Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-09-28

Elizabeth" means GODS Oath;
God had sworn, and she knew He
would perform it. "Zachariah"
means God remembers" and God
had not forgotten His oath. The
goOd-hearted and well-meanlng
neighbors were on hand, as usual,
on such occasions. On the eighth
day, the rite of circumcision was
performed, thereby claiming for the
child all the blessings of the cove
nant made with Abraham; and the
neigbhors named the baby, calling
him Zachariah, Jr. That they
should name him rather than the
parents seems strange to us, but
this is the custom among certain
peoples today. In this instance,
however, the parents took a hand.
The mother insisted upon naming
the baby John-"John" means
Jehovah is gracious" When they
appealed to the father, he wrote
for he was still dumb-on tablet,
His name is John" Note the tense
not shall be, but is. Immediately
his tongue was loosed, and he
began to praise God in that wonder
full song DR.. Luke has presented
for US. You would think Zachariah
would be rejoicing over this Won
derful baby of his; but there is not
one reference to his own child in
all of his song; his whole song is
about the Messiah who is to be
born in six months more. How can
we account for that? Only by know
ing that before he began to sing
he, like the baby and his mother,
was filled with the Holy Ghost!
We know very little more about
this child of faith. The only rec
ord we have is this brief word Of
Luke's, "And the child grew, and
waxed strong in spirit, and was in
the deserts until the day of mis-
showing unto Israel" We may be
sure that his parents, who were
righteous before God, walking in
all the commandments and ordi-
nances blameless, would teach him
to keep those commandments and
ordinances. In that hill country of
Judah he grew-physically but
more important, he waXed strong
in spirit, for he was filled with the
Holy Ghost from his mothers
womb. He learned to know God out
in the solitude of the desert and
away from rabbinical influences.
Had he lived in the city, he would
have been educated as other priests
were; but away from the crowd
John was taught of God. From his
parents lips he heard the unusual
circumstances connected with his
birth: from them he learned the
law and the prophets and the writ
ings;" in them he saw these teach
ings exemplified as they lived be-
fore him a blameless life (this is
the only family on record of which
every one Of them is said to have
been filled with the Holy Spirit;
and all of this was made luminous
to him by the Spirit of God in the
rugged wilderness.
A wonderful preparation that
was for the work he was to do;
for there was constantly being
borne in upon him by all Of those
influences the fact that he was to
come before the Messiah and make
the path smooth and straight for
him. He may or may not have
known the child of his cousin Mary,
who was born six months after his
birth; but he certainly knew Of
the circumstances of his cousin Ma
L y N4SAC pCIO1S Ills wv II anu
of those connected with the birth of
the babe of Bethlehem. BY the
spirit of God these two became
luminous and helped to prepare him
to be the forerunner of the coming
king. These all made possible the
realization of Gabriels prophecy to
his father concerning him-''He
shall be great in the sight of the
Lord, ETC."
Afher his ministry was over Je-
sus said of him that of all those born
of women there had been none
greater than John. 5 His greatness,
in the sight of God, man's estimate
may have been different), consisted
in his humility and in his work, for
John ever kept himself behind the
Christ and went ahead only to tell
that He was coming. A divine para
dox, to be behind Christ and yet to
go before Him! Yet that is your
ministry and mine. Jesus Christ is
coming again; His manifestation is
imminent. There are many rough
places ahead that should be made
smooth, many crooked places that
should be Strengthened out, MANY
IuIllSO
God, many children turned home
ward; many disobedient to be turned
by the wisdom of the just, to make
ready people prepared for the
Lord In going before Him to do
this we must keep Jesus Christ ever
before us-lift Him up, and forget
ourselves; put Him always to the
fore, and hide ourselves behind Him:
depend only upon His strength, and
recognize our own weakness; appre-
ciate His everythingness, and our
nothingness.
Jesus said John was the greatest
who had ever been born, but that
he that is least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he. The rea-
son is obvious. John could onlv
speak of the Messiah who was soon
to come. We can tell of the Son
of God who voluntarily gave up His
life that He might take it again:
who though He was absolutely sin
less became sin for us that we
might become righteousness who
bore in His own body on the tree
our sIns-yours and mine, black and
ugly as they were-that we might
i've; who lives and intercedes, and
who is soon to return and reign.
John was a voice out of the will
derness. You hear the voice but
you can not see it. May we be
Gods voice, heard but not seen, as
God speaks through us of our won
derful Saviour and Lord, life and
coming king.