1. Childhood and Youth of Messiah.—Returning from Egypt in obedience to the commandment of God, Joseph, the husband of Mary, with the infant Savior, went into Galilee, and lived at Nazareth—the most despised village of the most despised province in all Palestine. (Note 1, end of section.) Of his childhood but little information can be obtained from any authentic source. All that may be learned from the biographies in the Gospels is that after the settlement in Nazareth, the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him.

2. Luke tells us that when twelve years of age, Jesus accompanied his mother and Joseph to Jerusalem, to attend the feast of the Passover. (See note 2, end of section.) When they started on the return to Nazareth, Jesus remained behind at Jerusalem without their knowledge. They supposed him to be in the company, but when after a whole day's journey he did not appear, they made inquiry for him among their kindred, and not finding him, returned to Jerusalem in search of him. After three days' anxious inquiry they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking questions. Answering his mother's gentle reproof for remaining behind, he said:

How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

Thus early in life, just emerging from childhood, it seems that the Son of God had the inspiration of his mission resting upon him. Yet in loving obedience he went with them down into Nazareth, "and was subject unto them." With the return to Nazareth the authentic history of the childhood and youth of the Son of God ends; further than we learn from the remark of Luke that "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." But what the details of his life and development were for the next eighteen years, we do not know. (See note 3, end of section.)

3. In the New Testament apocrypha there are wonderful and miraculous stories of his carrying spilt water in his robe; of his pulling a short board to its requisite length; of moulding sparrows out of clay and then clapping his hands at which they are made alive and fly away; how he vexes and shames and silences those who wish to teach him; how he rebukes Joseph or turns his playmates into kids; how he strikes dead with a curse the boys who offend or run against him, until at last there is a storm of popular indignation, and his mother fears to have him leave the house^[15]—and a hundred other things equally absurd which mar rather than embellish the childhood and youth of Jesus, which the silence of his reliable biographers dignifies and exalts.

4. John the Baptist.—In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, there came preaching throughout the wilderness of Judea [Ju-de-a] a strange character, called John the Baptist. He was the son of Elizabeth, who was a descendant of Aaron, and a cousin to Mary, the mother to Jesus. His father was a priest of the temple, named Zacharias. Zacharias and Elizabeth were both well stricken in years, when there appeared unto the former, in the temple, as he was burning incense upon the altar, the angel Gabriel [Ga-bri-el], who announced to him that his wife should bear him a son, and that he must call his name John. The angel also said that John should be great in the eyes of the Lord; that he should be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. He was to have power also to turn unto their God many of the children of Israel, and to go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.^[16]

5. In due time all that the angel promised came to pass. The child was born, and when eight days old he was circumcised and named John. On that occasion his father who had been dumb from the time of the visitation of the angel prophesied that the child should be called the prophet of the Highest; that he should go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of God; and give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.^[17]

6. That the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel;^[18] that he had his raiment of camel's hair; a leathern girdle about his loins; that his food was locusts and wild honey^[19] is all we know of him until the word of the Lord came to him in the wilderness^[20] commanding him to cry repentance, and proclaim the coming of the kingdom of heaven.

7. The Voice from the Wilderness.—The burden of John's message consisted of three great declarations: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight; there cometh one after me mightier than I am, whose shoe latchet I am unworthy to loose, he will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

8. When the multitude flocked to hear the teaching of John the Pharisees and Sadducees came also—with guile in their hearts and deceit on their lips, he rebuked them, called them a generation of vipers and told them to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and not to pride themselves on being the children of Abraham, for God was able of the very stones about them to raise up children unto Abraham. He warned them that the ax was laid at the root of every tree, and that tree which brought not forth good fruit was to be destroyed.

9. That was a strange voice to the people of that generation, accustomed as they were to hear only the accents of flattery or subserviency. Without a tremor of hesitation he rebuked the tax gatherers for their extortion; the soldiers for their violence; the Sadducees and Pharisees for their pride and formalism; and warned the whole people that their cherished privileges were worse than valueless if without repentance they regarded them as a protection against the wrath to come.

10. So unusual a teacher as John the Baptist could not fail to attract attention in Judea where all men were anticipating the coming of a deliverer. Hence, as the Jews listened to his teachings so inspired with the power of God, they wondered if he were not the Messiah. This he denied. They asked him then if he were not Elias. This too he denied (see note 5, end of section); and claimed only to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the Lord."^[21]

11. The Baptism of Jesus.—When John came into the region about Bethabara [Beth-ab-a-rah], on the Jordan,^[22] among others who came to be baptized was Jesus. When John saw him he hesitated, and knowing by the inspiration within him what he was soon to know by a more splendid manifestation of God's power, viz., that this was the Son of God, he said: "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" "Suffer it to be so now," replied Jesus, "for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."^[23]

12. Then John baptized him, and as Jesus came up out of the water the heavens were opened unto him (that is, unto John; see note 6, end of section), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him; and he heard a voice from heaven saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."^[24] This splendid spiritual manifestation was a sign to John that this was the Son of God, the One who was to baptize with fire and the Holy Ghost, the Messiah, who was to take away the sins of the world. For he who had sent him to baptize with water, had said to him: "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."^[25]

13. The Martyrdom of John.—Having borne witness that Jesus was the Son of God, John seems to have completed the mission given to him at that time, and soon after fell a victim to the malice of a wicked woman and a weak prince. Herod Antipas [Anti-pas], the son of Herod the Great, who was made Tetrarch of Galilee on the death of his father, married the daughter of Aretas [Ar'-e-ta], king of Arabia. But forming also an unholy attachment for Herodias [He-ro'-di-as], his brother Philip's wife, he soon became involved in a course of guilt with her. For this he was reproved by John, who told him it was not lawful for him to have her. Herod at the instance of Herodias cast John into prison for his temerity in reproving their wicked course, and would have put him to death, but he feared the multitude, who esteemed John a prophet.

14. The revengeful spirit of Herodias, however, was not satisfied with the bonds and imprisonment of John; she determined to have his life. On Herod's birthday, in the midst of the feast, she sent her daughter to dance for the amusement of the company, which greatly pleased Herod, and he promised her with an oath that he would give her whatsoever she should ask; and the damsel being instructed of her mother demanded the head of John the Baptist. It was with sorrow that Herod, bad as he was, heard this demand, yet for his oath's sake, and ashamed to manifest weakness in the presence of those who sat at meat with him, he sent and beheaded John in the prison, and had the head brought in and given to the damsel in a charger. Thus fell the first martyr in that dispensation. (See note 7, end of section.)

NOTES.

1. Nazareth.—Nazareth was in Galilee, a part of Palestine, which was held in disesteem for several reasons: it had a provincial dialect; lying remote from the capital, its inhabitants spoke a strange tongue, which was rough, harsh, and uncouth, having a peculiar combination of words, and words also peculiar to themselves. Its population was impure, being made up not only of provincial Jews but also of heathens of several sorts, Egyptians, Arabians, Phoenicians. As Galilee was a despised part of Palestine, so was Nazareth a despised part of Galilee, being a small, obscure, if not mean place. Accordingly its inhabitants were held in little consideration by other Galileans, and, of course, by those Jews who dwelt in Judea. Hence the name of Nazarene came to bear with it a bad odor and was nearly synonymous with a low, ignorant and uncultivated, if not un-Jewish person.—"Biblical Literature", Kitto.

2. The Passover.—The Passover, like the Sabbath and other institutions had a two-fold reference—historical and typical. As a commemorative institution, it was designed to preserve among the Jews a grateful sense of their redemption from Egyptian bondage, and with the protection granted to their first born, on the night when all the first born of the Egyptians were destroyed (Exodus xii: 27,) as a typical institute its object was to shadow forth the great facts and consequences of the Christian sacrifices (I. Cor. v: 7). That the ancient Jews understood this institution to prefigure the sufferings of the Christ is evident, not only from the New Testament, but from the Mishna, where, among the five things said to be contained in the Great Hallel (a hymn composed of several songs and sung after the Paschal supper,) one is, the suffering of Messiah, for which they refer to Psalm cxvi. * * * * * The Passover also denotes the whole solemnity, commencing on the fourteenth and ending on the twenty-first day of Nisan.—Kitto.

3. The Youth of Christ.—It is written that there was once a pious, godly bishop who had often earnestly prayed that God would manifest unto him what Jesus had done in his youth. Once the bishop had a dream to this effect. He seemed in his sleep to see a carpenter working at his trade, and beside him a little boy who was gathering up chips. Then came in a maiden clothed in green, who called them both to come to the meal, and set porridge before them. All this the bishop seemed to see in his dream, himself standing behind the door that he might not be perceived. Then the little boy began and said: Why does that man stand there? Shall he not also eat with us? And this so frightened the bishop that he awoke. Let this be what it may, a true history or a fable, I none the less believe that Christ in his childhood and youth looked and acted like other children, yet without sin; in fashion like a man.—Martin Luther.

4. Messiah's Life for Thirty Years.—What was his manner of life during those thirty years? It is a question which the Christians cannot help asking in deep reverence, and with yearning love; but the words in which the Gospels answer it are very calm and very few. * * * * * His development was a strictly human development. He did not come to the world endowed with infinite knowledge, but, as St. Luke tells us, he gradually advanced in wisdom. He was not clothed with infinite power, but experienced the weakness and imperfections of human infancy. He grew as other children grow, only in a childhood of stainless and sinless beauty—as the "flower of roses in the spring of the year and as lilies by the waters." * * * * * It was in utter stillness, in prayerfulness, in the quiet round of daily duties—like Moses in the wilderness, like David among the sheep folds, like Elijah among the tents of the Bedouin, like Jeremiah in his quiet home at Anathoth, like Amos in the sycamore groves of Tekoa—that the boy Jesus prepared himself, amid a hallowed obscurity, for his mighty work on earth. His outward life was the life of all those of his age, and station and place of birth. He lived as lived other children of peasant parents in that quiet town, and in great measure as they live now.—Canon Farrar.

5. Was John the Elias?—"Art thou Elias?" said the messengers from Jesus to John. "And he saith, I am not" (John i). Afterwards, as Jesus, Peter, James and John were descending the mountain on whose summit they had seen in vision Moses and Elias, the following conversation occurred:

JESUS: Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

DISCIPLES: Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

JESUS: Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things; but I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. * * * * Then the disciples knew that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. (Matt. xvii.) From this it appears that John denied being Elias, while Jesus declared that he was, and in consequence much controversy has arisen on this subject. The matter may be easily understood, however, when it is known that Elias is the name of a person, the name of a prophet who lived, doubtless, in the days of Abraham (Doc. and Cov. sec cx: 12), and who also appeared to Jesus on the occasion above named; Elias is also the name of an office—the office of Restorer. "The spirit of Elias," said the Prophet Joseph (March 10, 1844) "is to prepare the way for a greater revelation of God, which is the priesthood of Elias. * * * * And when God sends a man into the world to prepare for a greater work holding the keys of the power of Elias, it was called the doctrine of Elias, even from the early ages of the world." Hence any man who came to prepare the way for a greater revelation was an Elias, and in this sense John the Baptist was pre-eminently Elias; but it is equally true that he was not Elias, the prophet who lived in the days of Abraham, who appeared unto Jesus in the mountain and who also appeared to the Prophet Joseph and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple.

In the revision of the New Testament, by the Prophet Joseph Smith, often improperly called the new translation, the difficulty in respect to the denial of John that he was Elias is easily understood. We quote the passage: "This is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and seventies from Jerusalem, to ask him: Who art thou? And he confessed and denied not that he was Elias; but he confessed, saying, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, saying: How art thou then Elias? And he said, I am not that Elias who was to restore all things. And they asked him, saying, Art thou that Prophet? And he answered, No." (St. John i: 20-22.) From the above it may be plainly seen that while John was not the particular Elias who is to restore all things, yet he is an Elias because he restored some things in respect to the gospel.—Roberts.

6. John the Only Witness of the Descent of the Holy Ghost.—I suppose that John the Baptist was the only one who was a witness of the Holy Ghost resting upon Jesus in the form of a dove. In all the accounts given of this event, except by Luke, the pronoun "he," referring to John, is used. While in Luke it is not said that anyone else saw it, but it is merely stated that "the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him." John's own testimony is as follows: "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."—"The Gospel" (note), Roberts.

7. The Fate of Herod Antipas.—He was not allowed to enjoy his prosperity long. His nephew Agrippa having obtained the title of king, Herodias urged him to make a journey to Italy and demand the same honor. He weakly assented to his wife's ambitious representations; but the project proved fatal to them both. Agrippa anticipated their design; and when they appeared before Caligula, they were met by accusations of hostility to Rome, the truth of which they in vain attempted to disprove. Sentence of deposition was accordingly passed upon Herod, and both he and his wife [Herodias] were sent into banishment and died at Lyons in Gaul.—Kitto.

8. The Sign of the Dove.—The Holy Ghost descended in the form of a dove, or rather in the sign of a dove, in witness of that administration [Messiah's baptism]. The sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost, and the devil cannot come in the sign of a dove. The Holy Ghost is a personage, and is in the form of a personage. It (he) does not confine itself to the form of a dove, but in the sign of a dove. The Holy Ghost cannot be transformed into a dove; but the sign of a dove was given to John to signify the truth of the deed, as the dove is an emblem or token of truth and innocence.—Joseph Smith.

REVIEW.

1. State what you can of the childhood of Christ.

2. What can you say of Nazareth?

3. What happened when Jesus was twelve years old?

4. Describe the Passover. (Note 2.)

5. What can you say of the fabulous stories related of the childhood and youth of Christ?

6. At what time did John the Baptist appear as a preacher?

7. Who were the parents of John? What their descent?

8. Relate all you can concerning John's birth and childhood.

9. What was the burden of John's message?

10. How did he treat the deceitful Pharisees and Sadducees?

11. As whom did some of the Jews regard John?

12. What was the extent of his pretensions?

13. What can you say of Elias? (Note 5.)

14. Relate the baptism of Jesus.

15. Tell the story of John's martyrdom.

16. What was the fate of Herod Antipas? (Note 7.)