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One of God’s Great Men, September 21
Luke 1:13-24
;
Luke 1:57-80
He will be one of God’s great men; he will touch neither wine nor strong
drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment of his
birth.
Luke 1:15
, Phillips.
On heaven’s record of noble men the Saviour declared that there stood not one
greater than John the Baptist. The work committed to him was one demanding
not only physical energy and endurance, but the highest qualities of mind and
soul. So important was right physical training as a preparation for this work that
the highest angel in heaven was sent with a message of instruction to the parents
of the child
They were to faithfully co-operate with God in forming such a character in
John as would fit him to perform the part God had assigned him.... John was
the son of their old age, he was a child of miracle, and the parents might have
reasoned that he had a special work to do for the Lord and the Lord would take
care of him. But the parents did not thus reason; they moved to a retired place
in the country, where their son would not be exposed to the temptations of city
life, or induced to depart from the counsel and instruction which they as parents
would give him
In the wilderness, John could the more readily deny himself and bring his
appetite under control, and dress in accordance to natural simplicity. And there
was nothing in the wilderness that would take his mind from meditation and
prayer. Satan had access to John, even after he had closed every avenue in his
power through which he would enter. But his habits of life were so pure and
natural that he could discern the foe, and had strength of spirit and decision of
character to resist him.
The book of nature was open before John with its inexhaustible store of
varied instruction. He sought the favor of God, and the Holy Spirit rested upon
him, and kindled in his heart a glowing zeal to do the great work of calling the
people to repentance, and to a higher and holier life. John was fitting himself, by
the privations and hardships of his secluded life, to so control all his physical and
mental powers that he could stand among the people as unmoved by surrounding
circumstances as the rocks and mountains of the wilderness that had surrounded
him for thirty years
[271]
32
The Ministry of Healing, 379
.
33
Child Guidance, 23
.
34
The Spirit of Prophecy 2:47
.
280