Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Three

                                                                                                                                      Verses 22-23 continued

The people who came to John to be baptized asked John what they should do after their baptism. Before God revealed to John that Jesus the Messiah could also save humans by His grace, John preached a different message. John advised them to be sure to do good works presumably because in the general resurrection, God would give them a better life with greater rewards than He would give to those who had led evil lives. Luke 3:6-14. Like some faithful Jews, John believed that in the end God will effect a general resurrection of His goodness in all humans so that He can recreate them to live forever on His recreated earth. Daniel 12:2-3; Isaiah 66:18-24. These scriptures reveal the truth that God will effect a general resurrection in the end of the world. God will give all those who led good lives, and who did a lot of good works, a much better life on the new earth with great rewards for their good works. But God will also recover and recreate even that small amount of goodness that He put into even those who were rebellious and practiced evil, but the rewards that He gives them will be very limited. God will recover and recreate all of His goodness that has been influenced by evil. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:36; Psalm 50:23; Psalm 37:29; Psalm 25:12-13; Proverbs 28:18; Psalm 68:18; Psalm 107:10-15; Psalm 103:19; Psalm 86:9; Revelation 21:1-5.

But when John saw Jesus come to him for baptism, then God caused him to recognize that Jesus was the Savior who could provide a much greater salvation for living humans while they were still in the flesh. John realized that Jesus could not only save by a baptism with His fiery wrath to separate all of His goodness from all evil, but He could also save by His baptism with the Holy Spirit; that is, Christ could save by His grace all believers while they were still alive in the flesh. Luke 3:16. John further taught that by these two different baptisms, Christ will "thoroughly purge His floor," which has the symbolic meaning that God will completely eliminate all evil from His creation. Christ will recover all the "wheat" which means He will recreate all living humans with either a greater form of salvation or a lesser form of salvation, and He will burn the "chaff" with unquenchable fire which means He will cast all of the dead and evil natures of all humans not saved by grace into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15. God will not save anyone who does not believe that He can save them, but He will also cause every living human whom He ever created and loves to repent and believe of their own free will. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-4. God will annul the spiritual deaths in the souls and spirits of all living humans who become saved by His grace the moment they believe and become baptized by the Holy Spirit, but He will allow sin to remain in their fleshly natures. John 5:24; II Corinthians 5:17; Romans 7:17-18.

All of this put together illustrates the exact truth that John the Baptist spoke when He saw Jesus come to be baptized, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." God must make His Word good. Numbers 23:19. Jesus came to save the entire world which means every living human whom He ever created and loves. John 6:33. God's Love can never fail. I Corinthians 13:8. Christ will "thoroughly purge His floor," which happens to be a poetic way of saying that He will purge all sins, evil, and spiritual death from all of His creation, and He will provide a higher from of salvation by His grace and a lower form of salvation by His use of His fiery wrath against evil. John 5:24; II Peter 3:9-13. Revelation 5:11-14 records that all living humans on the earth and under the earth in the regions of the dead will worship Christ as the Lamb of God which requires faith that He can save them. Faith and repentance always arouses the compassion of God, and He will provide for them a lesser form of salvation which will be a recreated life on His new earth. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.