A man who prepared the way of the Lord Jesus
"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
This expression of "in those days", is a telógica expression, in the fulfillment of the prophecies of the old testament.
Repentance was one of the phrases that John used to prepare the way of the Lord, an action that induced that repentance should be a decision that would result in a change of mind, which in turn leads to a change of purpose and of action.
The approach of the kingdom of God, which confronts people with an inescapable decision, explains the urgency of John's message of repentance, since Jesus proclaimed the same message.
The book of Isaiah makes reference to John with a herald who orders to repair the roads in preparation for the arrival of the King, (verse 3), because, this is the one who spoke the prophet Isaiah, when he said: "voice of the one who cries out the desert: prepare the way of the lord, make straight his paths. "
Juan knew very well that one of the things that man had to do was repent and change his mind, to have the freedom of the domination of the flesh or of the devil. For this reason, his message is specifically addressed "to repentance"...
In the same way, Jesus began his ministry by preaching about repentance and the kingdom of God, a path that John prepared for his arrival, that is, to establish the kingdom of God on earth.
The Bible says that, without repentance, there is no conversion (Acts 3:19).
Remember that conversion is a transformation or change of one thing into another, that is, transformation of someone into something that was not before. And this comes through repentance.
A major theme in John's message was to exhort the audience about the seriousness of the baptism of Christ, who was soon to begin. He explained that the baptism of Jesus would lead either to eternal life or to eternal death (Luke 3: 16-18). He spoke of baptism with the Holy Spirit that would lead the sincere believer to eternal life. In the same teaching he spoke of a baptism with fire, which referred to the lake of fire or the second death for those who rejected Christ and the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6: 4-6, Revelation 20: 13-15).
John's message was in harmony with Jesus' warning that one should "count the cost" if he wanted to be his disciple (Luke 14: 25-33).