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56
From Heaven With Love
John found his home in the barren hills, wild ravines, and rocky
caves. Here his surroundings were favorable to habits of simplicity
and self-denial. Here he could study the lessons of nature, of revela-
tion, and of Providence. From childhood his mission had been kept
before him by his God-fearing parents, 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 well-nigh all-pervading.
He shrank from constant contact with sin lest he lose the sense of its
exceeding sinfulness.
But the life of John was not spent in ascetic gloom or selfish
isolation. From time to time he went forth to mingle with men, ever
an interested observer of what was passing in the world. Illuminated
by the divine Spirit he studied men to understand how to reach their
hearts with the message of heaven. The burden of his mission was
on him. By meditation and prayer he sought to gird up his soul for
the life work before him.
Although in the wilderness, he was not exempt from temptation.
He was assailed by the tempter, but his spiritual perceptions were
clear, and through the Holy Spirit he was able to detect and resist
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Satan’s approaches.
Like Moses amid 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
vineyard of the Lord had become a desolate waste. But above, the
dark clouds were arched by the rainbow of promise.
Alone in the silent night he read God’s promise to Abraham of
a seed numberless as the stars. The light of dawn told of Him who
should be as “the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a
morning without clouds.”
2 Samuel 23:4
. And in the brightness of
noontide 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 exultant spirit he searched in the prophetic scrolls
the revelations of the Messiah’s coming. Shiloh was to appear before
a king should 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, already the Christ was born.