Top 7 Bible Verses About John The Baptist

Here are seven Bible verses about John the Baptist.

Isaiah 40:3 “A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

This is exactly what John the Baptist did. He came and prepared the way for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He came in the spirit of Elijah where Malachi wrote “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction” (Mal 4:5-6). Since Jerusalem as a whole rejected Jesus, the land was utterly destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman General, Titus. Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled when the angel of the Lord told John’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, that John “will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).

Matthew 3:1 “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.”

What did Matthew mean by saying, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching?” The time period that Matthew referred to as “In those days” was in reference to Jesus’ family returning from Egypt and Joseph’s hearing from an angel that it’s safe to return to Israel because the “baby-killer” King Herod was dead (Matt 2:20), so Joseph took his family and “went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene” (Matt 2:23). In the days when Jesus lived in Nazareth were the days in which John the Baptist went into a spiritual wilderness that was called Judea, where the Jews traditions had become superior to Scriptures.

Matthew 3:3 “For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

Matthew, written to a Jewish audience (Matt 1:1-17) quotes part of Malachi 1:1, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me” and nearly all of Isaiah 40:3 where John is described as “A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Since there are several verses in the New Testament and the Old Testament about a voice crying out in the wilderness, we know this refers to John the Baptist (Luke 1:17, 7:27). Today, there are others who are crying out in this spiritual wilderness of this many-paths-to-God pluralism, where few understand that there is only one way to the kingdom (John 14:6), and absolutely no other (Acts 4:12).

Luke 7:27 “This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’”

John got his marching orders from God. Having cut his teeth on Holy Scripture, he was surely well acquainted with the prophecies mentioned above from Isaiah, Malachi. There is no doubt that Zechariah and Elizabeth must have told their son John what the angel of the Lord had told them and that was that John had a great purpose and it was to prepare the way for the Messiah and he did, preaching the need for repentance (Matt 3:2), which is just what Jesus said when He first began His earthly ministry (Mark 1:15). At first, John the Baptist had a greater following than Jesus Christ, but John knew this wouldn’t last. Knowing Who Jesus was, John declared in all humility, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). John wasn’t the way…He was preparing the way for Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), not “a” way but the only way; the “way” that John prepared for the world.

Matthew 3:4-6 “Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

John the Baptist wasn’t found in prince’s palaces or king’s courts but in the wilderness. He was a man’s man and would have survived on any reality show, but he may have spent time in the wilderness for a time to learn from God, or an angel of the Lord, or perhaps just the Spirit of God. When John came out, he came out at just the right time. Could that have been a coincidence or was it because it was at the right time and “In those days” (Matt 3:1); hundreds of years before God had foretold about a coming voice that would cry out in the wilderness.

Matthew 3:13-15 “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.”

John was obviously very humble and didn’t even see himself as worthy to baptize Jesus. John knew that Jesus was sinless and needed no baptism, “But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15). Just as He said; Jesus came to fulfill the Law and kept it for us since we couldn’t possible keep the Law ourselves (Rom 7). Besides, we are never going to be saved by the Law anyway (Eph 2:8-9). The Law showed us why we need the Savior. It convicts us and we are all found guilty, but Jesus fulfilled all righteousness and that can be accredited to us (2nd Cor 5:21).

Luke 7:28 “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Jesus must have shocked a few people in His audience because He said that of all who were ever born (outside of Himself), there was none greater than John the Baptist. We don’t know a lot about John’s early life or his early ministry, although the apostles still found his followers years later (Acts 19:3). The fact that He preached the need for repentance shows that he understood at least part of the gospel. He may have known more than we give him credit for but we do know this; he’s in the kingdom.

Conclusion

John the Baptist is one of the most unique persons of history. His life of poverty, his desire to prepare the way for Christ, and his fervent preaching about repentance, gained him a lot of followers, and even King Herod respected him, knowing him to be a prophet, “for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly” (Mark 6:20). King Herod might have had high regard for John’s preaching but it never reached his heart and thus, it never changed him. Sadly, John would lose his head and become a martyr due to Herod’s sexual lust for Herodias’ young daughter (Mark 6:21-25) and only his pride kept him from changing his mind (Mark 6:26).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.