In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean
wilderness and began preaching. His message was, “Repent of your sins and
turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
The prophet Isaiah was
speaking about John when he said,
“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare
the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear
the road for him!’”
John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a
leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. People
from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to
see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in
the Jordan River.
But when he saw many Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of
snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by
the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are
descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create
children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s
judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that
does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize with water those who
repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater
than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry
his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the
wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area,
gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending
fire.”
Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized
by John. But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to
be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?”
But Jesus said, “It should be
done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to
baptize him.
After his baptism, as Jesus came up
out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my
dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
~ Source : Matthew 3:1-17 [Holy Bible -NLT]
taken from https://www.biblegateway.com
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