"Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."
In today's quote, John the Baptist called those Jews who came out to hear him a generation of snakes.
He warned them all that once Jesus accomplished His divine sacrifice, simply being a Jew would mean no more to God than being a Gentile.
John demanded that those Jews actually humble themselves, repent and, "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance". He was preaching that the mere outward appearance of repentance would no longer suffice, those Jews would have to humbly repent their sins, and cleanse themselves for the coming of the Messiah.
There area many today who contend that simply being a Jew holds some special place in the heart of God. That contention is proven to be untrue by what John said in the latter part of our quote, "begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."
John was clearly saying that being a Jew would no longer matter, seeing that God could make Jews out of rocks if He wanted.
Laying the axe to the root meant that upon the sacrifice of Jesus, God would cut away the "chosen" status of the Jews and henceforth they would be dealt with one on one by Jesus Christ, upon His coming.
We will learn, as these lessons progress, that after Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, the "chosen" status belongs to those who are willing to place their faith in our virgin born, risen savior, Jesus Christ.~
We will learn, as these lessons progress, that after Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, the "chosen" status belongs to those who are willing to place their faith in our virgin born, risen savior, Jesus Christ.~
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