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Voice in the Wilderness
59
John found his home in the barren hills, wild ravines, and rocky
caves. Here his surroundings helped him form habits of simplicity
and self-denial. Here he could study the lessons of nature, of reve-
lation, and of God’s leading. From his childhood, his God-fearing
parents had kept his mission before him, and he had accepted the
holy trust. The solitude of the desert was a welcome escape from
society in which unbelief and impurity had become almost universal.
He avoided constant contact with sin in order not to lose the sense
of its exceeding sinfulness.
But John did not spend his life in austere religious gloom or
in selfish isolation. From time to time, he went out to mingle in
society, always an interested observer of what was happening in the
world. Illuminated by the divine Spirit, he studied human nature to
understand how to reach people’s hearts with the message of heaven.
The burden of his mission was on him. By meditation and prayer,
he set about to prepare himself for the life work before him.
Although he was in the wilderness, John was not exempt from
temptation. Satan tried to overthrow him, but his spiritual percep-
tions were clear, and through the Holy Spirit he was able to detect
and resist the tempter’s approaches.
Like Moses in the mountains of Midian, John was shut in by
God’s presence. The gloomy and terrible aspect of nature in his
wilderness home vividly pictured the condition of Israel. The vine-
yard of the Lord had become a desolate waste. But above, over the
dark clouds, arched the rainbow of promise.
Alone in the silent night, John read God’s promise to Abraham
of descendants as numberless as the stars. The light of dawn told of
Him who would be like “the light of the morning when the sun rises,
a morning without clouds.”
2 Samuel 23:4
. And in the brightness of
noonday, he saw the splendor when “The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
Isaiah 40:5
.
With awed yet elated spirit he searched in the prophetic scrolls
for the revelations of the Messiah’s coming. Shiloh was to appear
before a king would cease to reign on David’s throne. Now the time
had come. A Roman ruler sat in the palace on Mount Zion. By the
sure word of the Lord, the Christ was already born.