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THE MISSION OF JOHN

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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 11, 1877

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 39.

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THE MISSION OF JOHN.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
The Jews were in a deplorable condition about the time of the birth of John the Baptist. They were under the Roman rule, but, in order to prevent insurrection, they were permitted to have a separate government, which only, however, was virtually a government in name. The Jews bitterly realized that their power and liberty were restricted, and that they were in bondage to a heathen nation. The Romans claimed the right to appoint men to the priesthood, and to remove them from it if they willed to do so. This opened a door to the corruption of the priesthood. Men of corrupt morals, through money and influence, frequently obtained the favor of those in power, and succeeded in attaining to the priesthood. The priests, not being divinely appointed, abused their sacred office, and were unfaithful in their ministrations. The whole country felt their oppression, and was ripe for revolt and dissension.
The pious Jews believed that God would not leave his people in this condition, to be a reproach to the heathen; they earnestly prayed for the coming of Messiah, and trusted that event was near at hand. God had, in time past, raised them up a deliverer when in their distress they had called upon him. They thought, from the predictions of the prophets, that the time appointed, by God for the coming of Messiah had arrived; and they trusted they should soon have, through him, a clear revelation of the divine will; and that their doctrines would be freed from the traditions and needless ceremonies which had confused their faith. The pious, aged Jews waited day and night for the coming Messiah, praying that they might see the Saviour before they died. They longed to see the cloud of ignorance and bigotry dispelled from the minds of the people.
“Zacharias and Elizabeth were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” They were far advanced in years. Zacharias ministered in the holy office of the priesthood. “And it came to pass that while he executed the priest’s office before God in 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. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.”
When Zacharias saw the angel of God, he was surprised and troubled. This conscientious, God-fearing man questioned whether he had not himself offended God, and this divine messenger had come to reprove, or in judgment, to condemn him. But the heavenly messenger cheered him with these words:—
“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.”
The angel Gabriel, in these words, enjoined upon Zacharias that the son which should be given him must be reared with strictly temperate habits. This was to insure him physical, mental and moral health; that he might be qualified for the important mission of making a people ready for the Lord. A great work was before the unborn prophet; and, in order for him to have a sound physical constitution, and strong mental and moral power, it was necessary that he should be able to control appetite and passion. He was to lead out as a reformer, and by his abstemious life, and plain dress, was to rebuke the intemperate habits, and sinful extravagance of the people. Their indulgence in luxurious food and wine was sapping their strength, and dulling their moral perceptions, so that sin was not abhorrent to them.
John was to preach reform to the children of Israel, and turn them to the Lord. He had the promise that God would work with him. He 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.”
Zacharias was as much astonished at the words of the angel as he was at his appearance. He had so humble an opinion of himself that he thought it could not be possible that he was thus to be honored of the Lord. He inquired, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. Zacharias for a moment, forgot the unlimited power of God, that nothing was impossible with him. He did not call to mind the case of Abraham and Sarah, and the fulfilment of the promise of God to them.
Zacharias received a confirmation of the angel’s message: “Behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season.” He was soon made to realize the verity of the divine mission; for the angel had no sooner departed than he was struck dumb.
The particular office of Zacharias was to pray in behalf of the people, for pardon of public and national sins, and to earnestly pray for the coming of the long-expected Saviour whom they believed was to redeem his people. When Zacharias attempted to pray, after the angel had left him, he could not utter a word. The people waited long for the appearance of Zacharias, to learn whether God had given them any visible token of his approbation. They began to fear from his long tarry that God had manifested his displeasure.
When Zacharias came out of the temple, his countenance was shining with the light which the heavenly angel had reflected upon him; but he could not speak to the people. He made signs to them that an angel had appeared to him in the temple, and because of his unbelief he was deprived of the power of speech, until the prediction of the angel should be fulfilled.
Soon after the birth of John, “the tongue of Zacharias was loosed, 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 that heard them, laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him; and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts until the day of his showing unto Israel.”
In due time he separated himself from his friends and kindred, and made his home in the wilderness. He denied himself the ordinary comforts of life. His food was simple. His clothing was a garment made of hair-cloth, confined about the waist with a leather girdle. The parents of the prophet John, in a most solemn manner dedicated him to God from his birth.
The life of John, although passed in the wilderness, was not inactive. His separation from society did not make him gloomy and morose, neither was he unreconciled with his lonely life of hardship and privation. It was his choice to deny himself of society, and the so-called luxuries of life. He did not wish to risk the influence of the temptations he would have to meet in society. Pride, envy, jealousy, and corrupt passions seemed to control the hearts and actions of men. John feared that by mingling socially with the people, his character might be molded after the prevailing customs of the Jews; and the sight of his eyes, and the hearing of his ears might pervert his mind so that he would lose that keen sense of the sinfulness of sin, which was ever present with him.
He, however, occasionally left his quiet retreat in the wilderness, and mingled among men. He studied the peculiarities of various minds, that he might learn how to adapt his instruction to the people. He developed wonderful discrimination in reading the characters and thoughts of men. In the wilderness John could more readily deny himself, bring his appetite under control, dress in a natural and simple manner, and devote his time to meditation and prayer. There the book of nature was open before him, with its inexhaustible store of varied instruction, and there was little to distract his attention from God, and the work which he had set himself to do.
His was a high and mighty mission; and it was necessary, for its perfect accomplishment, that he should form a character unbiased by the usual surroundings of men; that his physical, mental, and moral conditions should be of that noble type that would enable him with firmness and integrity to enlighten men, to give a new direction to their thoughts, and to awaken in them the desire to form righteous characters, and to approach the standard of divine perfection. In his communion with nature and with God, the Holy Spirit rested upon him, and kindled in his heart a glowing zeal to do the great work of calling the people to repentance. The privations and hardships of his secluded life fitted him to so control all his powers that he could stand among the people as unmoved mentally by surrounding circumstances as the rocks and mountains of the wilderness that had surrounded him for thirty years.
When the prophet’s work commenced, the state of public affairs was unsettled. Discord and insurrection were prevailing, when the voice of John was first lifted up, like the sound of a trumpet pealing forth from the wilderness, thrilling the hearts of all who heard with a new and strange power. He fearlessly denounced the sins of the people, saying, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Multitudes answered the voice of warning, and flocked to the wilderness. They saw in the singular dress and appearance of this prophet, a resemblance to the description of the ancient seers, and the opinion prevailed that he was one of the prophets risen from the dead.
It was the purpose of John to startle and arouse the people, and cause them to tremble because of their great wickedness. In simplicity and plainness he pointed out the errors and crimes of men. A power attended his words, and, reluctant as the people were to hear the denunciation of their unholy lives, they could not resist his words. He flattered none; neither would he receive flattery of any one. His discernment of character, and spiritual sight read the purposes and hearts of those who came to him, and he fearlessly declared to both rich and poor, the honorable and lowly, that, although they might claim to be righteous, without repentance of their sins, and a thorough conversion, they could not enjoy the favor of God, and have part in the kingdom of the Messiah, whose coming he announced.
The people, as if by common consent, came to him repenting, and confessing their sins, and were baptized of him in Jordan. Kings and rulers came to the wilderness to hear the prophet, and were interested, and deeply convicted as he fearlessly pointed out their particular sins. Multitudes of all rank, high and low, rich and poor, submitted to the requirements of the prophet, as necessary in order for them to participate in the kingdom he came to declare. But many, who were convicted because of the plain truths uttered by this faithful prophet, though rejecting the light, became enshrouded in deeper darkness than that which had previously enveloped them, so that they were fully prepared to turn from the evidences attending Jesus, when he should declare himself the true Messiah.
In the spirit and with the power of Elijah, John denounced the corruptions of the Jews, and raised his voice in reproving their prevailing sins. His discourses were plain, pointed, and convincing; and brought many to repent and to be baptized. This was the preparatory work for the ministry of Christ. As John looked forward to that ministry, he appealed to the people, “saying, Repent ye; for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”