John the Baptist Prepares the Way

 MATTHEW 3:1-12; MARK 1:1-8; LUKE 3:1-18; JOHN 1:6-8,  15-28. 

.  JOHN COMES PREACHING AND BAPTIZING

.   MANY GET BAPTIZED, BUT NOT ALL

Some 17 years have passed since Jesus at 12 years of age was questioning the teachers in the temple. It is now spring of 29 C.E.  Many are talking about Jesus' relative John, who is preaching in all the country on the western side of the Jordan River.

John is quite an impressive man, but in appearance and in speech.  His clothing is made of camel's hair, and he wears a leather belt around his waist.  He eats locusts-a type of grasshopper-and wild honey. What is his message?  "Repent, for the Kingdom of the heavens has drawn near." - MATTHEW 3:2.

John's message excites those who have come out to heart him.  Many  realize their need to repent, that is, to change their attitude and ways, rejecting their past course of life as undesirable.  Those who come to him are from "Jerusalem and Judea and the country around the Jordan  (Matthew 3:5)   Many of those who come out to see John do repent. He baptizes them, immersing them in the waters of the Jordan .  Why?

He baptizes people in symbol, or acknowledgement, of their heartfelt repentance for sins against God's Law covenant.  (Acts 19:4) Not all qualify, though, when some religious leaders Pharisees and Sadducees, come to him, John calls them  offspring of vipers." He says: "Produce fruit that benefits repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves. "We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.   The ax is already lying at the root of the trees. Every tree m then that does not produce fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire." - MATTHEW 3:7-10.

Next time:  John the Baptist Prepares the Way -Conclusion

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