Matthew 3:1-12

Ancient Lens

What can we learn from the historical context?

The Waiting Hurts

For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 

Matt. 11:13-14, ESV

When John comes on the scene in Matthew, he enters a waiting world. A revivalist and a prophet in the style of the old prophets, was he the Elijah who would herald the coming of the Messiah and the kingdom of God? 

He uncovered a deep longing in a people who, returned from exile, endured what seemed like only a partial restoration: a temple rebuilt, but without the Shekinah—a reconstituted people with silent prophets—enduring about 400…