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IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN

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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 1, 1877

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 42.

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IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
Disciples were being daily added to Jesus, and people flocked from cities and villages to hear him, many came to him for baptism. Jesus himself baptized none; but his disciples administered the ordinance. And while they were baptizing large numbers, a question arose among the Jews and the disciples of John, whether the act of baptism purified the sinner from the guilt of sin. The disciples of John answered that John baptized only unto repentance, but Christ's disciples unto a new life. John's disciples were jealous of the popularity of Jesus, and said to John referring to Jesus, “He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.”
In this answer John virtually said: Why should you be jealous on my account? “Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.”
John, so far from being jealous of the prosperity of Christ's mission, rejoiced as he witnessed the success of the work he came to do. He assured his disciples that his special mission was to direct the attention of the people to Christ: “He must increase; but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.”
John assured his disciples that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world. As his own work was closing, he taught his disciples to look to Jesus, and follow him as the great teacher. John's life, with the exception of the joy he experienced in witnessing the success of his mission, was without pleasure. It was one of sorrow and self-denial. He who heralded the first advent of Christ, was not permitted to personally hear, nor to witness the power manifested by him. John's voice was seldom heard, except in the wilderness. Here multitudes flocked to listen to the words of the prophet. It was his task to lay the ax at the root of the tree; to reprove sin, fearless of the consequences; and to prepare the way for the ministry of Christ.
Herod was convicted as he listened to the pointed testimony of John, and he inquired with deep interest, what he must do to become his disciple. His conscience condemned him, for a woman of vile passions had gained his affections and controlled his mind. This unprincipled woman was ambitious for power and authority, and thought if she became the wife of Herod her object would be gained. As Herod listened to the practical truths proclaimed by John, reproving the transgression of the law of God, and setting forth the future punishment which the guilty must suffer, he trembled, and greatly desired to break the chain of lust which held him. He opened his mind to John, who then brought Herod face to face with the law of God, and told him it would be impossible for him to have part in the kingdom of the Messiah unless he should break away from his unlawful relations with his brother's wife, and, with his whole heart, obey the commandments of God.
Herod was inclined to act upon the advice of John, and told Herodias that he could not marry her in defiance of the law of God. But this determined woman would not be thwarted in her designs. Intense hatred was awakened in her heart toward John. Herod was weak in principle, vacillating in mind, and Herodias had no great difficulty in re-establishing herself in his favor, and in regaining her influence over him. Herod yielded to the pleasures of sin, rather than submit to the restrictions of the law of God.
When Herodias had again established her influence over Herod, she determined to be revenged upon the prophet for daring to reprove their course of crime. She persuaded him to imprison John, although Herod intended to release him again. While confined in prison, John heard, through his disciples, of the mighty works of Jesus. He could not personally listen to his gracious words; but the disciples informed him of their purport, and comforted him with a relation of what they had seen and heard.
John had never before experienced the trials of confined living; his life had been spent in the open air, in active, persevering labor, enduring privations, hardship, and toil. He therefore became desponding, and was even troubled with doubts as to whether Christ was indeed the Messiah. Though his disciples had brought to him accounts of the wonderful things they had witnessed in the ministry of Christ; yet he questioned whether if Jesus was indeed the Messiah, he would not publicly proclaim himself as the Saviour of the world.
John had indistinct ideas of the kingdom Christ came to establish, as also had the disciples of Christ. They thought that Messiah was to establish a temporal kingdom, and to reign upon the throne of David in Jerusalem. John became impatient because Christ did not immediately make himself known, assume kingly authority, and subdue the Romans. He had expected that this would be done, and had staked his hopes of liberty upon Jesus being the Son of God, trusting that when Christ established his kingdom, he himself would be immediately released from prison.
John sent his disciples to inquire of Christ, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” The disciples sought the presence of Christ; but they could not communicate with him immediately, because of the crowd who were bearing the sick to Jesus. The afflicted, blind, and lame were passing through the throng. The disciples of John saw the miracles of Christ, and that at his word the lifeless body became animate, and the glow of health took the place of the pallor of death. Jesus said to the disciples of John, “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”
In these words John was gently reproved for his impatience. The cautious reproof returned to John was not lost upon him. He then better understood the character of Christ's mission; and with submission and faith, yielded himself into the hands of God, to live, or to die, as should best advance his glory.
After the disciples of John had departed, Jesus addressed the multitude concerning John, “What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken in the wind?” Jesus knew that a reed trembling in the wind was the very opposite of John's character. John could not be moved by flattery, nor deceived by prevailing errors. Neither could rewards, or worldly honors turn him aside from the work he came to do. He would preserve his integrity at the expense of his life. Steadfast as a rock stood the prophet of God, faithful to rebuke sin and crime in all their forms, in kings and nobles, as readily as in the unhonored and unknown. He swerved not from duty. Loyal to his God, in noble dignity of moral character, he stood firm as a rock, faithful to principle.
“But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
The people whom Christ addressed well knew that the apparel worn by John was the opposite of that worn in royal palaces. Christ virtually asked: What motive induced you to flock to the wilderness to hear the preaching of John? The wilderness is not the place to find those who live delicately, and who clothe themselves in rich, soft apparel. Christ wished them to observe the contrast between the clothing of John and that of the Jewish priests. The prophet wore a plain, rough garment, possessing no beauty, but answering the purpose for which clothing was first designed. In marked contrast to the garments of John, was the gorgeous apparel of the Jewish priests and elders.
These officials, thinking that they would be reverenced in accordance with their external appearance, adopted great splendor of dress, making a rich display of costly robes and dazzling breastplates. They were more anxious to win the admiration of men than to obtain spotless purity of character and holiness of life, that would gain the approval of God.
Christ admonished his disciples, and also the multitude, to follow that which was good in the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees, but not to imitate their wrong examples, nor be deceived by their ambitious pretensions.
He says, “All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works; for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi.”
John saw that these proud Jews were exalting and glorifying themselves by parading their ostentatious piety before the public. They bound portions of the law upon their foreheads and about their wrists, that all might recognize and pay deference to their assumed sanctity. True, God had commanded the children of Israel to place a ribbon of blue in the border of their garments, upon which the ten commandments, in brief, should be embroidered. This was to continually remind them of their duty to love God supremely, and their neighbor as themselves. But the farther they had departed from their primitive purity and simplicity, and the more directly their daily lives were opposed to the law of God the more particular were they to make broad their phylacteries, and add to the words which God had specified should be traced on the ribbon of blue. Outwardly they were expressing the deepest devotion, while their acts were in strong contrast with their profession.