74
The Desire of Ages
“To remember His holy covenant; ...
That we being delivered out of the hand of our
enemies
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him, all the
days of our
life.”
He saw his people deceived, self-satisfied, and asleep in their sins.
He longed to rouse them to a holier life. The message that God had
given him to bear was designed to startle them from their lethargy, and
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cause them to tremble because of their great wickedness. Before the
seed of the gospel could find lodgment, the soil of the heart must be
broken up. Before they would seek healing from Jesus, they must be
awakened to their danger from the wounds of sin.
God does not send messengers to flatter the sinner. He delivers no
message of peace to lull the unsanctified into fatal security. He lays
heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrongdoer, and pierces the
soul with arrows of conviction. The ministering angels present to him
the fearful judgments of God to deepen the sense of need, and prompt
the cry, “What must I do to be saved?” Then the hand that has humbled
in the dust, lifts up the penitent. The voice that has rebuked sin, and
put to shame pride and ambition, inquires with tenderest sympathy,
“What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”
When the ministry of John began, the nation was in a state of
excitement and discontent verging on revolution. At the removal
of Archelaus, Judea had been brought directly under the control of
Rome. The tyranny and extortion of the Roman governors, and their
determined efforts to introduce the heathen symbols and customs,
kindled revolt, which had been quenched in the blood of thousands
of the bravest of Israel. All this intensified the national hatred against
Rome, and increased the longing to be freed from her power.
Amid discord and strife, a voice was heard from the wilderness, a
voice startling and stern, yet full of hope: “Repent ye; for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.” With a new, strange power it moved the people.
Prophets had foretold the coming of Christ as an event far in the future;
but here was an announcement that it was at hand. John’s singular
appearance carried the minds of his hearers back to the ancient seers. In