3 While they were living in Nazareth,^[a] John the Baptist began preaching out in the Judean wilderness. His constant theme was, ² “Turn from your sins . . . turn to God . . . for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming soon.”^{[b] 3} Isaiah the prophet had told about John’s ministry centuries before! He had written,

“I hear^[c] a shout from the wilderness, ‘Prepare a road for the Lord—straighten out the path where he will walk.’”

⁴ John’s clothing was woven from camel’s hair and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People from Jerusalem and from all over the Jordan Valley, and, in fact, from every section of Judea went out to the wilderness to hear him preach, ⁶ and when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

⁷ But when he saw many Pharisees^[d] and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he denounced them.

“You sons of snakes!” he warned. “Who said that you could escape the coming wrath of God? ⁸ Before being baptized, prove that you have turned from sin by doing worthy deeds. ⁹ Don’t try to get by as you are, thinking, ‘We are safe for we are Jews—descendants of Abraham.’ That proves nothing. God can change these stones here into Jews!^[e]

¹⁰ “And even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised to chop down every unproductive tree. They will be chopped and burned.

¹¹ “With water^[f] I baptize those who repent of their sins; but someone else is coming, far greater than I am, so great that I am not worthy to carry his shoes! He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹² He will separate the chaff from the grain, burning the chaff with never-ending fire and storing away the grain.”

¹³ Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized there by John. ¹⁴ John didn’t want to do it.

“This isn’t proper,” he said. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you.”

¹⁵ But Jesus said, “Please do it, for I must do all that is right.”^[g] So then John baptized him.

¹⁶ After his baptism, as soon as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God coming down in the form of a dove. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, and I am wonderfully pleased with him.”

30 “When all these things have happened to you—the blessings and the curses I have listed—you will meditate upon them as you are living among the nations where the Lord your God will have driven you. ² If at that time you want to return to the Lord your God, and you and your children have begun wholeheartedly to obey all of the commandments I have given you today, ³ then the Lord your God will rescue you from your captivity! He will have mercy upon you and come and gather you out of all the nations where he will have scattered you. ⁴ Though you are at the ends of the earth, he will go and find you and bring you back again ⁵ to the land of your ancestors. You shall possess the land again, and he will do you good and bless you even more than he did your ancestors! ⁶ He will cleanse your hearts and the hearts of your children and of your children’s children so that you will love the Lord your God with all your hearts and souls, and Israel shall come alive again!

^7-8 “If you return to the Lord and obey all the commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will take his curses and turn them against your enemies—against those who hate you and persecute you. ⁹ The Lord your God will prosper everything you do and give you many children and much cattle and wonderful crops; for the Lord will again rejoice over you as he did over your fathers. ¹⁰ He will rejoice if you but obey the commandments written in this book of the law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your hearts and souls.

¹³ These men of faith I have mentioned died without ever receiving all that God had promised them; but they saw it all awaiting them on ahead and were glad, for they agreed that this earth was not their real home but that they were just strangers visiting down here. ¹⁴ And quite obviously when they talked like that, they were looking forward to their real home in heaven.

¹⁵ If they had wanted to, they could have gone back to the good things of this world. ¹⁶ But they didn’t want to. They were living for heaven. And now God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has made a heavenly city for them.

¹⁷ While God was testing him, Abraham still trusted in God and his promises, and so he offered up his son Isaac and was ready to slay him on the altar of sacrifice; ¹⁸ yes, to slay even Isaac, through whom God had promised to give Abraham a whole nation of descendants!

¹⁹ He believed that if Isaac died God would bring him back to life again; and that is just about what happened, for as far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was doomed to death, but he came back again alive! ²⁰ It was by faith that Isaac knew God would give future blessings to his two sons, Jacob and Esau.

²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s two sons as he stood and prayed, leaning on the top of his cane.

²² And it was by faith that Joseph, as he neared the end of his life, confidently spoke of God bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt; and he was so sure of it that he made them promise to carry his bones with them when they left!