There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light (John 1:6-8 NASB).
We don’t often think of John the Baptist when thinking of Christmas. As far as I know, there are no Christmas hymns dedicated to him, he does not appear in the manger scene, and he does not appear in any Christmas play that I’ve seen. But in the observance of Advent, the person and message of John the Baptist is significant in our preparation for the celebration of Christmas.
John is “a man sent from God.” The last words of the Old Testament prophets were, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5 NASB). Malachi preached during the post-exilic period of Israel. It is common to refer to the time between Malachi and Matthew as “the silent years.” While I would not refer to them as the silent years (there was a lot going on!) it is true that for generations there was no prophetic voice. The appearance of John the Baptist stirred the hopeful imagination of the people that their day of deliverance was at hand. The Jewish leaders of Jerusalem send a party to inquire of John, “Are you Elijah… are you the Prophet?” (John 1:21). Although John denied it, Jesus later affirmed that John did come in the spirit of Elijah (Matthew 11:14); John is the forerunner of whom Malachi prophesied. As the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” (John 1:23), John personifies the collective voices of Israel’s prophets from Moses to Malachi. John is the last of the Old Testament prophets.