What does Matthew 3:11 mean?
Isaiah 40:3 was meant, in part, to predict the coming of John the Baptist. His primary role was to prepare the way for the coming of the long-promised Messiah, the one he has said would bring God's kingdom to earth. In prophesying the arrival of that kingdom, John has urged his listeners to repent of their sins and be publicly baptized by him in the Jordan River as part of their commitment to live faithfully to God (Matthew 3:1–2).Now John makes clear again that he is not the Messiah. His baptism is not the same as that of the One who is coming after him (Acts 18:25; 19:3–6). John says his baptism is for repentance, turning from sin to live in faithfulness to God. All who want to be spared from God's wrath must repent, but eternal salvation requires that change of heart be tied to faith in Christ (John 3:16–18).
John describes the One to come as mightier than he is. John knows he was sent by God to proclaim God's message, but he does not believe himself in any way equal to the Messiah. In fact, John says he is not even worthy of carrying the Messiah's sandals (Mark 1:7). This was quite a statement at this time in history, when sandal-clad feet were especially filthy and thought to be dishonorable. Only the lowliest servant would be asked to carry sandals, and John understands himself to be unworthy of even that position in service to Jesus.
The baptism ushered in by Christ will be different from John's baptism of repentance. John declares the Messiah will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. This would likely have been exciting news to John's Jewish listeners. In Jewish minds, the Holy Spirit had been absent from Israel for generations. The fact that the coming Messiah would baptize those who had repented with the Holy Spirit would have been a promise of great power to come. It would also have been a mysterious statement.
Jesus, of course, did send the Holy Spirit to baptize believers after His resurrection on the day of Pentecost. The evidence of the Holy Spirit on that day included "tongues of fire" that rested above each person (Acts 2). John's reference to fire here may have referred to a purification that would come with Messiah's baptism.
