Volume 2

308 Life of Jesus Christ
glorified. Many of ye have shuddered at the thought of
Jerusalem's being laid waste and desolate under the rule
of the Gentiles, and in like manner will your Redeemer
be persecuted and despised by men. He will be a man
without repute among other men. And yet He will baptize,
will purify the Gentiles. He will teach kings, who
will be silent before Him, and they to whom He has not
been announced will both hear of Him and see Him."
Then Jesus recounted all that He had done, all the miracles
He had wrought since His baptism, the persecution
He had undergone at Jerusalem and Nazareth, the contempt
He had endured, the spying and scornful laughter
of the Pharisees. He alluded to the miracle at Cana, to
the healing of the blind, the dumb, the deaf, the lame,
and to the raising from the dead of the daughter of Jairus
of Phasael. Pointing in the direction of Phasael, He said:
"It is not very far from here. Go and ask whether I say
the truth!" Then He continued: "Ye have seen and known
John. He proclaimed himself the precursor of the
Messiah, the preparer of His ways! Was John an effeminate
man, one given to the softness and delicacy of high
life? Was he not rather reared in the wilderness? Did he
dwell in palaces? Did he eat of costly dishes? Did he
wear fine clothing? Did he make use of flattering words?
But he called himself the precursor-then did not the servant
wear the livery of his Lord? Would a king, a rich, a
glorious, a powerful king such as ye expect your Messiah
to be, have such a precursor? And yet ye have the
Redeemer in your'midst, and ye will not recognize Him.
He is not such as your pride would have Him, He is not
such as ye are yourselves, therefore ye will not
acknowledge Him!"
Jesus then turned to Deuteronomy 18: 18-19: "I will
raise them up a prophet out of the midst of their
brethren ..." "And he that will not hear his words,
which he shall speak in my name, I will be the