Latest / Sacred Texts Archive / 10 - The Desire of Ages - Ellen Gould
Transcript
- The voice in the wilderness. From among the faithful in Israel, who had long waited for the coming of the Messiah, the forerunner of Christ, arose the aged priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, were both righteous before God, and in their quiet and holy lives, the light of faith shone out like a star amid the darkness of those evil days. To this godly pair was given the promise of a son who should go before the faith of the Lord to prepare his ways. Zacharias dwelt in the hill country of Judea, but he had gone up to Jerusalem to minister for one week in the temple, a service required twice a year from the priest of each course. And it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God, and the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense. When he went into the Temple of the Lord. He was standing before the golden altar in the holy place of the Sanctuary. The cloud of incense, with the prayers of Israel was ascending before God. Suddenly he became conscious of a divine presence, an angel. The Lord was standing on the right side of the altar. The position of the angel was an indication of favor, but Zacharias took no note of this. For many years he had prayed for the coming of the Redeemer. Now Heaven had sent its messenger to announce that these prayers were about to be answered. But the mercy of God seemed too great for him to credit. He was filled with fear and self condemnation. But he was greeted with the joyful assurance. Fear not, Zacharias, For thy prayer is heard, and thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness. And many shall rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the Just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord and Zacharias said, unto the Angel, whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. Zacharias well knew how to Abraham in his old age, a child was given because he believed him faithful who had promised. But for a moment the aged priest turns his thoughts to the weakness of humanity. He forgets that what God has promised he is able to perform. What a contrast between this unbelief and the sweet, childlike faith of Mary, the maiden of Nazareth, whose answer to the Angel's wonderful announcement was behold, the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word Luke one thirty eight. The birth of a son to Zacharias, like the birth of the child of Abraham and that of Mary, was to teach a great spiritual truth, a truth that we are slow to learn and ready to forget. In ourselves. We are incapable of doing any good thing. But that which we cannot do will be wrought by the power of God in every submissive and believing soul. It was through faith that the child of Promise was given. It is through faith that the spiritual life is begotten, and we are enabled to do the works of righteousness. To the question of Zacharias, the Angel said, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee and to show THEE these glad tidings. Five hundred years before, Gabriel had made known to Daniel the prophetic period which was to extend to the coming of Christ. The knowledge at the end of this period was near had moved Zacharias to pray for the Messiah's advent. Now, the very messenger through whom the prophecy was given had come to announce its fulfillment. The words of the Angel, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, show that he holds a position of high honor in the heavenly courts. When he came with a message to Daniel, he said, there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael, Christ, your Prince Daniel ten twenty one of Gabriel, the Savior speaks in the Revelation, saying that he sent and signified it by his Angel unto his servant John Revelation one one, and to John the Angel declared, I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren. The prophets Revelation twenty two nine r V. Wonderful thought that the Angel, who stands next in honor to the Son of God, is the one chosen to open the purposes of God to sinful men. Zacharias had expressed doubt of the angel's words. He was not to speak again until they were fulfilled. Behold, said the Angel, thou shalt be dumb until the day that these things shall be befomed, because thou believest not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season. It was the duty of the priest in this service to pray for the pardon of public and national sins, and for the coming of the Messiah. But when Zacharias attempted to do this, he could not utter a word. Coming forth to bless the people, he beckoned unto them and remained speechless. They had waited long and had begun to fear lest he had been cut down by the judgment of God. But as he came forth from the Holy Place, his face was shining with the glory of God, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, Zacharias communicated to them what he had seen and heard, And as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. Soon after the birth of the promised child, the father's tongue was loosened, and he spake and praised God, and fear came on all that dwelt round about them. And all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea, and all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, what manner of child shall this be? All this tended to call attention to the Messiah's coming, for which John was to prepare the way. The Holy Spirit rested upon Zacharias, and in these beautiful words he prophesied of the mission of his son, Thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed, strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. Before the birth of John, the Angel had said, he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy ghost. God had called the son of Zacharias to a great work, the greatest ever committed to men. In order to accomplish this work, he must have the Lord to work with him, and the Spirit of God would be with him. If he heeded the instruction of the Angel, John was to go forth as Jehovah's messenger to bring to men the light of God. He must give a new direction to their thoughts. He must impress them with the holiness of God's requirements and their need of His perfect righteousness. Such a messenger must be holy. He must be a temple for the indwelling spirit of God. In order to fulfill his mission, he must have a sound physical constitution and mental and spiritual strength. Therefore, it would be necessary for him to control the appetites and passions he must be able so to control all his powers, that he could stand among men as unmoved by surrounding circumstances as the rocks and mountains of the wilderness. In the time of John the Baptist, greed for riches and the love of luxury and display had become widespread. Sensuous pleasures feasting and drinking were causing physical disease and degeneracy, benumbing the spiritual perceptions and lessening the sensibility to sin. John was to stand as a reformer by his obstemious life and plain dress. He was to rebuke the excesses of his time. Hence the directions given to the parents of John a lesson of temperance by an angel from the throne of Heaven. In childhood and youth, the character is most impressible. Power self control should then be acquired. By the fireside and at the family board. Influences are exerted, whose results are as enduring his eternity more than any natural endowment. The habits established in early years decide whether a man will be victorious or vanquished in the battle of life. Youth is the sowing time. It determines the character of the harvest. For this life and for the life to come. As a prophet, John was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. In preparing the way for Christ's first advent, he was a representative of those who are to prepare people for our Lord's second coming. The world is given to self indulgence, errors and fables abound, Satan's snares for destroying souls are multiplied. All who would perfect holiness in the fear of God must learn the lessons of temperance and self control. The appetites and passions must be held in subjection to the higher powers of the mind. This self discipline is essential to that mental strength and spiritual insight which will enable us to understand and practice the sacred truths of God's word. For this reason, temperance finds its place in the work of preparation for Christ's second coming. In the natural order of things, the son of Zacharias would have been educated for the priesthood, but the training of the rabbinical schools would have un fitted him for his work. God did not send him to the teachers of theology to learn how to interpret the scriptures. He called him to the desert that he might learn of nature and Nature's God. It was a lonely region where he found his home, in the midst of barren hills, wild ravines, and rocky caves, But it was his choice to forego the enjoyments and luxuries of life for the stern discipline of the wilderness. Here his surroundings were favorable to habits of simplicity and self denial. Uninterrupted by the clamor of the world. He could here steady the lessons of nature, of revelation, and of providence. The words of the Angel to Zacharias had been often repeated to John by his god fearing parents from childhood. His mission had been kept before him, and he had accepted the holy trust to him. The solitude of the desert was a welcome escape from society, in which suspicion, unbelief, and impurity had become wellnigh all pervading. He distrusted his own power to withstand temptation and shrank from concert that contact was sin, lest he should lose the sense of its exceeding sinfulness. Dedicated to God as a Nazarite from his birth. He made the vow his own in a life long consecration. His dress was that of the ancient prophets, a garment of camel's hair confined by a leather girdle. He ate the locust and wild honey found in the wilderness, and drank the pure water from the hills. But the life of John was not spent in idleness, in ascetic gloom, or in selfish isolation. From time to time he went forth to mingle with men, and he was ever an interested observer of what was passing in the world. From his quiet retreat, he watched the unfolding of events with vision illuminated by the divine spirit. He steadied the characters of men that he might understand how to reach their hearts with the message of heaven. The burden of his mission was upon him. In solitude. By meditation and prayer, he sought to gird up his soul for the life work before him. Although in the wilderness he was not exempt from temptation, So far as possible, he closed every avenue by which Satan could enter. Yet he was still assailed by the tempter. But his spiritual perceptions were clear he had developed strength and decision of character, and through the aid of the Holy Spirit, he was able to detect Satan's approaches and to resist his power. John found in the wilderness his school and his sanctuary. Like Moses amid the mountains of Midian, he was shut in by God's presence and surrounded by the evidences of his power. It was not his lot to dwell, as did Israel's great leader Amid the solemn majesty of the mountain Solitudes. But before him were the heights of Moab beyond Jordan. Speaking of him who had set fast the mountains and girded them with strength, the gloomy and terrible aspect of nature in his wilderness home vividly pictured the condition of Israel. The fruitful vineyard of the Lord had become a desolate waste. But above the desert the heavens bent bright and beautiful. The clouds that gathered dark with tempest were arched by the rainbow of promise. So above Israel's degradation shown the promised glory of the Messiah's rain. The clouds of wrath were spanned by the rainbow of his covenant. Mercy. Alone in the silent night, he read God's promise to Abraham of a seed numberless as the stars. The light of dawn gilding the mountains of Moab, told of him who should be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds Second Samuel twenty three four. And in the brightness of noontide he saw the splendor of his manifestation, when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together Isaiah forty five. With awed yet exultant spirit, he searched in the prophetic scrolls the revelations of the Messiah's coming, the promised seed that should bruise the serpent's head, Shiloh, the peace giver, who was to appear before king could cease to on David's throne. Now the time had come a Roman ruler set in the palace upon Mount Zion. By the sure word of the Lord, already Christ was born. Isaiah's rap portrayals of the Messiah's glory were his steady by day and by night. The branch from the root of Jesse, a king to reign in righteousness, judging with equity for the meek of the earth. A covert from the tempest, the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Israel no longer to be termed forsaken, nor her land desolate, but to be called of the Lord my delight and her land Beulah Isaiah eleven, four thirty two two sixty two four margin. The heart of the lonely exile was filled with the glorious vision. He looked upon the King in his beauty. Him self was forgotten. He beheld the majesty of holiness, and felt himself to be inefficient and unworthy. He was ready to go forth as Heaven's messenger, unawed by the human because he had looked upon the divine. He could stand erect and fearless in the presence of earthly monarchs. Because he had bowed low before the King of kings. John did not fully understand the nature of the Messiah's kingdom. He looked for Israel to be delivered from her national foes, But the coming of a king in righteousness and the establishment of Israel as a holy nation was the great object of his hope. Thus he believed would be accomplished the prophecy given at his birth. To remember his holy covenant that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him. All the days of our life, he saw as people deceived, self satisfied, and asleep in their sins. He longed to rouse them to a holier life. The message that God had given him to bear was designed to startle them from their lethargy and cause them to tremble because of their great wickedness. Before the seed of the Gospel could find lodgment, the soul of the heart must be broken up before they would seek healing from Jesus. They must be awakened to their danger from the wounds of sin. God does not send messengers to flatter the sinner. He delivers no message of peace till all the unsanctified into fatal security. He lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrong doer and pierces the soul with arrows of conviction. The ministering angels present to him the fearful judgments of God to deepen the sense of need and prompt the cry what must I do to be saved? Then the hand that is humbled in the dust lifts up the penitent, the voice that his rebuke sin and put to shame, pride and ambition, inquires with tenderest sympathy, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee. When the Ministry of John began, the nation was in a state of excitement and discontent, verging on revolution. At the removal of Archelaus, Judea had been brought directly under the control of Rome. The tyranny, extortion of the Roman governors, and their determined efforts to introduce the Heathen symbols and customs kindled revolt, which had been quenched in the blood of thousands of the bravest of visual All this intensified the national hatred against Rome and increased the longing to be freed from her power. Amid discordant strife, a voice was heard from the wilderness, a voice startling and stern, yet full of hope repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand with a new strange power. It moved the people. Prophets had foretold the coming of Christ as an event far in the future, but here was an announcement that it was at hand. John's singular appearance carried the minds of his hearers back to the ancient seers. In his manner and dress, he resembled the prophet Elijah, with the spirit and power of Elijah. He denounced the national corruption and rebuke the prevailing sins. His words were plain, pointed and convincing. Many believed him to be one of the prophets risen from the dead. The whole nation was stirred. Multitudes flocked to the wilderness. John proclaimed the coming of the Messiah and called the people to repentance. As a symbol of cleansing from sin, he baptized them in the waters of the Jordan. Thus, by a significant object lesson. He declared that those who claimed to be the chosen people of God were defiled by sin, and that without purification of heart and life, they could have no part in the Messiahs Kingdom. Princes and rabbis, soldiers, publicans, and peasants came to hear the prophet. For a time. The solemn warning from God alarmed them. Many were brought to repentance and received baptism. Persons of all ranks submitted to the requirement of the baptist in order to participate in the kingdom. He announced many of the scribes and pharisees came, confessing their sins and asking for baptism. They had exalted themselves as better than other men and had led the people to entertain a high opinion of their piety. Now the guilty secrets of their lives were unveiled. But John was impressed by the Holy Spirit that many of these men had no real conviction of sin. They were time servers as friends of the prophet. They hoped to find favor with the coming Prince, and by receiving baptism at the hands of this popular young teacher, they thought to strengthen their influence with the people. John met them with the scathing inquiry, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the raft to come bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children. Unto Abraham, the Jews had misinterpreted God's promise of eternal favor to Israel. Thus set the Lord which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars, for a light by night which divideth the sea when the waves thereafroar. The Lord of Host is his name. If the those ordinances depart from before me, seth the Lord. Then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus seth the Lord. If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, Seth the Lord. Jeremiah thirty one, thirty five to thirty seven. The Jews regarded their natural assent from Abraham as giving them a claim to this promise, but they overlooked the conditions which God had specified before giving the promise. He had said, I will put my law on their inward parts and write it in their hearts, and will be their God. And they shall be my people. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah thirty one, thirty three and thirty four. To a people in whose heart his law is written, the favor of God is assured. They are one with him. But the Jews had separated themselves from God because of their sins they were suffering under his judgment was the cause of their bondage to a heathen nation. Their minds were darkened by transgression, and because in times past the Lord had shown them so great favor, they excused their sins. They flattered themselves that they were better than other men and entitled to His blessings. These things are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come Verse Corinthians ten eleven. How often we misinterpret God's blessings and flatter ourselves that we are favored on account of some goodness in us. God can not do for us that which He longs to do. His gifts are used to increase our self satisfaction and to harden our hearts. In unbelief and sin, John declared the teachers of Israel that their pride, selfishness, and cruelty showed them to be a generation of vipers, a deadly curse to the people, rather than the children of just and obedient Abraham. In view of the light they had received from God, they were even worse than the heathen, to whom they felt so much superior. They had forgotten the rock, whence they were hewn, and the whole of the pit from which they had been digged. God was not dependent upon them for the fulfilling of his purpose, as he had called Abraham out from a heathen people, so he could call others to his service. Their hearts might now appear as lifeless as the stone to the desert, but his spirit could quicken them to do his will and receive the fulfillment of his promise. And now, also said the prophet, the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Not by its name, but by its fruit. Is the value of a tree determined. If the fruit is worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction. John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was to be decided by their character in life. Profession was worthless. If their lives and character were not in harmony with God's law, they were not his people. Under his heart searching words, his hearers were convicted. They came to him with the inquiry, what shall we do? Then he answered, he that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none and he that hath meet let him do likewise. And he warned the publicans against injustice, and the soldiers against violence. All who became the subjects of Christ's kingdom, he said, would give evidence of faith and repentance. Kindness, honesty, and fidelity would be seen in their lives. They would minister to the needy and bring their offerings to God. They would shield the defenseless and give an example of virtue and compassion. So the followers of Christ will give evidence of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in the daily life. Justice, mercy, and the love of God will be seen. Otherwise they are like the chaff that is given to the fire. I indeed baptize you in water under repentance, said John. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Matthew three eleven r v margin. The prophet Isaiah had declared that the Lord would cleanse his people from their iniquities by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. The word the Lord to Israel was, I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy ten Isaiah four four and one twenty five. To sin, wherever found our God is a consuming fire Hebrews twelve twenty nine. In all who submit to His power, the spirit of God will consume sin. But of men cling to sin they become identified with it, then the glory of God, which destroys sin, must destroy them. Jacob, after his night of wrestling with the angel, exclaimed, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Genesis thirty two thirty. Jacob had been guilty of a great sin in his conduct towards Esau, but he had repented, his transgression had been forgiven and his sin purged. Therefore he could endure the revelation of God's presence. But wherever men came before God while wilfully cherishing evil, they were destroyed. At the Second Advent of Christ, the wicked shall be consumed with the spirit of his mouth and destroyed with the brightness of his coming Second Thessalonians two eight. The light of the glory of God, which imparts life to the righteous, will slay the wicked. In the time of John the Baptist, Christ was about to appear as the revealer of the character of God. His very presence would make manifest to men their sin. Only as they were willing to be purged from sin could they enter into fellowship with him. Only the pure in heart could abide in his presence. Thus the Baptist declared God's message to Israel. Many gave heed to his instruction, many sacrificed all in order to obey. Altitudes followed this new teacher from place to place, and not a few cherished the hope that he might be the Messiah. But as John saw the people turning to him, he saw every opportunity of directing their faith to him who was to come. End of Chapter ten