The preaching of John the Baptist
John‘s message
A new kingdom
John‘s message was very important. He said that there would be a new kingdom. It would be the kingdom of God. This kingdom would have many good things. The prophets wrote about this. There would be joy, peace and security.
It seems that John expected Jesus to set up a political kingdom. The disciples thought this too, even after Jesus came back to them. Jesus became alive again after his death. Then the disciples asked Jesus when he would set up the kingdom (Acts 1:6).
For the present time, the kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. Neither John nor the disciples understood that. It is the time when Christians preach the good news about Jesus. They teach the good news all round the world. In the future, Jesus will come back to the world again. The full kingdom will come only then.
John was not the Messiah himself. He told this clearly to the crowds. He was merely the person who came first. He came with the message about the Messiah.
What is the kingdom of God?
The kingdom of God means this: God rules in our hearts and in our lives. So, we love him. And we obey him. Jesus said, ’The kingdom of God is inside you‘ (Luke 17:21). People are wicked. So all other kingdoms had failed, because they could not teach people to love God.
But, in the kingdom of God, God would ’write his laws inside us‘. He promised this by his Spirit (Jeremiah 31:34). Before we can live in this kingdom, we must repent. This was John‘s message. We have done wrong things. We must be sorry for these things. We must invite God into our lives. We must live like God wants us to. But nothing can happen unless we repent. This comes first.
Repent and believe
We must repent. This message is all through the Bible. It is there many times:
- Jesus himself spoke this message, when he began his special work for God. That happened soon after John appeared publicly (Matthew 4:17).
- It was an important part of the message of Peter. Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Later, Peter spoke about the message to a great crowd in the Temple. He said that they should repent (Acts 3:19).
- It was an important part of Paul‘s message. He travelled to many countries. Paul spoke about Jesus. He said that people must repent (Acts 26:20). ’Repent and believe‘. This was the message.