John the Baptist
In Matthew 3:1-6, we have the introduction of John the Baptist's work. He is the picture of humility, wearing clothes suitable for the desert, camel's hair cloak and leather girdle. He also ate what he could find where he was, locusts and honey.
He worked with a singular purpose, trying to get the people of Israel to repent because he knew Jesus would soon be made manifest to man. He practiced a baptism as people confessed their sins showing a symbolic cleansing of the sin and also a pointing to the death and burial of Jesus, although that wasn't probably known to him at that time.
The people responded to him. I'm sure that some came initially out of curiosity - just to see what the fuss was all about. But when they heard him preach, the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin and they decided to get right with God. His fame spread, and people came from all around.
There was a general expectation that the Messiah would come soon, and here was someone preaching that they all needed to get ready for His soon coming by repenting of sin and clearing the obstacles for His work to be done. I'm quite certain that John wasn't the only one talking about the Messiah's soon coming. But John was doing it in a manner that didn't give glory to himself.
The Holy Spirit blessed his work and helped to draw people to him. Humility usually beats glory seeking. At any rate, his work became famous all around Jerusalem and Judea and anyone near where he was came to be baptized in the Jordan river.
John's Interaction with the Pharisees
Matthew 3:7-12 continues the description of his ministry with an account of some of the persecution he was facing. The curious people who came to repent and be baptized weren't the only to notice his work. The Pharisees and Sadducees also came. John didn't give them the respect I'm sure they felt they deserved. He called them a generation of vipers. His order to them was to show true repentance for their own sins before coming to get recognized by him and to be baptized.
Not stopping there, he rightly pointed out that their heritage wouldn't save them, any more than it would save any of the non religious elite people who were coming daily to hear him. All of these people had Abraham as their ancestor, but it was probably only the Pharisees and Sadducees who were going about bragging about it.
John warned that a time of judgment was coming to them and the axe was about to fall. If a person wasn't bringing out good fruit, their figurative tree would be cut down and thrown in the fire to burn.
John looked prophetically to the future where his baptism of repentance would be supplanted with something far greater - the baptism with the Holy Ghost which at least initially was accompanied with a fire like sign. He told them that the Messiah was coming was mightier than he was and that he was totally unworthy to even carry the Messiah's shoes.
The Pharisees and Sadducees probably considered him in such an unworthy light even to them. But they also were observant that he was pulling on the people's religious hearts in a way that their teaching and ministering was not. The seeds of envy were stirred up in their hearts about the Messiah even before He made His presence known.
John finishes his discussion with them saying that Jesus would gather His people as wheat into the storehouse and completely burn up the chaff - that which wasn't fit to do anything with - with an unquenchable fire. This prophecy was of the present and the future as seen with the rich man and Lazarus and the description of the punishment and paradise compartments of hades shown there and will be completely fulfilled after the great white throne judgment when the wicked are cast into the lake of fire that burns forever.
John's Interaction with Jesus Christ
The rest of the chapter (Matthew 3:13-17) gives an account of when Jesus came to visit John and show His humility by being baptized in water as well.
At first, John was aghast that such a thing would happen. John knew who Jesus was and he knew there was nothing he could do for Jesus that Jesus needed. John declared he needed the cleansing baptism that Jesus could give and not the other way around.
But Jesus asked him to humor Him because Jesus wanted to both lift up John's ministry and show His own humility and desire to follow through with the new traditions that were being put in place by the will of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus was baptized and came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and a dove like vision coming down from heaven which was the Holy Spirit. It landed on Him When it was there, a voice came from heaven declaring that Jesus was the Father's beloved son and that the Father was very pleased with Him.
The Bible doesn't say who all happened to be around that day. Perhaps it was just Jesus and John. Or perhaps there were many around who witnessed this event. Perhaps even some Pharisees and Sadducees bore witness of what happened when Jesus came.
Regardless of who was around, you can be pretty sure that if the voice was clear for all to hear, it made an impression that would have lasted. How would it have changed your life if you had been standing there? Would you have immediately stepped up and said do me next? Would you have been afraid and run? Would you have looked at Jesus and decided there was another person who was going to draw the glory away from you, discounting the voice of God completely, and started plotting ways to eliminate the competition?
Nobody can see or hear God work either directly or through the agency of the Holy Spirit with some particular individual and not be changed in some way. It is up to each person to choose to believe, increase their faith, or allow the voice of Satan to plant doubts and to try to discredit what you have seen. It is not for nothing that Christ would say that the kingdom of heaven is going to be filled with little children. When little children see something, they accept it to be true without doubting. Oh, that we could all be like little children.
Depending on what society you live in and what your religious experiences have been, you may or may not have seen something that could not be explained by any rational means. I have been fortunate enough to have heard of such things from family members I trust and to have witnessed them directly. But for those who have not, the Bible is full of accounts of people experiencing God in some supernatural way or experiencing his power. The accounts are there, and there are multiple accounts of some events by different authors. It is up to you to decide whether to listen to the Holy Spirit and believe or to listen to Satan and doubt.
Don't make the decision to doubt and end up in the lake of fire that John warned about. Choose Jesus for your Savior.