Voice in the Wilderness
71
given to the parents of John,—a lesson of temperance by an angel
from the throne of heaven.
In childhood and youth the character is most impressible. The
power of self-control should then be acquired. By the fireside and at
the family board influences are exerted whose results are as enduring
as eternity. More than any natural endowment, the habits established
in early years decide whether a man will be victorious or vanquished in
the battle of life. Youth is the sowing time. It determines the character
of the harvest, for this life and for the life to come.
As a prophet, John was “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready
a people prepared for the Lord.” In preparing the way for Christ’s first
advent, he was a representative of those who are to prepare a people
for our Lord’s second coming. The world is given to self-indulgence.
Errors and fables abound. Satan’s snares for destroying souls are
multiplied. All who would perfect holiness in the fear of God must
learn the lessons of temperance and self-control. The appetites and
passions must be held in subjection to the higher powers of the mind.
This self-discipline is essential to that mental strength and spiritual
insight which will enable us to understand and to practice the sacred
truths of God’s word. For this reason temperance finds its place in the
work of preparation for Christ’s second coming.
In the natural order of things, the son of Zacharias would have
been educated for the priesthood. But the training of the rabbinical
schools would have unfitted him for his work. God did not send him
to the teachers of theology to learn how to interpret the Scriptures.
He called him to the desert, that he might learn of nature and nature’s
God.
It was a lonely region where he found his home, in the midst of
barren hills, wild ravines, and rocky caves. But it was his choice
to forgo the enjoyments and luxuries of life for the stern discipline
of the wilderness. Here his surroundings were favorable to habits
of simplicity and self-denial. Uninterrupted by the clamor of the
world, he could here study the lessons of nature, of revelation, and
of Providence. The words of the angel to Zacharias had been often
repeated to John by his God-fearing parents. From childhood his
mission had been kept before him, and he had accepted the holy trust.
To him the solitude of the desert was a welcome escape from society