John is mentioned by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus[25] and he is revered as a major religious figure[26] in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí faith,[27] the Druze faith, and Mandaeism, the latter in which he is considered to be the final and most vital prophet. He is considered to be a prophet of God by all of the aforementioned faiths, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian denominations. According to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself,[28] likely Simon Magus but according to the Gospels, John is portrayed as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus.[29] According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus himself identifies John as "Elijah who is to come",[30] which is a direct reference to the Book of Malachi (Malachi 4:5),[31] as confirmed by the angel who announced John's birth to his father, Zechariah.[32] According to the Gospel of Luke, John and Jesus were relatives.[33][34]
Some scholars maintain that John belonged to the Essenes, a semi-ascetic Jewish sect who expected a messiah and practised ritual baptism.[35][36] John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament[37] of his pre-messianic movement. Most biblical scholars agree that John baptized Jesus,[38][39] and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus's early followers had previously been followers of John.[40] According to the New Testament, John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas around AD 30 after John rebuked him for divorcing his wife Phasaelis and then unlawfully wedding Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Philip I. Josephus also mentions John in the Antiquities of the Jews and states that he was executed by order of Herod Antipas in the fortress at Machaerus.[41]
Followers of John existed well into the 2nd century AD, and some proclaimed him to be the Messiah awaited by Jews.[42] In modern times, the followers of John the Baptist are the Mandaeans, an ancient ethnoreligious group who believe that he is their greatest and final prophet.[43][44] In the Roman martyrology, apart from Jesus and the Virgin Mary, John is the only saint whose birth and death are both commemorated.[45]
^Luke 1:36 indicates that John was born about six months before Jesus, whose birth cannot be dated later than early in AD 4, L. Morris, "John the Baptist", ed. Geoffrey W Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1938–1958), 1108.
^Lang, Bernhard (2009) International Review of Biblical Studies Brill Academic Pub ISBN9004172548 p. 380 – "33/34 AD Herod Antipas's marriage to Herodias (and beginning of the ministry of Jesus in a sabbatical year); 35 AD – death of John the Baptist"
^Funk, Robert W. & the Jesus Seminar (1998). The Acts of Jesus: The search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus. San Francisco: Harper; "John the Baptist" cameo, p. 268
^Funk, Robert W. & the Jesus Seminar (1998). The Acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus. San Francisco: Harper. "Mark", pp. 51–161.
^Harris, Stephen L. (1985). Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. p. 382
^Marshall, I. H.; Millard, A. R.; Packer, J. I., eds. (1988). "John the Baptist". New Bible Dictionary (Third ed.). IVP reference collection. ISBN978-0-85110-636-6.
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