by David Gibson<\/p>\n
The Bible calls him “a righteous and holy man<\/em>” (Mark 6:20 NASB). Jesus said of him, “He was the lamp that was burning and was shining<\/em> …” (John 5:35).<\/p>\n The task of John the Baptist was to prepare the people of Israel for the coming Messiah. John’s preaching consisted of two main themes: repentance, and the Coming One.<\/p>\n Concerning repentance, he preached the necessity of demonstrating a genuine change of heart by refraining from mistreating others and by sharing with those in need (Luke 3:7-14; Matthew 14:3-11). He was bold enough to rebuke Herod Antipas for his sins-and consequently was imprisoned and beheaded (Luke 3:29-20).<\/p>\n Concerning Christ, John said of Him, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world . . . . this is the Son of God<\/em>” (John 1:29, 34).<\/p>\n William Barclay says of John’s preaching, “… whatever the message of John was, it was not a gospel. It was not good news …” (The Gospel of Luke, p. 28). I beg to differ. The New Testament specifically states that John preached the gospel (Luke 3:18). The word “gospel” means “good news.” It’s true, John preached fire and damnation (Luke 3:7, 9). He had to announce the bad news before the good news could be fully appreciated. Only when we learn we have a life-threatening illness are we open to a cure.<\/p>\nThe good news John preached was that, despite God’s wrath against sin, He has sent us a Savior who will rescue us from a fate far worse than death. And it really was Good News!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson His mission The Bible calls him “a righteous and holy man” (Mark 6:20 NASB). Jesus said of him, “He was the lamp that was burning and was shining …” (John 5:35). The task of John the Baptist was to prepare the people of Israel for the coming Messiah. John’s preaching consisted of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[396],"class_list":["post-89699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-john-the-baptist"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37779,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-baptism-commanded-in-the-old-testament-at-the-time-of-john-the-baptist\/","url_meta":{"origin":89699,"position":0},"title":"Was baptism commanded in the Old Testament at the time of John the Baptist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was baptism commanded in the Old Covenant at the time of John the Baptist? I thought baptism was not commanded in the Old Testament for salvation. I have always heard that baptism was not commanded in the Old Testament. Am I missing something here? Mark 1:4 mentions John's baptism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60921,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-shall-we-do-then\/","url_meta":{"origin":89699,"position":1},"title":"What Shall We Do Then?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton John the Baptist was a fire and brimstone preacher. His appearance alone would strike fear into most hearts. \"Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey\" (Matthew 3:4). His sermons were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-wouldnt-have-liked-john-the-baptist-if\/","url_meta":{"origin":89699,"position":2},"title":"You Wouldn\u2019t Have Liked John The Baptist If\u2026","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Diestelkamp via Think on These Things Magazine, Vol. 56 No. 3, July-September 2025 If you struggle to listen to a preacher because of the way he dresses, you wouldn't have liked John the Baptist. His clothing was rough and was neither stylish nor formal (Matthew 3:4; 11:8). If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14284,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-was-johns-baptism-different-from-jesus-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":89699,"position":3},"title":"How was John’s baptism different from Jesus’ baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have some questions about John's baptism. I've read about how it was a fulfillment of prophecy to prepare the way, but I'm really confused about what that really means and what the point of John's baptism was. I am curious about a few things: What does \"preparing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7433,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-purpose-of-johns-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":89699,"position":4},"title":"What was the purpose of John’s baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: As part of our mid-week bible study, we have been discussing John the Baptist and how he prepared the way for Christ. I understand John's mission and the importance of baptism, but was it also used to prepare the people for the conversion (burial) into Christ? What was the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-did-baptism-for-the-remission-of-sins-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":89699,"position":5},"title":"When did baptism for the remission of sins start?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the \"Articles\" section, under Baptism, \"Answering Arguments Against Baptism\".\u00a0 You state that \"Baptism for the remission of sins did not begin until the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-38), so the thief (and Jesus) lived under the law of Moses.\" Please read Mark 1:4: \"John came baptizing in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}His message<\/h2>\n
\nAs William Hendriksen has written, “The Baptist’s warning, dire and dreadful though it may seem, is filled with mercy, for its purpose is that men may be converted” (New Testament Commentary: Luke, p. 212). That was the message God sent John to preach, and he faithfully preached it.\n