John the Baptist had the spirit and power of Elijah, and he did the work of Elijah in turning many Israelites to the Lord their God (Luke 1:16-17). Furthermore, he was the first one in the New Testament who was filled with the Holy Spirit; hence, in typology he was the Elijah who was about to come. Concerning John, the Lord said, “And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah, who is about to come” (Matt. 11:14). This word means that if the Jews at that time would receive John’s testimony and teaching, John would be their Elijah. However, the prophecy concerning the coming of Elijah in Malachi 4:5 will actually be fulfilled in the great tribulation, when Elijah, one of the two witnesses, will come to strengthen God’s people (Rev. 11:3-12).
Toward the end of the Old Testament age, there were two major sects among the Jews: the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were frequently mentioned in the New Testament. After John the Baptist began his ministry, his disciples produced a new sect, a new religion, called the disciples of John (Matt. 9:14; John 3:25), in addition to the Pharisees and Sadducees.
John the Baptist dropped the old religion and began his ministry in the wilderness outside of religion (Matt. 3:1). However, his disciples made his teachings into a new religion to frustrate men from receiving Christ, just as the Pharisees of the old religion did. The ministry of John the Baptist was to introduce men to Christ that Christ might become their Redeemer, their life, and their all. However, some of his disciples drifted away from his goal, Christ, to some of his practices, making them a religion. To be religious means to do things for God without Christ. Even to do anything scriptural and fundamental, yet lacking the presence of Christ, is religious.
John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, the voice of one crying in the wilderness (John 1:23). After Christ came out to minister, John should have stopped his work and withdrawn himself from the scene so that Christ might be the only One on the scene, and all those who followed him should have gone to Christ. But because John did not withdraw right away, when his disciples saw that all the people were going to the Lord Jesus to be baptized (John 3:26), they wanted to do justice for their teacher, thus causing John’s work to compete with Christ. If John would no longer have baptized people and would have told all his disciples that they should follow Jesus, not allowing people to follow him, there would have been no difficulty.
At the end John the Baptist was put into prison by Herod the tetrarch and was beheaded. This ending speaks forth, on the one hand, the evil, the corruption, and the darkness of Roman politics; on the other hand, it also shows the result of John the Baptist’s not stopping his work. He once testified strongly saying that He was not the Christ but a messenger sent before Christ. He also aggressively announced that Christ was the Bridegroom coming to marry the bride (the church composed of all the believers in Christ), that he was only a friend of the Bridegroom, and that Christ must increase and he must decrease (John 3:28-30). Since this was the case, he should have withdrawn and no longer baptized people, because the One of whom he testified was already baptizing people. But he was still there baptizing people, causing his disciples to be in rivalry with Christ. Therefore, God had to raise up the environment to remove him and terminate his ministry. Yet the baptism of repentance left by him was still being received by people, though it had become the out-of-date truth, thus becoming a hindrance to God’s New Testament economy (Acts 18:25; 19:1-5).
The Israelites took all that God gave to their forefathers in the Old Testament and made it into dead religious regulations and rituals. Under such a background John the Baptist, through God’s miraculous empowering, was born of his old and barren parents into a priestly family of the Jewish religion of that time. From his mother’s womb he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Though born a priest, he cut himself off from the holy temple and from the traditional religion and culture to live in the wilderness. There he lived in a “wild” way contrary to all traditions of the forefathers. In the wilderness, away from the atmosphere of religion and culture, he was the forerunner of Christ, a voice crying out to pave the way for Christ and introduce Christ. He preached the baptism of repentance and prepared the people’s hearts to receive Christ. He had the spirit and power of Elijah to change the people’s minds, turning them to Christ. He testified for Christ and aggressively declared to his disciples that Christ was the Bridegroom coming to marry the church, that he was only a messenger as the Bridegroom’s friend, and that this Christ must increase and he must decrease. Yet his disciples made his teachings into another religion, causing his work to be in rivalry with Christ. Therefore, God allowed him to be imprisoned, even beheaded, thus removing him and terminating his work which, although unintentionally, was in real rivalry with Christ. The baptism of repentance left by him was still accepted by people and became a hindrance to God’s New Testament economy.