Page 367 - Bible History

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CHRIST PREPARES TO REDEEM THE WO D
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would stop and ask him what he meant. He would begin to preach to them and to tell them to be sorry for their sins. The very sight of him was enough to move their hearts to repent­ ance. They re-
11membered the
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prophet Isaias, "A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight His paths. Every valley shall be lled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low. And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain, and all esh shall
see the salvation of God.''
In the beginning, John's audiences were small, but
soon the story of this strange preacher was told throughout the land, and great crowds of people came to the Jordan to hear him. Many were converted by his words, and went out and stood in the river, where he baptized them as a sign of their repentance and their resolution to live abetter life. Thisbaptism did not wash away their sins, but only prepared their hearts for the coming of the Savior.
The people regarded John, whom they called the
THE TERRI AR THE NORTH OF THE WO rdS of the