“A People Prepared for the Lord”

"A People Prepared for the Lord"

(No. 2404)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, MARCH 17, 1895.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
13, 1887.

"To make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke 1:17.

JOHN was the herald of Christ–he was to prepare the way for the coming
King–but from this text it appears that he was to do more than that.
He was not only to make the road ready for the Lord, but he was also
"to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." That was a great work,
a task in which he would require strength and wisdom greater than his
own. He would need that the Spirit of God, who was to be given without
measure to the coming One, should also be, in a measure, within
himself, if he should really "make ready a people prepared for the
Lord."

This is not at all a usual expression. At first sight, it hardly looks
to us like a Gospel expression. We sang just now–

"Just as I am–and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

To You, whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God, I come."

We sang over and over again those words, "Just as I am," "Just as I
am," and we are prone to protest against the idea of being prepared for
Christ. We constantly preach that no preparation is needed, but that
men are to come to Jesus just as they are. Yet here is John the Baptist
set apart, "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

The fact is, dear Friends, that to get men to come to Jesus just as
they are is not an easy thing. To get them to give up the idea of
preparing, to get them prepared to come without preparing, to get them
ready to come just as they are–this is the hardest part of our
work–this is our greatest difficulty. If we came and preached to men
the necessity of preparation through so many weeks of fasting during a
long Lent, or through so many days of scourging and penitence, they
would attend to us at once, for they would be willing enough to make
any preparation of that kind! But, when we say to them, "Come just as
you are, with nothing in your hands to buy the mercy of God, with
nothing wherewith to demand or to deserve it," men want a great deal of
preparing before they will come to that point! Only the Grace of God,
working mightily through the Word, by the Spirit, will prepare men to
come to Christ–prepared by being unprepared so far as any fitness of
their own is concerned. The only fit state in which they can come is
that of sinking themselves, abandoning all idea of helping Christ,
coming in all their natural impotence and guilt and taking Christ to be
their All in All.

Beloved Friends, this is the true preparedness of heart for coming to
Christ–the preparedness of coming to Him just as you are! And it was
John's business, thus, "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
That is also my business at this time. May the good Spirit, who dwelt
in John the Baptist, work through us, also, that some here may be made
ready for Christ–"a people prepared for the Lord"! Let us see how John
carried out his commission. We shall then be better able to understand
the text.

I. First, John made ready "a people prepared for the Lord" BY AWAKENING
THEIR ATTENTION.

The people were asleep–they had fallen into a condition of religious
lethargy, when suddenly there stood in their midst a man clothed in
camel's hair and with a leather girdle about his loins–a Prophet,
manifestly, by the boldness and truthfulness of his utterances. He
spoke in such a way that the people in general heard of his speaking
and they advertised him by saying, the one to the other, "That is a
strange man who has begun to preach by the River Jordan and whose meat
is locusts and wild honey."

The whole style of the man set the people wondering and talking. And
when they came to listen to him, he did not flatter them! He did not
utter mere commonplace truths to them, but with burning earnestness he
drove straight at their hearts and spoke like Elijah, the great Prophet
of fire, had done in the ages gone by. So he set them thinking. That is
a great preparation for coming to Christ just as you are, to be set
a-thinking! We have always hope of men when they once begin to think
about religion and the things of God. See how the bulk of them hurry on
with their eyes tightly shut, rushing fast and yet faster, still, down
to destruction! You cannot make them stop and think. There are
thousands of men who would almost sooner be whipped than be made to
think. The last thing to which they will ever come, of themselves, is
thoughtfulness!

Let me appeal to some here who are still unconverted. Did you ever give
the affairs of your soul the benefit of an hour's serious
consideration? You have your regular time for stocktaking, those of you
who are in business–do you ever take stock of your spiritual estate? I
know that you are not such fools as to neglect your ledgers, you cast
up your accounts to see where you are, financially, but do you cast up
the account between God and your own soul, and look the matter fairly
and squarely in the face? Oh, if we could but bring you to do this, we
would feel that you were being prepared for coming to Christ just as
you are, for no man will come to Christ while he is utterly careless
and thoughtless! Faith is a matter of thought–it requires a mind
awakened from slumber, a mind that has taken wing–and John the Baptist
did good service for his Master when he startled men into that
condition and so made them consider their ways.

He did more than that, for, having first made them think, he preached
to them a Savior. He told them that One was coming with power to
baptize them after a higher sort than his baptism. He cried, "Behold
the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world," and this
message infused into the people a measure of hope. The poor people
said, "What shall we do?" for they had a hope that there was something
to be gained. Even the tax-gatherers, despised as they were, began to
look up and think that there might be something, even, for them, so
they said to John, "Master, what shall we do?" And the rough Roman
soldiers thought, "There may be something for us," so they, also,
asked," And what shall we do?" John inspired the multitudes with hope.

It is a very blessed state of mind for a man to get in when he begins
to hope that he may be saved. Then he will be prepared to come to
Jesus, just as he is, when he feels that he is not shut up to despair.
"Oh," says the poor man, "I need not, after all, be lost! I need not
abide forever under the wrath of God! There is an open door set before
me, there is a way of mercy, even for me!" I wish it were possible that
everybody whom I am now addressing had that feeling–it would be part
of the making ready of "a people prepared for the Lord" when thought
had blossomed into hope.

But John led his hearers on further than that, for they began to expect
something as well as to hope for it. They expected that the Christ
would speedily come and they expected some great blessings through the
coming of the Messiah. And oh, when men, after hearing the Gospel, have
great expectations concerning God and His salvation, surely their
expectations will not be long disappointed! I remember a man coming,
one day, to see me. He said that he wished to take a sitting in the
Tabernacle. He had been hearing me for some time and he wanted to take
a seat–but he desired to be very honest with me and not to take a seat
except upon a right understanding. I asked, "What is the difficulty, my
Friend?" "Well," he replied, "the person who sat next to me on Sunday
told me that if I became a regular hearer here, you would expect me to
be converted." "Well," I answered, "that is true, I shall expect it."
"But," he said, "you do not mean that you will require it of me." "Oh,
dear no!" I replied, "nothing of the sort. I do not expect you to
convert yourself, but I hope and trust that you will be converted–that
is what I mean. I shall expect that God, in His Grace, will meet with
you and save you."

"Oh," he said, "I hope that, too! Only I mean that I could not
guarantee it." "Ah," I said, "I see that you have taken the word,
'expect,' in the wrong sense, but I think, dear Friend, that if you
come expecting to be converted, and I preach expecting that you will be
converted, it is highly probable that it will soon take place." "Oh,"
he exclaimed, "God grant it!" The good Brother has long since gone to
Heaven. A very few weeks after our conversation, he came and told me
that the expectation in which we had united had been fulfilled and he
trusted that he had found the Savior. When people come really expecting
a blessing, they will be sure to get it! I believe that some folk go to
hear ministers with the idea that there will be something to find fault
with and, of course, they find that it is so. And when people come to
hear another preacher, with the hope and expectation that God will
bless them, of course God does bless them. Their expectation is
Divinely fulfilled! I always have a bright hope that a man will lay
hold on Christ when he begins to expect to be saved, for he feels,
then, that the time has come for him to find eternal life. John made
ready "a people prepared for the Lord" because, first, he led them to
thought. Next, he led them to hope, and then he led them to
expectation–and this is a high measure of preparation!

John did more than this, for he cried, "Repent you: for the Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand," that is to say, he put a pressure of urgency upon
the people. A Brother, who is an eminent preacher, but who uses rather
long words, was explaining to me the benefit of the preaching of Mr.
Fullerton and Mr. Smith in his place of worship. He said, "I do not
know exactly why these Brothers were the means of the conversion of
many in my place whom I had never reached, but I perceived that they
had the power to precipitate decision." It sounded rather strange, but
when I thought it over a little while, I rather liked the expression,
"the power to precipitate decision." That is the power that leads men
to make up their minds and say, "Yes," or, "No"–to feel that the
decision has to be made at once and that the putting of it off is
impossible because it would be a kind of insanity! Now that is the
meaning of what John said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Repent
you! He is coming who wields the axe of Divine Justice–bear fruit, or
else be cut down! He is coming who uses the great winnowing fan–be the
true wheat, or else be blown away." He put the Truth of God so
pointedly and so earnestly, that he did, by that means, make ready "a
people prepared for the Lord."

II. Now, secondly, John made the people ready for CHRIST BY AWAKENING
THEIR CONSCIENCES.

His very first utterance, as I have reminded you, was, "Repent you, for
the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." "Repent! Repent! Repent!" was John's
continual cry. This awakened the consciences of his hearers concerning
their sin. Preaching repentance meant, "You have sinned! Change your
mind in reference to that sin you have sinned–quit the sin, mourn over
it, ask forgiveness for it. Repent!" Whenever a man brings to the minds
of others their sins–when he does it so that they begin to feel that
they have sinned–then they are being prepared for the Lord, for no man
will come to the Savior unless he knows that he needs a Savior. And no
man will feel that he needs a Savior until he feels that he is a
sinner. Hence it is a real preparation of men for Christ to convince
them of sin.

This John did. He brought their sin before them and then he showed them
their need of cleansing, for he stood by the River Jordan, not with a
scallop shell, as some depict him, but he stood by the flowing stream
ready to immerse all those who repented! This was practically saying to
them, "You need to be washed, you need to be cleansed, and I show you
this Truth of God as I baptize you with water unto repentance. Be this
a token to you that there is no entering Heaven in your filthiness, but
you must first be washed! As your bodies are washed with pure water, so
must your souls be washed and made clean before you can enter Heaven."
This was John's plain teaching by his action as well as by his words.

Then he went very straight to his point of awakening their consciences
by telling them of their need of a change of life. He said that it was
no use for them to pretend to grieve over the past and then continue to
sin in the same fashion. "Bring forth fruits," he said, "meet for
repentance," or, "answerable to amendment of life," as the margin has
it. And he took pains to point out what the fruits must be. If they
were men of greed, they must become generous and give to their needy
neighbors. If they had been unrighteous and exacting, they must become
honest. If they had been domineering and brutal, and murmuring, they
must become contented and quiet, and gentle.

He not only preached to the multitudes about repentance of sin in
general, but he pointed out the precise sin of each class of persons
that came to him and urged them to perform the special duties which
they had neglected. Now, Brothers and Sisters, I believe, as I have
often said, that there is no sewing with silk thread, alone–you must
have a needle as well! You need a sharp needle to, first, draw the
thread through the material. And so you must preach the Law. You must
denounce sin and you must individualize and condemn special sins. And
you must be personal and pointed, or else men will not feel in their
consciences what you say to them. Conscience is very apt to get seared
as with a hot iron–to lose sensitiveness–so as to be no use at all as
a conscience. Some say that conscience is a spark of deity, a divine
monitor–it is nothing of the sort! In many a man it is almost extinct,
for it does not act at all! The preacher who would "make ready a people
prepared for the Lord" must come out with his axe and lay it to the
root of the trees! He must be definite and distinct in indicating this
sin and that sin, and crying to all men, "Repent of these sins! Give
them up! Get clear from them! Be washed from them or else, as God
lives, when the Christ, Himself, comes, it will not be to save you, but
to blow you away with His winnowing fan as the chaff is blown into the
fire!"

This is "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord"–by their being
convinced of sin and led to repentance. That, I think, is a second
meaning clearly illustrated in the ministry of John the Baptist.

III. But thirdly, John had "to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord" BY POINTING OUT THE NATURE OF TRUE RELIGION.

He showed that it did not depend upon external privileges. As soon as
John began to preach, the men of Jewish race, proud of their pedigree,
pressed near, and John, with all the courage that a servant of the Lord
could have, said, "Begin not to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham
as our father,' for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to
raise up children unto Abraham." You see the drift of his preaching, do
you not? He says, practically, "Men and women, there is no virtue in
your boasted privileges. There is no merit in your religious descent.
As for supposing yourselves to be the peculiar people of God, you are
not to be saved that way. Say not, 'We have Abraham as our father.'"
Oh, how many hug that idea, "My father was a Christian." Others say,
"Well, I live in a Christian country." They suppose that there is
something in the very race from which they have sprung! Away with all
such notions, for whatever external privileges you may have had, they
are not sufficient to secure salvation for you!

Then came the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They were the religious
people of the time, the great observers of all outward propriety, but
John taught them that true religion is not the same as official
pretension. He called them a "generation of vipers." This was very
disrespectful and very shocking, indeed, on his part! All the
newspapers of the period, if there had been any, would have cried him
down for his lack of charity, but he wanted those who came to him to
understand that true religion was not the same as professing to be
religious! It was not making broad the borders of their garments. It
was not wearing a text of Scripture as a phylactery between their eyes.
It was not making long prayers at the corners of the streets that would
save them–there must be a thorough change of heart! So John spoke
right straight out and this, I believe, is a great way of preparing men
for coming to Christ, when you tell them, "It is not your early
training, it is not your going to Church or Chapel, it is not your
infant sprinkling and your confirmation! It is not even your adult
Baptism, nor your saying prayers and reading the Bible that will save
you–'you must be born again.' There must be an inward spiritual change
worked by the Holy Spirit! You must believe in Jesus Christ, whom God
has sent, and you must so believe in Him as to be made new creatures in
Him or else you cannot be saved." Now, when men realize that all this
is true, it startles them out of their false refuges and makes them
ready to flee to the only true Refuge, so that it is really the way of
making ready "a people prepared for the Lord."

While John set forth this matter negatively, putting down all the wrong
hopes of his hearers, he was exceedingly plain in telling them that the
way of salvation would involve them in the necessity of being right
before God. "There," he said, "the proof of a tree's life is its fruit
and the evidence of your new life will be your good works. 'Now also
the axe is laid unto the root of the trees and, therefore, every tree
which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire."
Unless our religion makes us holy, it has not done anything for us that
is really worth doing! Unless we hate sin and love righteousness, our
religion is a sham and a lie! John stated that Truth of God very
plainly–and that is the way to drive men to Christ.

He also told them that the trial of a life would be by its weight as
well as by its fruit. "Look," he said, "at the heap that lies on the
threshing floor. He that has the fan in his hand begins to winnow it.
That which is light and chaffy is blown away. That which has wheat in
it remains on the floor. So," he said, "there must be weight about your
religion– stability, reality, sincerity. There must be heart-work in
it. It must be no pretense. It must be true from beginning to end or
else it shall be no more use to you than a heap of chaff would avail
the farmer when it is blown into the fire."

Then John taught his hearers that Christ, Himself, would be the great
Trier of human hearts–not ministers or fellow professors, but Christ,
Himself. When men feel this to be true, then they begin to say to
themselves, "There is more required than we, at present, possess. There
is more demanded than we can ever manufacture of ourselves. Let us go
to Him that has it and ask Him for it. Let us go to Christ, who has
Grace to bestow upon the poor and needy." This, then, is the way to
make ready "a people prepared for the Lord," by pointing out to them
the nature of true religion. That is what I have tried to do, dear
Hearer. When you know that you cannot save yourself, you sing–

"Not the labors of my hands

Can fulfill Your Law's demands.

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone." And then you are ready to finish the
verse by singing–

"You must save, and You, alone."

IV. Now. I shall close my discourse by noticing a fourth way in which
John made ready "a people prepared for the Lord." He did it BY
DECLARING THE GRACE AND POWER OF JESUS CHRIST.

My Brothers and Sisters, if I were to preach to you merely to awaken
your attention, to awaken your consciences to a sense of sin, or simply
to show you the nature of true religion, yet you would not be prepared
for Christ unless you also knew something about Him, something about
His suitableness and His power to save you. So, John preached Jesus
Christ as a mighty and glorious Savior on whom the Spirit rested. He
said, when he baptized our Lord, as Jesus came up out of the water, "I
saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove and it abode upon
Him. And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the
Same said unto me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and
remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Spirit."
John boldly preached and told the people that the Spirit of God rested
upon Jesus Christ, yes, abode upon Him!

Now, this would lead them to Him, and this should lead you to Him.
Whatever there is, poor Souls, that you need to make you holy and
perfect, Christ has it, for the Spirit of God rests on Him and abides
in Him without measure! If you need the Grace of penitence, Christ has
it to give to you. If you need the Grace of supplication, He has it to
give to you. If you need the Grace of faith, He has it! If you need the
Grace of holiness, He has it. "It pleased the Father that in Him should
all fullness dwell." "And of His fullness have all we received, and
Grace for Grace." John taught this to his hearers and I teach it to
you. There is nothing needed between Hell and Heaven but what is in
Christ! Nothing needed for the biggest sinner out of Hell to make him
the biggest saint in Heaven but what Christ has! Nothing needed in any
hour of temptation, in any time of depression–nothing needed in any
moment of sickness, or in the article of death, itself–but what it is
in Christ and, there for you, if you trust Him! If you are willing to
have it, it is freely presented to you. He who makes you willing to
receive, is certainly willing to give! If He has emptied you and
prepared you to receive of His fullness, do not think that He will
refuse you when you come to Him for it! He has said, "Him that comes to
Me, I will in no wise cast out."

Last Sunday morning, I blew the great trumpet in the hope of startling
some to Christ [Sermon #1951, Volume 33–The Pleading of the Last
Messenger] On this occasion, I would ring the little silver bell with a
gentle noise in the hope that some may, by that means, be made willing
to come to Christ! My Hearer, you can need nothing which Christ does
not possess–all your requirements are fully met in Him. The Spirit of
God dwells in Him as a fullness–as an abiding fullness–therefore, do
but believe in Him! And even that faith He will give you! Do but trust
Him and you are saved, and fully supplied in Him who can meet all the
necessities of your case.

Now, Brothers and Sisters, John taught the people this that they might
be ready for Christ–"a people prepared for the Lord"–for, when men
begin to see what a Christ, Christ is, what a Savior the Savior is,
then they are ready to come to Him! And I pray that many of you may so
come to Him even now.

John also told his hearers that the Christ whom he preached was able to
baptize them with the Holy Spirit. "See," he says, "I only plunge you
in the flowing stream. I can do nothing more for you than dip you in
this River Jordan, on profession of your repentance of sin. But this
Savior, this Christ of God, can immerse you into the Spirit of God! He
can give you of His power to fill you–you can be baptized into the
Holy Spirit by Him." Do you hear this, Sinner? Jesus Christ can come
and give you the Holy Spirit in such measure that you shall be baptized
into Him–

"Plunged in the Godhead's deepest sea, And lost in His immensity."

This will make you to be really His and make you truly to live unto
Him. The very fullness of Grace, then, is with Christ, and He is
prepared to give it–and this should make men prepared to receive it!
Did not the poor prodigal son say of the provision in his father's
house, "There is bread enough and to spare"? It was partly that which
made him go to his father's house and we may say of the Spirit who is
in Christ, "There is enough and to spare for every poor sinner who
comes to Him"–therefore, come along with you–be prepared at once to
come and receive the Savior!

Lastly, John said in his preaching, "Behold the Lamb of God which takes
away the sin of the world." He pointed out Christ as the Sin-Bearer,
bearing human guilt in His own Person. That is the master key which
lets men into the Kingdom of Heaven. Oh, how I delight to preach Christ
as the Substitute, Christ as the atoning Sacrifice! And when you have
heard Christ preached in that way, it makes you ready–"a people
prepared for the Lord." How can men come to Christ if they do not know
what Christ has done for them? If you do not understand that He
suffered in your place, the Just for the unjust, to bring you to God,
how can you come to Christ? But when you have learned that holy and
blessed doctrine of Christ's Propitiation for human sin, why, then, I
think you will leap at the very sound of it and say, "Yes, I will take
this Propitiation to be a Sacrifice for me! Blessed Lamb of God–

'My faith would lay her hands

On that dear head of Yours

While like a penitent I stand

And there confess my sin.'"

John's preaching Christ was the best way of making ready "a people
prepared for the Lord," and there is no better way of preparing you to
come to Jesus. Oh, that God would grant to some of you that
"precipitation of decision" of which my learned friend spoke! Oh, that
in some lives the turning point might be reached tonight–the happy
moment when they should decide for Christ! Lord, decide them! My
Friend, you have come to the crossroads–perhaps, tonight–if you
reject the Savior, it will be your last rejection of Him and it will
finally seal your doom! And I am sure, with no perhaps whatever, that
if this night you look to Jesus and trust to His finished work, you
shall be saved and saved forever!

Here is a text for you–"Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved." Is not that a wonderful "whoever"? "Whoever shall call
on the name of the Lord" in believing prayer, asking mercy, trusting
Christ for mercy, "shall be saved." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved." "He that believes on the Son has everlasting
life." Most of you know these texts by heart–grip them as with hooks
of steel! If you say that you are hungry and I put a loaf of bread in
front of you, will you sit and look at it all night? If I meet you in a
week's time, will you still complain that you are hungry while there is
the bread, in front of you, still untouched? You deserve to be hungry
if that is the case! You deserve to be famished to death if the bread,
being there, you do not take it. Take it and eat it. "May I have it?"
asks one. Well, you are commanded to have it–this is not a matter that
is left to your option! "The times of this ignorance God winked at, but
now commands all men everywhere to repent." Our Lord, Himself, said,
"Repent, you, and believe the Gospel." It is, therefore, a Gospel
command that you should repent and believe–and truly you may obey a
command given by the Lord, Himself! There is no question about your
permission to obey it–obey it at once and take Christ to yourself!

"You do not know me," says a sorrowing one over there in the corner,
"you do not know me, Sir. Otherwise you would not talk so." I do not
need to know you, but if you were the devil's own, if you would but
come to Christ, you would be, at once and forever, Christ's own! Though
you were sunk almost into Hell by a life of horrible crime, yet if you
will now come and repent of your sin and lay hold on Christ, you shall
be saved! I do not know how to use language that shall be stronger than
that, but do not think that I will withdraw it, or qualify it. If I did
know how to speak in broader terms, even, than those I have used, I
would so speak! You guiltiest of the guilty, you most condemned of all
the condemned, for whom the hottest Hell would be your due place, yet
come and look to Christ, and you shall live, for none are too vile for
Him to cleanse, none are too guilty for Him to pardon! Oh, that you
would believe in Jesus while yet the Gospel bell rings out, "mercy,
mercy, mercy!" God help you to do so, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake!
Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 155-17,3:1-18.

Luke 1:5, 6. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a
certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abia; and his wife
was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they
were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord, blameless. You have, here, a very interesting
couple, Zacha-rias and Elizabeth–a priest with a wife. I have often
marveled why the Church of Rome thinks it wrong that priests should be
married when it is evident that the priests under the Law were so. The
priests had grown so numerous that there was not room for them all to
work at the Temple at one time. They were divided into 24 divisions and
Zacharias would, therefore, come up to Jerusalem for a fortnight to
take his share of the service. Zacharias and Elizabeth were notable for
excellence of character–"They were both righteous before God." Not
only did they stand high in the esteem of men, but the great God who
reads the hearts of all and sees how they live in secret, reckoned them
to be righteous–

"They were both righteous before God, walking in all the
commandments"–that is, in the moral precepts of the Law– "and
ordinances"–that is in the ceremonial rites–"of the Lord, blameless."

7-9. And they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they both
were now well advanced in years. And it came to pass that while he
executed the priest's office before God in the order of his division,
according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn
incense when he went into the Temple of the Lord. Certain offices of
the priest were considered to be more honorable than others and so, to
prevent any jealousy, they cast lots as to which they should take in
turn. It fell to the lot of Zacharias to burn incense–this did not
happen by chance. "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord," and there was a special reason why
this good man should stand at the altar at this particular time.

10. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the
time of incense. While he, in the inner shrine, was burning incense,
the multitudes in the outer courts were engaging in prayer. I think
that is a very beautiful symbol–the priest unseen, like the Lord Jesus
Christ in the Holy of Holies above–and the mass of the people engaged
in prayer while the unseen priest is offering the sacred perfume before
the altar of Jehovah.

11, 12. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on
the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he
was troubled, and fear fell upon him. He was a good man, yet he was
troubled at the sight of an angel. Consciousness of sin, even in an
outwardly blameless man, makes us all tremble in the presence of
anything heavenly. This bright spirit had come fresh from the courts of
God. He was a courtier of the heavenly Temple and he had come down, all
of a sudden, with a sweet and cheering message for the earthly priest.
But the priest "was troubled, and fear fell upon him." Brothers and
Sisters, we cannot know much of Heaven, here below, because it would
cause us to tremble. We are as yet unfit for all the glories of that
upper state. Good John Berridge wrote–

"And now they range the heavenly plains And sing their hymns in melting
strains. And now their souls begin to prove The heights and depths of
Jesus' love. Ah, Lord, with tardy steps I creep And sometimes sing, and
sometimes weep! Yet strip me of this house of clay And I will sing as
loud as they."

Yes, and so will we–we will be as much at home as the happy saints who
dwell in light–when once we are delivered from this hampering flesh
and blood!

13. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for your prayer
is heard. The best quietus to fear is answered prayer! If God has heard
you, be not you, again, afraid.

13. And your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call
his name, John. "The Grace" or, "the gift of God," so the name, "John,"
signifies. And it is a sweet name for anyone to bear. "You shall call
his name, John." I do not think the prayer alluded to here was so much
a prayer for a son. If so, I Think that Zacharias had long ago left off
praying it, and now his old prayers are heard, after he had
discontinued them. I think that it alludes, rather, to his prayer for
the coming of the Christ, the appearance of the Messiah–that prayer
was heard, as we shall see further on.

14, 15. And you shall have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at
his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall
drink neither wine nor strong drink. I do not say that it is the duty
of every man to drink neither wine nor strong drink, but I beg every
man to notice that if anyone was to be peculiarly consecrated to a holy
calling, it was always to be so. "He shall be great in the sight of the
Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink." If there is
nothing defiling about wine or strong drink, there is certainly nothing
sanctifying about it–and the tendency seems to lie the other way, else
it is a strange thing that men dedicated to God were so continually bid
to drink neither wine nor strong drink.

15-17. And he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his
mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the
Lord, their God. And he shall 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. In the third chapter of this Gospel you will find the
record of John beginning to fulfill this prophecy concerning himself.

Luke 3:1-7. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of
Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of
Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and
Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came unto John, the son of
Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about
Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
as it is written in the Book of the words of Isaiah the Prophet,
saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way
of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and
every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be
made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh
shall see the salvation of God. Then said he to the multitude that came
forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who has warned you
to flee from the wrath to come? Does not John the Baptist speak like
Elijah? Here are no honeyed phrases to delight the popular ear! The
Prophet of the wilderness talks like one who is all on fire with zeal
for God and indignation against evil.

8-11. Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say
within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father: for I say unto you,
That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And
now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree,
therefore, which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do,
then? He answered and said to them, He that has two coats, let him
impart to him that has none; and he that has meat, let him do likewise.
John was wonderfully practical in his advocacy of a holy charity and
benevolence. His words cut against all greed, all hoarding, all
hardening of the heart towards our fellow men.

12, 13. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him,
Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than
that which is appointed you. They were accustomed to gather the taxes
unfairly and to increase the rates by oppressing the people, getting,
perhaps, twice or even ten times more out of them than they could
legally claim! John speaks to the point, does he not?

14. And the soldiers, likewise, demanded of him, saying, And what shall
we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man. Those rough Roman
soldiers, as they had conquered the country, were very apt to treat the
people as though they were their slaves, so John says to them, "Do
violence to no man"–

14. Neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. "With
your rations, your allowances," so it runs. They were very apt to be
contending for an increase in their pay and to drag civilians before
the courts with false accusations unless they chose to give them bribes
to let them go. John does not mince matters with any of his hearers–he
speaks with wonderful plainness and courage–and therein proves himself
to be a true herald of his Master.

15-18. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in
their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not, John
answered, saying unto them all, I, indeed, baptize you with water; but
One mightier than I comes, the laces of whose shoes I am not worthy to
unloosen. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire:
whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and
will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with
fire unquenchable. And many other things in his exhortation preached he
unto the people.