84. But John had marked limitations. He knew well the righteousness of
God; he knew, and, in effect, proclaimed God's readiness to forgive them
that would turn from their wicked ways; he knew the simplicity as well as
the exceeding breadth of the divine commandment; but beyond one flash of
insight (John i. 29-36), which did not avail to remould his thought, he
did not know the yearning love of God which seeks to save. It is not
strange that he did not. Some of the prophets had more knowledge of it
than he, his own favorite Isaiah knew more of it than he, but it was not
the thought of John's day. The wonder is that the Baptist so far freed
himself from current thought; yet he did not belong to the new order. He
thundered as from Sinai. The simplest child that has learned from the
heart its "Our Father" has reached a higher knowledge and entered a higher
privilege (Matt. xi. 11). John's self-effacement, wonderful as it was,
fell short of discipleship to his greater successor; in fact, at a much
later time there was still a circle of disciples of the Baptist who kept
themselves separate from the church (Acts xix. 1-7). He was doubtless too
strenuous a man readily to become a follower. He could yield his place
with unapproachable grace, but he remained the prophet of the wilderness
still. He seemed to belong consciously to the old order, and, by the very
circumstances ordained of God who sent him, he could not be of those who,
sitting at Jesus' feet, learned to surrender to him their preconceptions
and hopes, and in heart, if not in word, to say, "To whom shall we go,
thou hast the words of eternal life?" (John vi. 68).

VII

The Messianic Call

Matt. iii. 13 TO iv. 11; Mark i. 9-13; Luke iii. 21, 22; iv. 1-13; John i.
30-34

85. In the circle about John all classes of the people were represented:
Pharisees and Sadducees, jealous of innovation and apprehensive of popular
excitement; publicans and soldiers, interested in the new preacher or
touched in conscience; outcasts who came in penitence, and devout souls in
consecration. The wonder of the new message was carried throughout the
land and brought great multitudes to the Jordan. Jesus in Nazareth heard
it, and recognized in John a revival of the long-silent prophetic voice.
The summons appealed to his loyalty to God's truth, and after the
multitudes had been baptized (Luke iii. 21) he too sought the prophet of
the wilderness.

86. The connection which Luke