Who?

We all know he baptized Jesus. We know Herod had him arrested because he didn’t like him. We know that Herod’s stepdaughter talked him into beheading John. But what kind of guy was he?

His coming was foretold hundreds of years in advance. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.” -- Isaiah 40:3

His birth was a miracle. -- Luke 1:5-25

He announced the presence of the Messiah from the very beginning. -- Luke 1:39-45

He was a Levite. Would he be a Priest? His father, Zacharias, was high priest. His mother, Elizabeth, was from the daughters of Aaron. -- Luke 1.

He was homeless for most of his life. So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts until the day he was revealed to Israel. -- Luke 1:80

He wore rags, and ate garbage. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. -- Matthew 3:14 These things you may eat: The locust, the destroying locust, the cricket, the grasshopper. But all other flying insects shall be an abomination to you. -- Leviticus 11:22

He was persuasive and charismatic. People flocked to him to be baptized, thinking that the baptism would wash away their sins. -- Matthew 3: Mark 1: Luke 3:1-18

Was he like a modern-day street preacher?

More important? More powerful?

More popular?

John preached in the wilderness, he drew “all the region” to himself to repent and be baptized. Jesus said, “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebiber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”

So, if John were born in 1980, he would be nearly 30 years old today—the age he was when he baptized Jesus. What would he be like? Would the world come to him today for repentance and remission of sins? Who would be the scoffers (Pharisees and Saducees) today? Would you be his friend? Would you hang around with him?