Matthew 3:10-12

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹⁰ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. _a Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ _b "I baptize you with water _c for repentance, but _d he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you _e with the Holy Spirit and _f fire. ¹² His _g winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and _h gather his wheat into the barn, _i but the chaff he will burn with _j unquenchable fire."

1. Cross References
   Matthew 7:19
   Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
   Luke 13:7
   And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?
   Luke 13:9
   Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'
   John 15:2
   Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
   John 15:6
   If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
   
2. Cross References
   John 1:26
   John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know.
   Acts 1:5
   For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
   
3. Cross References
   Acts 13:24
   Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
   Acts 19:4
   And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.
   
4. Cross References
   John 1:15
   ( John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'")
   John 1:27
   Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.
   John 3:30 - 31
   He must increase, but I must decrease.
   Acts 13:25
   And as John was finishing his course, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.
   
5. Cross References
   John 1:33
   I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
   Acts 11:16
   And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
   
6. Cross References
   Isaiah 4:4
   When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.
   Malachi 3:2 - 3
   But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.
   Acts 2:3
   And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
   
7. Cross References
   Isaiah 30:24
   And the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.
   
8. Cross References
   Matthew 13:30
   Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'
   
9. Cross References
   Malachi 4:1
   For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
   
10. Cross References
    Mark 9:43
    And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
    Mark 9:48
    'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'