John the Baptist and Jesus

We first see the importance of John the Baptist in the circumstances of his birth. A supernatural birth testifies to the importance of John the Baptist. This is a theme that runs throughout Scripture.

Think back through redemptive history. Abraham is called to be a father of a multitude of nations. Remember the problem: Sarah is barren and for 25 years after the promise that Abraham is going to be a father of a multitude of nations. She remains barren until God miraculously opens the womb when she is 90 and Abraham is 100, and Isaac is born. The son of promise is born a supernatural birth. Isaac gets married to Rebekah to continue on this line of salvation; the seed coming. Rebekah is barren. Twenty years they are married without a child. The Lord opens the womb and we have Jacob and Esau. Jacob is the son of promise from that. Again, this barrenness bringing God's fulfillment of his plan.

Jacob has two wives and he has a whole issue with his family situation and the Lord works through that to give us the 12 tribes of Israel. The wife who really had his heart was Rachel and she was barren. She couldn't have a child and when God opened her womb, Joseph was born, the one who would deliver them from famine and death, deliver the whole nation. Hannah, also barren, gives birth to Samuel, the last judge and the first great prophet.

This theme runs throughout the Old Testament. Whenever there is a barren person who is miraculously given a child, that child is great in the sight of God: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel and Samson. The same thing happens with John the Baptist. It's not accidental.