The birth of John the Baptist was prophesised in the Torah.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Malachi 4:5-6
And so one of the greatest prophets of all time was reborn in the figure of John, the son of Zacharias, known as the Baptiser.
The story of Elijah is related in 1 & 2 Kings. He was zealous for the LORD, indeed his name means "Yahweh is my God" and he defeated the false prophets of Baal and fought against idolatry. Alone on Mount Horeb, Elijah met with God and then anointed the kings of Syria and Israel by God's command. Elijah created many miracles by the grace of God, as when he raised the widow's son from death in 1 Kings 17:17-24. Elijah was taken up alive to God in a whirlwind, preceded by a chariot of fire in 2 Kings 2:11.
John wore similar clothing to Elijah, to show the people he was a God-ordained prophet. He was even referred to as a prophet by the false man-god Jesus.
Josephus Flavius wrote about John in his "Antiquities", he wrote that John who was called the Baptist, for Herod slew him who was a good man and had commanded the Jews that they should practise virtue both in respect of righteousness toward one another and piety toward God, so that they should come together in a baptism. For baptism would thus appear acceptable to him, not when they used it as a request for the forgiveness of certain sins, but as a purification of the body after the soul had been thoroughly cleansed by righteousness."
John was popular among the common folk, preaching that the day of the LORD's coming was near, but Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, feared John might provoke a revolt of the people of God, and furious that he criticised his marriage to his brother's wife, had John arrested.
John was imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus where Josephus said he was beheaded. The "Christian" gospels state he was beheaded at Herod's palace and his head exhibited on a platter there.
During the reign of Caligula, Herod was deposed by Rome, a retribution from God for his sin in martrying John, as Josephus reported.
John was a one-time member of the Essene sect at Qumran, but later left them to baptise all the people of God for the remission of their sins.
John fought for Yahweh among the people of Israel, only to have his work for God usurped and overshadowed by a Galilean impostor whose disciples made him a man-god and wrote that he was the Messiah, and, which is more, that he was God! This is totally contrary to the Tanakh and John's own teachings. The curse God promised has been visited upon the nation of Israel, who listened not to God's prophet, and their Temple has been destroyed and the people scattered. This is the time before the Day of the LORD when He has withdrawn Himself from all but the Chosen, before the day when all shall be burned up.
Let the followers of the false one beware! for the Day of the LORD of hosts is at hand and only the true worshippers shall survive it.