The morning star, shining in the midst of the glow of dawn, is the fittest emblem that nature can supply as a herald that proclaims the rising of the Sun of Righteousness; answering across the gulf of three hundred years to the prophet, Malachi, who had foretold that, Sunrise, and the healing in his wings.
Every sign attests to the unique and singular glory of John the Baptist. Not that his service was observed as a blaze of prodigy and wonder, like the miraculous multiplication of the widow's meal or the descent of fire of heaven to consume the altar and the wood; for it is expressly said that "John did no miracle." Nor did he owe anything to the circumstances of wealth and position; for he was not a position loving courtier, "clothed in fancy clothing or found in kings' courts." Nor was he was a master of the eloquence possessed by Isaiah or Ezekiel. He was sent only "a cry"; a short, thrilling, piercing through the darkness, ringing over the desert plains. Yet, his Master said of him that "among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist".
In a brief six months of witnessing about the coming one and the coming Kingdom of God, this young prophet in the wilderness became the centre of attention which all the land went forth to see and hear. We observe from the scriptures Pharisees and Sadducees, soldiers and publicans, enthralled by the power of his ministry; the Sanhedrim forced to investigate his claims. The rulers of Palestine caused to tremble on their thrones. John the Baptist has left a name and an influence that will never cease from this age and the nest.
But there is a further feature which our attention to the life and ministry of the John the Baptist. He was ordained to be "the go between" of two covenants. In him Judaism reached its highest embodiment, and the Old Testament found its noblest exponent. It is significant, therefore, that through his lips the law and the prophets should announce their transitional purpose, and that he who brought forth the torch of Hebrew prophecy with a grasp and spirit unrivalled by any before him, should have it in his power and in his heart to say: "The object of all prophecy, the purpose of the Mosaic law, the end of all sacrifices, the desire of all nations, is at hand." And forthwith turning direction to the true Shepherd, who stood at the door waiting to be admitted, to him the porter opened, bowing low as He passed, and saying: "This is He of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, who was for to come."
Few studies can bring out a clearer demonstration the superlative glory of the Messiah than a thoughtful consideration of the story of his forerunner. They were born around the same time; were surrounded from their birth by similar circumstances; drank in from their earliest days the same sacred traditions, the same glowing hopes. But that parallel soon stops. John the Baptist was certainly a grand embodiment of the noblest characteristics of the Jewish people. We see in him a conspicuous example of what should have developed out of eight hundred years of Yehovah’s revelation and discipline. But John the Baptist points to the lord Jesus the Son of man about whom there is a width, a breadth, and universality about him which cannot be accounted for above what John the Baptist declared: "He who comes [is commissioned] from above is above all."
The history of both men’s service was in the case of John the Baptist was about six months, and in Jesus case about three and a half years. In each case, at first, there was abounding enthusiasm, bursting forth around them as they announced the coming of the Kingship/Kingdom of God, but as time passed they were to meet the wrath of the rulers of Israel, and the unconcealed hatred of the religious world of their time. In each case, the brief sunny hours of service were soon succeeded by the rolling up of the thunder clouds, and these by the murderous tempest of deadly hatred, even unto death. In each case, there were a small group of disciples, who bitterly mourned their master's death. Both men were buried after having died.
But there the parallel ends. The life purpose of John the Baptist culminated in his untimely death; but with the lord Jesus, it only was just the beginning. In the case of John, his death was a martyrdom, which shone brilliantly in the midst of the murky darkness of his time. However; in the case of Jesus death as a sin- offering sacrifice there was a reconciliation of humanity to Yehovah. For John there was no immediate resurrection,; but his Master saw no corruption; it was not possible for him to be held by death; and in his resurrection he took his place next to the throne of his God and Father Yehovah
When the axe of Herod's executioner had done its deadly work in the dungeons of Machaerus, the bond which knit the disciples of John was severed also, and they became followers of the Lord Messiah Jesus. When; the Roman soldiers thought their work was done, and the cry "It is finished!" escaped the parched lips of the dying Lord Jesus, and after his death and resurrection three days and three nights later he appeared to his disciples and continued there for forty days revealing to them the depth of God word about the Kingdom of God and then he was taken up before their eyes into the clouds with the angels telling them “as you have seen him to into the clouds so he will return again”. Then on the day of Pentecost the Lord Messiah Jesus sent down the Holy Spirit which formed them into a strong called-out Assembly that this world has ever beheld.
John's influence on the world has diminished; but Jesus is Lord and King of the ages. He will be with those who are his to the end of this age. We do not have to go back through the centuries to find him in the cradle or in Mary's arms, in the fishing-boat or on the mountain, on the cross or in the grave; he is here with us, indwelling in us, "all the days." John, then, was "a burning and shining torch," lifted for a moment aloft in the murky air; but Jesus was a shinning light to all of Israel.
As the star-light, which fails to illumine the page of your book or the dial-plate of your watch, is to the sunlight, as the courier is to the sovereign, as the streamlet is to the ocean; such was John as compared with him whose shoe-latchet he felt himself unworthy to stoop down and unloose. Greatest born of women he might be; "sent from God" he was: but the one who came after him who bore the designation of his God in his origin and mission, behind whom the gates of the past closed, as when a king has passed through, and on whose girdle hang the keys of the doors and gates of the coming ages.
To read the calm idyllic pages of the Gospels, apart from some knowledge of contemporary history, is to miss one of their deepest lessons; that such piety and beneficence were set in the midst of a most tumultuous and perilous age. Those times were by no means favorable to the cultivation of the deepest life. The flock of God had long left the green pastures and still waters of outward peace, and was passing through the valley of death, every step of the path being infested by the enemy of their peace, their unbelief. The wolf, indeed, was coming. The national life was already being rent by those throes of agony which envision the passing away of an age which reached the climax in the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Herod was on the throne; crafty, cruel, sensual, imperious, and magnificent. The gorgeous Temple which bore his name was the scene of priestly service and sacramental rites. The great national feasts of the Passover, of Tabernacles, and of Pentecost, were celebrated with solemn pomp, and attracted vast crowds from all over the world. In every part of the land synagogues were maintained with punctilious care, and crowds of scribes were perpetually engaged in a microscopic study of the law, and in the instruction of the people. In revenue, and popular attention, and apparent devoutness, that period had not been excelled in the days of Solomon or Hezekiah. But beneath this decorous surface the rankest, foulest, most desperate corruption throve.
To the aged couple in the hill-country of Judea, as to Mary and Joseph at Nazareth, must have come tidings of the murder of Aristobulus, of the cruel death of Mariamne and her sons, and of the aged Hyrcanus. They must have groaned beneath the grinding oppression by which Herod extorted from the poorer classes the immense revenues which he squandered on his palaces and fortresses and on the creation of new cities. That he was introducing everywhere Gentile customs and games; that he had dared to place the Roman eagle on the main entrance of the Temple; that he had pillaged David's tomb; that he had set aside the great council of their nation, and blinded the saintly Jochanan.
We observe from the scriptures that the religious leaders, like Caiaphas and Annas, were quite willing to wink at the crimes of the secular power, so long as their prestige and wealth was secure; that the national independence for which Judas and his brothers had striven, during the Maccabean wars, was fast being laid at the feet of Rome, which was only too willing to take advantage of the chaos which followed immediately upon Herod's hideous death; such tidings must have come, in successive shocks of anguish, to those true hearts who were waiting for the redemption of Israel, with all the more eagerness as it seemed so long delayed, so urgently needed. Still, they made their yearly journeys to Jerusalem, and participated in the great convocations, which, in outward splendors, eclipsed memories of the past; but they realized that the glory had departed, and that the mere husk of externalism could not long resist the incoming tides of militarism, of the love of display, and the corrupting taint of the worst aspects of Roman civilization. When the feasts were over, these pious hearts turned back to their homes among the hills, tearing themselves from the last glimpse of the beautiful city, with the cry, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" Are not these events in history a forerunners of what is taking place today?
The darkest hour proceeds that day, and it was just at this point that Old Testament predictions must have been so eagerly scanned by those that watched and waited. That the Messiah was nigh, they could not doubt. The term of years foretold by Daniel had nearly expired. The scepter had departed from Judah, and the lawgiver from between his feet. Even the Gentile world was penetrated with the expectation of a King, in their ancient writings, hermits in their secret cells, Magi studying the dazzling glories of the eastern heavens, had come to the conclusion that he was at hand who would bring about the Golden Age.
And so those loyal and loving man and women that often spoke together, while their God Yehovah hearkened to and heard what they said, must have felt that as the advent of the coming one, the Messiah, whom they sought was about to come, that of his messenger must be nearer still. They listened for every voice. They scanned the expression of every face. "Behold, he shall come," rang in their hearts like a peal of silver bells. At any moment might a voice be heard crying, "Cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up an ensign for the peoples. Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold your salvation comes." Those anticipations were realized in the birth of John the Baptist and came to pass with the birth of the Messiah Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment