JESUS   THE   MESSIAH

His Life and Times

No. 23

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A Voice In The Wilderness

Part  1

There were 30 years that lay between the birth and the first actual Messianic Manifestation of Jesus.  It seems that the Gospels intended to teach that the time in between concerned only the inner History of Jesus, and the inner preparation for what was to come.  At last that silence was broken by an appearance, a proclamation, a rite, and a ministry that was as startling as that of Elijah had been.  In many respects, the two messengers and both of their times were very alike. 

They both lived in a society that was secure, prosperous, and luxurious.  Yet on the inside they were in imminent danger of perishing because of hidden, festering sin and disease.  This was the society that both John and Elijah were called to minister to. 

Both suddenly appeared to threaten terrible judgment, but they also came to give the people a hope that they had been longing for for many years.  And, as if to deepen the impression of this contrast, they both appeared in a manner that was unexpected, and even their looks were extremely different than the manner and dress of the people of that day. 

John came suddenly out of the wilderness of Judaea, as Elijah had come from the wilderness around Gilead; John dressed pretty much the same as Elijah had - rough and wild; both of their messages were pretty much the same;  even the more minute details in the life of Elijah found their counterpart in the life of John.  Thus, the history of John the Baptist was the fulfillment of that of Elijah 'in the fullness of time'. 

Indeed it was 'the fullness of time' alike in the Roman world and in Palestine.  The reign of Augustus marked not only the climax, but the crisis, of Roman History.  Whatever of good or of evil the ancient world contained, had become fully ripe.  In every aspect - politics, philosophy, religion, and society - the utmost limits had been reached.  Beyond them lay either ruin or regeneration.  It was felt that the boundaries of the Empire could be no further extended, and that henceforth the highest aim must be to preserve what had been already conquered. 

The destinies of Rome were in the hands of one man -  the Emperor.  He was at the same time general-in-chief of a standing army of about 340,000 men, head of a Senate (now sunk into a mere court for registering the commands of Caesar), and High-priest of a religion, of which the highest expression was the worship of the Emperor himself.  Thus, all power within, without, and above lay in the Emperor's hands.  Within the city was at the same time great misery and almost boundless luxury.  Within one reign it had been transformed from brick into marble and abounded in luxury everywhere. 

Of a population of about two million, almost half were slaves; and of the other one million, the greater part were either freedmen and their descendants, or foreigners.  Each of the classes contributed its share to the common decay.  Slavery was not anything that we would even think about today, but a seething mass of cruelty and oppression on the one side, and of cunning and corruption on the other.  More than any other thing, this was what contributed to the ruin of Roman society. 

The freedmen had often acquired their liberty by very disreputable courses and had prospered in them.  Combined into a shameless manner were the vices of the free with the vileness of the slaves.  The foreigners - especially Greeks and Syrians - who crowded the city, poisoned the city by the corruption they brought with them. 

The free citizens were idle, lazy, and had no ambition; their chief thoughts were of the theatre and the arena and they were mostly supported at the cost of the public.  At one time, more than 200,000 of them were supported and maintained by the State.  Over time, what remained of the Old Rome started rapidly decaying under the corruption of just the daily life of the people.

It was the policy of the Roman Empire to destroy all separate nationalities,  or to absorb them and Romanize them into one large entity.  They were extremely successful in doing this and the only real resistance to this effort were the Jews.  They were very  tenacious  in clinging to their own religious values.  Because of this the Romans let them somewhat do things the way they always had done them before.  Basically they had their own functions, but it was pretty much in name only.  They had no real power as they did when Palestine was a free land.

At this time in Jewish history, Rome had become to all the center of attraction, but also of fast-spreading destructive corruption.  Religion, philosophy, and society had passed through every stage to one of despair for the people.  There were so many different views and religions that hardly any one knew what they believed anymore, and this had led to atheism and despair for many of the people. 

The unity that the Romans had brought to the world by making everyone learn the Greek language, though, served a very providential purpose in God's timing.  When the time was ripe for God to act, there was no problem with many different languages and the gospel spread rapidly because of this one fact.  All the many different philosophies and religions had totally confused the people.  The belief in having a life after death had ceased among the most learned of the classes of people.  Even Plato and Cicero. the most influential of the philosophers, had many doubts about the after-life.  Because they had so many doubts which deepened into absolute despair, their only comfort came from drowning out all their thoughts and fears by indulging in their own passionate and fleshly lusts. 

In such terrible circumstances, any real religion would have been impossible to carry out totally.  Rome tolerated and incorporated all national rites.  Basically any religion was fine as long as the people embraced the official State religion - deification and worship of the Emperor.  Soon not only the Emperors, but their wives, children, and even the creatures of their vilest lusts were deified. 

We have already mentioned all the different religions.  In the East, religion consisted of occult, vile rites; while among the philosophers, all religions were considered equally false or equally true.  Mingled in with all this was an increasing amount of superstition.  The ancient Roman religion had long given place to foreign rites, the more mysterious and unintelligible, the more enticing they were. 

It was in this mad, mixed-up world that Judaism made its converts in Rome.  Many people were drawn to it because there were clear and sound principles that were taught.  At least they could believe in something concrete.  Also there were many possibilities that its seemingly incredible doctrines open up to their minds. 

The general religious decay was such at the time that the people prayed for the death of a rich relative, or even that they would be satisfied when they participated in natural lusts, along with horrible blasphemies when such prayers remained unanswered.  It would not be appropriate in this text to describe how far the worship of indecency was carried; how public morals were corrupted by the mimic representations of everything that was vile.  The personation of gods, oracles, divination, dreams, astrology, magic, necromancy (communicating with the dead), and theurgy, all contributed to the general decay.  The practice of theurgy was one of the most painful and incredible manifestations of religious decay of the day.  A work of antiquity has been preserved in which formal instructions were given as to how temples and altars were to be constructed in order to produce false miracles, and also directions as to how to make them come to pass. 

It seems that the idea of conscience was unknown to heathenism.  Absolute right did not exist.  Might was right.  Social relationships exhibited even deeper corruption, and the sanctity of marriage had ceased.  Abortion, and the exposure and murder of new-born children, were common and tolerated;  unnatural vices were practiced by even the greatest philosophers and were advocated by them.  This kind of terrible thing attained proportions which are too terrible to even put in writing. 

Also among these terrible times should be mentioned three other things:  the treatment of slaves; the feelings toward the poor; and public amusements. 

The slave was entirely unprotected.  Males and females were exposed to terrible cruelties such as death by being thrown to the wild beasts, or fighting in the arena.  Even these two were tame as compared to some of the other things that happened to them.  Sick or old slaves were cast out to just perish from want. 

There was also much heartlessness towards the poor who crowded the city.  Of course there were neither hospitals nor any provision at all for them.  Charity and brotherly love were totally started from Old and New Testament ideas.  Even the giving of the smallest alm to the needy was regarded as very questionable.  It was thought that it was best to not try to help them if all they could do was live a useless existence. 

Lastly, the account which Seneca has to give of what occupied and amused the idle multitude horrified even himself.   For all manual labor, except agriculture, was looked upon with the utmost of contempt.   So it seemed like the only way of escape for the philosopher, the satisfied, or the miserable, seemed to be a road of destruction.  Worst of all, the noblest people of the time felt that the state of things was utterly hopeless.  Society could not reform itself and philosophy and religion had nothing to offer:  they had been tried and found sorely wanting. 

Seneca longed for some hand from without to lift them up from the mire of despair.  He pictured in his mind how the people would be so enthused if true virtue should ever appear on earth.  Tacitus declared human life to be one great farce, and expressed his conviction that the Roman world lay under some terrible curse.  All around him there was despair, conscious need, and unconscious longing. 

There could have been no greater contrast imaginable  than the proclamation of the Messiah amid a world such as this where there was so much despair.  Also imagine how many of them must have felt when they were told that Jesus came to seek and to save those that were lost. 

On the 19th of December AD 69, the Roman capital with all its ancient sanctuaries was set on fire.  Eight months later, on the 9th of Ab AD 70, the Temple of Jerusalem was also burned up.  It was not a coincidence that upon the ruins of heathenism and all the legalism the Jews had acquired, that the Church of Christ was to be born so that there could be hope for the people.  This was something that was truly real. 

In the Bible there is much silence about what happened in the thirty years or more which intervened between the birth and the bold forthcoming of John in his character as Forerunner of the Messiah.  Only John's outward and inner development and his being in the desert are briefly indicated in the Bible.  The latter must have been to get alone with God and truly attain fellowship with Him in an intimate way.  While Jesus seemed to just go straight from the home and workshop of Nazareth to the Baptism of Jordan, His Forerunner John seems to have required long and peculiar preparation.  After all Jesus was Divine and John was a normal person.  The characteristics of his work were so great that God had to get him alone in the wilderness to teach him what he needed to know. 

Luke furnishes precise timing of John the Baptist's public appearance, not just to fix the exact chronology, but also for a much higher purpose.  His descriptions clearly indicate just how clear was the fitness for the moment of the Advent of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

In the next text we will discuss the Roman reigns of Pilate and Herod and the part they played in the Messianic Period of Jesus.

For more information from this book, go to the archives page at my site    www.cathydeaton.com    There are other articles of interest there also.

This text is taken from the book Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah written by Alfred Edersheim.  This book has been used by permission.