The
Baptism of John
By
Tov Rose
Why was John considered a prophet and what does this have to do with
Baptism?
There are many misconceptions about Baptism of the believer. Some
teach that Baptism is simply and outward expression of the internal spiritual
commitment. Others teach that it is a requirement, a sacrament. While all of
these may be true, there is a background story that is rarely taught,
understood and mostly unknown to most pastors.
You may have heard that John’s baptism was for repentance alone, and
this is true. However, what is missing from this simple description is the
purpose and history of that specific form of baptism John was practicing and
the authority, which he carried in Israel.
John’s Father
You might be familiar with his father’s story in Luke 1:5 “There was
in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zechariah, of the course of Abia: and his wife was
of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.”
There are some very important points expressed in this rather short
verse!
1.
The name and location of the
king give us the general time period
2.
It specifically notes that
Zechariah was a priest, which is an inherited office from father to son
3.
The Course of Aviah is
mentioned, which tells us specifically what time of year Zechariah was required
to serve as priest in the Temple and for how long.
4.
His wife is listed as also
being a daughter of Aaron (Zechariah had to be a son of Aaron, or he couldn’t
be a priest).
The next verse states something very unusual in scripture, “6And
they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances
of the Lord blameless,” reflecting the theme of Matthew -7:17-18 that they were
good trees producing good fruit at a time when the High Priesthood was
literally bought and paid for, or appointed by the pagan king.
In Luke 1:8-10 it further says, “Now while he was
serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was
chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were
praying outside at the hour of incense.”
Combined with Luke 1:5, this tells us specifically which day of the
year Zechariah was in the Temple: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). It was the
one day of the year that the High Priest of Israel entered the Holy of Holies
in the Temple to offer the sin sacrifice for all of the people of Israel. Zechariah
was preparing the Holy of Holies, filling it with Incense prior to the High
Priest’s entering in!
Yet there is even more to the story…
In those days the High Priest was appointed as a political office.
Another way of saying this is that God did not recognize the political office
as being legitimate, because he was not selected in the way prescribed by God
in the Bible. How can I say this? What I mean is that there was an appointed
High Priest, and then there was the one who was supposed to have been God’s
High Priest.
If the succession for the High Priest office was unclear it was the
tradition to cast lots (throw the dice), to see whom God wanted to take the
office. The disciples of Jesus followed the same tradition in Acts 1:15-26 in
choosing a replacement for Judas who had betrayed Jesus to the illegitimate
High Priest.
According to Luke 1:8-10 this is precisely what happened with
Zechariah: He was chosen by lot. To put this another way, if the Illegitimate
High Priest died in the presence of God, Zechariah was runner up to take his
place and offer the sacrifice in the Holy of Holies before God. Or, to put it
yet another way, Zechariah was chosen by God to be the Legitimate High Priest of Israel.
This is confirmed by the simple fact of an Angel actually showing up and
speaking to him about his future son, the future legitimate High Priest of
Israel—John the Baptist.
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