Today, June 24th, is celebrated as St. John the Baptist Day or the Nativity of John the Baptist Day. He came to prepare the way of the Lord! In many countries it is a public holiday, tied to the Midsummer celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the Summer Solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe as a ‘good-luck’ goddess, Fortuna, day. But to followers of Christ, John was a per-curser to Christ himself, and a shadow of the Prophet Elijah prophesied to come at the end. He will baptize in the Holy Spirit and in fire! According to Jesus, there is no one greater, born of woman, than John in the Kingdom, except one.
“Truly I say unto you, ‘Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is the Lesser in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he… For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you will receive it, this is Elijah, which was for to come. He that has ears to hear, let him hear.”
-Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 11:11-15
Nativity of John the Baptist foretold
“The Angel said to Zacharias, ‘Fear not, Zacharias: for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elisabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you shall have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the LORD… and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the LORD their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the heart of the Father to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Gospel of Luke 1:13-17
The Messenger of the Covenant
“Behold, I will send My Messenger/Angel, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness…”
Malachi 3:1-7
“Remember the Law of Moses My servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before/in the face of the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the Father to the children, and the heart of the children to their Father, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Malachi 4:4-6
Baptism of Spirit and Fire
“And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he was the Christ/Messiah, or not. John answered, saying to them all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I comes, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.”
Gospel of Luke 3:15-17
The Deliverer
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the Great Prince which stands for the children of Your people: and there shall be a Time of Tribulation, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time Your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the Book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that are wise shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever.”
Daniel 12:1-3
“…And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, ‘There shall come out of Sion/Zion the Deliverer/Savior/Redeemer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is My Covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”
Paul – Romans 11:25
“The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for Me, this is My Covenant with them, saith the LORD; My Spirit that is upon you, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth… saith the LORD, from henceforth and forever.”
Isaiah 59:20-21
The Measuring Rod – 6 x 24 = 144
“He brought me there, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed/rod; and he stood in the gate… And behold a Wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a measuring rod of six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth…”
Ezekiel 40:3
1 cubit = (18” + 6”) = 24”
1 reed/rod = 6 cubits x 24” = 144” ÷ 12” = 12’
12’ x 12’ = 144 sq’
The Bride, the Lamb’s Wife
“I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away… And I John saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
“And there came unto me one of the seven angels … and talked with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high Mountain, and showed me that Great City, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, having the Glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal…”
The Measure of the Man – 6 x 24 = 144
“And had a Wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. The Wall of the City had twelve Foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed/rod to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the Wall thereof… And he measured the Wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of the man, that is, of the Angel.”
Revelation 21:1-2, 9-19
144 cubits x 24” = 3456” ÷ 12” = 288’
6 x 24 = 144
The Righteous Remnant – 144,000
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion/Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Name and his Father’s Name written in their foreheads… And they sung as it were a New Song before the Throne … and no one could learn that song but the Hundred and Forty and Four thousand, which were Redeemed from the earth… These are they which follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”
Revelation 14:1-4
“…These are the measures of the Righteous; and cords shall the Righteous bring, that they may trust in the Name of the LORD of Spirits forever and ever… These are the measures which shall give faith/trust, and which shall strengthen the Words of the Righteous. These measures shall reveal all the secrets in the depth of the earth.”
Book of Enoch 60:3-6
“I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the mind of man.”
Jesus – Gospel of Thomas :17
“His Name shall endure for ever: His Name shall be continued as long as the Sun and the people shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
Psalms 72:17-20
Blessed is the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things. And blessed is His Glorious Name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with His Glory; Amen.”