John, The Baptist
According to the Gospel of Luke, in the days of the birth of Jesus' (Luke 1:5), Judaea was described as being subjected to the rule of a foreign power, under the reign of Herod. Although Jesus' birth was by far the most significant of all time, his was not the only of note to take place during that same period in history. On one June 24th (year uncertain), another child, who was Jesus' cousin was born at Ain-Karim, to a temple priest in the order of Abia, named Zacharias and his elderly wife Elisabeth (Luke 1:57-79), who was one of the daughters of Aaron and kinswoman of Mary (Jesus' mother). This birth was predicted by the Angel Gabriel (Luke 1:5-25) and it was told that the child would be filled with the Holy Ghost, even while in his mother womb. Because his father (Zacharias) doubted the proclamation of the angel, he was struck dumb until the child's birth. The child born to the couple, who came to be named John, would play important part in Jesus' life and it was he that announced to the world that the Lamb of God had come. It would be John who would turn many of the children of Israel back to God and he gained a tremendous amount of influence in the region, but also drew the ire of some.
It was temporary (Matt 3:1-3); it was designed to reform Jews by bringing them back to the law from which they had departed (Malachi 3:1-17; Malachi 3:4-18; Luke 1:17: and, Galatians 3:23,24); it was restricted to the Jews (Matthew 3:4-9; Acts 13:26); he decreased as Jesus increased (John 3:25-30); and his "light shone but for a season" (John 5:33-35). should precede the coming Messiah were made by the prophets Isaiah and Malachi and their predictions were brought to fruition in John the Baptist's role in the great events that were foretold (Isaiah 40:1-8, Malachi 3:1-4, and Matthew 3:1-3). Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, but kept him in custody. While he was preaching the coming of the Messiah, he was asked, "Who are you?" John replied, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. John appears in history and the scriptures as a boundary between the old and the new testaments, which was confirmed by the Lord Jesus when he spoke of "the law and the prophets up until John the Baptist", thus giving a separation of the two eras. He was perplexed by John, but liked to listen to him speak. John's personal lineage represents a division of these periods in that his parents were both aged and were his connection with the past and its traditions, but he was also the herald of the new era, when is declared as a prophet even while he was still in his mother's womb, as leapt at the arrival of Mary (his aunt and Jesus' mother). John was around 30 years old (around 27 A. She then returned to Herod and said, "I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist". When Christ came to John at the river Jordan to seek baptism, John immediately recognized Him as the "Lamb of God" and said, "It is I who need baptism from You". The head was brought to the girl on a platter and she gave it to her mother, who kept it for a long time afterward, occasionally stabbing tongue with a dagger. He refused and proclaimed that he would not suppress the truth. John the Baptist's ministry had several peculiarities when viewed critically and in context to the other events that are chronicled in the Bible. John also said when questioned if he was the Messiah, he said, "You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him" (John 3:26-30).
Common topics in this essay:
John Baptist,
Christ Jesus,
John Baptist's,
Machaerus Fortress,
Holy Ghost,
Herod Jesus',
Abraham Matthew,
Lamb God,
Herodias John,
Perea Galilee,
john baptist,
lamb god,
river jordan,
god john,
john baptist's,
jesus' mother,
head john baptist,
coming messiah,
head john,
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Acceptance Essays
