The Story

We are in the home of Zacharias and Elisabeth, in the hill country of Judea, perhaps in Hebron where Abraham lived so long. The friends and relatives are at the house to rejoice with Zacharias and Elisabeth and to have part in the naming of the boy, now eight days old. Who remembers about the coming of the angel to Zacharias in the temple at Jerusalem, telling him that this child would be born, and what his name should be? What was to be his name? What was to be his work? Why, when they asked Zacharias the child's name, did he write it instead of telling them? But now he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He bath visited and redeemed His people." Words of rejoicing that the time for the Lord's coming was at hand; the coming which had been so long promised and expected, which would bring salvation and happiness to the world.

Let us look together at a good large map of the Holy Land. Which part of the country was Judea? A line across the map halfway between Shechem and Jerusalem shows about the northern limit of Judea, and it extended southward to Hebron and the pasture country beyond. You see by the map that Judea is full of hills and mountains. Valleys run out to the west, into the Philistine meadows, and to the east to the Dead Sea. Many of the hillsides were terraced in the old days so that trees and vines could be planted, and many mountain brooks were dammed up, so that the water could be used to water the gardens and orchards. There were beautiful grain fields there in those days. We read about some near Bethlehem in the Book of Ruth. And in the orchards there were olives, and figs and pomegranates. It was in a valley near Hebron that the spies found the bunch of grapes so large that it had to be carried between two on a staff. (Numbers 13:23.)

It was among these hills of Judea, and perhaps in this old town of Hebron, which was so long Abraham's home, that Zacharias and Elisabeth lived. The old priest had been at Jerusalem taking his turn of service at the temple. There he heard the promise of the angel, that they should have a son. The promise was fulfilled; the child was born; and the friends had come to the house to rejoice with Elisabeth and to give the child his name. His mother said, "He shall be called John." Zacharias could not speak, but he asked for a writing tablet - perhaps a little wooden tablet covered with wax; on which one could scratch with a sharp point - and wrote, "His name is John." The friends did not know, but you know why they gave the child this name. The people wondered, and as the child grew they saw that the Lord was with him.

When Zacharias had obeyed the angel and named the child John, his voice came again, for he had not spoken since that day in the temple. And the first words that he spoke were words that the Lord gave him to say. They were a beautiful song of thanksgiving for the Lord's great mercy in making ready for His coming into the world. His coming had been promised by prophets for many ages (Genesis 3:15), and especially to Abraham. (Genesis 12:3; 12:16, 17) He would deliver His people from their enemies - you know what enemies are meant - not from the Romans and enemies of this world, but from evil spirits and evil thoughts and feelings, which are much the worst enemies of all. And John would help by teaching repentance. He would be like a messenger going before a great king, to have the roads made ready and smooth for him. The Lord's coming would be like the dawn of a new day. It would send light into all the dark places of the earth, and everybody with His help would be able to live a good life, and be peaceful and happy.

You will remember also predictions by later prophets. "Unto us a child is born." (Isaiah 9:6) "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse." (Isaiah 11:1) "And thou, Bethlehem in the land of Judah." (Micah

5:2) And many more. And now, last of the long line of prophets and forerunners of the Lord, has come John the Baptist. But we must not linger long in the home of John the Baptist. The time of fulfillment is at hand, and we must hasten on to Bethlehem. The predictions of the prophets and the promises to Abraham are about to be fulfilled.

Why do I find on the maps so few towns in the part of Judea that is near to the Dead Sea? This part of the country is a desert. It is made of rock and of hard chalky soil in which little that is green can grow. There are steep cliffs and deep, wild gorges. Still, in the rainy winter there were a good many flowers on these hills. Sheep could find pasture, and the wild bees could find honey to lay up in their combs in cracks and caves among the rocks. You remember how David used to keep his father's sheep on the hills near Bethlehem, and there were shepherds in these same fields on Christmas night. And it was among these wild hills and valleys further south that David fled from Saul. At the time that John was born there were many hermits living in this wilderness keeping away from the world. John went and lived in the desert. His hair was long like all the Nazarites. Perhaps already he wore the robe of coarse camel's-hair cloth with the leather belt. He ate the brown locusts as the poor Arabs do, salted and dried, or stewed with butter. And he found the wild honey in the rocks. So he lived as a young man, until the time came, and he was sent to preach repentance and to baptize.

1. Who first spoke John the Baptist's name? Who wrote it? Where was John born? What was his father's name? his mother's?

2. When did Zacharias become dumb? When did his speech return? What were his first words? Were they really his words?

3. What enemies did the Lord come to save us from? What beautiful thing is the Lord's coming compared to?

4. Where did John make his home? How was he by and by to help in the Lord's work?

From the time when people first disobeyed the Lord and followed instead what seemed good to them, there were predictions of the coming of a Savior. The predictions were general at first, but became more clear and definite as the time drew near. Our study of Genesis has shown us that it is not only a verse here and there in the Old Testament which foretells the Lord's coming, but that all Scripture in its deepest sense is about Him. (A. 9389, 2523) The Lord said that Moses wrote about Him, and He opened in Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms things concerning Himself. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." He was the Word made flesh. The foretelling of the Lord's life by Divine inspiration so fully in the Old Testament Scriptures, was a strength to angels and men during the long ages before He came; it was a needed help to the Lord in living His Divine life and doing His saving work; and it makes the Old Testament for us a store of deeper knowledge of the Lord's life which does not appear in the letter of the Gospels.

What spiritual condition was represented by the dumbness of Zacharias after hearing the message of the angel? His disbelief, which made it impossible for him to acknowledge the Lord's goodness and praise Him for it. But see what his first words were when the gift of speech returned. The spiritual obstruction had also been removed. (E. 455; A. 6988)

Circumcision in the Jewish Church had the same use and meaning as baptism in the Christian Church. Both ceremonies represent the putting away of what is evil from the mind and life. "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, . . . to love the Lord." (Deuteronomy 30:6; T. 674, 675)

Were the words of thanksgiving that Zacharias spoke, his own words? What is meant by the statement that he was filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit? Remember how David said, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue." (2 Samuel 23:2) The Lord's spirit moved their minds and tongues and the words they spoke at these times were the Lord's words and not their own. We call such words "inspired." The whole of the Scripture is inspired. (H. 254; A. 1886, 1887)

The Lord was born in the family of David (Matthew 1:6; Luke 3:31), but what deeper thought is in the saying that He raised up an horn of salvation in the house of David? He brought the real kingly power which David represented, the power of the Divine truth to save from all the enemies of evil feelings and false thoughts. (E. 316)

The "dayspring" is the dawn. Do you remember other places where the Lord's coming is called a dawn and sunrise? (2 Samuel 23:4; Isaiah 9:1-3; John 21:3, 4) The brightening light, the new warmth, the awakening of the world to life are a lovely picture of the Lord's coming to reveal His truth and love anew and to give new life. (A. 2405, 2780)

When you remember what John the Baptist's work was, the teaching of repentance, the cutting off of the evils of self-indulgence, do you see any appropriateness in his living in the desert? What part of the story of Israel represents a similar spiritual experience? What experience of the Lord's own life is associated with the wilderness? (A. 2708; R. 546)

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