Get to know a Bible character June 25, 2012 Issue

John the Baptist and Jesus–fulfilling a great promise

Did you know that Jesus had a cousin called John the Baptist? John was only six months older than Jesus. So it’s easy to imagine these two boys having a great time playing together when they were kids. But they probably didn’t. John lived near Jerusalem and Jesus lived in Nazareth, many miles north of Jerusalem. Though the Bible doesn’t tell us about their childhood, we know that Zacharias, John’s father, was a priest. And he probably trained John to serve in the temple in Jerusalem as he did. We also know that Jesus was a carpenter like Joseph.

Did you know? You can read about John in the books of Matthew and Luke, chapter 3.

Like all Jewish boys, John and Jesus went to a synagogue school, where they were taught about God and learned the Ten Commandments. And their families helped them learn how to obey the Commandments. In school they would also have learned about the prophets and of God’s promises to send a messenger and a Messiah who would bring healing to the people (see Isaiah 35:3–5, 40:3; Malachi 3:1). 