"Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."--_Matt. 3:2._
[Illustration]
THE blessed Lord Jesus lived at Nazareth, and worked there as a
carpenter until He was thirty years old, so that He has felt how we
live here, and knows what our feelings and ways are by trying them.
When it was nearly time for Him to begin to set up His kingdom, a holy
man was sent to make ready for Him. This man's name was John, and he
lived out in the rocky and bushy country on the bank of the river
Jordan, dressed in a coarse garment woven of camel's hair, and living
on the locusts and wild honey he found there.
He stood there telling everyone who came that the kingdom of God was
going to begin, and that those who wished to belong to it must repent
and give up their sins. All who would feel and own their sins he took
down to the river and bathed and washed them, to show how some day they
would have their souls washed, just as their bodies were washed now.
This washing was called baptising, and he is always called John the
Baptist; but he always told the people that there was One coming who
was greater than he was, and that this Holy One would baptise them with
the Holy Ghost and with fire.