Forerunner of Christ, December 4
He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, “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. Luke 1:17.
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.... John had not been educated in the schools of the rabbis. He had obtained no human scholarship....
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 “Shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” ...
In this age, just prior to the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, God calls for workers 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....
Look at the picture which the world presents today. Dishonesty, fraud, and bankruptcies, violence and bloodshed, exist on every hand.... Thus the discernment and sensibilities have become deadened as to what constitutes right principles.... The light given, calling to repentance, has been shut out by the thick cloud of unbelief and opposition brought in by human plans and human inventions....
The prayerful, earnest appeals that come from the heart of the wholehearted messenger will create conviction.... All who know the only true and living God will know Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, and they will preach Christ and Him crucified.—The Review and Herald, November 1, 1906.
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