Who Was John the Baptisst?

 

"John baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4 KJV).

      John the Baptist was a good man doing what he thought he was supposed to do, but he chose to run his own program and in so doing kept his relationship with Jesus at a distance. John proclaimed that Jesus was the “lamb of God” (John 1:36). He would have been smart to have abandoned his own movement and join forces with the “lamb.” Jesus commented on John’s spiritual status in Matthew 11:11. Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

     John’s attack on the lifestyle of Herod demonstrated his conviction that Jesus had come to lead a successful rebellion and overthrow the grip that Rome had on Israel. As Matthew, chapter fourteen, tells us, John was offended that Herod, the tetrarch, had taken for himself Herodias, his brother’s wife. It is reasonable that John would have been offended, because God surely was, and God’s endorsement of the Hebrew effort was an absolute necessity for victory and freedom. John felt that he had to say something––which he did––and he must have felt strongly that Jesus would come to his aid, and a line would be drawn in the sand––the rebellion would begin. Herod arrested John and Herodias had him beheaded. Jesus chose not to get involved. Jesus did not make the long and painful journey from his home with God the Father in order to make war. Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36).

      Matthew 11:2–3 states that John the Baptist, obviously disappointed that he was in prison and Jesus was making no effort to get him out, sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus what was going on. Jesus described his program and let the two disciples return with a clear message of how his program differed from that of John. John was on his own, and his fate was sealed. Actually, sometime later when Herod heard of Jesus, he thought that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead (Matthew 14:2).      

       It is clear from the words of Jesus that John did not make it into the Kingdom of God. Even though he was a good man, the son of a priest (Luke 1:5) and a relative of Jesus (Luke 1:36), he did not make it in, because these things did not matter. The Kingdom of God is only for those believers who are in relationship with Jesus or with his replacement, the Holy Spirit. There is no doubt that Jesus appreciated John as he does others who do good things, but his kingdom is only for those who with whom he has a relationship; believers born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13 KJV).