Who was John the Baptist?

Bible People & HistoryIn theological review

The short answer

John the Baptist was the prophet sent to prepare the way for Jesus, the son of the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth, born shortly before Jesus and related to him through their mothers. He preached repentance at the Jordan, baptised those who confessed their sins, baptised Jesus himself, pointed his own disciples to Jesus as the Lamb of God, and was beheaded by Herod Antipas.

The fuller answer

John's birth is told in Luke 1 alongside the announcement of Jesus's birth. His father Zechariah was a priest serving in the temple, and his mother Elizabeth was Mary's relative, so John and Jesus were kin as well as near in age. The angel Gabriel promised Zechariah a son who would be filled with the Holy Spirit, turn many Israelites back to God and prepare a people for the Lord. John grew up in the wilderness of Judea. When he appeared publicly, his clothing of camel hair and his diet of locusts and wild honey recalled the prophet Elijah.

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Mark 1:4 (BSB)

John's message was blunt: repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near. Crowds from Jerusalem and Judea came to the River Jordan, confessed their sins and were baptised by him as a sign of turning from sin to God. He refused to let ancestry substitute for repentance, warned the religious leaders sharply, and told ordinary people, soldiers and tax collectors exactly what honest living required of them. When priests and Levites came from Jerusalem asking who he was, John denied being the Messiah, Elijah returned, or the Prophet, and called himself simply a voice crying in the wilderness.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:29 (BSB)

Everything in John's ministry pointed away from himself. When Jesus came to the Jordan, John baptised him, saw the Spirit descend like a dove and heard the Father's voice. The next day John announced Jesus publicly as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and two of John's own disciples left him to follow Jesus. Later, when John's disciples worried that Jesus was drawing larger crowds, John answered with joy, comparing himself to the friend of the bridegroom and saying that Jesus must increase while he himself decreased.

Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Matthew 11:11 (BSB)

John's plain speaking cost him his life. He told Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, that it was unlawful for him to have his brother's wife Herodias, and Herod had him arrested and imprisoned at Machaerus. From prison John sent messengers asking Jesus whether he truly was the one to come, and Jesus answered by pointing to his works and praised John as the greatest born of women, yet a forerunner whose greatness lay in announcing the kingdom. Herodias finally arranged John's execution: he was beheaded, and his disciples buried his body and told Jesus.

Sources

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

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Why was Jesus baptised if he had no sin?Jesus was baptised not to wash away his own sin, for he had none, but to identify with the sinners he came to save, to be publicly anointed by the Spirit and declared the Son by the Father, and, in his own words, to fulfil all righteousness. John himself raised the same objection.Who was Mary, the mother of Jesus?Mary was a young Jewish woman from Nazareth in Galilee whom God chose to be the mother of Jesus. Luke 1 and 2 tell how the angel Gabriel announced the conception by the Holy Spirit, how she believed and submitted to God's word, gave birth in Bethlehem, raised Jesus, stood at his cross and prayed with the first disciples after his resurrection.Who was Peter?Peter, first called Simon, was a Galilean fisherman whom Jesus called to follow him, and he became the most prominent of the twelve apostles. He confessed Jesus as the Christ, walked briefly on water, denied Jesus three times on the night of the trial, was restored by the risen Jesus, preached at Pentecost and led the early church in Jerusalem, while still being a man who could fail publicly and be corrected.Was Jesus a real person?Yes. Whatever a person concludes about his claims, the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth is confirmed by sources outside the Bible, including one that hated his followers. The Roman historian Tacitus records that Christus suffered the death penalty under Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius, and the Jewish historian Josephus wrote about him within the same century. The debate worth having is not whether he lived, but who he was.Bible Character: John the BaptistThe prophet in the wilderness who prepared the way of the Lord, baptised the crowds and Jesus himself in the Jordan, pointed to him as the Lamb of God, and was beheaded by Herod.Bible Character: JesusThe Son of God, born of Mary in Bethlehem, who preached the kingdom of God, was crucified for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was raised on the third day.