At the beginning of Chapter 3, the story switches gears to John.  Now John was Jesus’ cousin, and Mary’s nephew.  He was born to Zechariah & Elizabeth, and the story about it is told in the beginning of Luke.  He actually “jumped” in the womb when Mary came near, in excitement of being in the presence of the Lord.

John is an interesting story, as we hear nothing about him after that until now.  At this time, he had, “clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.”!?  Sounds a little strange to us, but the people were all going out to listen and get baptized by him, so something was definitely right about him.

In any case, he had a job to do, and was doing it.  I believe he probably had a very close relationship to God, and had had many encounters with Angel or the Lord.  He obviously had no fear, and was devout.  In those times also, as we saw with Joseph, those who are part of God’s master plan were often visited by Angels.

Below is a photo of the area of the Jordan river in the Judean desert, so you can get an idea.  It was not a very comfortable place, but a place where many could gather.

What he was doing was telling the people about Jesus and “preparing” them for Him.  Verse 2 quotes Isaiah, which foretells John’s coming.   Not much else in the first few verses, except in the first verse it mentions, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near”.  I think many had a mis-interpretation of what this meant.  Obviously, it meant Jesus coming and death, which provides for us the ability to secure our salvation for reaching Heaven.

More to come in the next verses!