John the Baptist

John the Baptist was a strange man: preaching in the desert, clothes of camel's hair, leather belt, eating locusts and wild honey, washing people in the river, calling for repentance.

The Old Testament ends with a strange prophecy - last verses of the last chapter of the last book: Malachi 4:5-6

"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."

At the time of Malachi, the famous prophet Elijah had already been dead for several hundred years.  Would God  bring back the prophet?  What does that verse mean?  An interesting bit of trivia - at the Passover, Jewish families would always set one extra place setting, just in case Elijah would show up.  They still do this today!  Jesus tells us that John the Baptist was the Elijah that was promised.  Matthew 17:10-13

Isaiah gives more information about what this "voice in the desert" was supposed to do.

Isaiah 40:3-5
 ³ A voice of one calling: 
“In the wilderness prepare 
   the way for the LORD; 
make straight in the desert 
   a highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be raised up, 
   every mountain and hill made low; 
the rough ground shall become level, 
   the rugged places a plain. 
⁵ And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, 
   and all people will see it together. 
            For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”


His work was to prepare the hearts of the people for the Messiah, for the glory of God is going to be revealed in the person of Jesus.

John got to be quite famous because of his radical message - the Holy Spirit was working in him and allowing the hearts of others to be softened to hear what God was saying to them.  He kept a humble perspective, though.  He did not want people to look at him - he pointed others to Christ.  He told them:

Matthew 3:11
I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.


To 'baptize' simply means to wash.  His 'washings' in the Jordan River were symbolic of the repentance that he was encouraging, the changing of lifestyle.  'Repent' literally means to turn around.  Stop walking the wrong way - turn, and move toward God!  However, Jesus was going to bring a more powerful washing that would work on the inside of a person through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The fire foreshadows the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost - Acts 2.

Da Vinci's depiction of John the Baptist,

pointing to the Cross of Christ