GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH SEMINARY
MODULE 68
SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST -
"APOSTLE" [1] OF THE PREBORN
St John the Baptist was the cousin of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This boy child would be no ordinary child; he was to be great before the Lord and have a special mission. As part of this mission, he would drink no wine nor strong drink. This had been foretold by the Angel Gabriel to Zechariah. [Luke 1;15]
The angel told Zechariah that God had already chosen the name for the infant; his name would be John. The name 'John' in Hebrew יוֹחָנָן [Yohanan] means 'Yahweh has been gracious'. What is more - and vitally important - is that the infant John was filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, according to Angel Gabriel.
At this time, the Holy Spirit was not given the way He would be in the Christian age [Acts 1:4-8, 2;1-4, 2;17-18, 38-39]. However, the Holy Spirit was given to the prophets to enable them for their ministry [1 Samuel 10;10, 2 Samuel 23;2, Isaiah 61;1]. The fact that John was filled with the Holy Spirit in utero, indicated that he would be a particularly powerful prophet.
John in fact was the mighty prophet promised by God, the Elijah figure foretold by the Almighty. Within the tiny form of the preborn child, God enwrapped His Holy Spirit - making John the forerunner of the golden Christian age of the free gift of the water and fire of God's own Divine Spirit.
[1] "Apostle" denotes one of the twelve chief disciples of Jesus Christ. The word may also denote an important Christian teacher or early missionary: "Kiril and Metodije, apostles to the Slavs."
The word "apostle" further may mean an advocate of a cause. The word has been used in reference to St John the Baptist as supporter of the God-touched life of the preborn.
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