He was nothing but a voice--to be heard and not seen; he was Mr.
n.o.body. He regarded himself as a messenger who had received his commission from the eternal world.
How he began his ministry, and how he gathered the crowds together we are not informed. I can imagine that one day this strange man makes his appearance in the valley of the Jordan, where he finds a few shepherds tending their flocks. They bring together their scattered sheep, and the man begins to preach to these shepherds.
The kingdom of heaven, he says, is about to be set up on the earth; and he urges them to set their houses in order--to repent and turn away from their sins. Having delivered his message, he tells them that he will come back the next day and speak again.
When he had disappeared in the desert, I can suppose one of the shepherds saying to another:
"Was he not a strange man? Did you ever hear a man speak like that?
He did not talk as the rabbis or the Pharisees or the Sadducees do.
I really think he must be one of the old prophets. Did you notice that his coat was made of camel"s hair, and that he had a leathern girdle round his loins? Don"t the Scriptures say that Elijah was clothed like that?"
Says another: "You remember how Malachi says that before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, Elijah should come? I really believe this man is the old prophet of Carmel."
What could stir the heart of the Jewish people more than the name of Elijah?
The tidings of John"s appearance spread up and down the valley of the Jordan, and when he returned the next day, there was great excitement and expectation as the people listened to the strange preacher. Perhaps till Christ came he had only that
ONE TEXT:
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Day after day you could hear his voice ringing through the valley of the Jordan:
"Repent! repent! repent! The King is at the door. I do not know the day or the hour, but He will be here very soon."
By and by some of the people who flocked to hear him wanted to be baptized, and he took them to the Jordan and baptized them.
The news spread to the surrounding villages and towns, and it was not long before it reached Jerusalem. Then the people of the city began to flock into the desert to hear this prince among preachers.
His fame soon reached Galilee, and the people in the mountains began to flock down to hear him. Men left their fishing-smacks on the lake, that they might listen to this wonderful preacher. When he was in the zenith of his popularity, as many as twenty or thirty thousand people perhaps flocked to his ministry day after day.
No doubt there were some old croakers who said it was
ALL SENSATION.
"Catch me there! No, sir; I never did like sensational preaching."
Just as some people speak nowadays when any special effort is made to reach the people!
"Great harm will be done," they say.
I wish all these croakers had died out with that generation in Judea; but we have plenty of their descendants still. I venture to say you have met with them. Why, my dear friends, there is more excitement in your whisky shops and beer saloons in one night than in all the churches put together in twelve months. What a stir there must have been in Palestine under the preaching of John the Baptist, and of Christ! The whole country reeled and rocked with intense excitement. Don"t be afraid of a little excitement in religious matters; it won"t hurt.
One might hear those old Pharisees and Scribes grumbling about John being such a sensational preacher. "It won"t last." And when Herod had John the Baptist beheaded, they would say, "Didn"t I tell you so?"
Do not let us be in a hurry in pa.s.sing judgment. John the Baptist lives to-day more than ever he did; his voice goes ringing through the world yet. He only preached a few months, but for more than eighteen hundred years his sermons have been repeated and multiplied, and the power of his words will never die as long as the world lasts.
I can imagine that just when John was at the height of his popularity, as Herod sat in his palace in Jerusalem looking out towards the valley of the Jordan, he could see great crowds of people pa.s.sing day by day. He began to make inquiries as to what it meant, and the news came to him about this strange and powerful preacher. Some one, perhaps, reported that John was preaching treason. He was telling of a king who was at hand, and who was going to set up his kingdom.
"A king at hand! If Caesar were coming, I should have heard of it.
There is no king but Caesar. I must look into the matter. I will go down to the Jordan, and hear this man for myself."
So one day, as John stood preaching, with the eyes of the whole audience upon him, the people being swayed by his eloquence like tree-tops when the wind pa.s.ses over them, all at once he lost their attention. All eyes were suddenly turned in the direction of the city. One cries:
"Look, look! Herod is coming!"
Soon the whole congregation knows it, and there is great excitement.
"I believe he will stop this preaching," says one.
And if they had in those days some of the compromising weak-kneed Christians we sometimes meet, they would have said to John:
"Don"t talk about a coming King; Herod won"t stand it. Talk about repentance, but any talk about a coming King will be high treason in the ears of Herod."
I think if any one had dared to give John such counsel, he would have replied: "I have received my message from heaven; what do I care for Herod or any one else?"
As he stood thundering away and calling on the people to repent, I can see Herod, with his guard of soldiers around him, listening attentively to find anything in the preacher"s words that he can lay hold of. At last John says:
"The King is just at the door. He will set up His kingdom, and will separate the wheat from the chaff."
I can imagine Herod then saying to himself: "I will have that man"s head off inside of twenty-four hours. I would arrest him here and now if I dared. I will catch him to-morrow before the crowd gathers."
By and by, as Herod listens, some of the people begin to press close up to the preacher, and to question him. Some soldiers are among them, and they ask John:
"What shall we do?"
John answers: "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages."
"That is pretty good advice," Herod thinks; "I have had a good deal of trouble with these men, but if they follow the preacher"s advice, it will make them better soldiers."
Then he hears the publicans ask John, as they come to be baptized:
"What shall we do?"
The answer is: "Exact no more than that which is appointed you."
"Well," says Herod, "that is excellent advice. These publicans are all the time overtaxing the people. If they would do as the preacher tells them, the people would be more contented."
Then the preacher addresses himself to the Pharisees and the Sadducees in the crowd, and cries:
"O generation of vipers! Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance."
Says Herod within himself: "I like that. I am glad he is giving it pretty strong to these men. I do not think I will have him arrested just yet."
So he goes back to his palace. I can imagine he was
NOT ABLE TO SLEEP MUCH