Matthew 3 - Thoughts

From the sounds of these versus, there were a lot of people being baptized at this time by John the Baptist, so many that even the Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to be baptized, simply to be seen as being righteous.

But John knew the true reason for baptism and he understood that it wasn't simply something you did when you felt like it, it is something you need to prepare for. He warned the Pharisees and Sadducees to "bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance" meaning that you need to do some work, to change bad habits, and prepare yourself to be truly ready for baptism because the covenants you make at that time are binding unto God and should not be done until you are ready to be a true disciple of Christ.

I also love verse 10 showing that it doesn't matter who your parents are, where your lineage is from, each person is responsible for their own conversion no matter if you come from a "righteous" or "wicked" family.

Verse 11 shows that baptism by water is only the first step, and again shows the importance of preparing for baptism ahead of time because after baptism by water comes baptism by the Holy Ghost, a holy being to remain your companion when you are choosing to follow Christ.

I wonder why the covenant of Baptism is written about in the scriptures, but they never write of Jesus being married or any other covenants we can make with God. I suppose because it is so crucial to be baptized and gain the gift of the Holy Ghost to help guide you through life's challenges that Matthew really wanted to make sure that point was in there, and I suppose it is because this is when Jesus' ministry really began.