John the Baptizer: The Man Who Said, I Am Not He

A prophet at the turn of the ages

John, called John the Baptizer (Matthew 11:11), stands at the seam between the prophets and the Kingdom. He was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:13; Luke 1:60; Luke 1:63). Ussher, Annals of the World (1650), places him active AD 29 to AD 100. Scripture gives him a large footprint for so short a public life: he appears across Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts, from Matthew 3:1 through the preaching of the apostles. Jesus himself measured him: "Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he" (Matthew 11:11).

Preaching a baptism of repentance

Paul, retelling the story years later, sets John before the coming of Jesus: "before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel" (Acts 13:24). His own summary of himself follows: "As John was fulfilling his course, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie'" (Acts 13:25). That negative confession is the shape of his whole ministry. He is also placed in the record at Mark 1:4, Luke 3:2 and Luke 3:15-16, and his witness is recalled at John 1:6, John 1:15, John 1:19, John 1:26 and John 1:32.

Baptizing at Enon near Salim

One scene shows him at work and shows the pressure on him. "John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized; for John was not yet thrown into prison" (John 3:23-24). A dispute broke out, and his own disciples came to him with what sounds like a complaint: "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he baptizes, and everyone is coming to him" (John 3:26). His answer refuses to compete: "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven" (John 3:27). His pointing to Jesus is recorded also at John 1:28-29, John 1:35, John 1:40, John 5:33 and John 5:36, and the crowds later come back to where he had been (John 10:40-41).

The word Herod would not hear

John's end began with a sentence about a marriage. "For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. For John said to Herod, 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife'" (Mark 6:17-18). Matthew records the same charge in shorter form: "For John said to him, 'It is not lawful for you to have her'" (Matthew 14:4). The imprisonment is noted also at Luke 3:20, and what followed at Mark 6:24-25 and Matthew 14:8, 14:10.

The execution left a mark on the man who ordered it. Herod, hearing of Jesus, said, "This is John, whom I beheaded. He has risen from the dead" (Mark 6:16), and in Matthew, "This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him" (Matthew 14:2). Others made the same guess about Jesus (Mark 8:28; Matthew 16:14; Luke 9:7-9).

The question from a man in doubt

Scripture does not hide John's wavering. "The disciples of John told him about all these things. John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, 'Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?'" (Luke 7:18-19). They repeated it to Jesus word for word: "John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?'" (Luke 7:20). The man who had testified publicly now needed to ask. Jesus answered him (Luke 7:22) and then defended him to the crowd (Luke 7:24; Luke 7:28-29), though he also reports how John's austerity was slandered (Luke 7:33; Matthew 11:18). His disciples remained a distinct group with their own practices (Mark 2:18; Matthew 9:14; Luke 5:33; Luke 11:1), and years later men were still being found who knew only his baptism (Acts 18:25; Acts 19:3-4).

What we are not told

No children of John are named in Scripture. The record we have is a public record: his preaching, his baptizing, his witness, his imprisonment and his death. Where the text is silent, we leave it silent.

The line to Christ

John's whole worth lies in whom he pointed at. He denied being the one: "I am not he. But behold, one comes after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie" (Acts 13:25). He refused to be diminished by Jesus' growing crowds, saying that nothing is received except as heaven gives it (John 3:27). Jesus named him the hinge of the ages: "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John" (Matthew 11:13), and yet said that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he (Matthew 11:11). The apostles kept preaching him in the same way, as the one who went before the coming of Christ (Acts 1:5; Acts 1:22; Acts 10:37; Acts 11:16). His greatness was to be second, and to say so out loud.