Lesson 16 - Elementary
Memory Verse
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).
Notes
There was a man of God called John the Baptist. He was not living in the city where people lived, but in the wilderness. But John was not afraid. He knew God was with him. John was sleeping in the cave. His clothes were made of camel's hair and his food were locusts, a species of grasshopper, and honey kept by the honey-bee in a cave or tree.
John loved to be far away from his people to be able to have the chance to think about God, because he was soon to start preaching to people and to teach them the acceptable way of listening to Jesus when preaching some day. God tell John to tell the people that Jesus was coming and that He is the Son of God. He told them it was a bad thing to sin. He told the people to be sorry for their sins, ask God to forgive them and decide not to sin again. Many repented and asked God for the forgiveness of their sin. After this John would baptize them in the river Jordan.
Very soon, people at Jerusalem and all around Judea heard about this strange preacher in the wilderness. Who was he? Where did he come from? Nobody knew. Some other people asked him, "Who are you? Are you the Jesus we have been expecting?" John answered and said "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: make straight the way of the Lord."
Jesus came to the river where John was baptizing people. Jesus wanted to be baptized also. God wanted to use Jesus as example to us because Jesus is our leader, and we need to follow Him.
Jesus was baptized and as He was coming up from the river, Heaven opened; the Holy Spirit of God came down like a dove, and settled on Him. A voice from Heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
God was pleased with Jesus because He was obedient every time. When we stand before God someday, how sweet it will be if God could say to us "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."
Questions
1. Where was John the Baptist living? Matthew 3:3
2. What kind of clothes did John wear? What did he eat? Matthew 3:4
3. Why was he living in the wilderness?
4. Who came for water baptism from John? Mark 1:9
5. Why did Jesus do water baptism? Matthew 3:15
6. What did God say about Jesus? Mark 1:11