The birth of Jesus was widely known, but over the next 30 years of the life of Jesus, very little public information was heard or understood about Him.  But now, things are about to change!  Jesus is going to come onto the public scene with power and might!  Jesus will startle everyone with His dynamic, yet many times controversial, words.  Jesus will demonstrate His mercy and power through miracles and His healing ministry.  Jesus will call all people to repentance and conversion!

  We begin the story with the words:  “In those days, John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea, saying: ‘Repent!  for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’”  Now, what does this mean? 

  First of all, let’s look at the setting, which is the desert of Judea in an area on the west bank of the Jordan River. This is a barren region, with harsh terrain and rocky, reddish land, particularly between Jericho and Jerusalem, an area about 50 miles long.

  John the Baptist is a rough looking character, who wears a tunic of camel’s hair and a leather belt.  He lives off the land, eating locusts and wild honey.  He lives a very austere and simple life, yet, from all around, his words attract crowds of people who become converts for repentance, confession, and baptism. 

 John the Baptist is a fulfillment of a prophecy that the prophet Isaiah had spoken many years before.  Isaiah said that there would be one crying out in the desert to “prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His paths” (Isaiah 40).