JOHN THE BAPTIST Barrtars, ee-o-an'ace ho bafi-tis-tac1, John the baptizer), the forerunner of Jesus Christ, or simply 'Icadvvns, John, when the reference is clear, as in Matt. iii:4; iv:12; Lat. Joannes, Tacit. Misty:1z.
(1) Birth and Early Life. His parents were Zacharias and Elisabeth, the latter a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose senior John was by a period of six months (Luke i). According to the account contained in the first chapter of Luke his father while engaged in burning incense. was visited by the angel Gabriel, who informed him that in compliance with his prayers his wife should bear a son, whose name he should call John—in allusion to the grace thus accorded. Zacharias is slow to believe these tidings and seeks some token in evidence of their truth. Accordingly, a sign is given which acts also as a punishment of his want of faith—his tongue is sealed till the prediction is fulfilled by the event. Six months after Elisa beth had conceived she received a visit from Mary, the future mother of Jesus. On being saluted by her relation, Elisabeth felt her babe leap in her womb, and, being tilled with the Holy Spirit, she broke forth into a poetic congratulation to Mary, as the destined mother of her Lord. At length Elisabeth brought forth a son, whom the relatives were disposed to name Zacharias, after his father —but Elisabeth was in some way led to wish that he should be called John. The matter was re ferred to the father, who signified in writing that his name was to be John. This agreement with Elisabeth caused all to marvel. Zacharias now had his tongue loosed, and he first employed his restored power in praising God.
The parents of John were not only of a priestly order, but righteous and devout. Their influence, in consequence, in the training of their son, would not only be benign but suitable to the holy office which he was designed to fill. More than this— the special aids of God's Spirit were with him (Luke i :66). How thoroughly Zacharias was penetrated with his parental responsibility and the future dignity of his son, appears from the 'divine song' to which Ile gives utterance. As a conse quence of the lofty influences under which he was nurtured, the child waxed strong in spirit. The sacred writer adds that 'he was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel' (Luke i :80).
(2) Beginning of Ministry. In the fifteenth year. of the Emperor Tiberius. John made his public appearance, exhibiting the austerity, the costume, and the manner of life of the ancient Jewish prophets (Luke iii; Nlatt. iv). His rai ment was camel's hair ; he wore a plain leathern girdle about his loins; his food was what the desert spontaneously offered—locusts and wild honey from the rock. The burden of John's preaching bore no slight resemblance to the old prophetic exhortations, whose last echo had now died away for centuries. He called upon the Jewish people to repent (peravoare), to change their minds, their dispositions and affections, and thus prepared the way for the great doctrine pro mulgated by his Lord, of thc necessity of a spirit ual regeneration. That the change which John had in view was by no means of so great or so ele vated a kind as that which Jesus required, is very probable; but the particulars into which he enters when he proceeds to address classes or individuals (Matt. iii :7, sq., Luke iii :7, sq.), serve fully to show that the renovation at which he aimed was not merely of a material or organic, but chiefly of a moral nature. In a very emphatic manner did he warn the ecclesiastical and philosophical au thorities of the land of the necessity under which they lay of an entire change of view, of aim, and of desire, declaring in explicit and awful terms that their pride of nationality would avail them nothing against the coming wrathful visitation, and that they were utterly mistaken in the notion that Divine providence had any need of them for com pleting its own wise purposes (Luke iii:8, 9). Thc first reason assigned by John for entering on his most weighty and perilous office was announced in these words—'the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' It was his great work to prepare the mind of the nation, so that when Jesus himself came they might be a people made ready for the Lord. The reference which we have made to John's addresses to his auditors suffices to show that there was an ample and predominant moral element in his con ception of this kingdom ; and indeed the whole tenor of his teaching seems to our mind intended and fitted to refine, exalt, and expand the ordinary Jewish mind and so to prepare the way for the perfect day of Christ.