T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S is consigned to the unquenchable fire of hell. The Old Testament not only prophe sied the first coming of Christ, but con tains many more prophecies concerning His second coming, and it is worthy of note that there is a growing conviction that the world conditions now existing have a voice "which suggest that His coming draweth nigh. The age in which we live demands the testimony of God’s messengers against thé sins so rampant in our Lord’s Day, and every loyal lover of the Lord should be alive and alert, seeking to reprove and rebuke, seeking to win to the Mas ter the lost ones who are dead in tres passes and sins and save them from the horrors of eternal fire. QUESTIONS. (1) What did John say he was? (John 1:23.) (2) Is there a wrath to come? (1 Thess. 1:10.) (3) Who is the cause of the wrath to come? (1 John 3:8.) ' (4) What fruit is the evidence of a change of attitude (repentance) toward God? (Gal. 5:22.) (5) Should a Christian trim his message to suit people? (1 Tim. 1:5; John 8:44, 45.) (6) What two types of the Holy Spirit did John use? (John 3:8; Ezek. 47:1-12.) (7) Who are represented by the chaff? (Psa. 1:4.) In a tournament of the days of chiv alry the appearance of a knight in the arena was preceded by the coming of a herald who announced the name of the knight and the jpur- DEVOTIONAL pose for which he en- COMMENT tered the lists. John F. W. Farr the Baptist was the herald of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wilderness of Judea was the arena, Matt. 3:1, and the world
1047 was the amphitheatre. There is very lit tle given in Scripture concerning the childhood and youth of the Saviour and still less regarding the early life of John the Baptist. A single verse sums it all. “And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of His showing unto Israel.” Luke 1:80. This day came when John was thirty years of age. John became a dweller in the wilderness that he might become a prophet of the Highest. 'He had learned a language and received a revelation in the school of solitude not vouchsafed to other men. It was a time of transition and corruption. Spiritual life was at its fewest ebb. Crime was universal and there was a general ex pectation of wrath to come. Men saw the clothing that John wore and the food that he ate. They felt in him that mastery which comes through self-de nial. He wrought no miracle, but urged upon all men the necessity of repentance and the imminence of the kingdom of heaven. A great revival sprang up under his preaching and mul titudes flocked around him. His mes sage was practical and heart searching. It was a hammer that broke the flinty heart t,o pieces and a flame that pierced the hidden thoughts of men. He re buked the tax-gatherers for their ex tortion, the soldiers for their violence, the Pharisees and Sadducees for their formalism and hypocrisy. He warned the people that their religious privileges were useless if they held them without repentance. The multitudes listened with accusing consciences and stricken hearts. Since he adopted baptism as a symbol of repentance, they were bap tized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. Even those who were not bap tized were willing for a season to re joice in his light. He claimed no au thority for *himself. When the people questioned if he might not be the com ing Messiah, when the Sanhedrin asked
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