In the period of time just prior to the former rain, we learn from Luke 22:24 the condition among the professed followers of Christ: “And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.”GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.3

In order to receive the showers that Jesus designed to bestow upon them, it was necessary that they should experience a change of character. It was necessary that they should respond to a character call, in order to receive the early rain, as in this day we must respond to a similar call in order to be prepared for the latter rain. If it were only a word demand, we would have had it long ago, for we have all prayed for it.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.4

After Christ had risen, he said to the disciples, “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.5

Before the promise of the Father could be received, it was necessary that these disciples should be made to realize that their efficiency was not of themselves but of God. While they were waiting at Jerusalem in that upper room, there was a time of self-surrender, of self-humiliation, very unlike the experience recorded in the first text that we read, when each desired the most honorable position. While assembled together and seeking the Lord, it seemed that suddenly their characters were transformed. Some might think that character can not be reversed in a moment, but I think it can.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.6

They were all in one place; so are we. They were all of one accord. Are we? As the result of being of one accord, and right individually with God, came that shower of rain. I believe that the reason that they received it upon that occasion, and upon no former, was that this was the first time that they realized that they could of themselves do nothing, that Christ was their all in all. Then Christ could trust them.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.7

John was a burning and a shining light. There is in this thought of burning the thought of life. There are thousands of people to-day who have a name to be living, while they are dead. John was living and burning. That term has in it the thought of fire, or purification. John was cleansed and purified from himself. He was not looking for self-exaltation, honor, or notoriety. He was asked at one time who he was, and he replied, “I am a voice.” He did not claim to be anything great at all. He was simply a voice, and spoke for another,—“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.”GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.8

In Isaiah 6:6 is this same thought of cleansing. The messenger from God took a coal with tongs from off the altar and placed it upon the lips of the prophet. That signifies purification. A great many people to-day make a decided effort to shine, when the shining quality—the character—is not there.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.9

John was not a flash-light. He was the representative of Christ, the fore-runner of Christ. He was not a flashlight, but a regular, steady, strong light, continually shining. It came from a steady, strong knowledge of God.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.10

As John was in that period of the world a reflector of the light of the first coming of Christ, so we in this day should reflect the light of the great message that foretells the second coming of Christ. He could shine only by the character light of Jesus; we can shine in no other way in this our day.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.11

In Luke 11:52 we read: “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” The key which will unlock, and the only key to unlock the prison-doors and let souls out of darkness into light is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He came from heaven to earth, and said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Let us bring back the key, and show the people that the Christ, the divine Saviour alone, will redeem men from sin.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.12

It will require the character of the divine One to enable us to reflect the light of heaven. It will require the character of the divine One in us to properly represent the great cause of truth that God has given us to give to the people in this day of the soon coming of Jesus.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.13

The disciples thought in that day when they had forsaken their nets, and when they had forsaken their boat and their fish, and started off following him, that they had actually forsaken all, but they had not. The thing above all that is to be forsaken is self. They had self along with them. But Christ said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,” forsake himself. At Pentecost they had not only forsaken nets and boats, they had forsaken self as well.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.14

As John was in that day, and those disciples were, so we as a people here to-day ought to be great reflectors of the great light of Christ, doing our utmost to warn people of his coming, notifying them of the reforms that must come, character reform, Sabbath reform, and all these things which must come to pass or else their souls will be lost. We ought to be soul-inspired as never before, to be more faithful, and truer than ever before, and may God help us to this end for Christ’s sake.GCB May 23, 1909, page 109.15

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