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to the call and teaching of Jesus. He formally announced and bore testimony to Jesus as Messiah-^-Russel B. Miller. In ancient times when an army was about to invade a hostile country, it was customary to send a body of troops in advance to clear the way for th e main body. This ad- DEVCXTIONAL vance guard was to COMMENT level all obstructions, Dr. F . W. F a r r to make the mountain passes safe, to bridge th e chasms and provide for the susten ance of the coming army. When Israel had come out of Egypt, God said he would send his angel before them to drive out the inhab itan ts of Canaan and prepare it for th eir coming. The prophets spoke of needed preparation for the advent of th e Messiah and of one who should go before him for th a t purpose. This was th e work of John the Baptist. As th e herald went be fore the knight in the tou rnam en t of chivalry to proclaim the purpose of his coming and the cause for which he fought, John proclaimed th e Saviour’s advent and prepared th e way for his reception. As a child he lived under the shadow of th e temple, perhaps as sisting his fath e r in priestly service. Having passed the period of youth, he went into the desert solitude for the discipline and train ing for his mission. Moses passed through th e same novi tia te in th e Median desert. So did David among his fa th e r’s sheep-folds, and Jerem iah in his quiet home at Anathoth. And Amos among th e syca more groves of Tekoa. Jo h n ’s cloth ing was the rudely woven cloth of coarse camel’s hair, his food the locusts which swarmed upon the hillsides and th e honey of the wild bees in th e stony clefts, his d rink the w ater in the hollow of the rock. While he mused the fire burned and a t last he spake w ith his tongue. He was not tau g h t in the school of the rabbis but in th e school
as th e children of Abraham and by their confidence in the m erits of th e law, is attested by the fact th a t these parties resisted the teachings of both John and Jesus to the very end. W ith what vigor and fearlessness the Baptist pressed his demand for righteousness is shown by his stern reproof of the sin of Herod and Herodias which led to his imprisonment and finally to his death. H is Baptism . The symbolic rite of baptism was such an essential p art of th e work of John th a t it not only gave him his distinctive title bu t also caused his message to be styled, “ preaching the baptism of repentance.” While it seems clear th a t in th e use of the rite of baptism John was influenced by the Jewish customs of ceremonial washings, his baptism differed very essentially from these. The Levitical washings re stored an unclean person to his former condition, b u t baptism was a preparation for a new condition. It was a baptism of w ater only; a preparation for the baptism in th e spirit which was to fol low (Lk. 3:16) and is therefore dif feren t from Christian baptism . It was a rite complete in itself and was offered to the nation as a preparation for a specific event, the advent of the Christ. As a baptism of repentance, it m eant a renunciation of- th e past life. As a cleansing, it symbolized the forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1 :4 ). As a preparation, it implied a promise of loyalty to the kingdom of Christ. Jesus also came to be baptized (Mt. 3:13 -15 ). We cannot feel th a t Jesus felt any need of repentance or a change of life. We should regard it rath e r as an identification of Himself with His people in the formal consecration of His life to th e work of th e Kingdom. H is Imprisonm ent and Death. John was imprisoned because of his reproof of Herod’s marriage with the wife of his b ro ther Philip (Lk. 3:19-20). H is Relation to Jesus. John assumed from the first the role of a herald pre paring th e way. He clearly regarded his work as divinely appointed (Jn. 1:33) b u t was well aware of his sub ordinate relation to the Messiah (Mk. 1:7) and of the tem porary ch aracter of his mission (Jn . 3 :3 0 ). His work was two-fold. In his preaching he warned the nation of the tru e character of the new kingdom and by his call to repent ance and baptism , he prepared a t least a few h earts for a sympathetic response
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