Straight after explaining the arrival of the King, Matthew talks about the Kingdom of heaven. There are talks regarding why Matthew referred the Kingdom as the Kingdom of heaven, not the Kingdom of God. They are the same Kingdom.

What is important is the Savior’s mission is the Kingdom that will become God’s eternal dwelling place. Because the Kingdom is God’s people, the Savior’s mission is to gather and teach them about God and His Kingdom. Many ministers emphasize on Christ’s miracles when talking about Christ’s works. In the Reformed, ministers emphasize on Christ’s obedience to the Law. The most important work of Christ was to give knowledge to His people. He spent most time on teaching. Miracles were to show His authority given by the Father. Miracles were given as the shadows of the true characteristics of the Kingdom – forgiveness of sins, full of knowledge of God, no death, no suffering, etc. There are many churches who say they can heal people’s diseases but deny Sola Gratia.

Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? (Matt 7:22)

These false disciples perform miracles in Christ’s name but are denied by God. It is because they do not know God. They do not preach truths of God. Therefore, the Lord says to them, “I never knew you.” (Matt 7:23)

In this passage, there are a lot to talk about. First one is repentance.

Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance (v.8)

Earlier, I talked about the Protestant churches selling indulgence like the Roman Catholic. When people are beaten by the Law continuously, they feel guilty and falsely confess that they now accept Christ as the Savior. I believe this was done in the 17^th century England by the Protestant churches. What we now call the Reformed theology has been influenced a lot by the theologians in the 17^th century England. It is not surprising there are many who have falsely repented and act just like the Pharisees in the NT. The result is bad fruit. Most Protestant churches have abandoned Sola Gratia and made speculative theories about Adam and the covenants.

I heard the Protestant Reformed Churches America (PRCA) has this issue of understanding repentance. And the Reformed Protestant Church (RPC) came out of the denomination. Can repentance be initiated by a man’s will or by God alone? In God’s dictionary, good fruit is always associated with the work of the Holy Spirit. It is not that a man does some portion of good works, and the Spirit does the rest. Producing good fruit is completely and totally done by God alone. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no good fruit. Therefore, the repentance accepted by God is initiated by God alone. That is true repentance. From the beginning to the end, God does all the works to make His Kingdom by Himself. There is false repentance, which produces either no fruit or bad fruit. John 15 and 16 explains about the work of the Spirit. It is impossible for a saint to produce bad fruit or no fruit. God refers Himself as a farmer who does not tolerate fruitless trees.

And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matt 3:10)

About a fruitless vine, its end was already told in Ezekiel chapter 15. Many people think the conditional covenant is eternal because the OT was written first. But the OT needs to be understood through the NT. The end was already planned before creation. Eternal God is not limited to time. Therefore, interpreting and understanding the Bible chronologically pose risks of misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

The next thing I’d like to talk about is John the Baptist. John was considered as Elijah, the prophet in the OT. Elijah rebuked Israel people in the OT. He was against the kings of Israel and their false prophets. There are a lot to talk about Elijah. Elijah’s experience in the Mt. Horeb in 1 Kings 19 is very important in understanding God. After walking to Mt. Horeb for 40 days and 40 nights, Elijah hears God’s voice. This is a similar experience as Moses in Exodus 24. What Elijah experiences is the contrast to what many churches preach. God is not in the strong wind, in the earthquake, or the fire. God is a gentle and quiet voice. People should not seek after some grand experiences to know the presence of God. God is everywhere but most importantly God is in His words. The Holy Spirit teaches God’s words. He is like a private tutor. There are people in the world who say they hear the voice of God and say something different from what the Bible teaches. Saints must discern. But how can we discern if we do not read the Bible?

Thirdly, John’s baptism is different from the ceremonial baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism is limited to a certain time (before Christ’s public ministry) and a certain place (Israel).

Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” (Acts 19:4)

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. (Acts 18:24-25)

John’s baptism was a sign or a shadow of the true baptism.

… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Matt 3:11)

A question rises regarding “fire”. I interpret it as suffering or tribulation. Christ mentions of the baptism of suffering.

But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. (Mark 10:38-39)

God speaks a few times about refining His people by fire in the OT.

This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’ (Zechariah 13:9)

In contrast to God’s people, some (the reprobate) are treated as dross, not silver.

Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. (Ezekiel 22:18)

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10

Saints are refined that way as in the case of Job. The others (the reprobate) go through sufferings as dross of silver. Such sufferings do not result in the knowledge of God.

Regarding the ceremonial baptism, as I talked about it earlier, it is a substitute to ceremonial circumcision. It does not indicate the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is like a birth certificate. When a child is born, the parents register the baby as a citizen of the country the baby was born in. A visible church is a shadow of the Kingdom and issues a birth certificate to include the baby into the visible church. God was pleased to build a system on the earth to educate His people, that is the visible church system. Many do not know the work of the Spirit. Therefore, they do not know the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person. No one knows who has received the Holy Spirit. We can only discern by the words and the actions coming from a person. Yet, false believers can fool themselves and others very well. When one receives the Holy Spirit, the understanding of God dramatically changes. False prophets, even though they fool others very well with their words and actions, their true identities are revealed eventually because they have wrong understandings of God especially regarding the Trinity and grace of God. We all were once idolaters and rebellious people. By the grace of God, our knowledge of God grows and we depart from false teachings.