John the Baptist had a great influence on his hearers, for he preached powerfully as someone who had authority from God, feared nobody, criticized the acts of Herod Antipas, and rebuked him for living in incest with his brother’s wife, showing a bad example to his people.
The people wondered at his courage, and thought he was the Christ to come. However John continued in his faithfulness, and disowned all pretensions to the honor of being himself the Christ, though all the people expected the coming of the promised One who would make radical reforms to the corrupt state of the Jews.
The Baptist revealed to the people his essence and the nature of his message that is to prepare the way of Christ through self-denial in genuine repentance. In comparison between John and Christ, he said he was not worthy to untie the thongs of Christ’s sandals. John consigned his followers, and turned them over from himself to Jesus Christ, setting a great example in humility to all ministers of the Lord.
Then he clarified to the public that the baptism with water is not sufficient for salvation, for it is only an indication of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, which Christ administers in his divine power. Did the Holy Spirit dwell in you through your faith in the Savior? Do you know the only power that renews hearts and minds? Do not be afraid of the Holy Spirit, for he is not a consuming fire, but a paradise, which refines your heart and comforts your mind. This gentle Spirit is God himself. The Father and the Son want to live in you and in every believer. Christ came to reconcile us with his Father, so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in those justified and confirm them in communion with God forever. Then the believer bears fruits worthy of repentance, for we cannot fulfill the law unless we are born of God, and his love is continued in us through the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to bear many good fruits and your fruits remain.
John saw Christ as a harvester in the threshing floor of the world, who, in the storm of God’s judgment, separates the weighty wheat from the flying chaff. As such Christ, at the end of time, will separate the believers who work in love from those that are not filled with the Holy Spirit, but are living carelessly, for the power of the Spirit of Christ alone makes us righteous and accepted. Without this power we are evil and dust, and must be burnt in the fire of God’s condemnation. So open yourself today to the Spirit of the Lord, so that he may purify you in the fire of his divine love and you may humble yourself as John did, glorify the power of Christ, bow down before him, and worship him thankfully and repentantly.
Satan and his followers hated John because of his frank testimony, powerful fruits, and straight behavior. When John completed his testimony, God allowed that his messenger be put in the prison of Herod, the adulterer, in order to examine the prophet’s faith, and show his continuing faithfulness even to death. Thus John became, even in his sufferings, a forerunner and symbol of the Christ to come.