Some speculations about the Baptist and his esoteric meaning.
Much that is knowledge in both exoteric (public, free) and esoteric (for initiates, comes at costs of things such as allegiance) is simply reversed when it passes through the veil (exo/esoteric meaning outside/inside the Thuros, the curtain); so one might do this operation with the connection of John the Baptist and lord Jesus Christ. Exoterically the Baptist is merely Jesus’ announcer. Esoterically, Jesus is his announcer.
In this scenario, we might speculate that the arrival of the Baptist could be what is announced as the Second Coming of Christ - and that this is the culmination of the whole of the preparatory Aeon of Pisces, which will be followed, or is now being succeeded by, the age of Aquarius, as in, the completion of a 12th of the cycle of the precession of the equinoxes.
Whatever the case - portions of Christian wisdom which have been repressed, or voluntarily hidden (or both) during the past two thousand years have been coming out into the open for about a century now - starting with the Order of the Golden Dawn and certain aspects of Theosophy, running throughout the hippie-age and coming of age in the publishing of the Royal Blood/Holy Grail theorem, which holds that the Holy Grail is the translation of a reading error; that the word is not San Graal but Sang Real, holy blood, blood of Jesus (and presumably, Magdalene).
That is the general gist - this narrative includes Masonry and all its works as preparatory for Revelation; another reversal; in Masonic Cathedrals (such as the Notre Dame de Paris) the good are inside and the gargoyles are masoned to the outside, snarling into the world. Reverse this, and one gets the soul who on the inside is tormented and on the outside brings enlightenment; or, the person who hides a dark heart behind a radiant countenance - mind you, Im not preaching, just mentioning a half-hidden thought-structure Ive disclosed for myself through research.
Always central is the figure of the tempter - but what is drastically different is his (or her) role: the function of the temptation and mans “proper” (evolutionarily advantageous) response to it.