John Baptist was born into a godly home in the Judaean hill country, the child of aged parents. It was a priestly home, where both father and mother were of the tribe of Levi. John’s parents, being old when he was born, may not have lived to see his advent as the powerful prophet that he became. That being so, he must have been cared for by friends and family and lived for those early years in the relative quietness and shelter of a rural home, somewhat removed from the bustle of Jerusalem. John was there in those desert parts until, at thirty years of age, he came out preaching. He appeared suddenly and powerfully. ALEXANDER MACLAREN says of him that, ‘He leapt into the arena, full-grown and full-armed out of the desert’. He was a strange figure, with his cloak of camel’s hair bound to his waist with a leather girdle. It is said of him that in his dress, in his dwelling, in his diet, and in his deportment, he was so like his great predecessor, Elijah.
John was the last of the prophets, with whose writings he was obviously familiar. When questioned by the priests and Levites of Jerusalem as to who he was, he quoted Isaiah 40 declaring that he was ‘A voice crying in the wilderness’, John 1. 23. Indeed he preached in the wilderness. John’s was a wilderness ministry. Those who desired to hear him must go to him out of the city. The long-promised King was coming and John would call for preparation. He had a most solemn message. He denounced sin; he demanded repentance; he called for reality; he warned of coming wrath; and he was scathing in his condemnation of the religious pride of both Pharisees and Sadducees.
John became known as ‘The Baptist’ because he baptised the penitents in the Jordan River. It was a baptism unto repentance and those who responded to his preaching were ‘buried’ in the waters. There was One coming however, John declared, who was mightier than he, who would baptise with the Holy Spirit and also with fire. There would indeed be a day of Pentecostal blessing but there would also be a day of fearful judgement. It was well to be prepared. John was making ready a people for the coming of the promised Messiah – a great privilege for a great man.
