The Anointed One

One day an older man, a priest of the order of Abijah was in the House of The Lord to burn incense. As a priest in the Holy Temple he would perform his duties while also praying. So, we see the priest praying and in the midst of performing his duties an angel appeared right next to the altar of incense, startling the old priest. The angel quickly spoke telling him not to be alarmed as he brought tidings of good news. He told Zachariah that the Lord had heard the petitions of him and his wife Elizabeth. He then announced that Elizabeth was with child, a male. He instructed Zachariah that he was to name the child John.

He also informed him that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the day of his birth. John would be a priest like his father and would do great things for the Lord. He will bring many Israelites to the Lord their God and baptize those whose repentance is genuine. Additionally, he will prepare the way of the coming of the Lord. In fact, John will be given a signal informing him when he is in the presence of the Lord.

As you can imagine this was a lot of information for Zachariah to digest. Yet, he stopped listening when the angel said “your wife will give you a son.” Why? Both Elizabeth and Zachariah were advanced in age. The Bible does not tell us exactly how old, but obviously older than child bearing age. It should be noted here that according to Jewish law at that time there were seven ways a Jew could be excommunicated. One of which was childlessness. Thus, Zachariah had the right to divorce Elizabeth as she had never born a child. Instead of divorcing her, he remained married and he and Elizabeth had appealed to God for a child of their own. Yet, time had slipped away and now Elizabeth was beyond child rearing age.

So, Zachariah told the angel it was not possible and he refused to believe. The angel, who is identified as Gabriel by the way, informed Zachariah that indeed it was possible since God said it would happen. Unfortunately for Zachariah, due to his disbelief he was made mute as a punishment. And he would remain mute until John was born.

Now remember that Mary had received a similar visitor and told that she too, was to give birth to a son. Incidentally, Elizabeth and Mary were related and Elizabeth was Mary’s aunt. This also means that John and Jesus were cousins. Genealogically, Elizabeth was descended from Aaron while Mary was descended from Abraham. Two women who are descendants of very important and honored houses of Jewish ancestry. Two women who would give birth to two very important men. One who was the herald for a king, the other the long awaited king.

The book of Luke tells us that Mary visited Elizabeth while they both were pregnant. However, no mention is made that they ever communicated or visited while their sons were growing into adulthood.

At the appointed time, John began his ministry. He went forth into Judea and Israel announcing the soon coming of the Messiah. He exhorted the Jews to make themselves acceptable to the Lord. He admonished them to repent and be baptized thus showing publicly their renouncement of sin.

His message was heard far and near from the fishing village to the Palace of Herod. Hundreds flocked to hear his message of the need for repentance and the soon coming of the Messiah.

John was preaching at a time when the people of Israel were ready to hear the message. Israel had been under the thumb of their oppressors for over 300 years now. They were crying out to God to rescue them and as they cried out to God there was a great number of people returning to God. As John preached repentance, people were repenting and coming to him to be baptized, symbolizing their new purity before God.

John usually conducted his baptisms in the Jordan River. Conveniently, this was in a valley which one would have to traverse if going from Galilee to Jerusalem. One day, while John was preaching and baptizing Jews who have repented their sins , John noticed an individual approaching from the direction of Galilee. When John saw Jesus, he immediately knew who he was and loudly announced “behold! Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Why did John proclaim Jesus as the Lamb of God? If we go back to Genesis chapter 4 we find the first instance of a sacrifice being offered to God. Cain, a farmer brought the first fruits from the field as his sacrifice. Abel a shepherd brought a sheepherder brought an unblemished lamb. God chastised Cain for bringing an unacceptable sacrifice. This tells us that a sacrificial lamb was required for a sin offering after Adam and Eve were ejected from the Garden of Eden.