"With the arrival of John the Baptist on the religious scene there would be no further need of any prophet to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. The one of whom John said he was unworthy to be his servant would be the Messiah in person, the long promised Saviour of His people. There would be no more predictions of the qualities of the future Messiah. John would step aside and allow the Christ to speak for Himself. It was, without doubt, a turning point in the history of salvation. With John the long line of prophets would reach its climax.

The circumstances of John's birth are striking in themselves. His parents are old, his father a priest of the Temple of Jerusalem. Zechariah is striken dumb before John's birth and has to indicate on a writing tablet the name of his son. No wonder people expected great things from John and he did not disappoint them. He grew to maturity in spirit and went to the wilderness to prepare for his mission of "proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the whole people of Israel". He stated that he was not the Christ whom the people imagined him to be but he did not fail to bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.