THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS.
Jesus was thirty years of age when He left Nazareth to begin His work
as a Teacher of the Truth. It was the age set by the older teachers
for a young man to begin his work.
His cousin John, the son of Elizabeth and Zachariah, was six months
older than Jesus, and he had begun his ministry on the lower Jordan.
While Jesus had been living quietly at Nazareth preparing for his work,
John had been away in the wilderness beyond the Dead Sea alone with the
Spirit of God. He was a prophet who could be taught by God only. When
his time to speak came he came out of the wilderness to a place on the
banks of the Jordan, just above Jericho, called The Fords. Many people
crossed at this place, and he stood on a bank above the river crying,
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."
[Illustration: John the Baptist at the Jordan]
Like those who had made a vow to the Lord, John had never cut his hair,
he wore a coarse garment woven of camel's hair, and lived on the simple
food of the wilderness--locusts and wild honey. He seemed never to
think of himself, but always of One who was coming. He said that he
was only a "Voice," preparing the way for the Messiah, as Isaiah had
prophesied centuries before, and the "Messenger" that had been promised
through Malachi.
"Behold I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before
me."
He did something which seemed new and strange to the people. He called
them to a change of mind--a turning away from sin, and, as a sign that
they had done so, he baptized them in the river Jordan. He was getting
the people ready for the coming of Christ, who was to begin the Kingdom
of Heaven on earth.
Thousands were flocking down to the river to hear the new prophet.
They went from all parts of Palestine, and Jesus, knowing that his hour
had come, went also. He wore a white tunic gathered at the neck and
reaching to his feet, and on it the large blue mantle of thick stuff
that was worn in cold weather, for it was in the winter of the year 31.
We cannot know all about His parting with His mother, and the three
days' journey to the Fords of Jordan, but we know that He came and
stood with others on the banks while John preached.
On this day John's words were different He had said that the Christ
was coming, but to-day he said,
"There standeth One among you whom ye know not, whose shoe's latchet I
am not worthy to unloose."
After this Jesus came down to the water's edge to be baptized, and
John, though he had not seen Jesus since he was a young boy, knew Him.
Ready to fall at His feet, John cried,
"I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest thou to me?"
Jesus replied in a low voice,
"Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all
righteousness," and so reverently John baptized his Master.
As Jesus stepped from the water's edge to the river bank a strange and
beautiful thing happened. Out of the warm, blue sky a white dove came
circling down around the head of Jesus, who stood silent in prayer.
With eyes lifted to heaven He saw the dove, which was the form in which
the Spirit of God descended upon Him, and John saw it also, and both
heard a voice from heaven saying,
"_Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased._"
This was the answer to Jesus' prayer. Only Jesus and John understood
the meaning of these words, for they heard with the spirit. To others
it seemed like thunder out of a clear sky, and they were full of wonder
about the strange young man who had been baptized with such a beautiful
and singular sign following. They also remembered what John had said,
that the Christ was now standing among them, and perhaps this was he!
And they wondered what John meant when he said that though he baptized
with water, the coming Christ would baptize them with the Holy Spirit
and with fire.
It was of little use to wonder about the Messiah, however, unless they
could remember and do all that John had said to them about being honest
and true in their hearts, for that was the only way to prepare for the
kingdom that was near at hand. He told the rich to share with the
poor; the people who handled money to be honest, and the soldiers to
harm no one with word or hand, and to be contented with their wages.
When they were willing to give up the sins that John showed them they
took the sign of baptism from John, which meant that they wished to be
washed from their sins, and begin life in a new way.