Bible Blossom - Storyteller's Handbook

A D V E N T : T HE C OMING OF C H R I S T • 137

Climax 4. The Pharisees and Sadducees are Jewish religious leaders who come to see what John is doing. 5. When he sees them, John calls them a brood of vipers. 6. He tells them that they must repent instead of relying on their ancestry for God’s favor. Falling Action and Resolution 7. John says that while he baptizes in water for repentance, Messiah will come and baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 8. He warns the religious leaders that Messiah will bring the wrath of God against them if they do not repent.

Old Testament Foundation: The Principle of Reversal (God has promised to raise up a leader to right the world)

Flee the Wrath to Come, Genesis 19 (p. 56) The messenger is sent ahead to warn the people to flee the wrath to come. Sodom and Gomorrah: a graphic example of human sinfulness and divine judgment. (See Isa. 3.9; 13.19; Jer. 23.14; Lam. 4.6; Ezek. 16.44-58; Amos 4.11; Matt. 10.15; 11.23-24; Luke 10.12; 17.28-30; 2 Pet. 2.6-9; Jude 7.) Peter also makes clear that God’s rescue of Lot prefigures his preservation and rescue of a remnant of humanity by grace from the coming judgment of sin and evil (2 Pet. 2.9). Whose Side Are You On? Joshua 5.13-15 As the Lord required repentance and righteousness of his people to fight for them in the time of Joshua, so he calls his people through John to repent so that at the arrival of Messiah he could fight for them, not against them.