John the Baptist

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When the true church, the spiritual body of Christ, finally experiences “the marriage supper of the Lamb” just before His second coming to the earth, she will be a spectacular bride, clothed “in fine linen, clean and white” (Rev. 19:8, KJV). Part of that bride was the church at Corinth, beset with carnality and various heresies. Paul wrote to them: “I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ ” (2 Cor. 11:2).

There is no doubt that John’s chief function was to announce the arrival of the Coming One of OT expectation. Yet by his own admission he did not know Jesus as such until Jesus’ baptism (Jn. 1:33). Hence, for some time prior to his pointing to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn. 1:29), John preached less specifically of the imminent arrival of Israel’s Messiah. He testified that when he baptized Jesus, He saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Him in the form of a dove. He already knew that he was not worthy to loosen Messiah’s sandal strap (Mk.

The Puzzle

Jesus testified of John the Baptist that, “if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.” (Matt. 11:14). John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Lord. Therefore, when Jesus will later speak in reference to John the Baptist, as “Elijah…come already” (Matt. 17:12-13), He is saying that John was an Elijah-figure, even though John himself had told the people that he was not Elijah (Jn. 1:21).

Because Christ was rejected for who He was, John’s Elijah-like role was also rejected. But there is a fascinating double entendre in Jesus’ witness to John, as can best be seen if we reexamine what is said in Matthew 17:

After Matthew has completed his narration of Jesus’ birth, ending at His family’s relocation in Nazareth, he plunges straight in to John the Baptist’s preaching of the Kingdom. Both the Gospels and Josephus¹ accord John the Baptist a place of honor as a highly respected (at least among the general populace) and powerful influence in Judea and Galilee in the twenties A. D. From Luke 3:7, 15, 21, Matthew 3:5, and Mark 1:5 it is clear that he drew a lot of attention and that his impact was marked. He even had a band of followers (Lk. 7:19; Jn. 3:25), and some of these men continued to be identified as his disciples for years.