John the Baptist

Yes. Only Jesus was conceived by divine intervention.

Additional scriptural references:

It can be assumed that she did. She and Zechariah, though well along in years, were married, and this was not a 'virgin' birth, like it was in the case of Mary. In Mary's case she was unmarried, and was told that it would be 'God's spirit that would overshadow her...and the one she gave birth to would be God's son".(Luke 1:27,34 & 35)

In Elizabeth's case, Zechariah was told : "your wife Elizabeth will become mother to a son to you, and you are to call his name John"(Luke 1:5-13) And the Bible calls Zechariah, John's father (Luke 1:67)

John's Gospel places the arrest of John some time later (John 3:24: "For John was not yet cast in prison."), but still during the mission of Jesus. By John 10:40-41, it seems that John is now in prison and possibly already dead.

That leaves the first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, as the best source of information on the death of John the Baptist. InBook 18 of

Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus tells us that John the Baptist was imprisoned in the remote fortress of Macherus, out of fear that he would stir up a rebellion among the Jews, and that he was executed there. The cause of his imprisonment was his public criticism of Herod's marriage to his own brother's former wife, which took place in 34 CE, and it appears that John was imprisoned in 35 or early 36 CE:

"

Now many people came in crowds to him, for they were greatly moved by his words. Herod, who feared that the great influence John had over the masses might put them into his power and enable him to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best to put him to death. In this way, he might prevent any mischief John might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly John was sent as a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I already mentioned, and was put to death."

The gospels tell us that John was baptising for the remission of sins. Mark 1:1-8 also tells of John the Baptist prophesying of one to come, greater than he, who surely must be the Messiah. In the gospel, this message seems of greater importance than his message of baptism.

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 an introduction 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 set in order to emphasise and reinforce the message of each event. The event that matches and emphasises the baptism of Jesus is the Transfiguration (event B'). Once again, the voice of God from heaven reinforces this message from the baptism (events C,C'):

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 prepared the people for 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.

The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, provides a very different account, saying that it was Herod Antipas who was anxious for John to be executed, not so much out of hatred but out of fear that he could raise up a rebelion among the Jews. The relevant text from Book 18 of Antiquities of the Jews:

"Now many people came in crowds to him, for they were greatly moved by his words. Herod, who feared that the great influence John had over the masses might put them into his power and enable him to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best to put him to death. In this way, he might prevent any mischief John might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly John was sent as a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I already mentioned, and was put to death."

There was no banquet in Galilee, with Herodias having John's head brought on a platter, but John died a lonely death in faraway Macherus.

Mattthew 3 [13] Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

[14] But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

[15] And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

Answer2: Some six months after John begins preaching Jesus comes to him to be baptized. John tried to prevent him; Matthew 3:14-15 says "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me. Jesus replied to him: "Let it be this time for in that way it is suitale for us to carry out all that is righteous." Then he quit preventing him.

John's purpose was to get the people ready for the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah said of him, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God"" . In the Old Testament he was compared to the prophet Elijah and it was said of John, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse" .

This is what John did. He taught people to leave sins behind, to repent and get ready for the Messiah. "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"" . He was a no-nonsense preacher who was quite blunt in his scoldings

Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death.

Josephus makes it clear that Antipas intended to execute John, and it seems most improbable that he would long delay the execution if he feared an insurrection by John's supporters. The execution would have occurred in35 or 36 CE .

King Aretas attacked and defeated Antipas in 36 CE in revenge for the slight to his daughter, whom Antipas divorced in order to marry Herodias. Some of the Jews believed that Antipas' defeat was divine retribution for his execution of John:

Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to him.

This association makes it most likely that John's death was a quite recent event at the time of the defeat - confirming that the execution of John took place in 35 or 36 CE.

A:

For factual information about John the Baptist, we can do no better than look at the writings of the first- century Jewish historian, Josephus. He tells us (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18) that:

1. John baptised for the purification of the body.
2. John was imprisoned and executed after the wedding of Herod Antipas to Herodias, his own brother's former wife, in 34 CE, and shortly before King Antipas of Nabatea attacked and defeated Herod in 36 CE, an event which the Jews believed was divine retribution for the execution of John the Baptist. This places John's execution in 35 or early 36 CE.
3. John's execution took place on the direct orders of Herod Antipas, who feared that he could stir up a rebellion after he publicly criticised Herod's marriage.

The gospel accounts are in general agreement with Josephus, but say that John baptised for the remission of sins, not for the purification of the body. They also agree that John was arrested after criticising the marriage of Herod Antipas to Herodias, but the synoptic gospels appear to place his arrest around 29 CE and John's Gospel places it some time later but still before the crucifixion of Jesus. They say that Herod was loath to execute John the Baptist, but was tricked into doing so by Herodias and her daughter.