Who was John the Baptist?
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| English: A painting created by Leonardo Da Vinci depicting St John the baptist (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
John’s father, Zechariah, was serving as a priest in the Temple when an angel of the Lord told him what to name his son, that his son would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth, and what his son’s assignment would be (Luke 1:8–22). Though unable to speak because of his disbelief, Zechariah later rejoiced when his tongue was loosed after the birth of John. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and said, “And you, my child, … will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,” which confirmed specifically what Isaiah and Malachi had prophesied (Luke 1:76; see also Luke 1:67–80; 3:2–6).
Like his father, John was a priest.1 As a descendant of the priestly family, we would expect John to serve at the Temple from time to time (Luke 1:5). Whether or not he ever served in the Temple, the Gospels record that he preached and taught in the wilderness far from the Temple complex for two important reasons.
First, in the second century BC the Greek king Antiochus IV had imposed Greek culture and religion on his subjects. He deposed the legitimate high priestly family of Zadok, who had led Israelite worship in Jerusalem since the time of David and Solomon. In their place he appointed illegitimate high priests who promised to provide him significant income and who were willing to support his efforts to Hellenize Jerusalem.2
Things had not changed much by the time the Romans arrived in 63 BC, only now it was the Roman, not Greek, government that had appointed a fraudulent high priestly aristocracy to control the Temple. These aristocratic families continued to misuse their powerful positions in the Temple for personal gain. Their self-serving actions resulted in many warnings of the disaster that would one day come upon them (Matt. 24:15–16; Mark 13:2, 14; Luke 19:41–47; see also Dan. 9:26–27; 11:31–32; 12:11).
John the Baptist disassociated himself from a corrupt priesthood. Living in the Judean Wilderness, John ate locusts and wild honey provided by the Lord. Following the example of the prophet Elijah, John wore garments woven of camel hair with a leather belt around his waist (Matt. 3:4; Mark 1:6).3 Dressed in the prophetic authority of Elijah (Matt. 11:7–14), John baptized at the Jordan River those who confessed their sins (Matt. 3:5–6). In the wilderness, away from corrupt or censoring troublemakers back at the Temple complex, John spread the good news of the coming Messiah (Luke 3:18).
The second reason for John’s presence in the wilderness was connected to Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. Hundreds of years earlier, these two men had prophesied of an individual who would prepare the way “in the desert” for the coming of the Messiah. In the wilderness, John fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi. John’s message that prepared the way of the Lord also put Jerusalem’s corrupt priesthood on notice. The Messiah was about to arrive and bring true worship into the Temple (2 Sam. 7:13).
Martin, J. C., Beck, J. A., & Hansen, D. G. (2010). A Visual Guide to Gospel Events: Fascinating Insights into Where They Happened and Why (pp. 36–37). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
