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A Straight Message, September 23
Luke 1:80
;
Matthew 3:1-6
Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Amos 4:12
, last part.
John the Baptist in his desert life was taught of God. He studied the reve-
lations of God in nature. Under the guiding of the divine Spirit, he studied the
scrolls of the prophets. By day and by night, Christ was his study, his meditation,
until mind and heart and soul were filled with the glorious vision. He looked
upon the King in His beauty, and self was lost sight of. He beheld the majesty of
holiness, and knew himself to be inefficient and unworthy. It was God’s message
that he was to declare. It was in God’s power and His righteousness that he
was to stand. He was ready to go forth as Heaven’s messenger, unawed by the
human, because he had looked upon the Divine....
With no elaborate arguments or fine-spun theories did John declare his
message. Startling and stern, yet full of hope, his voice was heard from the
wilderness, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ... Unlearned
peasants and fishermen from the surrounding country; the Roman soldiers from
the barracks of Herod; chieftains with their swords at their sides, ready to put
down anything that might savor of rebellion; the avaricious tax-gatherers from
their toll-booths; and from the Sanhedrim the phylactered priests,—all listened
as if spellbound; and all ... went away ... cut to the heart with a sense of their
sins....
In this age, just prior to the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven,
such a work as that of John is to be done. God calls for men who will prepare
a people to stand in the great day of the Lord.... As a people who believe in
Christ’s soon coming, we have a message to bear,—“prepare to meet thy God.”
Our message must be as direct as was the message of John. He rebuked kings
for their iniquity. Notwithstanding that his life was imperiled, he did not hesitate
to declare God’s word. And our work in this age must be done as faithfully.
In order to give such a message as John gave, we must have a spiritual
experience like his. The same work must be wrought in us. We must behold
God, and in beholding Him, lose sight of self
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36
Gospel Workers, 54, 55
.
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