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Isaiah the prophet told us what would happen before He came:

Watch, I will send My messenger in front of You
    to prepare Your way and make it clear and straight.[a]
You’ll hear him, a voice crying in the wilderness,
    “Prepare the way of the Eternal One,
    a straight way in the wandering desert, a highway for our God.”[b]

That messenger was John the Baptist,[c] who appeared in the desert near the Jordan River preaching that people should be ritually cleansed through baptism with water as a sign of both their changed hearts[d] and God’s forgiveness of their sins.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:2 Malachi 3:1
  2. 1:3 Isaiah 40:3
  3. 1:4 Literally, John who immersed, to show repentance
  4. 1:4 Literally, repentance

as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way”[a](A)
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”[b](B)

And so John the Baptist(C) appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance(D) for the forgiveness of sins.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 1:2 Mal. 3:1
  2. Mark 1:3 Isaiah 40:3