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            The chapter begins in the days of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea which fulfilled the prophecy Isaiah spoke in chapter 40 vs 3. John preached on repentance, to acknowledge wrongdoing and evil ways and to turn from them, to turn your ways to the Lord and stop living in wicked ways. To repent means to apologize for your wrong doings with the intention of not doing them anymore and changing your ways and mindset.

            John was clothe din camels hair with a leather belt around his wast and ate locusts and wild honey. He didn't follow what was normal in society that day, his ways were ones that would separate him from the flesh and help him grow closer to God. He eliminated distractions in his life and fleshly desires and focused solely on God and the prophecy to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

            Others may view your lifestyle as weird when you live a lifestyle that leads you to God rather than leading you to things society views as normal. Im sure many viewed Johns lifestyle as weird but out of curiosity some of those probably went to see John preach and that could have led to their repentance. When others think your lifestyle is weird because you follow God, keep at it, one of them out of pure curiously might ask about your ways and it could be the conversation that leads them to repentance and being saved. Use your Christian lifestyle to stand out to non believers to make them interested in Gods hand in your life.

            When John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptisms, he called them out on their ways. He called the Pharisees out for being legalistic and hypocrites by following the letter of the law while ignoring its intent. As for the Sadducees, they used religion to advance their political positions. John preached to all to change their ways, to repent of their sins, to bear good fruit for trees that don’t bear good fruits are cut down.

            If we call ourselves Christians, we must live like Christians. To be a Christian is to be like Christ, if we aren't living that way then we aren't bearing the fruit that we were called to bear. We all have a purpose and are all called to something specifically, our actions and our ways show by the fruit we bear. If our “fruit” doesn't glorify God or bring others to God, we need to repent and seek what it truly is that God is wanting us to do. We don’t want to be hypocrites like the Pharisees or power seekers for political gains like the Sadducees.

            John preached to repent of your sins, change your inner self and be baptized in the water. He said that the one who is coming who is the messiah will baptize of the Holy Spirit and fire. John baptized people as a cleansing and a sign that they were asking God to forgive them for their wicked ways and they were surrounding to God and were to live the way He wanted them to live, the way He created them to live. John explained that the messiahs baptism would be much greater then what he was doing when suddenly he Jesus came to him and asked to be baptized by John.

            John tried to tell Jesus that it was John who needed to be baptized by Jesus, not the other way around. Jesus didn't need to be baptized for His sins, because he had never sinned. But he was being baptized to fulfill righteousness on behalf of all sins by others. Jesus told John that He was to be baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness and John knew it was to be done, so he baptized Jesus. 

            After Jesus was baptized He came up from the water immediately and the heavens were opened and John saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Jesus with a voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

            John had a desire and a yearning to preach the gospel and preach on repentance and baptism. He followed what God had planned for him and it led him to being used by God in this incredible moment. Just think about the amazing things God has planned to accomplish with you as help, will you answer and allow him to use you for great things like John the Baptist?