Absolutely, I believe they were real people, people who lived, who did exactly as depicted in the Scriptures of them, and were people . . . who have now gone on the live with the Lord. I certainly do believe that . . . just as I believe the Bible is true and correct . . . without any errors. I believe it is the Book of Life . . . and beyond. I believe it reveals much about both God and man. I believe it tells man’s story . . . I believe it reveals God’s story about redemption.
I actually like to read it, study it . . . and learn from those who are pictured therein. I really like them . . . mostly all of them . . . with a few exceptions . . . Judas, as well as many of the Kings such as Pharaoh, the Roman soldiers who did Herod’s bidding, the High Priest . . . and the like, and the Pharisees.
There are some characters I really can relate to, some to which I am quite tender . . . like the two blind fellows who sat by the road as Jesus passed. There are those who I would love to be like: the Apostle John . . . the Apostle Paul . . . and King David.
Perhaps my favorite was John the Baptist . . . for a number of reasons such as:
He was unique in so many ways . . . appearance, mannerism, method of speech, diet, boldness, and so much more. He was a man of principle . . . a man of character . . . a man on an important mission. A man who opposed and challenged his culture, the thinking of his culture . . . and its behavior . . . and didn’t pause for a second. He certainly didn’t back up from those who opposed.
His father had been a priest . . . and by birth he rightly ought to have also been a Priest, but the problem was that he despised the hypocrisy of it all. He abandoned that and went out into the wilderness. It was there that John found God . . . and heard His message to be delivered to the world. He went forward . . . and delivered the message.
The people of his era had an appetite for information about the Lord . . . in spite of having some very foolish beliefs. They heard that John was preaching near the Jordan River . . . and they came in large groups. The serious folks came, the curious came, and the skeptic came. They came to hear. Some came to chuckle, to ridicule; others came to judge him and his ministry. Some came to justify themselves. Some heard and responded . . . others did not. Such is the way of life.
The Lord had some very special things to say about John. He spoke highly of John . . . things we would love to have Him say about us.
Do you know what happened to John? He was treated poorly . . . in fact, he was killed just as had been all of the Prophets before him.
John was in the form of an Old Testament Prophet
. . . who walked out of the Old Testament . . . and into the New Testament. He
came to deliver the Lord’s message. He came to bear witness to the Light. He
did that very thing!