A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
The Ministry of John the Baptist
Part 1
Matthew 11:7-11
John's Background, Appearance, and Conduct
By Dave Redick

Try to put yourself in Zacharias’ sandals. He was an old man who had no children. He was well beyond the human hope of ever having any. Now an angel appeared and not only told him that he would have a son, but that his son would be great, that he would be a prophet, and that he would in some way or other fulfill the prophecy in which Israel had hoped for 400 years! This son would be the Elijah of the prophecy.

Please follow along with me in your Bibles this morning as I read from Matthew 11:7-11.

And as these were going away, Jesus began to speak to the multitudes about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces. But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

Who was John the Baptist? Jesus obviously thought he was a great man. But what do we know about him? What role did He play in delivering the message of our salvation? What can we learn from him that will help us live for God today?

I’d like to spend a few Sunday mornings with you considering John’s life and finding out what Jesus saw in him that was so important. In this first message we’ll talk about his background, his place in Old Testament prophecy, and his appearance and conduct.

 1. John’s Background

John was born to aged Jewish parents who lived in the "hill country" of Judah.(1) He was born about six months before Jesus.(2) His father, a man named Zacharias, was a priest. Interestingly, his mother, Elizabeth, was related to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The King James Version calls Elizabeth Mary’s cousin though it is most likely true that the word is not that specific in the original language. More modern translations say that Mary was Elizabeth’s "relative."

Luke describes John’s parents as "righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord"(3) As is often the case, in Zacharias and Elizabeth we see godly parents involved when God needs a special offspring to serve Him in an extraordinary way. The godly character of this couple can be seen in the fact that though in their culture it was a disgrace to be barren and have no children and though they had prayed many years for a son with no apparent response from heaven, and though by now they had gone well beyond the age of childbearing - they were still faithfully serving God.

Over the years that I have been a Christian, I have seen more than once where people abandoned the faith because God didn’t appear to answer their prayers in an area of extreme frustration for them. If you find yourself in such a position, I hope you’ll take the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth as an encouragement to endure, with an attitude of faithfulness - come what may.

At the time he is mentioned in Scripture, Zacharias had been chosen by lot from among the men of his division of the tribe of Levi to be activated for service in the temple. For him it was a once-in-a-lifetime privilege. He had entered the holy place of the temple on behalf of the multitude of people outside and suddenly, to the right of the altar of incense, an angel of the Lord appeared and the old priest was terrified. The angel was Gabriel and he had an important message for Zacharias. It’s recorded in Luke 1:13-17:

Sometimes when the word of God is spoken, it’s best just to keep your mouth shut and listen. I say that because Zacharias, after hearing the angel’s words, opened his mouth and expressed his doubts as to the likelihood of these things happening because of his extreme age. In his doubt he asked the angel for a sign. He got a sign, all right. The angel told him he would be unable to speak until the prediction was fulfilled. Thus Zacharias was mute until the day of John’s circumcision.(4)

Four things are important to notice about Gabriel’s predictions to Zacharias. First, this son would be "great in the sight of the Lord." Oh, how those words must have thrilled old Zacharias! Not only would he have a son, but that son would be someone great among God’s people. There are few things that bring more joy to godly parents than the knowledge that their children will excel in the faith they once taught them. Second, this child was to drink no wine or liquor, which is probably an indicator that this son would live his life under the restrictions of a Nazirite vow, which would exclude him from many of the regular functions of society.(5) Third, he would be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb – a prediction that hinted at the child’s future role as a prophet of God rather than a priest after his father. And fourth, the son of Zacharias would "turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and would "go as a forerunner before Him [Christ] in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

This last prediction by the angel brings us to:

We don’t know much about John’s life between his birth the commencement of his ministry. Theories about, of course - some of them quite fanciful - but I’d rather stick with what we know from Scripture and what we know from the Bible begins back in the writings of the Old Testament prophets.

The words Gabriel spoke to Zacharias don’t seem to mean nearly as much to us today as they would back then to a God fearing Jewish man like Zacharias. In fact, you can be sure that they had an electric effect upon the old priest who stood in the temple that day with his incense burner, talking to an angel. Let me explain.

The last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, was written 400 years before Christ. From there until the day that angel spoke to Zacharias, there had been no prophetic word from God. Bible students often refer to it today as the period of silence. As Zacharias would know very well, the last few verses of chapter 4 of Malachi predicted the time when God would break His silence. The following words come from Malachi 4:5-6. The godly Zacharias would have known them very well:

You may recall that Elijah was the Old Testament prophet of God in 1 Kings 18 who fearlessly took on the 450 prophets of Baal back in the days of the wicked Ahab and Jezebel when faith in Israel had nearly winked out. Of course Elijah the prophet was dead by the time Malachi was written, so the average Jew in Zacharias’ day believed that God was actually going to resurrect the powerful prophet Elijah to preach again. So much did they believe Malachi’s prediction that at their Passover ceremonies there was always a cup on the table for Elijah, symbolizing their hope of the day when he would return. At the circumcision of each baby boy, a chair was placed for Elijah, again, to keep alive the hope of his return as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi.(7) (Ironically, I’m told that orthodox Jews today who did not accept Jesus as Messiah still have this practice – an empty chair for an Elijah who has already come.)

Try to put yourself in Zacharias’ sandals. He was an old man who had no children. He was well beyond the human hope of ever having any. Now an angel appeared and not only told him that he would have a son, but that his son would be great, that he would be a prophet, and that he would in some way or other fulfill the prophecy in which Israel had hoped for 400 years! This son would be the Elijah of the prophecy! (As a little sidebar, when I get to heaven I want to look up Zacharias and ask him if, on the day that John was circumcised, he had that chair set up in the room - and whether or not he might have walked over and placed his little boy in it, or maybe sat in it himself with the boy on his lap!)

The birth of John, the son of Zacharias would fulfill another Old Testament prophecy also – the one in Isaiah 40:3-5:

Years after this, in the midst of John’s ministry, he would be asked by those who heard him who he was. He would respond with these words in John 1:23: "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as Isaiah the prophet said."(8)

In ancient times it was common for a herald or messenger to precede the arrival of a king, to proclaim his coming and to prepare for his safe and proper travel. With the help of servants, the herald would make sure that the roadway was as smooth and uncluttered as possible. Holes would be filled in, rocks and debris would be removed, and unsightly litter would be burned or hidden. As the group traveled along and worked, the herald would proclaim the king's coming to everyone he encountered. His twofold duty was to proclaim and to prepare. That is what John's ministry did for God's great King, Jesus Christ.

So John was the Elijah that Malachi predicted. He was the forerunner, the herald that Isaiah predicted.

Before we go any further I want to clear up an alleged "contradiction" in the New Testament that is often pointed out by those who relish doing such things but don’t often spend much time studying the Bible with an open mind. Those of you who are new to study of the Scriptures would do well to listen to this as you’ll find what I have found since I began this walk with Christ over 30 years ago: The so-called "contradictions" are not really that at all if you’ll just take the time to study them carefully.

Much later than the events we’ve discussed regarding John’s birth, he was approached by a group of priests and Levites with a couple of questions about his identity. These are recorded in John 1:19-21:

Wait a minute! Didn’t we just read in Luke 1 that the angel told Zacharias that his boy would be Elijah? Now he says, "I am not?" What gives here?

What gives is that we need to look more closely at the angel’s prediction. We may have jumped to the same erroneous conclusion that the Jews of John’s day had reached. Back in Luke 1:17 that we read earlier, the angel said, "And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Question: Did the angel say that John would be an actual reincarnation of Elijah? No. John, as the forerunner, would go "in the spirit and power of Elijah." His ministry would be like that of Elijah. When John is referred to as Elijah, it is a metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech that uses a word or phrase that would normally be taken literally to refer to something else that is similar.

In Luke 13:32, Jesus called King Herod a fox. He said, "Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal." Did Jesus mean that Herod was literally an animal with a pointed nose and a bushy tail? No. He meant that he was like a fox. When we jokingly call someone a turkey, do we mean that they are a literal, gobbling bird? No. It’s a figurative statement. It’s not literal. John was not the literal Elijah. That is why, when they asked him in John 1 if he was Elijah, he said, "I am not." He was not the literal Elijah. That was a misconception of the Jews that needed to be corrected. His ministry would be like that of Elijah. He would live in the desert like Elijah. He would dress in rugged clothes like Elijah. He would preach a powerful message of condemnation and judgment like Elijah. But he was not the literal Elijah. John came, just as the angel predicted, "in the spirit and power of Elijah."

Like so many of the so-called "contradictions" of the Bible, this one is really no contradiction at all once you examine it closely. In fact, it clarifies an important misunderstanding. Remember the cup and the chair I mentioned that John’s contemporaries put out for Elijah? They were expecting a literal Elijah, not the one who actually came who was like Elijah.

Probably the easiest way to get a mental picture of John the Baptist is to simply read his description written by those who saw him. It is a description that is both brief and stark. John would not have won any trendy fashion shows in his day. Neither would he have received any awards for culinary refinement.

Matthew 3:4 says, "Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair, and a leather belt about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey."

The humorous description I once read of John, that is, that when he baptized people he must have smelled like a wet camel with grasshopper breath, probably isn’t that far afield. As strange as this sounds to us today, it was reminiscent of the adornment of certain Old Testament prophets,(9) particularly Elijah who, as we read of him in 2 Kings 1:8, was "a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist."(10)

John’s demeanor matched his clothes. He was a firebrand preacher who thundered a message of hell-fire judgment and condemnation upon those who would not repent. He seems to have cared little for those who might be offended by his message of truth. He cleared the way for Christ, cutting down the hills and filling in the valleys like a bulldozer. As we’ve already seen, Jesus said of him in Luke 7:24-25: "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces."

John did not beat around the bush in his preaching. Here is an excerpt from one of his sermons as it is recorded in Matthew 3:7-10. It was spoken to a group of Jewish leaders who figured they ought to go out into the desert where nearly their entire constituency was listening to John’s preaching and get involved before they lost their following. His words to them were unflinchingly clear:

A bit of "hell fire and brimstone" preaching, don’t you think? (S’pose they’d feature John’s preaching on our local KLOVE or KHPE?)

Jesus had something to say about such preaching and those who claim they are offended by it in Matthew 11:16-19. Let’s take a look at what He said.

If you’re not familiar with this passage you may need to look it over a couple of times to get the point. Jesus is saying that some people cover what is really stubbornness and unbelief by criticism of the way the message is brought. Let me explain.

In that day children played with each other in the market place while their parents bought and sold things or just visited and caught up on the latest news. Two games were very common among the children. One was "Wedding," and the other was "Funeral." There was no television in that day. There were no magazines, computers, email, or MP3 players. So for children living then, weddings and funerals were major social events. Like all kids everywhere, they copied the actions of the adults around them. They held mock weddings and mock funerals. When they played "Wedding," they would dance around and play imaginary flutes and pipes. It was expected that all the children around would enter in the festive play, just as grownups did in the real events. Also, when they played "Funeral," those who played were expected pretend you were mourning and wail when an imaginary funeral song was played.

Of course, just as it is with all kids, there were always holdouts – those who crossed their arms and stuck out their bottom lip in a pouting gesture, refusing to play. If the game was "Wedding," they wanted to play "Funeral." If the game was "Funeral," they wanted to play "Wedding." These peevish children were never happy with the way things went and they just loved to blame their dissatisfaction on others.

Jesus is pointing out to his hearers that John came with his stark and austere way of life, a loner who shunned society, and with preaching that condemned its hearers they said, "That guy is demon possessed!" Jesus came in the very opposite way, eating and drinking, socializing, patiently preaching and teaching with parables, healing the sick, forgiving people’s sins, and they said, "That guy is a glutton and a drunkard." John came in "funeral" mode and Jesus came in "wedding" mode and the fickle crowds around them complained about the approach of each, while the real truth was that they just weren’t willing to heed the message of salvation.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the descendants of those people are still with us today. They always complain about the approach of the messenger and it is always someone else’s fault that they don’t respond to the offer of salvation. But as Jesus said here, "Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." One day such people will stand before God and learn too only late that their excuses don’t get them anywhere before Christ who will be their Judge.

I have remarked more that once to some of you here that if there is any offense that will keep you away from salvation, Satan will see to it that you are confronted by that offense. He has that kind of control and he is that smart. You have to be tough if you want to be saved. Pouters and fickle complainers, though God surely loves them, too, will probably not make it through the rigors of a lifetime of faith, where offenses are bound to come.

Lord willing, we will continue looking at the life of John the Baptist and his role in bring the message of salvation to those in his day and his key role in helping us understand that same message today. We’ll take this up next Lord’s Day if God allows. I hope you will plan to be with us.

Footnotes:

1. Luke 1:39
2. Luke 1:26
3. Luke 1:6
4. Luke 1:59-64
5. For more information on the Nazirite vow, see Numbers 6:1-21.
6. Malachi 4:5-6
7. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (c) Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2002 – Comments on Matthew 3:1-6.
8. This connection is also made in Matthew 3:1-3, Mark 1:2-5, and Luke 2:3-6
9. Zechariah 13:4
10. NIV

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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