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 G.o.d 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.
CHAPTER VII.
JESUS IN THE DESERT.
The people were looking for the promised Messiah, and would have welcomed John as the Christ if John had not always said "One mightier than I cometh." "I am not the Christ." The sign of the Dove filled them with new thoughts.
While they were thinking Jesus went up the river bank alone. The power of the spirit was upon Him, and His great work before Him, and He wished to go for a time as far as possible from every human being. He went into the wilderness--a wild desert country beyond the Dead Sea--not even wishing to talk with John, whose home was in the wilderness. Perhaps John looked after Him and longed to see and talk with Him, but Jesus had one great desire, to know Himself, and what His work was to be. He felt two natures within Him, the human and the divine, and before He began to teach He wanted to hear the voice of the Divine within Him as clear and strong as He had heard it that day from the skies.
The desert to which He went was not a waste of flat sand, like the African desert, but ma.s.ses of rock with sand and dry gra.s.ses between, great cliffs of chalk and limestone rise a thousand feet above the gloomy gulfs of rock through which torrents run in the rainy season, but which are dry and oven-like in summer. One great cliff called Quarantana is now full of caves cut out of the face of the rock by men who have hoped to win heaven by suffering as Jesus did.
Jesus was thinking--thinking, His human nature being full of hopes, fears, and prayers; His divine nature being full of strength, promise, comfort. He did not think of food when He came, and there was none to be found. So resting at night in a cave, and wandering farther among the mountains by day, Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness of Judea. While there He was tried by the spirit of evil in every way known to human nature, and when all was over, and He had not yielded to sin, His mind was calm and ready for His work, for He knew He was the Son of G.o.d.
When He was hungry the tempter said, "If thou be the Son of G.o.d command this stone that it be made bread."
It would have been easy for Him to try His power, but He knew that He did not come into the world to use it for Himself, but for others, and so He answered in the words of the Bible,
"Thou shalt not live by bread alone, but by every word of G.o.d."
Then in a vision He seemed to be in the Holy City upon a tower of the Temple that stood over a deep valley, and the tempter speaking within Him, said,
"If Thou be the Son of G.o.d cast Thyself down, for it is written, "He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.""
But Jesus knew that though the words were the words of G.o.d, the voice was the voice of the tempter, and He answered,
"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy G.o.d."
Then in a vision again He seemed to see, from the top of a very high mountain, all the kingdoms of the world spread out before Him with their kings, and armies, and cities; their beautiful homes and lovely women, and great men with their gold, and jewels, and precious works of art, and the tempter said,
"All these things will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me."
Then all the Divine power in Jesus rose up against this evil whisper, and He said,
"Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy G.o.d, and Him only shalt thou serve.""
We shall never know all that Jesus suffered during this long time when He was away from His home in Nazareth, and away from every human being, tempted by evil, surrounded by wild beasts, and faint from hunger, but we know He won a great victory over evil for us. So he became the Elder Brother and Friend of all who are tempted.
After His long fast and struggle with the powers of evil, angels came and cared for Him, bringing heavenly strength and comfort, and He rose in that strength and came again into the valley of Jordan, and found that spring had come while he had been in the desert, and the willows were green by the river side. John was still preaching and baptizing, but was a little farther up the river at Bethabara.
As Jesus came near John pointed to Him and said to the people,
"Behold the Lamb of G.o.d, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is He. . . . And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, "Upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.""
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIRST DISCIPLES.
The next day while two men named John and Andrew were talking with John the Baptist, Jesus pa.s.sed by, and again John said, "Behold the Lamb of G.o.d." These two men had been priests and disciples of John, but they turned and followed Jesus, and John was content to have them do so, for he sought no honor for himself. Jesus when he saw them following said,
"What seek ye?"
And they, hardly knowing what to say, and wishing very much to know Him, said,
"Rabbi, where dwellest thou?"
He did not reprove them for giving Him the honored name of Master, but said,
"Come and see."
How gladly they went! No one knows where or how He lived, but whether in a house, or in such a little tent as the people of that region now carry with them when they travel, it was a quiet place where these two men who were looking eagerly for the Kingdom of G.o.d could sit at the feet of Jesus and talk with Him. He was a young man like themselves, but there was a wonderful spirit in Him that made them feel like worshipping Him.
The first thing that Andrew did was to go and find his brother, Simon Peter. They were both fishermen from Bethsaida on Lake Galilee, and had come down to hear the new prophet John.