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The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

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(St. John i. 15-51.y<br />

BOOK <strong>The</strong> forty days, which had passed since<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> had first come to him, HI must have been to<br />

<strong>the</strong> Baptist a time <strong>of</strong> soul-quickening, <strong>of</strong> unfolding<br />

underst<strong>and</strong>ing, <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> ripened decision. We see it<br />

in his more emphasised testimony to <strong>the</strong> Christ; in<br />

his fuller comprehension <strong>of</strong> those prophecies<br />

which had formed <strong>the</strong> waiTant <strong>and</strong> substance <strong>of</strong> his<br />

Mission ; but specially in <strong>the</strong> yet more entire selfabnegation,<br />

which led him to take up a still lowlier<br />

position, <strong>and</strong> acquiescingly to realise that his task<br />

<strong>of</strong> heralding was ending, <strong>and</strong> that what remained<br />

was to point those nearest to him, <strong>and</strong> who had<br />

most deeply drunk <strong>of</strong> his spirit, to Him Who had<br />

come. And how could it be o<strong>the</strong>rwise ? On first<br />

meeting <strong>Jesus</strong> by <strong>the</strong> banks <strong>of</strong> Jordan, he had felt<br />

<strong>the</strong> seeming incongruity <strong>of</strong> baptizing One <strong>of</strong> Whom<br />

he had ra<strong>the</strong>r need to be baptized. Yet this,<br />

perhaps, because he had beheld himself by <strong>the</strong><br />

Brightness <strong>of</strong> Christ, ra<strong>the</strong>r than looked at <strong>the</strong><br />

Christ Himself. What he needed was not to be<br />

baptized, but to learn that it became <strong>the</strong> Christ to

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