Why was John the Baptist called the forerunner of Jesus?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

A forerunner is a person who goes or is sent in advance to announce the coming of someone or something that follows.

John the Baptist was a forerunner of Christ because he was a herald of the Messiah. John would turn many of the Jewish people to the Lord. His ministry would be like that of Elijah, the prophet-seeking to bring the people into right relationship with God through repentance.

An angel told Zacharias that his son, John, would prepare the way for the coming of the messiah.

Luke 1:16,17 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

John himself also said that he was the fore runner of Christ:

John 1:25-27 And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

Answer 2

A:

We really only have one source of information about the life of John the Baptist, prior to the baptism of Jesus - Luke's Gospel. Then the four gospels tell of John heralding the coming of Jesus, the baptism of Jesus and, later, the death of John. The Antiquities of the Jews, a history written by Josephus at around the same time as Luke's Gospel tells a different story about the death of John.

Luke's Gospel says that the angel Gabriel came to Zacherius to tell him that his elderly wife Elizabeth would bear a son, the future John the Baptist. Later, in the same gospel, the angel comes to Mary to tell her that she also would have a child. If this is not a sufficiently close parallel to the visitation to Zacherius to be considered an example of foreshadowing, we can look at Matthew's Gospel, in which an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph instead of Mary, with the same message.

The majority of New Testament scholars dismiss the story of the birth of John the Baptist as unhistorical. Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says that both Zacharius and Elizabeth were literary creations by the author of Luke's Gospel. So, on the scholarly view, we can not really say that the birth of John the Baptist foreshadowed the birth of Jesus, because we do not really know the circumstances of the birth of John.

The gospels tell of the death of John the Baptist at the beginning of Jesus' public mission. They say that John had been arrested for publicly criticising the marriage of Herod Antipas to his own brother's former wife, but that Herod did not wish to harm John. The daughter of Herodias danced for Herod Antipas at a party in Galilee, after which he offered her anything she wished. Prompted by her mother, Herodias, she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. This could hardly be more different to the story of the crucifixion of Jesus, so did not foreshadow the death of Jesus.

However, Josephus tells a different story of the death of John. According to this historian, Herod Antipas had John arrested and taken to faraway Macherus and executed, for fear that he would raise a rebellion among the Jews. Although John's criticism of the marriage was probably a factor, Herod was chiefly concerned about the possibility of John sparking an uprising, just as the priests might have been concerned about Jesus sparking an uprising. The historical account bears a somewhat closer resemblance to the death of Jesus than does the gospel account. Nevertheless, it could not have foreshadowed the death of Jesus, as the wedding took place in 34 CE and the execution of John took place in 35 or 36 CE, whereas most commentators place the death of Jesus no later than 33 CE.

Answer 3

The gospels (Mark 1:1-8) tell us that people came from all over to hear John the Baptist preach the repentance of sins and to be baptised. John prophesied to them of one to come, greater than he. Immediately, in Mark 1:9, Jesus comes and is baptised, so we are left in no doubt that Jesus is the one of whom John prophesied. When John baptises Jesus, the voice of God from heaven says to Jesus, "Thou art my beloved son." The story of John and the baptism of Jesus serves as an introduction to Jesus, telling us who he is. The sense of antecedent continues when the Holy Spirit takes Jesus into the wilderness for forty days, ministered by angels just as Elijah was ministered by an angel and in the wilderness forty days (1 Kings 19:5-7). Those familiar with the story of Elijah are likely to have assumed he fasted for the forty days, which brings into play another allusion, to Moses when (Exodus 34:28) he fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets. Thus the gospel message is not only that Jesus was the one of whom John spoke, but also that he is the son of God and that he will continue the mission of Elijah and Moses.

Mark uses an ancient literary technique, called a parallel structure, to emphasise the importance of the introduction of Jesus. In this, an opening set of events is mirrored by a second, parallel set in order to emphasise and reinforce the message of each event. The event that matches and emphasises the message of John, his baptism of Jesus and the continuity from Elijah and Moses is the Transfiguration (event B'). Once again, the voice of God from heaven reinforces this message from the baptism:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

Just as John told of the coming of Jesus (event A), so the young man in the tomb tells the women of the departure of Jesus (event A'), at the end of the gospel. Mark's Gospel originally ended at this verse (16:8) and the 'Long Ending' (verses 16:9-20) was added much later.

Answer 4

John preached for all to "repent, because the Kingdom of God is at hand." Jesus was the one who brought the Kingdom of God.

John also identified Jesus as being the promised messiah.