The birth of John the Baptist was an unlikely birth in much the same way that Issac was born to Abraham and Sarah, because his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth were also barren and elderly. But the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that they would have a son and that he would prepare the way for the Lord and Messiah just as Malachi had prophesied in the Old Testament. Unsurprisingly Zechariah found it very hard to believe as there had been a 400 year break in any kind of prophesy from God. Because of his doubt he was struck dumb for his disbelief and remained so until the circumcision ceremony eight days after his birth. Only then was he able to name his son John as the angel had commanded which was in contrast to the usual practice of naming a son after his father.
Because his speech had been restored he knew that God was at work while many wondered what the child would become. Zechariah filled with the Holy Spirit praised God and prophesied Johns role in preparing the way for the Lord. The song called Benidictus is still used in many churches today to mark this event. The earliest reference to John is found during the pregnancy of his mother Elizabeth. John leapt in her womb when his mother was being visited by Mary who was to be the mother of Jesus, a prophetic anticipation of his later work in pointing people to Jesus.
John the Baptist led the way in a new surge in prophetic activity after a long quiet period, his announcing of the Lords coming was in fulfillment of a prophesy made in Isaiah over 700 years earlier. This type of proclamation was a practice normally reserved for a royal visit. John was seen as similar to Elijah and despite having a large group of followers himself asked the people not to follow him but be ready instead for the Lord. He is one of only three bible characters who took the Nazarite vow of purity and was thought to be part of a group of Essenes who were strict in their spiritual disciplines.
John’s message is aimed at those who thought (just because they were Abraham’s descendants) that they were automatically fine with God. John challenged this view reminding his listeners that they were to bear fruit and that if they failed to do so God would reject them. It was his baptizing of people that earned him the name of the Baptizer or Baptist. John asks that people repent, ie to turn and change away from sin toward righteousness and that any person who genuinely believes in Jesus will be changed.
John lived a rough life in the wilderness wearing clothes of camels hair and living on locusts and wild honey and repeatedly insists that he is not the Messiah even though many thought he was, simply because he had come out of the dessert which was an element of the prophesy found in Isaiah 40:3-5. The idea that this scripture was being fulfilled and that the Messiah had arrived caused huge crowds to go out into the wilderness to see John but he told them that one more powerful than he would come after him "Whose sandals I am not fit to carry and he will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire" Matthew 3:11. John had already been baptizing huge numbers of people who came from all over the region of Judea to repent and be baptized and when the Pharisees and Sadducee's came he became angry and called them a brood of vipers because of their hypocrisy but when he first saw Jesus he identified and called him "The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world". John 1:29.
John baptized with water which was a long held Jewish custom, ritual washings were common to symbolise cleansing of sin as well as to baptize converts. Johns baptism was different from these ritual washings because it marked a new beginning with God which was an outward sign of a new life with Jesus. The word baptize comes from the Greek word baptizo which means to immerse. New Testament baptism was always by full immersion, it was only later that the sprinkling and pouring method seen in many churches today became common. Babies were not baptized in those days, only those deemed old enough to make an informed decision. Baptism today is an outward sign of an inner faith and is called a sacrament in the church. The key idea around full immersion is that the whole body is cleansed of sin, leaving your old life behind and becoming dead to it, before emerging re born into a new spiritual life in Jesus.
John is initially reluctant to baptize the Messiah but Jesus humbly submits himself. When John baptized Jesus in the Jordan river the holy spirit was said to descend upon the Lord in bodily form as a dove. A voice from heaven affirms Jesus as Gods son whom he loves and is well pleased. Jesus submitted to John’s baptism not to cleanse himself because he was sinless but to fulfill all righteousness by identifying with the human condition and as a model of right relationship with God. Jesus needed the power of the Holy Spirit to help him resist the devils temptation in the wilderness where he went for praying and fasting immediately after his baptism.
John the Baptist was later arrested by and imprisoned by Herod Antipas who feared that he was stirring up a rebellion and because John had also denounced the incestuous marriage of Herod to Herodious his niece. John sent messages from the fortress palace of Machaerus where he was being held, asking Jesus if he really was the messiah but Jesus sent back messengers telling John about all the healing's and miracles that he was performing and reassured him that his faith had not been misplaced. John was eventually beheaded after Herod was tricked by his wife into giving Johns head as a gift to their daughter. John’s life is also recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus and is seen throughout scripture as a prophet, martyr and a saint and in the advent services he is identified as the greatest prophet.