I've been thinking again about people I admire from the Bible. I read stuff on Christian sites and around this time of year I see a lot of things about the Nativity, not the movie, but the Biblical account. One of the personalities I read about who's connected with all of that ends up being the Lord's forerunner, John, "the Baptist."

One of the most humorous things I think of occasionally when I think of John the Baptist, is a movie called "The Greatest Story Ever Told," where Charlton Heston played John. Once confronted by soldiers and told to come with them, he tells them he doesn't intend to go with them anywhere and grabs one and starts forcibly dunking him good, baptizing him whether he wants it or not! I don't remember that from my Bible, but it was funny nonetheless.

John was a cool guy. In earthly terms, the Lord said, "11 "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist;" Matt:11:11In my view he was the last of the great Old Testament prophets, and he was all about announcing the soon coming Messiah promised in it's parchment scrolls. Until Jesus was Baptized, I wonder if he knew for sure that his relative was truly the Anointed One. John's baptism was about repentance for sin, to acknowledge that indeed one was a sinner and that one needed forgiveness for one's sins. His baptism acknowledged the forgiveness that the Messiah would bring with Him.

People (whether they fully realized it or not) who were baptized by John were symbolically repenting and saying that they needed a Savior. It was a baptism in essence, that prepared them for the Messiah, but a reading of Acts 19:1 through 6 shows us that it was not a baptism that excluded the need for baptism in Christ, once they had come to faith in Him. This is one of the reasons that the early church baptised new believers, and why today, new believers should be baptised as well. John knew well that men should repent and turn their backs on sin, honoring Holy, Almighty God, and he acted obediently in faith by the strength of God.

John was submitted to God will in a fierce way. I stand myself next to my mind's image of a servant like John, and I feel like a total wimp. (laughing here)