With the announcement of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, we stand on the threshold of the most important thirty-three years in the history of the world, the time in which Jesus Christ, our Divine-Human Savior would accomplish the salvation of God's people and of the entire creation. "The appearance and activity of Jesus on earth is the central and most important event of all time. Everything that had gone before had led up to it. And everything that has followed upon it is connected therewith." - Geldenhuys.

The life and ministry of John the Baptist is the link between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In him we learn that the Old Testament revelation and the New Testament revelation are one continuous movement in the plan of God. Luke's real interest in beginning his gospel with the announcement of the birth and ministry of John the Baptist is "to show how all things have taken place in accordance with a definite plan which fulfills the redemptive history of the Old Testament. The birth of John the Baptist constitutes the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the revelation history of the new, Luke 7:28; 16:16." - Bo Reicke, The Gospel of Luke.