John the Baptist, or John, son of Zechariah. His father was a priest in the temple and had grown old with his wife. They had no children and he had never had the opportunity to serve on a feast, something each priest looked forward to. Regardless, they remained blameless in the sight of God.
While serving late in life upon a feast, he encounters an angel and is told of the coming of his son, who he was to name John. He disbelieves and as struck mute until the son is named as a result. Upon the naming of John, he praises God and blessed his son as the one who would come before Jesus and proclaim the way of the LORD.
Aside
The timing of this event is actually fairly well known. 2 Chronicles tells us the order of the service of priests. This means John was likely born right around Passover and Jesus, therefore, was born around the feast of Tabernacles. For more, read Christmas
As John grows, he is filled with the spirit and led into the wilderness to grow. According to some extra biblical sources, his parents are killed while he is still a toddler as Herod had heard of the miracle and feared he was the Messiah. John is described as a wild looking man who wore camels skin, ate honey and locust, and drink no wine.
Jesus, his cousin, demands that John baptize him - thus his Christian name of “the baptist” - at which point Jesus’s ministry begins. Shortly thereafter, John is taken hostage, imprisoned, and beheaded because of his “offensive word” against Herodotus the queen: saying that adultery - and especially taking her husband’s brother as a second husband - was sinful.
Jesus tells us that John was the one who was prophesized about, carrying the spirit of Elijah upon him and proclaiming the name of the LORD (Luke 3:4-6, Matt 11:14, Malachi 4:5-6), that we may be ready to receive Jesus.
Links:
righteousness Jesus The Nazarite Vow
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