
John the Baptist can seem like an elusive Biblical character, cropping up at some key moments but otherwise a bit of an unknown. In reality, we know quite a lot about John from across the gospels: his birth, his (very public) death, and several other key moments when he played his part in the gospel narrative.
Connecting John's story together is a purpose: a purpose announced before John was even born, that he would 'bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God', and that he would 'go on before the Lord… to make a ready a people prepared for the Lord' (Luke 1:16-17).
So in the book of John, chapter 1, we meet John as his purpose comes front and centre - as he points at his relative, Jesus, and declares, 'This is the one I meant…' (John 1:30). We may not identify readily with John the prophet, living in the wilderness and calling a nation to repent and believe - yet his example of understanding God's big picture, and responding in faith, is something every Christian can follow.
We will think about this in three ways:
- Knowing our purpose
- Fulfilling our purpose
- Enabling the purpose of others