Did you know….
That we all must prepare our hearts for Jesus?
This story is about John the Baptist and how he prepared the way for Jesus.
What does it mean to get ready for something?
There once was a man named John the Baptist who prepared the way for the most important king ever – Jesus. John began preaching in the Judean wilderness telling people that they needed to prepare their hearts for Jesus.
Many years ago before Jesus or John the Baptist were born, God promised that there would be a special messenger who would announce that the long-awaited Saviour was coming. John the Baptist was this messenger. He had the important job of preparing the way for Jesus.
Now John wasn’t building a physical way for Jesus to come, like a roadway, instead, he was preparing the hearts of people so that they would receive Jesus’ message.
When John began to prepare people for the arrival of Jesus, he moved out into the desert. He wore clothes made from the hair of camels, a leather belt, and ate locusts and honey. People from Jerusalem and from all over Judea were very intrigued by John so they traveled out into the wilderness to see him and hear what he was preaching about.
John said to people that they should be baptized to show that they had turned away from their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.
John’s message was “Repent from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
To repent means to regret or feel sadness about something bad that you have done. When someone repents, they turn away from their sin and follow God. John was asking them to repent about the sinful ways they had been living. John wanted people to see they were being bad and needed a Saviour.
The people asked John for advice and he told them:
“If you have two coats, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”
To the corrupt tax collectors he said, “Show your honesty. Collect no more than the roman government requires you to.”
To the soldiers he said, “Do violence to no man, nor accuse any falsely. And be content with your wages.”
When the people confessed their sins, John baptized them in the Jordan River. One by one John led them into the river and they emerged “clean” sorry about their sins.
The people wondered in their hearts if maybe John was the saviour.
When John heard this, he said to them, “I baptize with water those who turn from their sins and turn to God, but someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am – so much greater that I am not even worthy to be His slave. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
One day Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to also be baptized by John. John didn’t want to baptize Him, and said, “I am the one who needs to be baptized by You, so why are You coming to me?
Jesus answered him and said, “It must be done, because we must do everything that is right.”
And so John baptized Jesus, and when he had done so, Jesus came up from the water. The heavens were opened and Jesus saw the Spirit of God come down like a dove and settle on Him. A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
God had told John the Baptist that when he saw the Holy Spirit descend and rest upon someone, he would know that this is the one he was looking for.
John said, “I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that He is the Son of God.”
Images are the copyright Sweet Publishing (John Batpizes Jesus) for teaching purposes only, all rights reserved, and are used according to their terms of use - Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. Distributed under a license with FreeBibleimages.
Read about the story in the Bible:
Matthew 3:1-17
Mark 1:1-11
Luke 3:1-22
John 1:6-34
Courtesy of supercoloring.com, download and colour, or colour online:
John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness
John the Baptist baptizing Jesus I
John the Baptist baptizing Jesus II
Teaching Kids about Jesus (3:01 min.) Includes the birth of John.
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