John, The Forerunner of Christ

In Isaiah 40, we find that the coming of John, the forerunner of Christ is foretold by the prophet. 

Isaiah 40:3-5 

³The 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.

 ⁴Every 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:

 ⁵And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

John’s coming, as well as the coming of Christ, is also spoken of in both chapters 3 and 4 of Malachi.   





Malachi 3:1 (AMP)

 ¹BEHOLD, I send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. And the Lord [the Messiah], Whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; the Messenger or Angel of the covenant, Whom you desire, behold, He shall come, says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 4:5-6 (KJV)

 ⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

 ⁶And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Many years later, Zacharias, a man of God was serving in the temple when and angel from the Lord appeared to him. 

Luke 1:5-7 (NKJV)

⁵ There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

⁶ And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

⁷ But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.



Luke 1:11-20 (NKJV)

 

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, 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 to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

¹⁷ He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘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.”

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

¹⁹ And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.

²⁰ But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

The Lord blessed Elizabeth, Zacharias’ wife, just as her husband had been told by Gabriel, and she became pregnant with John.

Luke 1:24-25 (NKJV)


²⁴ Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying,


²⁵ “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

When Elizabeth’s time was come, she gave birth to a son and they named him, John, as they had been instructed by God.  

Luke 1:57-63 (NKJV)

⁵⁷ When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a boy.


⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives celebrated with her because they had heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy.


⁵⁹ On the eighth day, it came time to circumcise the child. They wanted to name him Zechariah because that was his father’s name.


⁶⁰ But his mother replied, “No, his name will be John.”

⁶¹ They said to her, “None of your relatives have that name.” ⁶² Then they began gesturing to his father to see what he wanted to call him.

⁶³ After asking for a tablet, he surprised everyone by writing, “His name is John.”



And just as the angel said, Zacharias’ voice returned unto him and so, he began to praise and thank the Lord.   

Luke 1:64-66 (AMP)

 

⁶⁴And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak, blessing and praising and thanking God.


⁶⁵And awe and reverential fear came on all their neighbors; and all these things were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.

⁶⁶And all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, Whatever will this little boy be then? For the hand of the Lord was [so evidently] with him [protecting and aiding him].

Luke 1:67-75 (NKJV)

⁶⁷ Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:


⁶⁸ “ Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
      For He has visited and redeemed His people,


⁶⁹ And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
      In the house of His servant David,


⁷⁰ As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
      Who have been since the world began,



⁷¹ That we should be saved from our enemies
      And from the hand of all who hate us,



⁷² To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
      And to remember His holy covenant,



⁷³ The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:



⁷⁴ To grant us that we,
      Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
      Might serve Him without fear,



⁷⁵ In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

And then THE LORD spoke through Zacharias to his new baby.



Luke 1:76-80 (AMP)

⁷⁶And you, little one, shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you shall go on before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways,



⁷⁷To bring and give the knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness and remission of their sins.



⁷⁸Because of and through the heart of tender mercy and loving-kindness of our God, a Light from on high will dawn upon us and visit [us]



⁷⁹To shine upon and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct and guide our feet in a straight line into the way of peace.

⁸⁰And the little boy grew and became strong in spirit; and he was in the deserts (wilderness) until the day of his appearing to Israel [the commencement of his public ministry].

 

Long before the appearance of John, prophecy after prophecy went forth telling of his coming as the forerunner of Christ. 

 

 Mark 1:1-8 (KJV)

 ¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

 ²As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

 ³The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

 ⁴John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

 ⁵And 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.

 ⁶And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;



 ⁷And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

 ⁸I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

 

 

The disciple, John tells of the coming of John, the forerunner of Our Lord and Savior.   




John 1:6-8 (KJV)

 ⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

 ⁷The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

 ⁸He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

Even the Pharisees and the elders recognized that John was a true man and prophet of God!!!  And they wanted to know if he was the Promised One by sent by God, The Messiah.

John 1:19-27 (KJV)

A Voice in the Wilderness

¹⁹ Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”



²¹ And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”
And he answered, “No.”

²² Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

²³ He said: “I am


      ‘ The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

      “ Make straight the way of the LORD,”’

   as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴ Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.

²⁵ And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶ John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.

²⁷ It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”




Matthew, one of the 12 disciples gives us his account of the testimony of John and his foretelling of the coming of OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST-THE TRUE MESSIAH, THE PROMISED ONE!!! 

Matthew 3:1-3 (NKJV)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹ In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,



² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”



³ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

      “ The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

      ‘ Prepare the way of the LORD;
      Make His paths straight.’”

Matthew 3:4-12  (AMP)

⁴This same John's garments were made of camel's hair, and he wore a leather girdle about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the country round about the Jordan went out to him;



⁶And they were baptized in the Jordan by him, confessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee and escape from the wrath and indignation [of God against disobedience] that is coming?

⁸Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance [let your lives prove your change of heart];

⁹And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our forefather; for I tell you, God is able to raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones!

¹⁰And already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹I indeed baptize you in (with) water because of repentance [that is, because of your changing your minds for the better, heartily amending your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins]. But He Who is coming after me is mightier than I, Whose sandals I am not worthy or fit to take off or carry; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

¹²His winnowing fan (shovel, fork) is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear out and clean His threshing floor and gather and store His wheat in His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with fire that cannot be put out.