Luke 1:80 80And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
The first chapter ends with a brief summary of John’s life, from his birth until his ministry of preparing for the Messiah. Nothing is said again about Zechariah and Elizabeth. Since they were already getting old at his birth, they likely did not live to see John’s ministry. Since Jesus began his public ministry at around the age thirty, and since John was just a few months older than him, John could have been ministering in the desert for any number of years, possibly most of his adult life.
Luke gives two descriptions of almost twenty to thirty years of John’s life. The first note shows his physical strength. Living in the desert was not easy physically. He must have been a rugged individual to survive off of locusts and wild honey. John also grew strong spiritually. He formed strong convictions that compelled him to preach a difficult message for people to hear. He was no pushover and confronted the religious elite and soldiers. John may have come in contact with other groups in the desert, such as the Essenes who lived in Qumran and wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. John’s message appears to be similar to some of the thoughts found in these ancient scrolls. God’s hand was upon John all those years, but John also learned to be obedient and to trust in God’s provision.
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