THE UNEXPECTED MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
Although he was the son of the Levite priest, Zechariah, in the line of Abijah, one of the 24 orders of priests in the line of Eleazar, son of Aaron, John did not serve in the Temple. Instead, led by the Spirit, he preached in the wilderness on the East side of the Jordan. He did not wear the rich flowing robes of the Temple leaders, but was clothed in a cloak of camel’s hair. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild honey. He did not answer to the Jewish leaders, but to the Lord, for his authority came from the Lord. It was this that the Jewish leaders came to question. For their real question was, “Who gives you the right to baptize?” In other words they were saying, “We are the religious authority and we don’t remember ordaining you.”
John knew that they did not recognize him, nor did they recognize that the Messiah was already standing right there in the midst of the crowd (John 1:26). John refused to be cast in one of their expected eschatologies. His only answer to their question concerning his identity was to quote the prophet Isaiah, “I am a voice crying in the wilderness” (Isa. 40:3). It was a voice they had no ears to hear. John’s ministry was not the one they expected. But it was the one the prophets foretold.