He came through Jordan crying for repentance and a turn,

Make the pathway straight before the coming of the Lord.

Valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked roads made plain,

All flesh would see salvation when the promised One would reign.

But John would not soothe vipers with a borrowed family name:

Abraham could not excuse a heart refusing change.

The axe was at the root already, judgment drawing near,

Fruit, not ancestry, would show what true repentance bore.

Voice in the wilderness,

Bring forth fruit that proves the turning.

Voice in the wilderness,

The root is struck, the chaff is burning.

Share your coat, share your bread,

Take no more than what is due.

Do no violence, speak no falsehood,

Let repentance show in what you do.

The crowd asked what their change should look like on the ground,

And John gave them answers ordinary enough to count.

Those with two coats share one; those with food must do the same,

Publicans stop taking more than lawfully they claim.

Soldiers do no violence, accuse no man for gain,

Be content with wages; let the changed life make it plain.

The people started wondering

If John himself might be the Christ,

But John kept pointing past himself

Toward One of greater might.

Voice in the wilderness,

Bring forth fruit that proves the turning.

Voice in the wilderness,

The root is struck, the chaff is burning.

John had water for baptism,

But a Mightier One would come,

With Holy Ghost and fire,

With the winnowing nearly done.

The fan was in His hand,

The threshing floor would clear.

Wheat gathered to the garner,

Chaff burned when judgment neared.

And John preached many other things,

Exhorting crowds to turn,

Until his warning reached a throne

That did not want to learn.

Herod heard the rebuke for Herodias and his wrong,

And answered one more evil by imprisoning the song.

The wilderness voice was shut away behind a prison door,

But the road had been prepared already for the One John preached before.

Voice in the wilderness,

Bring forth fruit that proves the turning.

Voice in the wilderness,

The root is struck, the chaff is burning.

The herald may be prisoned,

But the message travels on:

Prepare the way before the Lord,

For the Mightier One will come.