John The Baptist (J2)

John Baptist came first, to announce the light;
He was not the light; he prepared the way,
Calling men to repent, turning their hearts right,
That when the light came, each would seize the day!
God sent John to witness the coming light,
Elijah’s advent to herald the King,
To Jews so dulled in spiritual insight,
They’d not recognize him or the Real Thing!
Jesus went to John as a spur to us,
Not that John’s baptism He or we need,
But He and we show God our love and trust,
For non-lovers to witness a loving deed!
John the Baptist was faithful to his call,
And martyred like many others or all!

“ ‘See, [God] 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.’ “ (Malachi 4:5-6) [Brackets added] (This is the last verse in the Old Testament.)

John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, also of divine birth. Zechariah was a priest in Jerusalem; he an his wife Elizabeth were childless and too old to expect to have one. The angel Gabriel spoke to Zechariah in the temple one day, telling him they would have a child, and to name him John. He didn’t believe it at first, so the angel made him mute for the months until the baby was born (Luke Chapter 1). Later, Gabriel appeared to young virgin Mary in Nazareth and told her God had chosen her to bear His Son Jesus. At the same time, he told her her cousin Elizabeth was six months with child. When Mary visited Elizabeth, John jumped in her womb at the presence of his Savior in Mary’s womb.

Jesus confirmed that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the prophecy about Elijah’s coming described in Malachi above (See Matthew 17:12). John the Baptist baptized many Jews who repented (meaning “changed their minds”) of their sins, and they became his disciples. Jesus Himself came to John for baptism; it had no divine necessity, but it showed that Jesus wanted His followers to show their love for God by performing things that honored Him. John announced to the onlookers at Jesus’ baptism that He was the promised Messiah or Christ that was coming to Israel. Two of John’s disciples, Phillip and Andrew, immediately followed Jesus and became apostles.

John’s baptism did not have the same power as baptism later in the name of Jesus. This was illustrated in Acts 19:1-4 when Paul came upon 12 men in Ephesus who believed in Jesus but who were not indwelled by the Holy Spirit. When they told him they had been baptized by John, he explained that they needed to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Since they were believers in Jesus already, Paul laid his hands on them in the name of Jesus, and they received the Spirit/

Jesus commended the work of John the Baptist, saying none was greater. King Herod had John beheaded at the request of his wife who hated John for exposing her adultery in marrying Herod when Herod had murdered her husband, his brother. Herod didn’t want to kill John, but he was so sexually inflamed by an erotic dance before him by Salome, his wife’s daughter, he promised her anything. She asked for John's head on a platter, having been previously instructed by her mother.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)