ISAIAH 62:10
Go through, go through the gates;
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
lift up a signal over the peoples.
11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.”
12 And they shall be called The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.
Christmas is a tale of two babies. As you know the mothers were cousins and both families received visits from the high ranking angel Gabriel to announce their conception. Today we are going to talk about the lesser of the two babies, even though when he is grown it will be said of John by Jesus himself, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).
The high priest of Israel at this time was an illegitimate appointment made by the Roman government. The position hadn’t been held by a legitimate descendent of Zadok since Onias led the order out of Jerusalem to Egypt (see Parousia - Part 1). But John’s father, Zechariah, was a priestly descendant of the Zadok order, and he was chosen by lot to enter the Holy Place in the temple to burn incense before the Lord. A very rare and high honor.
It was on this occasion that he received a visit from the angel Gabriel about a son that would be born to Elizabeth and him in their old age. The angel gave strict orders that his name would be Yochanan, or John. Being past childbearing years, Zechariah initially didn’t believe the news. So he received an early Christmas present from the annoyed angel; muteness. When the baby was born and Elizabeth was asked what the name would be, she insisted it would be John. She got pushback on the name from the community because none of the close relatives carried that name. So they double checked with dad, and he adamantly affirmed Elizabeth’s naming of the child, not the least of which because he wanted his speech back. As soon as he affirmed the name, he could talk again. Apparently that name was a big deal, but why?
There appears to be a connection to the last known and legitimate high priest in the line of Aaron, dating to around 175 BCE. The priest was called in Greek Onias III, but according to the Scroll of Ben Sirach Chapter 50, Verse 1, his name in Hebrew was בֶּן יוֹחָנָן הַכֹּהֵן (“Yochanan the Priest”), corresponding to the abbreviated name "Honi."
In naming the child Yochanan or John, it connected the earthly Zadokite priesthood of John the Baptist to the last known and legitimate Zadokite priesthood of Yochanan (Onias III) just before the whole Zadokite line was removed from their Temple service about 50 years before the birth of Yeshua. Through John the Immerser, the nearly broken Zadokite priesthood of Earth was given legitimacy to the Melchizedek/Zadokite line of Heaven, establishing an eternal connection to Melchizedek/Yeshua (from Ancient Roads: Real Israel Talk Radio; Analysis, History, and Teachings of the House of Tzadok Relating to the Ministry of John the Baptist and the Ministry of Yeshua 3 of 4)
But Zechariah wasn’t just a priest, according to the writings of Hippolytus of Rome, Zechariah was the leader of an ancient school of prophets traced all the way back from Moses all the way forward to his son John. Serving in this position meant he was responsible for guarding the integrity of the Law of Moses and transmitting it to future generations. It was while serving in this capacity he was murdered by the ruling class of Israel.
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According to the Orthodox church: “King Herod began to slaughter the children of Bethlehem after the Lord Jesus had been born. The king sent men to find and kill the son of Zachariah because he had heard all that had happened to Zachariah, and how John had been born. Elizabeth fled with John when she saw the soldiers. Herod was enraged that the child John had not been found and ordered Zachariah to be slain before the altar in the temple.”
So when John begins his ministry from the wilderness, not 8 miles from the caves of Qumran where many Dead Sea Scrolls were found, Zechariah has long been dead. Two men named Annas and Caiaphas were serving as high priests of Israel. These are the two men who oversaw the corrupt prosecution and murder of Jesus Christ. Note what author Dr. Ken Johnson says about what this means for John’s ministry:
“What is the most interesting thing to note about this text is that Annas and Caiaphas were evil, but had the title of chief priest and leader of the School of the Prophets. In reality, if they became apostate, then by Mosaic Law, the true leader would be the last in succession. So, the head of the School of the Prophets in Qumran would fall back to this Joseph the Levite. If he died without having any children, it would revert back to the previous leader who would be Zechariah the priest, and his firstborn son was John the Baptist. (Ancient Mysteries of the Essenes p. 321)
So from the perspective of heaven and the Mosaic law, John is not only the leader of the school of prophets, but he is also “chief” (or prince) of the Zadok priests. This has significant implications as it pertains to what is happening at the baptism of Jesus. Valid Old Testament kings were always anointed by prophets. And since Jesus descended from the tribe of Judah (the royal lineage), not tribe of Levi (the priestly lineage), he had to be ordained into the priesthood according to some other order. In this case, the order of Melchizedek, king of the Zadok priests. “in order for all righteousness to be fulfilled” (Matthew 3:15), or in order for the legal requirements of the law to be met.
So John, functioning as an exiled presiding chief of the Zadok priests and head of the school of prophets, played a crucial role in launching the ministry of Jesus into a combined office of both king and priest. According to the book of Hebrews chapters 4-8, a priesthood superior in every way to that of the Levitical priesthood. Only John didn’t anoint Jesus with oil merely symbolizing God’s power and presence, like prophets of old once did, Jesus was affirmed and anointed with an audible voice of God himself and the actual manifest presence of the Holy Spirit.
And might I remind you, we received the baptism of Jesus Christ, not John’s, which means we have been consecrated into this exact same priesthood with Jesus as both kings and priests forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
John, functioning as a forerunner of Jesus Christ to prepare the way for His greater ministry, was acting as a midwife for a heavenly agenda to be launched in an earthly realm. John was engaging in subversive and tactical spiritual warfare against the crooked and perverse authorities of his generation. These two babies grown and formed into mighty men were criminal rebels according to the Roman and Jewish authorities, but they were revolutionary freedom fighters according to the courts of heaven.
So what does all of this mean for us today? Well first of all, as great as John was, we need to be reminded of this. Jesus also said, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Matthew 11:11).” We are inheriting very high expectations.
One of the prophecies of the Zadok priests was this:
“the Holy Spirit told them one of their order would fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah which says, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”” (Isaiah 40:3–5) (Essenes p. 326)
Which we know John understood himself to fulfill in his own life and ministry. But they also prophesied this:
The “Sons of Zadok” are the chosen of Israel, called HaShem, WHOSE PRIESTHOOD REAPPEARS IN THE LAST DAYS.” (Damascus Document 7)
And finally it says in Malachi, the final word of God from the Old Testament before this age of grace was launched in the Melchizedekian ministry of Jesus Christ:
Malachi 4:4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
John’s ministry was only a partial fulfillment of a greater work God has planned for the time immediately preceding what is called “the great and awesome day of the Lord”, or the second coming of Jesus Christ. John is a forerunner, not only of the first coming of Jesus Christ to the nation of Israel, but of a ministry God wants to repeat in the end time church for all the nations. This time it is a ministry not just for the nation of Israel, but to prepare the global church for the coming earthly kingdom of God.
In light of that, let’s take a final moment to take careful note of what John did and taught in his role as a forerunner of Jesus Christ. This is critical if we are going to become equipped to function as midwives for a new heavenly agenda that is even now coming upon the earth:
Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
(Communicating the message of the gospel of the kingdom, and convincing people that it is upon them, will be the main mission of the end time church).
Matthew 3:4 Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
(John was comfortable with being an outcast and not fitting in. He learned to be content with very meager provisions.)
Luke 1:16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
(John is leading a religious revival in the wilderness. Many of the corrupt leaders were repenting Lk 3:7-14)
Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
(This prophetic message will be direct and abrasive to those in bondage to various political ideologies. As governments become increasingly corrupt, patriotism, which may have been appropriate and good at one point in history, now causes one to be in agreement with satan’s antichrist agenda. We must begin now disentangling ourselves from political factions and affiliations and binding ourselves exclusively to the message of the kingdom. Messiah will destroy all of these at his second coming)
Luke 3:10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
(In order to survive the coming chaos, we must develop the judgement to discern right from wrong, mainly by studying and practicing the Sermon on the Mount along with the rest of scripture. As we disentangle ourselves from macro corrupt political ideologies, we should dedicate ourselves to serving and supporting our local communities and public servants. We must stop trying to squeeze every dime and penny in every business transaction and practice radical generosity towards our neighbors.)
Finally, in the most troubled times in all of human history that are coming upon the earth, here will be how God assists those who participate in this ministry:
Luke 21:34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Revelation 12:6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, WHERE SHE HAS A PLACE PREPARED by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
Malachi 4:2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.