Difference between revisions of "John the Baptist"
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Revision as of 20:36, December 14, 2007
John the Baptist (Hebrew:יוחנן Yochanon "The LORD is Merciful") was born approximately six months before Jesus Christ and holds the distinction of being the man chosen to baptize Him.
Life and Ministry
John's birth fulfilled the promise of the angel Gabriel to Elizabeth in June of the previous year. For five months Elizabeth kept secret the angel's visitation and when she finally told her husband, Zacharias, he was greatly troubled and fully believed her narrative only after he had an unusual dream about six weeks before the birth of John. Zacharius was struck dumb (unable to speak), until John was born. On the eighth day of his life, John was circumcised according to the Jewish custom. He grew up as an ordinary boy in the small village known as the City of Judah, about four miles west of Jerusalem.
The most eventful occurrence in John's early childhood was the visit, in company with his parents, to Jesus and the Nazareth family. This visit occurred in the month of June, 1 B.C., when he was a little over six years of age.
After their return from Nazareth John's parents began the systematic education of the lad. There was no synagogue school in their little village. However since Zacharias was a priest and fairly well educated, and Elizabeth was far better educated than the average Judean woman, being one of the priesthood and being a descendant of the "daughters of Aaron." As John was an only child, they spent a great deal of time on his mental and spiritual training. Zacharias had only short periods of service at the temple in Jerusalem so that he devoted much of his time to teaching his son.
John the Baptist's role, as ordained by God, was to be the precursor to the Messiah
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways.[1][2]
The Bible prophesies the role of John several times:
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.[3]
John ate locusts and wild honey[4] and baptized at the Jordon River with the Baptism of Repentence. He was very popular with the Jewish people who considered him a prophet and is mentioned in sources outside of the Bible. Many came to be baptized by him. He baptized Jesus "in order to fulfill all righteousness". John spoke out against the Pharisees and against King Herod marrying his brother Phillip's wife, Herodias. Because of this Herod had John imprisoned. According to Josephus, John was kept in Machaerus east of the Dead Sea.
Eventually John was executed by King Herod, although not by Herod's wishes. Herod was throwing a banquet and the daughter of his wife, named Salome was performing her dance of the seven veils which was meant to appeal to sensual desires. Herod was so overcome with her presentation that he publicly proclaimed she could have anything she wanted up to half his kingdom. (The saying was not meant to be taken literally as being able to claim half his kingdom, but was understood in the ancient Mideast as making a vow to honor any one request). Salome went to her mother to find what to ask, and Herodias had her publicly ask for the head of John the Baptist. Herod didn't want to have John killed, but had no choice to save face in front of his dinner guests, and so John's head was brought on a platter and Salome then presented it to her mom. Herod was so spooked by what he had done that when Jesus started performing public miracles, Herod felt it was John who had come back from the dead.
Mormon Beliefs
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) believe that on May 15, 1829 A.D., the resurrected John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Mormon religion, and Oliver Cowdery, who would become the second elder, and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood, which included the authority to baptize.[5]