Evening star., 1926-01-09
BY REV. HUGH T. STEVENSON.

tist, who gathered up the teachings
of the past, revived the prophetic or
der and fulfilled the predictions OF his
predecessors in the prophetic line. by
his persuasive preaching had filled
the Jewish nation with the hope that
the kingdom of God was at hand. II
was an age of national despair, when
the prophet emerged from the school
of the desert in response to the word
of God" His dress, pungent preach
! ing and personality suggested El1Jah
the prophet, who had pointed out the
nations infdelity and restored the
| worship of Jehovah.
The representatives of Judaism
were forced by the condemnation of
John the Baptist of their life and his
| growing power, that had reused the
+, Holy Land with the hopes of Messiah s
| coming, to challenge his authority.
| They demanded from him his creden-
| tials of ordination that authorized him
to preach and baptize. In reply to
| their questions, John revealed his
| humility by turning their attention
! to the presence among them or the
Messiah. From the commencement OF
his ministry until it's close the Baptist
was loyal to Christ. He never missed
an opportunity of corfessing Jesus
before men.
y
The public testimony of the Baptist
to the Messiah's presence appeared
to the deputation from Jerusalem 10
be preposterous. They evidently look
ed upon his claims to be the voice
of one crying in the Wilderness,
fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah ana
the authority of the Messiah's herald.
as the imaginations of misguided
fanatic The ignoring Of his testimony
by the official representatives OF the
leaders, whom he had characterized
as "a brood of vipers," was followed
the next day by a public testimony
of the Lord, that marked crisis In
his life and work.
The confession of the Baptist OF
Jesus, as the 1.-The Lamb of God"
was an abrupt announcement brought
about by the sudden appearance OF
the Lord. who had just returned from
His battle with Satan in the wilder
ness Having declared that He was
the long -looked-for Messiah, we are
surprised that John introduced the
Master as the Lamb Of God. 1t re-
veals upon the part Of the herald Of
the Messiah a wonderful insight into
the mission of Jesus. He placed the
moral and spiritual character of the
mission Of the Son Of God above that
the Messianic king.
Much has been written concerning
the real meaning OF the title that the
Baptist bestowed upon Jesus when he
called the multituds's attention to Him
as the Lamb Of God. He drew his
conception from the Old Testament
symbolism, where the lamb appears
as the Paschal offering, CExod. liz; as
an atoning burnt offering, Gxod, xxx.
o hnJ of
Jehovahs servant Us. liiiO: who suf-
fers for the sins of the people" John
combined all three ideas into one and
expanded the national conception into
that OF the world, because Christ s
death was for the taking of the sin of
the world upon Himself on the cross
John claimed. and no other eXplana-
ton of his testimony is reasonable,
that his testimony to Christ's char
aCter was due to a spirited revelation
given to him at His baptism.
1t was not until He applied to John
for baptism that he was aware of the
fact that Jesus was the appointed
Messiah. 1t is qnite possible that the
prenatal days mentioned by Luke
may have been known by the family
and frequently spoken of by the rela-
tives, yet the Baptist did not know
that his Nazareth cousin was the
Lamb of God and the Messiah until
he witnessed the descent Of the Holy
Spirit upon Jesus in the form Of
dove The indentification of the Lord.
by the voice of approval from heaven.
as ''the Son of God" filled the prophet
Of Righteousness with a faith in
Jesus as the Messiah. Although the
multitude did not accept Him. the next
day the testimony of the Baptist Sc
cured the first disciples for the Christ
The First Disciples.
John had shown his courage in his
public testimony to the official dele
CATION and the multitude concerning
the Lord. He revealed the greatness
of his soul when, the next day, he per-
suaded Andrew-and without doubt
John-to follow the Christ. Both of
these disciples may have been pre-
pared to do this on the preceding day,
but the public proclamation had failed
to impress them with their personal
duty to become tie first disciples Of
the Master. 1t required the personal
influence Of their old teachers to per-
suade them to follow Jesus. The spir-
ituaI greatness Of John revealed itself
in his efforts to weaken numerically
his own force by turning them to the
Christ.
We know but little Of Andrew, but
it is evident that he was a man Of
decision, quick to grasp a point and
to determine his duty. His decision
would influence John, who was a
tender, quiet and modest man. Look
ing back after 20 years upon the
as that day" The whole Of Christian
history was involved in that first day
of the Lords public ministry. It Is
evident from His greetings that Jesus
was looking for men of firmness OF
character, who possessed the open
mind as seekers Of the truth and free
from prejudice. The first two had
hardly left John before Christ recog-
nized that they were following Him.
When He turned and asked, What
seek ye?" we can hardly realize the
fears that must have swept over them.
His matchless messages had not been
delivered; His mighty works had not
been wrought. In the eyes Of men he
was a young carpenter from Nazareth.
who a few weeks before had joined the
forces Of the Baptist. Their question,
Where dwellest thou?" Is suggestive
of their inquiring attitude. Jesus met
their spirit of investigation by tnvit-
ing them to come and see." He
still seeks to have men try Him by
applying the acid test to His life.
labor and lessons. knowing that all
who sincerely seek to know Him shall
come to know Him by their trying to
do His will and work in the world.
We DO not know anything Of their
conversation. but they demonstrated
their faith in Him as the Messiah by
each bringing his own brother to
Jesus. If Andrew never did another
thing beyond winning his brother.
Peter, for the Master he would rank