The Mission of John the Baptist

John appears in the Judean wilderness preaching repentance, and Matthew identifies him as the one foretold by Isaiah.

I¹n those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ²and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” ³This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

John’s austere clothing and food mark his wilderness life, and people from the region come to him, confess their sins, and are baptized in the Jordan.

⁴John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region around the Jordan. ⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

John warns the Pharisees and Sadducees not to trust ancestry without fruit, then points to the stronger coming one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire and bring final separation.

⁷But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹²His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”