Was John the Baptist the Rightful Aaronic High Priest of Israel?

Every Bible student knows that in the days of Christ’s ministry, the high priesthood fluctuated between Annas and Caiaphas. At this late stage in the Aaronic order, the high priest was a Roman appointee. It is doubtful that these political appointees who were in and out of office with every whim of the Romans was truly God’s high priest.

If these men were not the true High Priest from God’s perspective, who was? Was John the Baptist the last high priest of the Aaronic order? Let’s look at the evidence.

John was a descendent of Aaron from both his mother and his father’s side. The Gospel of Luke makes a special point of this fact. “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.” (Luke 1:5) This odd little fact nestled in Luke’s gospel is trying to tell us something.

John did not use wine. This is often conjectured that this was because John was a Nazarite. …