When we open the door of the New Testament, we soon meet Jesus Christ. Surprisingly, however, the writers of the four Gospels do not begin at once with the public ministry of Jesus. Matthew shows John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness; Mark connects the beginning of the gospel with the event of God’s messenger preparing the way; Luke records in detail from the promise of John’s birth; and the Gospel of John introduces a man sent from God to bear witness of the Light. The four writers differ in expression and emphasis, but they all set John the Baptist at the entrance to understanding the ministry of Jesus.

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The four Gospels are the name given collectively to the four books that testify of the coming, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The word ‘gospel’ originally means ‘good news,’ and it refers to the news that those who were under sin and death have obtained salvation freely through the Son of God. Therefore, the four Gospels are not a great man’s biography that records the life of Jesus, but the testimony of salvation that tells how He accomplished our salvation.

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The main figure of the Gospels is Jesus Christ. And yet all four Gospels place John the Baptist before the public ministry of Jesus. Matthew, after finishing the account of Jesus’ birth and flight, introduces John crying out for repentance in the wilderness before entering the scene of Jesus’ baptism. Mark is more direct. He declares the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and then immediately speaks of the messenger who would prepare the way and of the voice in the wilderness.

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The appearance of John the Baptist was not an impromptu event. The prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi say that before the Lord comes, a man will appear to prepare the way. Isaiah’s wilderness is not a road of man-made prosperity but the place where the way for God’s coming is prepared. The voice crying in the wilderness does not put itself forward; it urges that the way of the LORD be made straight.

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The Gospel of Luke especially emphasizes the historicity of John the Baptist. In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, there appear Zacharias, a priest of the division of Abijah, and Elizabeth, of the daughters of Aaron. This couple were righteous and walked according to the commandments, but they had no child and were well advanced in years. It is precisely within that reality that God’s promise begins. Luke sets John’s birth not in mythical space but within a specific age, a specific family, and the service of the temple.

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The first cry of John the Baptist was the command to repent. The Gospel of Matthew makes clear the reason: the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Repentance is not a human merit that brings the kingdom of heaven. It is the response of straightening the way of the heart to receive the King of heaven who has drawn near.

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The baptism Jesus received from John, by which He fulfilled all the righteousness of God, becomes the central event that unlocks the relationship of the four Gospels. Because the baptism John gave was tied to the repentance of sinners, the coming of the sinless Jesus to be baptized by John raises a puzzling question. John the Baptist himself felt that incongruity and tried to prevent Him, saying that he himself needed to be baptized by Jesus. But at Jesus’ command, to fulfill the righteousness of God, he became the one who gave baptism upon the head of Jesus.

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In the atoning sacrifices of the Old Testament, the sinner laid his hands on the head of an unblemished offering. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest laid both his hands on the head of the live goat and confessed all the iniquities and transgressions of Israel, putting them on the goat’s head. That goat was sent away into the wilderness carrying the sins. This ceremony teaches that sin is not lightly ignored; it must be moved and dealt with through a representative and an offering.

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