JOHN THE BAPTIST PREPARES THE WAY

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

John the Baptist preached in the Desert,

"Repent, for heaven is near."

He baptized when people repented;

They came from all over to hear.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of Him as:

"The voice of one calling in the desert,

Prepare the way for the Lord,

With straight paths" was Isaiah's alert.

John's clothes were made of camel's hair;

By our standards he would have looked funny.

A leather belt was around his waist.

And his food was locusts and honey.

People came to him from Judea,

The Jordan area and Jerusalem.

There at the Jordan River,

They repented and were baptized by him.

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John saw Pharisees and Sadducees coming,

To where people got their spiritual bath,

He yelled, "You brood of vipers!

Who warned you of the coming wrath?”

“Do not think you can say to yourselves,

'We have Abraham as our father.'

I tell you that out of these stones,

God can raise up children, so don’t even bother.”

“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance,

For if a tree doesn’t bear good fruit,

It will be cut down and thrown in the fire;

The axe is already at the root.”

"I baptize with water for repentance.”

“But one more powerful than I,

Whose sandals I am not fit to carry.

Will baptize with the Spirit and fire.”

“His winnowing fork is in his hand,

And He will clear His threshing floor.

He will gather His wheat into the barn,

And burn the chaff evermore."

Becky Wall