God had arranged that he should be ready to proclaim the coming One just before the Messiah should appear among men.  For this reason he was called the Fore-runner of the Messiah.  But though Jesus was in the world, the time for His appearance as the Messiah had not yet come.

John was greatly saddened by what he saw of the wickedness of men, even those who professed to be the people of God, and their unfitness to receive Him for whom they were looking.  Led by the Spirit of God, John retired to the wilderness of Judaea, in the region of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, for meditation and communion with God.  But he was not entirely concealed.  There were a few who heard of his sanctity and wisdom, sought instruction from him, and abode with him, becoming his disciples.  He seems to have had special influence over young men.  Our Bethsaidan boys have now grown to be such since we saw them in their early home, and as school and fisher boys.  They were now toiling at their nets with their fathers, closer than ever in their friendship for each other, still waiting and watching for Him whom they had been taught from their earliest days to expect.  We think of their interest in the rumors concerning the prophet of Judaea.

[Illustration:  THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE H.  Hofmann Page 54]

As the two pair of brothers talk together, we can hear one of them saying, “I must see and hear and know for myself.  I will lay aside my fishing, and go to the wilderness of Judaea.”  To this the others reply, as on another occasion to Peter, “We also come with thee.”  Leaving the quiet shores of Gennesaret, they follow the road each has traveled annually since twelve years of age on his way to the feast in Jerusalem.

They met the hermit in the wilderness.  His appearance was strange indeed.  His hair was long and unkempt; his face tanned with the sun and the desert air; his body unnourished by the simple food of locusts and wild honey.  His raiment was of the coarsest and cheapest cloth of camel’s hair.  His girdle was a rough band of leather, such as was worn by the poor,—­most unlike those made of fine material, and ornamented with needlework.  His whole appearance must have been a great contrast to his gentle and refined namesake from Galilee.

The solemn earnestness of the prophet, and the greatness of the truths he taught, were well calculated to excite the greatest interest of the young Galileans.  They looked upon him with increasing conviction that he was “a prophet of God.”  Instead of returning to their homes, they remained in Judaea and attached themselves to him, and became known as his disciples.  In their new service there was a new bond of union for themselves, which—­though they then knew it not—­would lead to another yet stronger.

At last “the word of the Lord came unto” John, when he was about thirty years old, calling him to a more public ministry.  So “He came into all the country about Jordan.”  Beginning in the south he moved northward from place to place.