WHO IS JOHN THE BAPTIST?
John the patist diet was locusts and wild honey. Not only did he eat exotic food, but also, he looked strange, too, having long hair, and clothed with camel hair, and a leather belt around him (Mark 1:6). Yet, Jesus said of this man, John the Baptist, that there was none greater:
What was it about John the Baptist that earned him the high praise of Jesus, calling him the greatest man (apart from Christ) who had ever lived? Scripture tells us that John the Baptist never performed a miracle or sign (John 10:41), so when you think of the great prophets like Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, who all did various miracles, without mentioning Daniel, Jeremiah, and others, what was it that made him so great in the eyes of Jesus?
WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT JOHN
We read in Luke’s Gospel that not only was John born of the tribe of Levi (Luke 1:5-9) but also, he was one of the descendants of Aaron, i.e., automatically making him a priest. His mother, Elizabeth, had been barren, plus his parents were both very old, and past the age to have children, so God moved supernaturally in their lives to give them John in their old age. John’s father, Zacharias, the priest, had an encounter with an angel in the temple while he was offering incense in front of the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, i.e., the two rooms inside the temple. The angel told Zacharias that his prayers were answered and that his wife would bear a son. Zacharias became dumb due to his unbelief at the angel’s words (Luke 1:20).
HOW JOHN WAS BORN
After being conceived by the Holy Spirit, Mary, the mother of Jesus, visited Elizabeth in her sixth month of pregnancy with John. Both Elizabeth and the unborn John were filled with the Spirit when the yet unborn Jesus came before them both. When John was born, His father’s tongue was loosed, with Zachariah prophesying that John would be a prophet of the Lord (Luke 1:76). Zachariah’s healing and testimony about the angel’s message brought high expectations in the Jewish people because, up to that time, they had gone four hundred years with no prophet sent to them. The last prophet had been Malachi, who spoke of the coming of the forerunner of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5-6).
Due to his supernatural birth, John’s life was followed closely due to his being born into the priesthood and also being called to be separated to God at birth by taking a Nazarite vow (Luke 1:15). His hair could not be cut, nor could he touch anything dead, and he also could not eat or drink anything of the vine, e.g., no grapes, wine or raisins (Numbers 6:2-6). Something happened to John in his childhood, though, so that he didn’t grow up in the luxury of the priestly class. As far as we know, he did not go through yeshiva or seminary, but God led him to live in the desert regions from childhood: