Malachi 4:5,6 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Before Mary was told that she would give birth to the Son of God by the angel Gabriel, an angel had spoken to another couple – Zacharias and Elisabeth. Zacharias and his wife were old and had no children. He was a priest.
One day when serving God in the Temple, an angel appeared to him and told him that he and his wife would have a baby. Since they were both old, it would be a special miracle. The angel told them to name the baby John. He also told Zacharias that the child was not ever to drink any wine, and that he would become great.
The baby would also be filled with the Holy Spirit since birth – which had never happened to anyone else before. John still had to get saved and believe on Christ, but it would come later. He would become great because he would fulfill the above prophecy from Malachi and cause many fathers to love their children. The angel also told him that “And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:16).
John was born six months before Jesus was born. He is often called “the forerunner” because he came before Jesus and announced to Israel that He was coming. His ministry was primarily in the wilderness because that is where he taught and baptized: “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:3) – is a quote from Isaiah 40:3. When people wanted to hear him, they had to leave the cities and villages to go where he was.
John’s message alerted Israel to the fact that someone was coming soon that would baptize people with the Holy Ghost and not with just water (Mark 1:8). John strongly preached repentance, which means turning away from sin in your heart and turning to God.
After John baptized Jesus – when Jesus was 30 years old – Jesus also preached a strong message of repentance. In Mark 1:15, Jesus started His ministry by “saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
John was just a messenger for the Lord Jesus. He had the privilege of introducing Christ to Israel and to the world. The Bible says of John: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe” (John 1:6,7).
After Jesus was baptized and introduced to the world, John only lived a little while longer. He served God faithfully while he lived. At one point in His ministry, Jesus said this about John the Baptist: “For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” Luke 7:28).
Christian, will you serve God faithfully while God lets you live? People still need to know about Him. Will you be one that takes the news to others so that they also can know the Savior? Why not ask God to help you do that in His power? This Christmas season is the perfect time to begin.