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

IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN

Signs of the Times

Nov 1, 1877

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

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.

Thorns and Pearls.

On Judea's sacred mountains Roamed a royal Prince of old. There he scattered pearls of kindness, Gifts more precious far than gold.
While the halt, the sick, the dying, Sought his aid to soothe their pain, There this Prince, so good and noble, Gave them life and health again.
He beheld the poor and lowly, And his warm heart yearned for them; While the rich, the proud, the lordly, Made of thorns his diadem.
Thus in every day and nation, Those who are God's suffering poor, Find for them the thorns are platted, And the cross is at their door.
But within that glorious kingdom, Where truth ne'er her banner furls, There the cross receives its crowning, And the thorns are turned to pearls.

Do All for Christ.

By Ca

The celebrated Charles Simeon of Cambridge kept a portrait of Henry Martyn hanging over his fire-place. It was always in sight. Looking up at it he used to say, “What an expression of countenance! No one looks at me as he does. He seems always to be saying, Be serious; be in earnest; don't trifle.” Then bowing toward the sweet, thoughtful face, Simeon would add, “and I won't trifle.”
So fellow-Christian, there is hung up, by the divine Spirit, a picture before our eyes. It is the heavenly countenance of our blessed Saviour. The traces of the sorrow in the garden, of the agony on the cross, are yet written on that visage, “marred more than any of the sons of men.” The serenest patience sits on that face; and it yearns with a love stronger than death. Holiness dwells there, which cannot look upon sin save with abhorrence.
And that face of Jesus seems ever to be saying to us “Live for me. Whatever ye do, do it unto me.” When we sit alone and dejected, the countenance comes up near to us, and says, “Let not your heart be troubled. Lo! I am with you always.” When we are tempted to sin, the face rebukes us with the words, “Wound me not in the house of my friends.” And when we have come back ashamed and disgraced from a cowardly desertion of his cause in the hour of trial, oh! how that look upbraids us as he seems to say, “Could ye not watch with me one hour?” Sometimes a poor, needy servant of God comes to us for a word or deed of sympathy or for a gift to his necessities. Selfishness begins to mutter about interruptions, and the “many calls,” and the “no end of cases of charity.” But the down-looking Jesus says, “Do it unto me.”
What a sacredness this imparts to every work of Christian love! What a glory it throws around the humblest object of Christian charity! And then, too, what a stupendous crime against Christ is any wrong done to those in whom he dwells, and whom he makes his representatives.
As I sit in this study, this morning, I seem to see a face of divine loveliness looking down on me from the walls and saying—Write all these truths for me. Feed my lambs. Save those souls committed to thee by my gospel and for my glory. As the Sabbath-school teacher lays down his paper and hurries off to his class, he will meet the blessed Saviour beside his seat and hear him say, Whatsoever ye do for the least of these, ye do for me.
Yea more. When a Christian leaves the sanctuary or the communion-table, and goes to his counting-room shall he be less a Christian there than he was in the house of God, or at the family altar? No! For there is an invisible Saviour beside him there, saying, “Provide things honest in the sight of all men”—“Let not your good be evil spoken of;” you are my representatives. Do Christian men of business always remember this? Do they always so keep their ledgers that they would be willing to have their Master audit the accounts? When the church member wrings out the last dime from an unfortunate debtor, does he do it for Christ? When he rents his property for dram-shops or brothels or haunts of vice—when he drives a sharp bargain with misfortune or inexperience, does he do it for the honor or for the shame of his Sabbath professions? Ah! my friends; it is not only from the study-walls of pastors, but from the walls of every shop, counting-room, and hall of justice and legislation, that the countenance of the all-holy Jesus is looking down and saying, Do all for me.—Ca

THE DEFINITE SEVENTH DAY;

By John Nevins Andrews

Or, God's Measurement of Time on the Round World.
BY ELDER J. N. ANDREWS.
(Concluded.)
17. THE case of the inhabitants of Pitcairn's Island, a small body of land some six miles in length by three in breadth, has long been used as proof that the definite seventh day cannot be kept in all the world. It is the same thing in principle as the case of the Alaskans. This island is situated in the South Pacific Ocean, and lies east of the eastern meridian of Alaska. It was settled by sailors who came east to it. When, therefore, they were discovered and visited by English sailors who went west to them, the same discrepancy was manifested as is now seen between ourselves and the Alaskans. The reckoning of the two parties brought the beginning of the course of day, and the end of that course, to one spot, and they were found to be, as they really are, twenty-four hours apart. Now the decision of this is not hard. As Pitcairn's Island lies farther east than Alaska, it should certainly be governed by the same principles as that country. It should conform to the reckoning of day as it comes westward around the world.
18. Australia presents no real difficulty. It lies south of the continent of Asia, and does not extend as far to the east as the eastern extremity of Asia, by about 40 degrees of longitude, or more than 2000 miles. It is, moreover, closely connected with the continent of Asia by many islands. Its reckoning of time corresponds with that of Asia; and this is as it should be. Our day will be found to correspond exactly with that of Australia, if we trace back the track of the sun by going eastward to it. If, however, we journey to it westward across the Pacific Ocean, we pass from the termination of the circuit of day to that part of the globe where that circuit commences; and we must, in order to have the correct reckoning of the week, set our count ahead just one day.
19. But what about the gain or loss of a day in circumnavigating the globe? The day begins earlier or later according as we journey east or west. This loss or gain of time day by day, as indicated by our watches, is simply because we are tracing back the track of day toward its source, or following forward on that track toward its termination. And this constant change keeps us in exact accord with the progress of day in its course around the world. And when we cross the day line and step forward or backward from one day to another, by that act we change our count that we may conform to the course of day. This change actually takes place only in the act of crossing the Pacific. If we go westward to China, we pass from the end of the circuit of day to its beginning. If we turn from China, eastward to America, we pass at once from the beginning of the course of day to the termination of that course. In order, therefore, that we may preserve the proper computation of the week, we must, in one case, add a day to our reckoning, and in the other case we must set that reckoning back one day. And this is both reasonable and just. For there must be a point where the first day of each week and month and year commences. To deny it, is to throw all dates into confusion; to admit it, is to acknowledge that the existence of definite weeks is possible.
And the existence of this line in the Pacific alone is further evinced by the fact that if one man sets out eastward from the east shore of the Pacific, and another sets out westward from the west shore of that ocean, when they meet, they will be in exact harmony in their count of the days; and if they pass each other, each to that point from which the other set out, each will have the same count of the days with the people of the place at which he has arrived; for neither has crossed the line which divides between the commencement and termination of the course of day.
20. The wisdom of God has given to our earth a globular form, and has caused it to revolve upon its axis. So far is this from presenting any real difficulty in the way of those who keep the definite seventh day, it is actually that without which such observance would be impossible. For if our earth stood still, one side would have perpetual day, and the other side unending night. There could be in that case no succession of day and night, and no such thing as a seventh day. But by the divine arrangement of a revolving globular world, the definite seventh day comes to all the inhabitants of the earth, and they can observe it, if they have a heart to obey God. Even the dwellers within the polar circles, where for a season it is all night, and for another season all day, can readily determine the revolution of the earth upon its axis, and can, if they are so disposed, observe the Sabbath of the Lord.
21. When God was laying the foundations of the earth in the establishment of the original order of its existence, and the enactment of those laws which govern its operations, he said (Gen. 1:9, 10), “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he seas; and GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.” Were there not this great natural barrier, extending from pole to pole, the reckoning of definite days would be quite impossible. The next day after God had formed the sea, he caused the sun to become the ruler of the day, and the dispenser of light. It is evident that as each of the days of creation began with evening, and as each evening since the creation of the sun is marked by sunset, the fourth day began with the sun's light just disappearing from that part of the earth from which day begins its course. There has never been a moment since then that the sun has not been in the act of setting as seen from some part of our globe. This does not make the reckoning of time indefinite and uncertain. For when sunset made its first journey around the globe, it carried with it the commencement of the fourth day to each meridian which it passed. And when it had passed the established division between the commencement and the termination of the circuit of day, and began its second journey from the west side of that line, it was the commencement of the fifth day of the week which the course of sunset thus carried around the world. And this great fact, which no candid man of any sect or party will deny, really explains why in crossing this line to the east we step back one day in our reckoning, and crossing it to the west we add a day to that reckoning. It is because the days of the week are really definite and tangible, and not as our opponents represent them, indefinite and uncertain, that this change takes place. Indeed, we point to it as a conclusive evidence to all thoughtful, candid persons that the definite seventh day does come to all the dwellers upon our globe.
22. Those facts have a decisive bearing upon the question whether it is a seventh part of our time, or the definite seventh day, which God requires us to observe. They are appealed to by first-day people to prove, in opposition to the express letters of the moral law, that God cannot mean the seventh day, but must simply intend that we observe a seventh part of our time as sacred to him. Now it is remarkable that those very things do prove just the reverse; viz., that the seventh part of time cannot be intended, and that the true seventh day is the very thing which the fourth commandment requires us to hallow. Those who have to make the change of one day in their reckoning as they pass from the close of the circuit of day to its beginning, or from the beginning of the circuit of day back to its close, do not and cannot observe the seventh part of time. Were that the plain teaching of the commandment, it would forbid their making this change of one day in their count, and would require them to continue to work six days and then to rest one day; whereas the change in the count of the days is made in order to conform to the fact that in passing the line in question, we step forward or backward, as the case may be, from one definite day of the week to another.
23. The change of one day in the count is that we may conform to the actual course of the days of the week in their circuit of the globe. The seventh day of the week, the very day of the Creator's rest, is thus secured by this very act which most people suppose renders its observance impossible. As the letter of the fourth commandment expressly enjoins the observance of that day on which God did rest from all his works, the seventh day is not any seventh day after six days of labor; but it is the seventh day of the week as established at creation. So the fourth commandment gives permission to labor on six days of the week, but forbids this on the seventh day of that cycle. Those do not therefore violate this precept when, at the transition from one day to another, they change the count of the days in order that they may actually keep the week as God gave it. They do thereby secure the very day hallowed in paradise, and their action with reference to a prior six days of labor is no more an exception than was that of Adam in his first observance of the Sabbath.
24. Here are two passages of Scripture which we commend to the careful attention of the reader:— (1.) “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. (2.) “God that MADE THE WORLD and all things therein . . . hath made of one blood all nations of men for TO DWELL ON ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH.” Acts 17:24–26.
25. God, who made our world, made it of a globular form, and made man to dwell on all the face of it. And that the creation of the world might be commemorated, he set apart the seventh day of the week, because he rested upon it from that work, to be observed by the human family as the Sabbath of the Lord. And we have seen from a careful survey of the whole subject, that wherever in the providence of God men are placed, the definite seventh day is to be found, and can be kept by those who are so minded. The observers of the first day of the week have attempted to show, in the things above examined, that the observance of a definite day is impossible, because the days of the week are indefinite and uncertain. The real intent of their action is to excuse themselves for not observing the day enjoined in the commandment. We have shown that the excuse is without foundation in truth; and we close by calling attention to the remarkable fact, that, whereas Sunday-keepers, who have a definite day to celebrate in their “first day of the week,” have much to say concerning the impossibility of keeping a definite day the world over, no observer of the seventh day, wherever situated, whether Hebrew or Christian, ever found any difficulty of this kind in keeping the definite rest-day of the great Creator.
Continue reading: The State of the Dead