John the Baptizer
After John the Baptizer is beheaded by Herod Antipas, Jesus retreats to mourn and makes the statement, “For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28). I sure would like to meet him; I know I would like him.
Malachi speaks the final predictions of John; in Malachi 4:5-6, we read, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet. Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers,lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
It is in the deserts that John will sound the wonderful and powerful news to all who were anxiously awaiting the Messiah. His voice sounds suddenly out of the wilderness of Judea. His was a cry as startling as that of Elijah – breaking the silence of four hundred years. He will preach of a kingdom that was at hand. He would tell the very earliest disciples to believe in Jesus. He will answer the prophecy of Isaiah 40: 3 concerning John, for he will be “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.’”
It seems that during the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments, Israel did not see prophets who spoke with power and performed signs and wonders like Moses and Elijah. There were families and men who fought and reformed the state of Israel at times; families like the Maccabees and Simon the Just were great leaders among the people who had returned to the land. But even among the Maccabees, there were none raised who could be compared to the predictions of the one crying in the wilderness.
John, the son of a priest who ministered in the Most Holy Place, is never written about in or around the temple mound. His life is much more obscure than his cousin’s life. He is never seen in the house of a fellow disciple as Jesus was. He is never noted as eating around a table, sleeping in a bed, or enjoying the hospitality of another. And while, certainly, those things and occasions could have happened in his lifetime, they had little or nothing to do with his purpose, mission, or realities in life.
John was rough and unpolished; the desert was his home and the setting that brought fire and power to his words – he talked of vipers, stones and barren land. He wore a simple, coarse mantle woven from the hair of camels. He had a leather belt that completed “his look”; it is supposed that he was neither clean shaven nor well groomed – the deserts would not allow it.
His diet was locust, which was a clean food that could be eaten by the faithful among the children of Israel. Honey would have apparently been abundant in this area of Palestine, wild and plentiful – John was able to live on such a diet.
But just slightly over a year after we are alerted to his ministry, we find John in a prison cell on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. Matthew 11: 2-6 tell us, “And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ’Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.’”
It is such an interesting thing to meditate on John’s life – it is quite possible that his older parents died when he was young. In fact, the text tells us that he moves to the desert areas early in years, and he will die at the age of 31 or 32 after being locked in a dungeon cell of the palace of Machaerus for some time. John is certainly not a coward as he appears before Herod Antipas time and again, but he is isolated and heartbroken as time goes on, and his mind becomes unsure about the cry that he had sounded so well from the wilderness of Judea. His own mission – that had seemed so clear to him - was now cut short, and even his confidence in the mission and purpose of the Messiah seemed to fade as the days went by in isolation and prison.
However, this discouragement that is clearly seen when John sends his faithful disciples to question Jesus is not apparent in his clear preaching and warnings he gave to Herod Antipas and his mistress, Herodias, (the wife of his brother, Philip) concerning their behavior and relationship. In fact, the message was so clear that the Biblical text tells us that Herod feared John and Herodias was furious at the assault on her judgment and actions.
One of the very few historical facts pertinent to the NT account but recorded only by secular historians is the statement by Josephus “John was imprisoned and beheaded at the castle of Machaerus on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea.” Herod Antipas had built a castle fortress in this wild and rugged area of Perea; it is said that he was fascinated with the wild and eerie surroundings and scenery and wanted to have a fortress there because of that atmosphere.
I can’t imagine the hours spent by John in this place, praying. Days and nights in this prison – John spent thinking of the words that he had proclaimed, and if it was not for his faithful disciples, who were allowed to supply any needs – he would have been left completely alone.
You remember, John did not do the signs and wonders that Jesus did. Jesus was the first after all those years of silence to do such wonderful signs and wonders. At times, people talk of him as if he was a man with a long and successful life, fulfilling and maturing to old age – rich in spirit for providing such a great call – years of achievement in the service of Christ. But as we have noted, the truth of John is that he was born to very old parents, who more than likely died when he was young. He “grew up” in the deserted and wilderness areas of Judea. Never once, do we see him eat or visit a home. Never once do we see him sleep in a bed (as Jesus did for 30 years). Never once, do we see him eat anything other than locusts and wild honey. He had no garments made with spun materials that we know of. And a little more than 30 years of age he begins a tremendous campaign that shocked a nation out of its slumber and worldly living. He came to the end of his earthly service in what seems to have been about three years of fruitful labor for God, never having the opportunity to be a part of the kingdom that he preached so effectively about.
May we never measure the value of service with earthly measurements. Can you imagine if the successes and circumstances of John’s life were measured by earth instead of heaven? Oh, how I would like to meet him.