John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, was a Jewish ascetic and preacher who preceded Jesus, and who himself had many followers. He urged people to repent and then baptized them in the Jordan River in anticipation of coming of the Kingdom of God. He baptized Jesus. John was put to death, by beheading, by Herod Antipas whom he repeatedly rebuked for his incestuous marriage, according to first-century historian Josephus, feared that John was going to start a rebellion.