The Preteristic Parables (Part 1)

The Ax and the Fork

Part I

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming

to where he was baptizing, he said to them:“You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in
keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to
yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of
these stones God can raise up children for Abraham...”
-Matthew 3:7-9 (see also Luke 3:7,8)
 The Preteristic Parables (Part 1)

Introduction

John the Baptizer who was prophesied as being the predecessor or

forerunner to God Himself (Isa. 40:3-5; Mal. 3:1; 4:5,6; see also Luke 1:17) when He
was to once again visit the Jewish nation. John is the last of the Old Testament
prophets, who announces the last and final King of Israel. He stands as a bookend to
the prophet Samuel, who was the first of the prophets, who announced the arrival of a
far inferior king, Saul (I Samuel 10).

Jesus, Himself, later confirms John as having been His prophet when He says,

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? ...A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and
more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:“‘I will send my

messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’” (Luke 7:24-27).

And, lest we take the prophecies of John for granted as many have, when the
angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, John’s father, before his conception, Gabriel
spoke this prophecy of John,

“And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the

righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17).

In this passage Gabriel connects the prophecies of a forthcoming Elijah from

Malachi 4 with the person and work of the Baptizer, rendering this particular prophecy
only a metaphor that was meant in its greater context to be referring directly to John.
After this brief introduction, let’s now proceed to our text!

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to

where he was baptizing...” (v. 7a)
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It was customary for the Jewish teachers and leaders to come

check out the new prophets. In this instance they were well within their
rights to come question the man (Deuteronomy 18:21,22). These leaders
didn’t intend to become followers of John, but were most likely coming to
interview him. This seems to be a common occurrence throughout the
ministry of Jesus as well (ch. 9, 12, 15, 16, 19-24, etc.).

“You brood of vipers!” (v. 7b)

Here we see a bit of humor. It is immediately obvious that John’s tone is

piercing. But, stop for a moment and look at what he has used for name-calling.
He basically called them a bag of snakes. Personally, I find that funny!
They had been expecting God to arrive and condone their religious
ways. John’s message was obviously a surprise. The leaders had
abandoned the heart-felt faith of Moses and the prophets and had instead
established several man-made traditions which they preferred over
against the Law of God in some instances (Mark 7:1-13).
To understand from John’s perspective you must look to the
passages that refer to his ministry in the Old Testament. He, according to
Malachi 4, was coming to ‘turn the hearts of the people’ (v. 6a) and if the
people were too stubborn to repent then God would ‘strike the land with
total destruction’ (v. 6b). He realizes that there is more than just individual
lives at risk but the nation as a whole would suffer if they refused
repentance.
The imminence of the pending wrath that they were to avoid was
obviously pressing enough to warrant such a harsh statement. If
Matthew’s telling of the story is properly compared to Luke’s iteration, then
we see what may seem like a minor discrepancy. Luke says that John
made this statement to the crowd and omits the bit about the Pharisees
(Luke 3:7).
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Knowing that Scripture purposefully includes such differences while

remaining true, and based upon what Scripture states about what is at
stake, this was clearly said, not merely as criticism of the teachers, but to
serve for a greater purpose of frightening the Hebrew people as a whole,
realizing that not even the most devout in their midst was worthy of being
in covenant with God.
It is with this purpose, therefore, that John calls these men a ‘bag-
o-snakes’. Upon this sort of principle, we are commended that we not fear
any man (Luke 12:4-7), but instead we strive fervently to “...demolish
arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the
knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

“Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (v. 7c)

What is John referring to when he says “the coming wrath”? I believe

that John does not have eternal judgment in Hell in mind.
The day that God would once again return to Israel was not to be a happy
day, but it would be, as Malachi describes it, “the great and dreadful day” (4:5).
He elaborates saying that it will “burn like a furnace” (v. 1a) and that the
evildoers will be “set on fire by the Lord” (v. 1b). As a result of all of this
immolation, “not a root or branch would be left” (v. 1c).
Let’s not draw the line of distinction between the Jews and Gentiles with
the Jews wholly and corporately rejoicing at the Lord’s coming, the author writes
that the prophet would “turn the hearts of the people” (v. 6) and if they refused
to repent and turn, then the line of distinction would be drawn between those who
“revered the Name of the Lord” (v. 2a) and those who didn’t. This was
obviously without regard to ethnicity or nationality.
For those who fell on the right side of this judgment, the bright and shining
“sun of righteousness would rise with healing in his wings” (v. 2b). The
implication being that they would need the healing. And, once they had received
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this healing, these ‘well-fed calves’ would ‘go out and frolic’, ‘trampling over
the wicked’ (v. 2b).
So, we are told that the people would repent or face sudden judgment.
The righteous people would suffer and need healing and would only receive it
once the evildoers had been judged for their wickedness. When they had been
renewed, their suffering at the hands of these wicked ones and the Name of the
Lord would both be vindicated. The “coming wrath” refers to God’s judgment
against the nation of Israel which culminated in 70AD and not the individual’s
punishment in eternal torment.
To avert this judgment John charges this ‘bag of snakes’ to...

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can
say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ (vs.8,9a)”

John here, much like Christ’s statement in Matthew 7:16, highlights

the importance of outward conduct reflecting the true experience of
genuine repentance. This directly implies that if the Hebrew people as a
whole would genuinely repent that the society as a whole would be vastly
different; as people would begin to show compassion, love, courtesy,
and ,most importantly, true worship.
God, in His rich mercy, was willing to give these individuals an
opportunity to repent of having relied on themselves and their ethnicity for
safety from the wrath of God.
Such ignorant dependence without a truly regenerated heart
purposing to reform is seen in Luke 16. Jesus tells a parable about a rich
man who lacked evidence of true regeneration and reformation.The rich
man had a beggar named Lazarus laying at his gate and didn’t bother to
look after him. When the man lifted his eyes up in Hell, he called out to the
ancestry in whom he had placed all of his assurance in saying, “Father
Abraham, have pity on me...” (Luke 16:24).
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The Pharisees did not end up repenting of their dependance on

their on ancestry and the nation of Israel did not conform to a model of
true worship and instead of singing songs of praise when their God came
once again to them, they shouted “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:20-25;
Mark 15:12-14; Luke 23:20-25; John 19:6-16).

“I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for
Abraham.” (v. 9b)

John builds upon the previous statement which urged them not to
rely upon their genealogy. With this elaboration, the Baptizer severs the
people of God from this seeming ethnic necessity. We have already made
the case that through his ministry Gentiles were to be capable of coming
into covenant with God so long as they “revered His Name” (Malachi
4:2).
Eventually God did raise up children to Abraham from among the
‘stoney-hearted’ Gentiles. The Gentiles, or non-Jews, were regarded as
stocks and stones to the Jewish people. Indeed, Christ regarded Himself
as but a stone when He stated,

“Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the
builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is

marvelous in our eyes’?” (Matthew 21:42).

After this, Jesus continues this effort of divorcing salvation from ethnicity
by showing that faith and genuine love for God were the signs of being the
covenant people of God, not ethnicity or law-keeping.
Just a few chapters later Jesus states that,
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“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and
will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in

the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:11).

Jesus thus maintains the same idea John is proclaiming as

possible here, and takes it a step further: Jesus states that it will indeed
happen. God will reach beyond the Jews to create a type of spiritual
posterity for the patriarch. Not only is this reassuring, but humbling. Thank
God that He has “taken the children’s bread and thrown it to [us]
dogs” (Mark 7:27)!