A Personal Saviour and a Real Work in a Definite Place
THERE was a work to be done to prepare the way for the first advent of Jesus. John the Baptist was raised up to do this work as the forerunner of Jesus. His message was based upon the prophecies, and especially upon the prophecy of Isaiah. Here is the fundamental text of his message: “The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever. O thou that tellest good tidings [the gospel] to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings [the gospel] to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” “All flesh is grass. . . . The grass withereth. . . . But the word of our God shall stand forever. . . . Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come.” Such was the message of the voice in the wilderness. In the mouth of John the Baptist this prophetic declaration became the preaching of repentance for sin and faith in the revealed Saviour. He repudiated all confidence in the flesh and fleshly descent. To the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to his baptism he said: “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. And even now the ax lieth at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” In a time when formalism had taken the place of genuine religion, when human tradition had superseded the divine command, and when men were feared and reverenced rather than God, the greatest confidence being placed in the flesh, the words of the old prophet were interpreted (not merely quoted) to the people with an authority which caused hardened hypocrites to tremble: “All flesh is grass. . . . Behold, your God!” And this was the message to prepare this same people to receive Jesus as the divine Son of God when he should be manifested in the flesh. When Jesus appeared among men to begin his ministry, God gave to John a token of his Messiahship, and he immediately testified, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is become before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water. And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him. And I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” In the man Jesus of Nazareth, whose flesh was the same as the flesh of other men, John the Baptist was led to recognize God manifested in the flesh, and in giving his message, “All flesh is grass. . . . Behold, your God!” he pointed definitely to one in the flesh, and gave to Isaiah’s cry the setting demanded by the time and the circumstances. When Immanuel, “God with us,” was among men, the message of Isaiah, “Behold, your God!” had a definite interpretation and a personal application in the words of John the Baptist as he pointed to Jesus here upon the earth, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!” He did not call attention to trees and grass and flowers, in which the power of God is manifested, and say, “All flesh is grass. . . . Behold, your God!” but he designated a person, and emphasized the special work of that person in the gospel plan. “Behold, the Lamb of God,” means that the Son of God was come in the flesh, “manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” To those who were familiar with the gospel as taught in the sacrificial offerings, the words, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” would be an interpretation both of the services of the sanctuary and of the mission of Jesus. They would indicate to them that the true and efficacious offering for sin was the Son of God, who had taken the flesh in order that he might give himself a ransom for many. His person, his work, and his place were all made clear. Thus the people were directed to a personal Saviour and a real work in a definite place. The cry of Isaiah’s voice, which was the basis of the message of John the Baptist to prepare the way for the first advent of Christ, is the basis of the message in this generation to prepare the way for the second advent of Christ. The full statement now is, “All flesh is grass. . . . Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come. . . . Behold, his reward is with him.” “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is.” Those who proclaim this message must put it into the divine setting intended for it,—in order to give to it such an interpretation as will enable it to accomplish its work in this last generation. This setting is found in the threefold message of Revelation 14,—a message concerning the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus in this judgment hour, when, according to the prophecy, the sanctuary will be cleansed. In the light of this threefold message those who interpret to the world Isaiah’s words as a message of preparation for the coming of the Lord will not make it the burden of their work to direct attention to the trees and the grass and the flowers in which the power of God is manifested, and to say, “Behold, your God!” but, following the example of John the Baptist, they will point to a personal Saviour and a real work in a definite place. They will point to Jesus, not now upon earth as the sacrifice for sin, and not as being everywhere in general but nowhere in particular, but in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, engaged in the antitypical work of the great day of atonement. They will call upon the people to repent of their sins, and they will preach a crucified, a risen, an ascended Christ, a great High Priest, an all-sufficient Saviour and the coming King. “Behold, your God!” “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!” “We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.” And soon this will change into the glad shout, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” “Behold, your God!” Before leaving the subject we ought to state that this pointing to Jesus in his work in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary not only prepares the way for his visible coming with clouds, but also for his coming in the person of the Holy Spirit to dwell in the heart of the believer, and thus to make him the temple of the living God. This same Jesus who dwells in the highest heaven dwells also in the heart of the humble penitent who will receive him. When we cry, “Behold, your God!” and point to Jesus our great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, we are not proclaiming “an absentee God.” On the contrary, in this third angel’s message will be found the only antidote for that perversion of the truth which seems to5bring God so near while it really makes him “an absentee God,” dissipated into nothingness, and substitutes for him an Infinite Energy having a personality according to the definition of science, but entirely distinct from the Biblical teaching of a personal being. The third angel’s message is diametrically opposed to pantheistic or spiritualistic teachings in any of their many forms. Many discouraged souls need to behold Jesus as a personal Saviour doing a real work for sinners in a definite place. “Lift him up in all his glory,
’Tis the Son of God on high;
Lift him up, his love shall draw them,
E’en the careless shall draw nigh;
Let them hear again the story
Of the cross, the death of shame;
And from tongue to tongue repeat it;
Mighty throngs shall bless his name.”