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Who is John the Baptist who baptized Jesus?
God gave Israel His Law through
Moses as well as the sacrificial system so that they could
attain atonement for their sins and iniquities. He ordained
Aaron, the elder brother of Moses, as the High Priest and
had him offer the sacrifice of atonement on the tenth day
of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, so that the yearly
sins of Israel could be washed away (Leviticus 16).
God specified that the sacrifice
of the Day of Atonement could only be offered by Aaron and
the succeeding High Priests among his descendants. God opened
the way for Israelites to atone for all their sins through
the laying on of Aaron's hands on the head of the scapegoat.
This is the law of atonement God established for them.
By this shadow, He let it be
known clearly that Jesus was the Savior of mankind. In the
age of the New Testament, God sent John the Baptist, a descendant
of Aaron (1 Chronicles 24:10, Luke 1:5) and the last High
Priest of the Old Testament (Matthew 11:11-13). John the Baptist,
as the God-sent prophet, representative and High Priest of
humankind, baptized Jesus in order to pass all the sins of
humankind onto Him, the Son of God, who came to save sinners.
All people are blessed indeed
to be able to pass their sins onto Jesus through John the
Baptist. The role of John was to be the High Priest who represented
humankind and the servant of God who passed all our sins onto
Jesus.
John the Baptist was the representative
and the High Priest of humankind sent by God, and the messenger
who was sent 6 months prior to Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus
was the Lamb of God who took away all the sins of the world
while John the Baptist was the last High Priest who passed
the sins of the world onto Jesus through baptism. John the
Baptist was a servant of God.
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