John the Baptist

In this fearful time, just before Christ is to come the second time, God’s faithful preachers will have to bear a still more pointed testimony than was borne by John the Baptist. A responsible, important work is before them; and those who speak smooth things, God will not acknowledge as his shepherds. A fearful woe is upon them.—Testimonies for the Church 1:321. GW92 90.1

These wrongs and sins, which have brought the people of God in their state of wretchedness, blindness, and poverty, must be seen, and they arouse to zealous repentance, and a putting away of these sins which have brought them into such a deplorable condition of blindness and fearful deception. The pointed testimony must live in the church. And this alone will answer to the message to the Laodiceans. Wrongs must be reproved,sins must be called sins, and iniquity must be met promptly and decidedly, and put away from us as a people. { RH September 16, 1873}

One night a scene was clearly presented before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly the lookout cried, “Iceberg just ahead!” There, towering high above the ship, was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, “Meet it!” There was not a moment’s hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice. There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collisions, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then she moved forward on her way. {1SM 205.3}

The people are asleep in their sins and need to be alarmed before they can shake off this lethargy. Their ministers have preached smooth things; but God’s servants, who bear sacred, vital truths, should cry aloud and spare not, that the truth may tear off the garment of security and find its way to the heart. The straight testimony that should have been given to the people in —– was shunned by the ministers; the seed of truth was sown among thorns and has been choked by them. {1T 249.1}

John the Baptist

“In John the Baptist God raised up a messenger to prepare the way of the Lord. He was to bear to the world an unflinching testimony, reproving and denouncing sin. The angel, in announcing John’s mission and work, said: “He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  (Review and Herald, Nov. 1, 1906)

John had not been educated in the schools of the rabbis. He had obtained no human scholarship. The forerunner of Christ did not expose himself to evil conversation and the corrupting influences of the world. He chose to have his home in the wilderness. Here his surroundings were favorable to habits of simplicity and self-denial. Uninterrupted by the clamor of the world, he could here study the lessons of nature, of revelation, and of providence, and preserve a sacred sense of the majesty of God.

To prepare the way before Christ, one was needed, who, like the prophets of old, could summon the degenerate nation to repentance, and the voice of John was lifted up like a trumpet. His commission was, “Show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” He presented no long arguments, no fine-spun theories, elaborately delivered in their “first,” “secondly,” and “thirdly.” Pure, native eloquence was revealed; every word carried with it certainty and truth. 

And all went forth into the wilderness to hear him. Unlearned peasants and fishermen came from the surrounding country. The Roman soldiers from the barracks of Herod came to hear him. Chieftains came, with their swords girded at their sides, to put down anything that savored of rebellion. The avaricious tax-gatherers came from the regions round about, and from the Sanhedrin came the phylacteried priests. All listened as if spellbound; and all came away, even the Pharisee, the Sadducee, and the cold, unimpressible scoffer, with the sneer gone, and cut to the heart with a sense of their sins. 

John the Baptist Called All to Repentance

John called every class to repentance. He met sin with open rebuke, in men of humble occupation, and in men of high degree. He declared the truth to kings and nobles, whether they would hear or reject it. And kings and nobles, Pharisees and Sadducees, Roman soldiers, and officers trained in all court etiquette, wily, calculating tax-gatherers and world-renowned men, listened to his words. They had confidence in his plain statements, and were convicted of sin.

In this age, just prior to the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, God calls for men who will prepare a people to stand in the great day of the Lord. Just such a work as that of John is to be carried on in these last days. The Lord has given messages to his people, through the instruments he has chosen, and he would have all give heed to the admonitions and warnings he sends. The message preceding the public ministry of Christ was, Repent, publicans and sinners. Repent, Pharisees and Sadducees. Repent, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Our message is not to be one of peace and safety. As a people who believe in Christ’s soon appearing, we have a message to bear,—“Prepare to meet thy God.” We are to lift up the standard and bear the third angel’s message. Our message must be as direct as was the message of John. He rebuked kings for their iniquity. Notwithstanding that his life was in peril, the truth did not languish upon his lips. And our work in this age must be as faithfully done. “(Review and Herald, Nov. 1, 1906)

Call Sin by its Right Name Like John the Baptist

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