Matthew 3:9
And think 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 think 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.
John the Baptist spoke these words as plain rebuke to Pharisees and Sadducees who came to his baptism trusting inwardly that having Abraham as father kept them safe from coming wrath. Descent from Abraham gives no guarantee of standing before God, place in the kingdom, or security from judgment. A claim to be Abraham's child is worthless without thorough conversion shown in obedience and a life bearing the fruits of repentance and righteousness. God is not dependent on natural descendants or professed believers, for He is able to quicken hearts as lifeless as stones and raise up others with no ancestral claim to take their place and carry forward His work. The warning therefore forbids inward trust in ancestry and demands fruit fit for repentance, for the axe is laid to the root and every fruitless tree will be hewn down while Christ gathers the wheat and burns the chaff.
Words and Setting
The warning was given by John the Baptist during his ministry in the wilderness of Judea and at the Jordan, where he preached that people must repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand. There he baptized in the Jordan those who confessed their sins, and his preaching moved many honest-hearted people to seek salvation under conviction of the Holy Spirit. That whole work in Matthew 3 is a call for backsliders to turn.
It was spoken to Pharisees and Sadducees, and to scribes, who came to his baptism. They came trusting inwardly that having Abraham as father secured safety from the coming wrath, while boasting proudly of descent from him. They came without true conviction, confessing sin and asking baptism as time-servers hoping for favor with the coming Prince and for influence with the people. Their coming to baptism did not mean they had yet repented.
They came as professed converts, yet John read their hearts and purposes. He told rich and poor, honorable and lowly alike, pointing out their particular sins without flattering any. The Pharisees were strict about outward forms yet haughty, hypocritical, self-righteous, and proud of their own holiness, which made their apparent conversions surprising. The Sadducees denied the resurrection and angels and were skeptical toward God, malignant and antagonistic and bitterly opposed to His expressed will, with many licentious in habit, and their conduct was abhorred by God.
He spoke it as plain, direct address that openly rebuked sin and called things by their right names. It was a loud proclamation, no whispering voice and no smooth message, but a plain telling of the truth of the situation. It was a scathing rebuke that cut to the heart to awaken from spiritual death, a direct, startling and stern yet hopeful call that stirred the whole nation with a sense of sin, convicting peasants, fishermen, Roman soldiers, chieftains, tax-gatherers, priests, and even Pharisees, Sadducees and Herod himself. He used no flattery, charm, entertainment, or preaching centered on drawing an audience to himself, fearlessly telling all ranks that without repentance and thorough conversion they could have no favor with God and no part in the kingdom of the Messiah whose coming he announced. In this he stood alone to rebuke the pride and formalism of the nation, even rebuking kings for iniquity at peril of life.
Ancestry Gives No Claim
Descent from Abraham gives no guarantee of belonging to God, no assurance of His favor, no standing before Him, no place in the kingdom, no share in the promises made to a faithful and obedient people, and no security from judgment and the coming wrath. Ancestry cannot replace repentance and a life that bears good fruit, for God is able to raise up children for Abraham even from stones. Without true purity and obedience to God's commandments, descent and natural advantages are of no value, and those who rely on them must instead show genuine repentance in life. A claim to be God's child is not enough, since true belonging is shown by the Spirit's presence, obedience, and a life bearing the fruits of repentance, sanctification and righteousness. Failure to bear that fruit shows conversion is not genuine, and descent does not excuse sin.
The proud boast of having Abraham as father did not make the claimants his children and gave no claim to promises falsely supposed to guarantee eternal blessings. Their conduct was abhorred by God and in many respects worse than the heathen, marked by pride, arrogance, jealousy, selfishness, cruelty, unbelief and hypocrisy as a generation of vipers whose wicked works disqualified them. Pride, selfishness and cruelty contradict the character of Abraham, and lives lacking his faith, piety, humility, integrity, love and obedience show no true kinship, however strong the outward claim of godliness. Greater privilege brings greater responsibility, so neglecting light and hardening in selfish ambition and wicked unbelief forfeits any supposed security.
Natural advantages, ancestry, status, respected name, outward standing, claimed righteousness and ceremonial sacrifices are of no value without true purity, obedience to God's commandments, and recognition of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. A claim to an honored name is worthless without a life bearing good fruit, and claiming to be righteous gives no favor with God and no part in the kingdom of the Messiah without repentance of sins and thorough conversion. Rejecting God's requirements causes loss of the pure principles and holy character that make people Abraham's children. National pride and self-exaltation must be given up, transgression recognized, and self humbled before God, with no worker exalting self or seeking glory since human ability and influence are not the source of success. God is to be exalted, for He can accomplish His purpose through the humblest instrument and simplest means.
True Children of Abraham
Claiming to be God's child or Abraham's child is not enough to establish belonging and kinship. True belonging is shown by the presence of the Spirit, obedience, thorough conversion, and a life bearing fruit worthy of repentance. That fruit is the fruit of repentance, sanctification and righteousness, and failure to bear it showed that professed conversions were not genuine. Standing is not established by ancestry but must be demonstrated in righteous living, for God does not depend on those who merely claim Abraham as father to carry out His purpose.
True children of Abraham do the works of Abraham and bear his faith, love and obedience in daily life. That character is seen in justice, benevolence, mercy and love of God, together with faith, piety, humility, integrity and purity. Claiming Abraham as father does not give pure principles or a holy character, and rejecting God's requirements causes loss of the very qualities that make persons His children. Lives marked by pride, selfishness and cruelty contradict Abraham's character, and wicked works revealing unbelief disqualify from reliance on lineage to enter Christ's kingdom. Even hearts as lifeless as desert stones can be quickened by His Spirit to do His will, as He once called Abraham from a heathen people and can call others with no ancestral claim.
Profession of faith or godliness without fruit meet for repentance has no value. A claim to an honored name is worthless without a life bearing good fruit, and descent gives no claim to favor as a substitute for repentance. God will never favor any who practice iniquity, for He is able to raise up true believers even from among those who have never heard His name and is not dependent on men unconverted in heart and life.
Genuine conversion would have led the hearers to accept John's testimony and to receive Jesus as the Messiah to whom the sacrificial offerings pointed. Coming to baptism without first receiving Christ and repenting is not true repentance. Those baptized in that condition would need to be baptized a second time after true repentance.
God Able From Stones
God is able to raise up children for Abraham even from stones, creating descendants from stones themselves. Even hearts as lifeless as desert stones can be quickened by His Spirit to do His will. Descent gives no guarantee of belonging, no security from judgment, and no substitute for repentance and a life bearing good fruit.
God is not dependent on natural descendants or professed believers to fulfill His purposes and to carry forward His work in purity and righteousness. If those entrusted with light neglect it and harden themselves in selfish ambition and wicked unbelief, He can raise up others to take their place and fulfill His promise to them. Standing is not established by ancestry but must be shown by a life bearing fruit worthy of repentance, for wicked works disqualify and a claim to an honored name is worthless without good fruit.
Those others whom God can call include people with no ancestral claim, as the rocks show. As He called Abraham from a heathen people, so He can call others outside the line of descent. He can raise up true believers even from among those who have never heard His name, so He is not dependent on men unconverted in heart and life and will never favor one who practices iniquity.
Therefore no worker should exalt self or seek glory, for human ability and influence are not the source of success in God's work; God is to be exalted. He can accomplish His purpose through the humblest instrument and simplest means. If those who claim to believe the truth refuse to serve as missionaries and work with Christ, they will be dropped from the work and will lose the precious experience that comes from carrying His burden. He will still have witnesses, for He can raise up others to be His witnesses and can bring others to faith even when influential hearers believe yet fear to confess lest they be expelled. He is able to prepare people to meet emergencies and to carry out needed reforms, and His Word will accomplish the purpose for which He sends it.
Call to Repentance Today
The inward reliance on descent from Abraham is forbidden, and in its place is demanded the bringing forth of fruits fitting repentance, for genuine repentance produces good works and transformed character. The axe is laid to the root of the trees, so that every tree without good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, exposing real character and warning to flee the coming wrath. The Mightier One coming after will baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire, and with fan in hand He will thoroughly purge His floor, gather the wheat into the garner, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire, separating wheat from chaff. This rebuke was spoken to Pharisees and Sadducees coming to baptism while trusting in Abrahamic descent for safety from wrath, the Pharisees strict about outward forms yet filled with haughty hypocritical self-righteousness, and the Sadducees denying resurrection and angels, skeptical toward God, many licentious in habit, as vipers malignant and antagonistic and bitterly opposed to the expressed will of God. Together with the calls to prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight, and repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand, preached in the wilderness of Judea with baptism in Jordan for those confessing sins, it belongs to the loud-cry message to be echoed and reechoed through cities and towns and villages to convert souls and bring repentance and fruit-bearing.
It was no whispering voice and no smooth message, but a plain telling of the truth of the situation, a direct, startling, and stern yet hopeful call without elaborate arguments yet with new strange power that drew the people out to hear. That preaching stirred the whole nation and convicted peasants, fishermen, Roman soldiers, chieftains, tax-gatherers, priests, and even Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herod himself to the heart with a sense of sin, rebuking kings for iniquity even at peril of life. Just such a straight, truth-telling message is to be borne now and to come into the ranks in the time of God's judgments, a clear warning that calls people to heed the truth. The same faithful, direct work must be done now just before Christ's second coming in the clouds of heaven, preparing a people to stand in the great day of the Lord and to meet God, requiring beholding God until self is lost sight of. That work calls souls away from danger, guards against men who would divert the mind from heeding the true issues for this time, and carries the truth to those who need it and have not exchanged the evidences of the truth for fallacies and scientific presentations of satanic origin. As when the forerunner stood alone to rebuke the pride and formalism of the Jewish nation, God has for His church in every generation a special truth and a special work that is hid from the worldly wise and prudent and revealed to the childlike and humble, calling for self-sacrifice, having battles to fight and victories to win, and having at the outset few advocates who are opposed and despised by the great men of the world and by a world-conforming church.
The pointed message refused to let the people be deceived by false confidence, speaking plainly in reproof to keep them from being deceived. That fearless delivery is the model for faithful warning messages that call souls away from danger. Such warning becomes more and more pointed even though it costs the speaker's life, as it cost John's life to speak plainly. That same plain truth needed now means serving God with full purpose of a renewed heart, sanctified and made holy by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, living in this world to prepare for future life that measures with the life of God. Minds must not be turned aside by side questions such as whether the world is round or flat, which Satan brings in through minds not worked by the Spirit of God.