John the Baptist came to preach good news.  It began and ended with a call to repentance which leads to forgiveness. He warned the Jews of his day to beware a smug contentment with law keeping or ancestry as their hope for acceptance by God.  By resting in such false assurance they would be among the ones purged by God, that is, when “the axe is laid to the root of the trees”.  God’s message through John is the same for us today.  We, too, are warned to examine our own hearts and live a repenting life.