in the ancient land of Judea a special child named John was born his birth was a miracle because his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth were very old and had never been able to have children before John was born an angel appeared to Zechariah and told him that his son would have an important mission to prepare the way for the Lord as John grew up he became different from others he lived in the wilderness away from the towns and cities his clothes were made of camel's hair and he wore a leather belt around his waist his food
was simple locusts and wild honey he found in the desert Jon started preaching to the people in the wilderness he had a powerful voice that echoed through the desert calling people to repent which means to turn away from doing wrong things and to turn back to God he baptized people in the Jordan River as a sign that they were changing their hearts and lives people started talking about John they hadn't seen anyone like him before some thought thought he might be the special savior the Messiah that God had promised but John always said I am
not the Christ I am just here to prepare the way for him one day Jesus himself came to the Jordan River where John was baptizing when John saw Jesus he knew that Jesus was the one he had been talking about he said look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world even though John felt he wasn't worthy to baptize Jesus Jesus insisted and John baptized him as Jesus came up from the water something miraculous happened the heavens opened and the spirit of God descended like a dove and a lighted on Jesus
and a voice from Heaven said this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased after baptizing Jesus John continued to preach and tell people about the coming of God's kingdom but not everyone liked what John was saying he was honest and confronted people including King Herod when they were doing wrong things this got Jon into trouble and he was eventually arrested Jon's life had a sad ending at the request of herod's daughter urged on by her mother herodias who didn't like Jon's criticisms Jon was executed John's role in the Bible teaches
us about the importance of being brave and speaking the truth even when it's hard
