| Almost thirty years had gone by since the birth of Christ and the eventful journey to Egypt. Now God was beginning to prepare the way for his Son's ministry. He had brought John into the world for a particular purpose which was now to be fully revealed. . John's first words were 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'. In other words the Jews were to make themselves spiritually ready for the coming of the king; Jesus Christ himself. Repentance is being sorry for our sins. It is not merely saying 'I'm sorry'. We must be sorry enough to ask God's forgiveness for the things we have done wrong. Then we must be determined to turn away from those things. There are men in the Bible who admitted their sin but who never truly repented. Pharaoh, King Saul and Judas are all illustrations of this. John also told the people to be baptised as a sign of confession of sin and a desire for cleansing. A great many of the Jewish people obeyed his call. John was surprised one day to see Jesus in the line of men waiting to be baptised. He seems to have known immediately that this was the one God had promised to send, someone greater than himself. God told John that when he saw the Holy Spirit descending on one particular person he would know that person was God's Son, the king about whom he spoke (John 1:32, 33). Jesus had no sins to be confessed or cleansed away. He was always without sin. But Jesus went through baptism in order to be one with his people. This pleased his Father for God said 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'. John's ministry covered only a short period, perhaps six months or a little more. But in that time he stirred the whole nation, even without travelling very far. The people came to him, brought by the Spirit of God. Could we ask God to use us today? Pray that he will send someone to us that we might speak to them about Christ. | 
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