Matthew 3:11-12 NCV
“I baptize you with water to show that your hearts and lives have changed. But there is one coming after me who is greater than I am, whose sandals I am not good enough to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He will come ready to clean the grain, separating the good grain from the chaff. He will put the good part of the grain into his barn, but he will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.”
John the Baptist, Prophecy about Christ
John the Baptist prophesied that Jesus will baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He was telling people what kind of work Christ will do as an example of wheat, the grain, separate the good grain from the chaff. There will be many people who will accept Christ and will enter heaven (grain into his barn) and also many who will reject Christ will go to hell (burn with fire forever).
John the Baptist was called by God to be a prophet for Him. So people will know that Christ will be among them. John told the disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God.” John prophesied that Jesus will become the Lamb, the One who will take away the sin of the world and this man is the Son of God. [John 1:29-34,35]. God told John the Baptist that he will see the Spirit come down and rest on a man; he is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said, “I have seen this happen, and I tell you the truth: This man is the Son of God.”
The word “prophecy” itself means “to speak forth,” and it involves two kinds of things: (1) a message for the people of the day and time in which the prophet lived, and (2) predictions of future events for the comfort, warning and guidance of God’s people.
John the Baptist gave message to people about Christ’s coming in his day and time that God had chosen. John the Baptist predict about Christ’s coming. This was an excitement time for Israel who had been waiting for the Messiah. This was a comfort time that “God through His Son will visit with them.” Christ also came to warn about the wrong way and also give guidance how to live the right way. [This was fulfillment through the Book of Gospels].
What can we learn from this? God spoke to John the Baptist about Christ. God wants to speak with you, too. Listen to Him.
