John the Baptist & the kingdom: The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 3:10

John the Baptist preceded Jesus in the preaching of the Kingdom of God, and in the Jordan River this prophet taught and baptized for the repentance of sins and the sincere conversion to God. Probably, according to what the Gospel of Luke says, John the Baptist was a Nazirite because he was forbidden to drink wine, John was a person consecrated to God from his conception, as the angel Gabriel told his father Zechariah. John was a great example of what the Kingdom of God, the dominion or empire of God's perfections, means, and his life fulfilled an important spiritual lesson: "My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials" Ben Sira 2:1.
And with these words John the Baptist addressed the people in the desert of Judea: "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near" Matthew 3:2. John the Baptist knew that many of the prophecies referring to the arrival of the redeeming Messiah had to be fulfilled shortly and he knew that his mission was to prepare the ground for someone more powerful than him; for John, baptism symbolized the passage from a life full of sin to a life of righteousness. And when some Pharisees and Sadducees came to him to be baptized, John warned them: "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire" Matthew 3:10.
This teaching given by John is reminiscent of a teaching from the Book of Isaiah, the poem of the Lord's vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-7). The ways of men, sin and righteousness ("Do to others what you would have them do to you" Matthew 7:12), are progressive and bear fruits of life or death. This is why John metaphorically taught that people who did not bear the fruits of conversion, the fruits of the spirit, would be cast out from the presence of God.
And John the Baptist went further, the Messiah according to his words would give a new baptism, no longer in water but in fire, symbolizing the gifts of the Holy Spirit that would act after the Christian Pentecost with the tongues of fire. For John, the Kingdom of God was the spiritual transformation of men through the love of God (Agape).

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