The Biblical Prophets were considered to be the most holy of men to the Jewish people. This is as true today as it was in the time of Jesus. No one was as revered and no one's word was given more credibility than that of the Prophets, and that is why John the Baptist was the ideal witness to the deity of Jesus Christ for the Jewish people.

John the Baptist was much more than just a prophet, he was in fact a special messenger sent by God for a very specific purpose. The book of Malachi says, "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come, says the LORD Almighty." And in John chapter one it says, "There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John." John the Baptist was this special messenger, sent from God to prepare the way for the Messiah's arrival, but John was also an exceptional prophet because he was the last of only three lifelong Nazarites spoken of in the Bible.

A Nazarite was one who was separated from others and consecrated to God. The vow of a Nazarite (see ) involved these three things:

• abstinence from wine and strong drink
• refraining from cutting the hair off the head during the whole period of the continuance of the vow
• the avoidance of contact with the dead

This institution was a symbol of a life devoted to God and separated from all sin, a holy life. In its ordinary form the Nazarite's vow lasted only thirty, and at most one hundred days, but the Scripture makes mention of only three people who were Nazarites for life, Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist (see ; ; ).

These facts: John the Baptist's distinctive role as God's special messenger and his commission as one of only three Nazarites for life, made him very unique amongst the Prophets. Indeed this is why Jesus said of him, "Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet." (Matthew 11:9). Like Samson and Samuel, John the Baptist was commissioned as God's servant even before his conception, and like Isaac before him, he was born to a barren woman who was old and far beyond her child-bearing years.

John's father was a Temple priest named Zechariah and his mother Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron, the first temple priest and Moses' brother. Elizabeth happened to be Mary's aunt and she conceived John about six months prior to Mary's conception of Jesus. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were upright in the sight of God, obeying all of His commandments and regulations, and that is why God chose them to bear His special messenger.

One day when Zechariah was performing his duties in the Temple the angel Gabriel appeared to him and said, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Zechariah questioned Gabriel because he and his wife were so old, and because of his disbelief he was made mute and he could not speak for the duration of Elizabeth's pregnancy. His tongue was loosened eight days after John was born and he proclaimed, "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins."

John the Baptist's destiny was set in motion long before his birth, and he grew strong in the spirit as a child and lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel. The Prophet Isaiah had foretold of John's appearance centuries before he was born, "A voice of one calling in the desert: 'Prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.'" John was that voice calling in the wilderness, and he proclaimed the arrival of the Messiah as he baptized thousands in the Jordan River. He accepted his position as God's servant without question, and humbly fulfilled his mission, leading many thousands of Jews back to the Lord, baptizing them and teaching them about forgiveness and salvation; hence preparing the way for Christ's appearance.

John the Baptist's whole life was a testimony to Jesus' identity, especially for the Jews, but he also gave his verbal testimony which was recorded for all people, and which consists of seven major points:

1. He testified to the pre-existence of Jesus

"John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, 'This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" (John 1:15)

I stated earlier that John was conceived, and then born, six months before Jesus. So if he was six months older than Jesus was, why did he say He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me? This could be a rather confusing statement unless we understand the divinity of Jesus. The book of John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." Jesus was the Word of God, or the very expression of God, and John tells us that Jesus was with God from the beginning.

Jesus was before John, even though He was born after John, because He was God in human form, and He has been with God since the beginning of time. He surpassed John because He was the Messiah, and John completely understood his position as simply the Messenger for the Messiah. John knew that once the Messiah revealed himself his job would be done, and he would pass the mantle on to the Messiah whose light would grow as John's light would fade away.

2. He testified to the Lordship of Jesus

"John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, 'I am the voice of one calling in the desert, Make straight the way for the Lord.'" (John 1:23)

John fully understood his role as the messenger for the Messiah. He never questioned his role, and he never boasted or pretended to be anything other than who God appointed him to be. In fact he had become so popular with the Jewish people that they had begun to refer to him as the Messiah, and each time they did he quickly corrected them and denied being anything other than the messenger for God.

Because John understood his role, he also understood the role of the Messiah. He knew that he was making a way for the Messiah's arrival and He knew that the Messiah would be God in human form. So when John recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah he also recognized Him as the Lord and Savior, and his testimony stands for this undeniable truth to this very day.

3. He testified to the fact that Jesus' life was absolutely Holy

"Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?'" (Matthew 3:13-14)

Baptism by John was a symbolic way for the people to show that they were repenting and being cleansed from their sins. John said that he baptized with water but that the Messiah would come and baptize with the Holy Spirit, thus the symbolism would become a reality through the Messiah who would truly cleanse our sins away with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was without sin. The Bible tells us that he was a perfect sacrifice for our sins because He was the only man who ever lived completely free from sin. So John's statement to Jesus makes perfect sense. How could someone who was without sin symbolically be cleansed from sin? He couldn't, but Jesus felt it was proper in order to fulfill all righteousness. John immediately recognized Jesus as the Messiah and although, as a Nazarite, he attempted to live a holy life, he was still a sinner and he was the one who needed to be baptized - not Jesus. He recognized Jesus' perfection and said, I need to be baptized by you, by the Messiah who came to baptize with the Holy Spirit.

4. He identified Jesus as the Lamb of God

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'" (John 1:29)

A lamb was used for sacrifice under the laws handed down by God to Moses. The sacrificial lamb had to be free from defects; it had to be perfect (see and ). Jesus was referred to as the Lamb of God because of His perfection, and because He would be the final sacrifice for all sin (see ). But Jesus did not begin His ministry until after His baptism, and it would be nearly three more years before He would inform His disciples of His impending death and resurrection. Yet John referred to Him as the Lamb of God. Why?

John was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah, and he certainly understood what the Messiah's purpose would be. He doubtlessly knew of the prophecy from Isaiah, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken." (Isaiah 53:7-8) He also knew that Jesus was perfect because He was free from sin, so the analogy of being God's sacrificial lamb fit perfectly.

John the Baptist's testimony of Jesus as the Lamb of God was the first clue to the surrounding witnesses that the Messiah would suffer and die for their sins, yet people then and now still refuse to believe it. Later in the New Testament Paul says, "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." (1^st Corinthians 5:7)

5. He identified Jesus as the Messiah

"Then John gave this testimony: 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.''" (John 1:32-33)

John instinctively knew that Jesus was the Messiah the moment that he saw Him, but he was also given a sign to watch for, and as soon as Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove and rested on Him. This left absolutely no doubt for John that Jesus was the Messiah, and it astonished the other eyewitnesses who were present during the event.

This was the moment that John had waited for. He lived his whole life in anticipation of the Messiah's arrival and he was there to witness and later testify to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. This event triggered the start of Jesus' ministry and ultimately changed the course of human history forever. But even given this testimony, from a man who many alleged to be the Messiah himself, few people believed, as many people still refuse to believe that Jesus was the Messiah to this day.

6. He declared that Jesus had the divine right to baptize with the Holy Spirit

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Matthew 3:11)

John had already stated that he was not the Messiah but that the Messiah would follow him, and the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit instead of water. So when John recognized Jesus as the Messiah he implicitly declared Jesus as the one man to have the divine right to baptize with the Holy Spirit.

When you accept Jesus as your personal Savior and acknowledge that He died for your sins on the cross, then your sins are forgiven and the Holy Spirit will come upon you to guide and teach you. You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, truly having your sins washed away. This can only be accomplished by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, and John realized this and testified to it.

7. He testified that Jesus was the Son of God

"I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." (John 1:34)

John spoke these words right after he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus. He knew that the Messiah would be the one and only Son of God, but he proclaimed it aloud anyway, as a witness to those surrounding the Jordan River that day, and for those who would read his testimony two thousand years later.

Jesus was referred to as the Son of God many times: from before His conception when, "The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.'" (Luke 1:35) to after His death, "When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, 'Surely he was the Son of God!'" (Matthew 27:54). So although John was not the first to refer to Jesus by this name, he was the first to recognize Jesus publicly as the one and only Son of God - and his sworn Testimony remains to this day.

John the Baptist was a very reliable eyewitness to the identity of Jesus. God specifically chose John to be the voice that ushered in His son as the Messiah, because God knew that the Jewish people were stubborn and that it would take a super prophet like John to convince some of them that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Yet most of the Jews were so stubborn that they still didn't believe.

John continued to testify to the Messiahship of Jesus for about six months after Jesus began His ministry. Then King Herod arrested him, for rebuking the King for marrying his brother Philip's wife, and put him into prison in the castle of Machaerus. He remained imprisoned there until just before the third Passover of Jesus' ministry, when King Herod beheaded him at the request of his stepdaughter.

John the Baptist fulfilled his commission faithfully and he was a great man. Of him Jesus said, "I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist" (Matthew 11:11). His testimony alone would win over any jury in any court, but we still have four more witnesses to call to the stand. Click 'Next' to view the eyewitness testimony of a man who knew Jesus personally, spent the entire three years of His ministry with Him, and became one of His closest friends - Simon Peter.

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