As many can probably deduce from the title, this post is about another person in the Bible. Some Baptists consider him the founder of their religion, John the Baptist. There are many people in the Bible I enjoy reading about and studying, but certain ones really stand out. John the Baptist is one of them.
John the Baptist is a very special person in the scriptures, his coming to prepare the way of our Lord and Saviour was foretold in the Old Testament scriptures. “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. 8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Isaiah 40:3-8 (KJV).
This was the foretelling of John the Baptist, notice the familiar words in Mark 1:2-5: “As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.” Also, we see this in Matt. 3:1-6. Not only this, but we know from Luke 1:8-17: “And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, 9 According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. 11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Wow, who else in the Bible came into existence by a foretelling by the Old Testament prophets, an Angel appearing to his parents instructing them of his name and detailing how he will live, what he will do with his life and that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. This is similar to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but he was God on earth, and a different situation.
John was a man, completely human, even though he was filled with the Holy Spirit and had strong religious parents, I would have to imagine he was tempted as all humans are. Even our Lord and Saviour was tempted of Satan while on this earth. But, John overcame any temptation he may have underwent, we don’t know all the early years of John, but we know he fulfilled the prophesies and path that was set before him of God. It would be nice if all of us knew in this way exactly what God had for us in our lives.
John the Baptist was sent to be a messenger and pave the way for our Lord and Saviour to come “onto the scene” and be revealed. When it was time for Jesus to be revealed, John had a very large following, and many people of the time, as we see in scriptures believed John to be the messiah. Herod, who had beheaded John the Baptist for his ministry, after Jesus started His ministry, feared Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead. This shows the powerful ministry John the Baptist had.
The picture of Jesus coming to John at the river Jordan and being baptized by John in the river, wow, what an event. The more I read this event in scriptures and meditate on it, the more amazing it is. There have been some recent movies that depict this event. We only know what is in scriptures, but I think we all can imagine such an event. I have heard many people over the years discuss this event, and many messages preached regarding John the Baptist. When I think about this event, three key things come to my mind.
The first one is, baptism is the picture of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, these events had not occurred yet. Jesus would be the one to go through this for all of us and our sins, but here He is in the river Himself, being baptized. If preachers don’t use this depiction to show how important baptism is, they probably should.
I will discuss Baptism in another post, that is another controversial subject, but when it comes to being Baptized, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself showed us the example we should follow.
The second thing that comes to mind is how this event impacted John. We do not know much about John himself, but I am sure he wondered sometimes, is this what I am suppose to be doing? Is this the ministry I was suppose to have? Then one day Jesus shows up at the River and walks up to John and asks John to baptize him, we see this in Matt 3:13-15 “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.”, WOW, what an event.
I would think this event solidified John and what he was doing in his ministry, I would also have to believe this was probably the best day of John’s life, he had the opportunity to baptize our Lord and Saviour, the Son of God.
The last major thing that comes to mind is in Matt 3:16-17: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This event was at the beginning of Jesus major ministry, after he was baptized and this event occurred, I could only imagine the look on John’s face and the other hundreds of people that were probably there to be baptized.
If this event, John acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah and then God’s glory being shown, and God stating that Jesus was His Son, wasn’t enough to solidify Jesus and his coming ministry to the people, I don’t know what would have.
I think John was a loyal servant of God, one chosen by God before his birth, who not only was willing to surrender all and follow God, but willing to die for God, as he ended up doing. I think we can all learn from John’s example, and see God and our Lord magnified through John’s life and service. I pray we all could strive to be what John was to our neighbors, community, and the world. In Christ.
The Sword of the Spirit 