One of the stories that Luke recorded was the story of John and his parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth. It is a miracle story about the cousin of Jesus, the forerunner of the good news about the coming Messiah. Luke included in his information that Zachariah was a high priest in the Jerusalem temple, of the tribe of Levi, a descendant of Aaron, Moses’ brother. (According to Jewish tradition, all priests had to be of the tribe of Levi.) Elizabeth’s lineage was traced back through Aaron’s daughters.
“Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” Luke 1:6
One day as Zachariah was carrying out his appointed job to burn incense to the Lord, the angel Gabriel appeared to him. He told Zachariah that he and his wife had been chosen to have a son who would be the forerunner of the Messiah. They were to consecrate their son and give him the name of John. Zachariah was unable to reason what the angel had spoken to him because he and his wife were very old and beyond childbearing years. Because of his unbelief, the angel told him he would be unable to speak until the baby was born. This happened immediately because Luke recorded that when he went home, he was only able to communicate through hand gestures.
It happened just as the angel said and Elizabeth became pregnant with a child. The story moves forward to tell that when she was about six months along, her cousin Mary visited her to tell her about the blessings from God that she too would have a son. As Mary was sharing the news with Elizabeth about the angel Gabriel’s appearance to her telling her she would be the mother of the Son of the Most High, and that he would reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom, there would be no end. At the moment she was telling this, the baby Elizabeth was carrying leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth was now able to believe and comprehend the magnitude of what Mary had just said.
“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.” Luke 1:45
There was great rejoicing between the two ladies as they marveled at what God was doing in their lives. Mary stayed with Elizabeth until the baby was born.
On the eighth day, Elizabeth, Zachariah, and family were at the baby’s ceremony of circumcision. This was also the time to name the child. Everyone wanted to call the son after his father’s name, but Zachariah wrote on a writing tablet that the boy’s name should be called John. As soon as this happened, Zachariah was able to speak, and he began praising God. His word “John” indicated a remembrance of the angel’s words spoken to him in the temple nine months before.
Luke records that the child grew and became strong in spirit and that he stayed in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel at which time he began speaking of the prophesy of the Messiah’s coming and preaching repentance of sins. Luke 3:15, 16
During this time, John was hearing word of a man who was healing people and performing miracles, so he sent two of his disciples to inquire as to whether he was indeed the Christ, the promised Messiah. One of the reasons for John the Baptist ministry was to preach of the coming of the Messiah and as it turned out, God had a special blessing for John because Jesus came to him to be baptized. Can you imagine this extraordinary opportunity to baptize the Son of God? Read in Matthew 3, about the baptism of Jesus and the confirmation by God Almighty that this was, is, and will ever be His Son.
As John preached repentance and didn’t shy away from calling sin what it was, he reproved the acts of a Jew called Herod, who had been appointed to be a Roman ruler over the area of Galilea. Because John was very vocal about the evilness of Herod, and that Herod was breaking God’s law by being married to his brother’s wife, Herod had him placed in jail. That wasn’t enough for Herod’s wife, Herodias. She and her daughter plotted a scheme to please Herod with their actions so that he would grant them their wishes. Their wish was John’s head on a platter.
What can we take away from this story today about John the Baptist? John was bold, he was resolute, and he was obedient to God. Even in the face of opposition and danger, he stayed true to his calling and God’s purpose.
Jesus gives John the highest compliment when he says, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist, yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Matthew 11:11