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John the Baptist reached beyond himself, both backward and forward in time. He represented the history of Israel, waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Messiah. And he pointed to the future, announcing the coming of the Messiah who would establish the reign of God.
John stood at the threshold between the Old and New Testaments, a bridge linking the two. In him we see the culmination of centuries of prophecy, anticipation, and preparation. He is the last of the prophets announcing Jesus from afar, and the first of the witnesses to Jesus, actually pointing him out.
The Baptist appeared out of the desert in the spirit and power of Elijah (2 Kings 1:8; Matthew 11:14; Luke 1:17). Not only was John foreshadowed in Elijah, a prophet consumed with zeal for the glory of the Lord, but his coming and role were foretold by Isaiah and Malachi. John fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy of the voice of one crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3) as he came proclaiming a call to repentance. And Malachi had announced a coming day of judgment, the “day of the Lord,”…
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