Matthew 11:9

A prophet. Gr. prophetes, from pro, “before,” either of place or of time, and phemi, “to speak.” The prophet was thus essentially a spokesman for God, an interpreter of the divine purposes for man. For a discussion of the Hebrew equivalent of prophetes see on Gen. 20:7. The prophet was a fore-teller, in that he spoke for God, He was a forth-teller, in that he directed his messages to men. He was a fore-teller, in so far as he predicted future events. The modern concept that a prophet is essentially one who predicts the future obscures the fact that some of the greatest prophets of all time had little or nothing to say about future events. A prophet is simply a man bearing a message from God.

More than a prophet. John was the personal forerunner of the Messiah (see on ch. 3:3). He was the one to whom was given the most important task of all time, that of introducing the Messiah to the world. In John were combined all the great qualities of a true prophet.