Cleansed to Bear Fruit

New Testament 

Matthew 3:4-12

4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

The Four Voices

Isaiah 6:1-8

Isaiah’s Cleansing and Call

1 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
    The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.

5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.”

Chiastic Structure

Isaiah 6:1–8

A. The King dies, the Lord enthroned (v.1)
 B. Seraphim declare holiness (vv.2–3)
  C. Temple shaken with smoke (v.4)
   D. Isaiah’s confession: unclean lips, unclean people (v.5)
  C’. Coal from altar touches lips (vv.6–7)
 B’. Sin forgiven, guilt removed (v.7)
A’. The call: “Whom shall I send?” answered with “Here am I” (v.8)

Matthew 3:4–12

A. John’s prophetic identity, wilderness signs (vv.4–6)
 B. Rebuke to Pharisees: prove repentance (vv.7–8)
  C. Lineage cannot save—stones can be made children (v.9)
   D. Judgment: ax at the root (v.10)
   D’. Judgment: fire consumes chaff (v.12)
  C’. Messiah greater, Spirit and fire baptism (v.11)
 B’. True repentance tested by fruit (v.12)
A’. John’s humility: unworthy to carry sandals (v.11)

PARDES Reflection

Peshat (Plain): Isaiah is purified by coal; John calls for repentance and warns of judgment.

What did Isaiah experience when the coal touched his lips, and what did John demand of those who came to be baptized?

Remez (Hint): Coal and ax, altar and threshing floor, temple smoke and wilderness fire — different images, same reality: God’s holiness demands transformation.

How do the images of coal, ax, fruit, and fire hint at God’s pattern of cleansing and judgment across both temple and wilderness?

Drash (Interpretation): We cannot speak for God with unclean lips, nor claim covenant while bearing no fruit. Repentance must touch both mouth and deed.

If heritage and titles cannot protect us, what does it mean for our churches, unions, and families to “bear fruit” that proves repentance?

Sod (Mystical): The coal and the Spirit-fire are one flame: God’s holiness entering flesh. What burns also heals; what consumes also renews.

Where in your own life has God’s fire both burned and healed — consuming the false while igniting the true?

Word Studies

קָדוֹשׁ (Kadosh) – Holy
Set apart, different. Not “churchy” but otherworldly. To live kadosh is to resist blending in when God calls you to stand out.

שׁוּב (Shuv) – Return
Often translated “repent.” It means turn around, come back home. Not just regret, but reversal. A word for the commute back to God when we’ve gone the wrong way.

רִצְפָּה (Ritzpah) – Coal
The live ember placed on Isaiah’s lips. Painful, purifying, healing all at once. In our lives, ritzpah moments are the hard truths that burn but also free.

פְּרִי (Peri) – Fruit
The evidence, the outcome. Not theory, but what shows up in words, habits, relationships. Peri is what people taste when they’re around us.

אֵשׁ (Esh) – Fire
The double-edged element. It warms, lights, refines—and it consumes, judges, destroys. God’s esh can burn away the false or ignite the true.