When asked who he was, John the Baptist replied, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias” (John 1:23). John’s short, powerful, and effective ministry prepared the way for the Messiah. Yet he worked no miracles. He didn’t heal the sick. He never cast out demons. The sun never stood still at his command, nor did the waters part under his outstretched rod. He slew no giants. He conquered no armies. He never tamed a den of hungry lions through the power of prayer. John built no ark, nor did he call down fire out of heaven. And yet, Jesus said, “There is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist” (Luke 7:28). What made this man the greatest prophet?

John’s ministry focused on the spoken word. His message revived the prophetic voice, for centuries silent among God’s people. His mission was to speak the truth. And speak the truth he did, even to those who, like King Herod, hated the truth and possessed the power to silence him. 

John uttered no prophecies of doom against the heathen nations surrounding Israel. He thundered no warnings of impending judgment against the oppressors of God’s people. Instead, his message, like that of the prophets before him, destroyed the deceptions of the sinful heart. It revealed the sin and hypocrisy of those who claimed to serve God. It called everyone–rich and poor, rulers and paupers, Jews and Gentiles–to recognize their pride, perversion, and perilous spiritual condition. His message attacked sin itself–that most dangerous enemy of true religious liberty.

The true prophetic voice has always done the same. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly and consistently warned against the self-righteous delusions of the chosen people. Isaiah wrote, “Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes” (Isaiah 1:16). The prophet Amos warned with similar words, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them… But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:21, 22, 24). Malachi repeated the divine call to a rebellious priesthood: “[Y]e are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 2:8).

The prophetic message is rarely accepted, and the prophets who speak it are frequently hated. The Bible records the sad history. “And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chronicles 36:15, 16). With tears in His eyes, Jesus warned the religious leaders of His day that, in rejecting Him, they were about to repeat the same mistake of their predecessors and once again silence the prophetic voice. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Matthew 23:37, 38). Because of its rejection of the living Word of God, the nation, and its beloved temple, would soon fall under judgment. For the second time in its history, Jerusalem would be destroyed for rejecting the prophetic voice. The inescapable lesson for us is difficult to hear but cannot be ignored. Far too often, God’s own professed servants have proved to be the greatest threat to their own religious liberty.

Religious liberty, and frequently life itself, hinges on the strength, clarity, and timeliness of the prophetic voice. Before the Genesis flood, Noah’s prophetic voice called people out of the world and into the ark. Their salvation depended on their response to the message. At the time of the exodus, Moses’ prophetic voice called the Hebrews out of Egypt and into a covenant relationship with Jehovah. Their freedom to worship and serve God depended on their response to the message. When Babylon threatened Jerusalem, Jeremiah’s prophetic voice called Judah’s leaders out of rebellion against God and into submission to the humiliation of divine discipline. The survival of the nation depended on their response to the message. Seventy years later, when Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity, the prophetic voice called the faithful out of Babylon back to the promised land. And in the days before the Messiah’s baptism, the prophetic voice–this time in John the Baptist–again echoed in the hills and valleys, calling people to confess their sins and open their hearts to the One who would soon die to make freedom from sin possible.

The prophetic voice will sound again at the end of time. Before Jesus Christ returns, deception will be laid bare, and truth will be clearly proclaimed. “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory” (Revelation 18:1). The message will be for all, including those in the world and those in the church, because “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The sinful heart is no respecter of persons. It pushes its lies on all who will listen. It opens its shackles to all who offer their hands. Furthermore, it injects its poison into all who reject the prophetic voice.

The end-time message from heaven continues. “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” (Revelation 18:2, 3). The prophetic voice is often unexpected, frequently unsettling, and usually unwelcome. This angel’s message is all of these. It warns about the global acceptance at the end of time of a Babylonian mindset. This mindset governs politics. It rules the economy. It infects the secular and pagan mind with spiritualism. And, if the history of Israel is any indication, the mindset of mystery Babylon also invades the church.  

Yes, the prophetic voice identifies the presence of sin. But more importantly, it also reveals the solution for sin. When he saw Jesus Christ of Nazareth, John the Baptist exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Shortly afterward, he confirmed, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the only cure for sin. But He reveals Himself through the prophetic voice. The revelation is only for those who listen. And because He respects our religious liberty and our freedom of choice, He never forces us to listen to the prophetic voice. The choice is ours.