on sin, to be converted, to get ready for the kingdom, because the kingdom was coming. The tragedy of it is that they didn’t hear his message. They didn’t listen. They never received the kingdom, and that whole generation died without the King, died without the kingdom, and went into hell. So the man, the message, and the motive.
The notion of the herald continues as Matthew tells is that Isaiah spoke of a man in the wilderness who would cry out, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’ (verse 3).
MacArthur explains:
Fourthly, the mission. Simply stated, and we’ve already seen it, he was called to be the herald of Christ, but the mission was laid out long before in the Old Testament prophets. Look at verse 3, “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.'” He fulfilled Isaiah 40, verse 3, “He is the one of whom the prophets spoke.” He is the one who was to come and get things ready, and he was preparing a way. Not a road, not a dirt path, but a way into the hearts of believing people. He was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”
Oh, that’s such a great passage. Isaiah 40, you see, that tells us about the forerunner in 40, verse 3. But in the verses after it tells us why he was getting them ready. Listen to chapter 40 verse 1, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,” and you can’t know what an exciting thing that was in chapter 40 ’cause they had just had 39 chapters full of judgment; and, boy, here comes this comfort. “Speak ye tenderly to Jerusalem. Cry to her. Her warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. She’s received from the Lord hands, Lord’s hands double for her sins.” All that’s done, and now comes the voice of him that cries in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Why?! Because the kingdom is coming, and he describes it this way: “Every valley shall be exalted. Every mountain and hill shall be made low. The crooked shall be made straight, and rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” One of the, one of my favorite passages of the Messiah taken from that marvelous text.
You see, John was crying to prepare the people for the kingdom, and Isaiah described the kingdom in 4 and 5. He was fulfilling the prophetic word of Isaiah. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make his paths straight. Prepare a road into your heart by turning from sin.” So his mission was preparation, deep conviction. He wanted to bring to bear on Israel such conviction that they confessed they were unfit, sinners, poor, damned, miserable – he was a judgment preacher. He was a judgment preacher designed by God from way back in the book of Isaiah to confront a wicked, evil nation and get ’em right for the arrival of the King. So he fulfilled prophecy.
Part of the herald’s job was to make sure that the road upon which the forthcoming king travelled was smooth and free of obstacles.
MacArthur says that the straight paths here were spiritual rather than literal:
So to John was given the role of being the herald of the King, announcing the King’s arrival and making sure the people made the preparations so that the path was smooth. This was a customary oriental thing, and John was called to do it. Only in his case, he was heralding the King of kings; and in his case, he wasn’t asking people to prepare a dirt road. He was asking them to prepare the road into their hearts, that the King might enter there. That was his purpose.
Henry has more on the corrupt religious system that the Jewish hierarchy imposed on the people, legalistic without holiness:
In the Jewish church and nation, at that time, all was out of course; there was a great decay of piety, the vitals of religion were corrupted and eaten out by the traditions and injunctions of the elders. The Scribes and Pharisees, that is, the greatest hypocrites in the world, had the key of knowledge, and the key of government, at their girdle. The people were, generally, extremely proud of their privileges, confident of justification by their own righteousness, insensible of sin; and, though now under the most humbling providences, being lately made a province of the Roman Empire, yet they were unhumbled; they were much in the same temper as they were in Malachi’s time, insolent and haughty, and ready to contradict the word of God: now John was sent to level these mountains, to take down their high opinion of themselves, and to show them their sins, that the doctrine of Christ might be the more acceptable and effectual. (2.) His doctrine of repentance and humiliation is still as necessary as it was then to prepare the way of the Lord. Note, There is a great deal to be done, to make way for Christ into a soul, to bow the heart for the reception of the Son of David (2 Sam 19 14); and nothing is more needful, in order to this, than the discovery of sin, and a conviction of the insufficiency of our own righteousness. That which lets will let, until it be taken out of the way; prejudices must be removed, high thoughts brought down, and captivated to the obedience of Christ. Gates of brass must be broken, and bars of iron cut asunder, ere the everlasting doors be opened for the King of glory to come in. The way of sin and Satan is a crooked way; to prepare a way for Christ, the paths must be made straight, Heb 12 13.
John wore simple clothes made from camel hair along with a leather belt; he ate locusts and wild honey (verse 4).
It is probable that he had taken a lifelong Nazirite vow, as Samson and Samuel did.
However, our commentators note that Old Testament prophets dressed similarly and lived simply without that particular vow.
Henry says that John might have purposely dressed like Elijah:
John appeared in this dress, (1.) To show that, like Jacob, he was a plain man, and mortified to this world, and the delights and gaieties of it. Behold an Israelite indeed! Those that are lowly in heart should show it by a holy negligence and indifference in their attire; and not make the putting on of apparel their adorning, nor value others by their attire. (2.) To show that he was a prophet, for prophets wore rough garments, as mortified men (Zech 13 4); and, especially, to show that he was the Elias promised; for particular notice is taken of Elias, that he was a hairy man (which, some think, is meant of the hairy garments he wore), and that he was girt with a girdle of leather about his loins, 2 Kings 1 8. John Baptist appears no way inferior to him in mortification; this therefore is that Elias that was to come. (3.) To show that he was a man of resolution; his girdle was not fine, such as were then commonly worn, but it was strong, it was a leathern girdle; and blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he comes, finds with his loins girt, Luke 12 35; 1 Pet 1 13.
As for his meagre diet from foraging, Henry posits that he probably had more normal meals, just not that often:
… his meat was locusts and wild honey; not as if he never ate any thing else; but these he frequently fed upon, and made many meals of them, when he retired into solitary places, and continued long there for contemplation. Locusts were a sort of flying insect, very good for food, and allowed as clean (Lev 11 22); they required little dressing, and were light, and easy of digestion, whence it is reckoned among the infirmities of old age, that the grasshopper, or locust, is then a burden to the stomach, Eccl 12 5. Wild honey was that which Canaan flowed with, 1 Sam 14 26. Either it was gathered immediately, as it fell in the dew, or rather, as it was found in the hollows of trees and rocks, where bees built, that were not, like those in hives, under the care and inspection of men. This intimates that he ate sparingly, a little served his turn; a man would be long ere he filled his belly with locusts and wild honey: John Baptist came neither eating nor drinking (ch. 11 18)—not with the curiosity, formality, and familiarity that other people do. He was so entirely taken up with spiritual things, that he could seldom find time for a set meal.
The people of Jerusalem and all of Judea as well as those who lived along the Jordan flocked to him (verse 5).
MacArthur says:
This man had an amazing impact. He called the society to attention. In Matthew 21:26, it says, “For all men hold John as a prophet.” It was common belief this was a prophet from God, and they went out.
John baptised people in the River Jordan and they confessed their sins (verse 6).
This was radical, because the Jews of that era had ritual ceremonial baths but not the type of baths that proselytes — converts — had. John the Baptist’s form of baptism was the kind that those converting to Judaism had.
MacArthur explains:
As much of a shock as it was, people came, and they were baptized, and they confessed their sin. Can you imagine it out there? One crowd after another, everywhere, even in Galilee they came.
The fact that they were baptized is shocking. I’ll tell you why. Listen to me. Never — I’ll say it again — never in all history had any Jew submitted to being baptized. Okay? This is something new. “Oh,” you say, “what about the Levitical washings?” Those were different. The Levitical washings of the hands and the feet and the head and all of that were frequent. There were certain ceremonial bathings among the Essenes, which was a community of the Jews living out in that area; but all of those – listen to this – purification ceremonies were repeated daily and even hourly if you sin. You understand that? These were just ceremonial washings, and every time you suspected another pollution, you did it again.
John’s baptism was a one-time, one-shot deal; and Jews never did that. You say, “Why?” Listen to this. Because single baptism was exactly what was required of a Gentile proselyte, who was entering into Judaism. And a Jew who would submit himself to that kind of baptism would be saying, in effect, “I am an outsider seeking entrance into the people of God,” and that’s quite an admission, isn’t it? They were literally indulging themselves in proselyte baptism.
So, they did this; it was really a step. A member of God’s chosen people, a son of Abraham, assured of God’s salvation, baptized like a common proselyte? And, yet, that’s exactly what John asked of them. He called Israel to realize that their nationality couldn’t save ’em. Their race couldn’t save ’em. They had to forsake sin. They had to be converted to righteousness. They had to get in the kingdom like everybody else did; and in the East, no act of religion, no act of crisis in religion was ever done in the heart without an external act to go with it. That was part of the culture, and baptism in the Jordan River was the sign of the public confession of sin that had occurred in the heart.
So John was calling for a fundamental transformation that even a Jew had to make. Now, some of these people were hypocritical. Some of them went through it, but they were phony … the fascinating confrontation with the snakes who were also known as Pharisees. But they came confessing their sins. The man had an incredible impact on the entire country.
When John saw the Pharisees — those who had devised the legalistic religious system — and the Sadducees — those who ran the temple system and did not believe in the divinely supernatural — he called them a brood of vipers and asked them who warned them to flee from the wrath to come (verse 7).
MacArthur says that the Pharisees inherited their beliefs from the predecessors, the Hasidim. (Today’s Hasidim are probably a mix of the original and of the Pharisees.) The Pharisees focused more on legalism than holiness:
… it all started out kind of okay with the Hasidim, but by the time it got to the reorganized Pharisees, they perverted everything. And there was no inward life left. There was no real devotion. There was no real consecration. There was no real piety. There was no real godliness. It was all an external, phony deal to set themselves above everybody else as the real super spiritual people. They were, literally, fanatics at self-righteousness. They withdrew themselves, Luke 7:39 says, from all sinners. And they tried to condemn Jesus for even going near sinners. You remember that? They blasted Him for hanging around drunkards, winebibbers and sinners, and any of those kinds of people. They tried to force Jesus into their same kind of fanatical self-righteousness.
The Sadducees got rich off the sacrificial system and courted the Greeks when they ruled, then the Romans:
They didn’t particularly care about the intrusion of Greek culture. They could have cared less about Greek customs. They were the ones who courted and kowtowed and hassled around and fiddled with Rome to get everything they could out of it. The high priests at the time of Jesus were Sadducees. They were compromisers. They didn’t believe in any resurrection, so they didn’t have to worry about how they lived ’cause there weren’t any consequences. They just, you know, made hay while the sun shined, that’s all. Everything was here-and-now, get it while you can get it, make it while you can.
And so they did everything they could politically to make sure they got out of Rome all they could get and they played the political game to get into the seats of power. They were few in number, extremely wealthy. They were a priestly party, and the chief priest, by the way, is almost a synonym when you see that in the Bible. The term chief priest, the New Testament, is almost a synonym for the Sadducees. Their big thing was to make money, and they ran the temple franchises. You say, “What?” Oh, yeah, they had big business in the temple. When certain feast time came – in fact, all year long, when people came there, pilgrims from other countries, to make sacrifices – the first thing they had to do was exchange their money, because they had to buy sacrificial animals. And in the temple they sold everything, the doves and the pigeons and the goats and the sheep. They sold it all there. They provided the whole bit, and when these pilgrims would come to the temple they would first of all have to exchange their money to trade in Jerusalem. And the place you exchanged your money was at the temple and, of course, they charged an exorbitant interest to change the money. And then it turned right around, when they went to buy the animals, they paid incredible prices for the animals and the Sadducees were gettin’ wealthier and wealthier and wealthier. And that’s why Jesus went in with a whip and cleaned them out. And when He cleaned the thing out, that’s when He alienated the Sadducees ’cause that was their business that He was messing with.
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