I was reading Matthew's Gospel for your study. In Matthew 3:1 John the Baptist sort of appears out of nowhere. What's going on there?
I really like it when people work with the studies I post, even if they can't meet with us real-time. Thanks for asking a question.
In Matthew's Gospel, John does seem to come out of nowhere. Matthew makes a lot of allusions to events in the Old Testament. He doesn't always quote something, or say where it is from, but lots of the things that happen in the Gospel have parallels in the Old Testament. Matthew sometimes makes it clear that he's speaking about an Old Testament event as well, when he says Jesus does something to fulfill the Scriptures. When we see something startling in Matthew, he's probably trying to get our attention.
That's likely the case with John the Baptist. Another person in the Bible who is introduced abruptly is the prophet Elijah, in 1 Kings chapter 17. He is suddenly there, doing his prophetic things.
New Testament descriptions of John the Baptist are very similar to the picture of Elijah we get in 1 Kings. Particularly in Matthew's account, Jesus describes John the Baptist as Elijah in chapters 11 and 17. John the Baptist's role is to come in the spirit of Elijah to lead others to Jesus, the Messiah. This is what is predicted in Malachi. A figure like Elijah will herald the coming of the Messiah.
Keep looking for surprises in Matthew! And keep asking great questions!