Approach: Reading some Old Testament passages and their corresponding New Testament passages to learn how John the Baptist is involved with the messianic prophecies of Jesus Christ.

Hermeneutic objective: Learning how to identify and study messianic prophecies.

Theological objective: Jesus considered John the Baptist the greatest prophet because:

1) he was fearless in his preaching about repentance and the coming kingdom of God (which was uniquely different from what Pharisees were teaching),

2) he was fearless in preparing people for the coming Messiah,

3) to the Jews in Jerusalem challenging His claim of being the Son of God, Jesus presents the testimony of John as one piece of evidence (John 5:31-35), and

4) to the genuine Old Testament Believer, John the Baptist's testimony was instrumental to the calling of Jesus' first disciples (John 1:35-42).