This refers to John the Baptist, whose mission it was to “prepare the way of the Lord.” John was the son of Zacharias, a priest and temple worker, and his wife Elisabeth, a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. He was six months the senior of our Lord. His mission was to be the herald, or forerunner, of the Messiah, and as such prepare the way for him. In pursuance of this mission, he appeared in the wilderness, in the fifteenth year of the reign of the emperor Tiberius, and preached: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”; the Messiah had already come; he was standing among them, unknown. (John 1:26)
The fact that Jesus had a forerunner, a herald, to proclaim his advent and command that the way be prepared for him, proves that he was more than a common mortal, more than a teacher and reformer. When kings and potentates in those days were about to travel, they notified their subjects that they were coming, and that they wanted the roads repaired and straightened so that there should be no unnecessary delay. A notable illustration of this Oriental custom was furnished by the sultan of Turkey, Abdul-Hamid II, when he, having received word that the German emperor desired to visit Jerusalem, issued an order that the road between Jaffa and Jerusalem be prepared for the imperial visitor. This was done. Hundreds of men and women were drafted for work on the road. Now, the very mission of John proves that the advent of Jesus was the coming of a King to his kingdom.
John appeared in the garb of a prophet. He was clad in a loose garment of camel hair, held together by a leather girdle. His food was wild honey and locusts—probably the pods of the locust tree, known as “Carob,” or “Saint John’s Bread.”
John baptized those who repented and believed his message. For baptism belongs to all dispensations. Adam was baptized. (Pearl of Gr. Pr., Mos., 6:52, 64, 65) There is evidence that baptism was practiced by the Patriarchs. When Jacob received the divine command to go to Bethel and build an altar there “unto God,” he ordered his household, and all that were with him, to put away “the strange gods,” and to “be clean,” and to “change your garments.” This cleaning process was not a common washing, but a religious rite connected with the altar service that was to be observed. (Ex. 19:10, is best understood in the same way, since it was part of the “sanctification” of the people, preparatory to the manifestations of God on the mountain. The Jews, at the time of our Lord, understood the principle of baptism, for they asked John, “Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?”
The question is sometimes asked, whether those who were baptized by John had to be baptized again, in order to become members of the Church of Christ. Probably not. The baptism of John was performed with divine authority and had, we may say, legal force until our Lord, after the resurrection, authorized his Apostles to baptize in his name.