The Bible Study Podcast, Episode 2.11. Today, the Bible Study podcast continues the study of wilderness with John the Baptist.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen. We've been studying the wilderness and the concept of the wilderness, the theme that comes up a few times in the Bible. We talked about the wilderness where Jesus went to be tempted. We talked about the wilderness that the children of Israel wandered around in, and the wilderness that Elijah, the prophet also went to.

The last and final wilderness that I want to deal with is the wilderness that produced John

the Baptist.

John the Baptist is told about in at least three of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

The story from the gospel of Matthew goes like this from Matthew 3. In those days,

John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven

has come near. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah. A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. John's clothes were made of camel's

hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People

went out to him from Jerusalem in all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan, confessing their sins,

they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and

Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to

flee from the coming wrath, produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not think you can say to yourselves,

we have Abraham as our father. I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for

Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit

will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance,

but after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will

baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his

threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn, and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

It's interesting the way that Matthew starts this chapter. In those days, John the Baptist came.

Now, we have an earlier story of the birth of John the Baptist in the Gospels,

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