One might have expected that the indications of a new way and a means of regenerating life would be found in the Jewish people, the only people who preserved the true religion and the lofty concepts of God and life. But Judaism itself was experiencing a severe crisis. It is unlikely that in the history of the Jewish people there are darker pages of religious and moral decline than in the period preceding the appearance of Christ the Savior. When one reads the prophetic books and the stern speeches of the prophets denouncing Jewish life, a heavy, gloomy picture is drawn.

Here are a number of excerpts from the books of the prophet Isaiah, depicting the cheerless moral and religious state of the people of Israel at that time, their ingratitude and betrayal of God, their unbelief, their depravity, their cruelty and blatant injustice.

Hear, O heavens, and hearken, O earth, for the Lord says, I have brought up and exalted sons, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his master, and the ass his master's manger; but Israel does not know me, my people do not understand. Alas, sinful people, a people burdened with iniquity, a tribe of evildoers, sons of perdition! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned back. (I, 2-4). How did the faithful capital, full of justice, become a harlot? The truth dwelt in it, and now there were murderers. ... Thy princes are transgressors of the law, and accomplices of thieves; they all love gifts and chase after bribes; the orphans are not protected, and the widow's work does not reach them (I, 21, 23).

And among the people one shall be oppressed by another, and each one by his neighbor... Their tongue and their deeds are against the Lord, insulting to the eyes of His glory... My people! thy leaders deceive thee, and have corrupted the way of thy paths (III, 5, 8, 12).

The heart of this people is hardened, and with their ears they can hardly hear, and their eyes are closed, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, that I may heal them (VI, 10).

... The Lord will not rejoice in his youths, nor will he have mercy on his fatherless, nor will he have mercy on his fatherless, nor will he have mercy on his widows: for they are all hypocrites and evildoers, and the mouths of all speak wickedly (IX, 17). ... The priest and the prophet stumble over strong drinks; they are overcome by wine, they are mad with strong drink, they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all the tables are filled with disgusting vomit, there is no clean place (XXVIII, 7, 8).

... They are a rebellious people, deceitful children, children who will not listen to the law of the Lord (XXX, 9). Your iniquities have made a division between you and your God, and your sins hide his face from you, that they may not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your mouth speaketh falsehood, and your tongue speaketh unrighteousness. No one raises his voice for the truth, and no one stands up for the truth; they hope for vain things and tell lies, they conceive evil and give birth to evil... Their deeds are unrighteous deeds, and violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are ungodly thoughts; desolation and destruction in their paths. They know not the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their paths; their ways are crooked, and no one who walks in them knows the world. For this reason judgment is far from us, and justice does not reach us; we wait for light, here is darkness, illumination, and we walk in darkness... For our transgressions are numerous before Thee, and our sins bear witness against us; for our transgressions are with us, and our iniquities we know. We have changed and lied before the Lord, and have departed from our God; they spoke slander and treason, conceived and gave birth to false words from their hearts. ... And honesty can't come in. And the truth was gone, and he who shunned evil was insulted (LIX, 2-4, 6-9, 12-15).

Thus, here, too, among the chosen people of God, there is the same picture of moral darkness and decay.

Evil was gathering everywhere. In this atmosphere of lawlessness and violence, deception and hypocrisy, unbelief and superstition, debauchery and the pursuit of pleasure, it became difficult to breathe. A world enslaved by Roman politics, humiliated and driven to despair by false religions, vainly questioning philosophy about the mystery of life and virtue, this world stood on the brink of the grave.

Judaism itself, which had betrayed its destiny, was on its last legs. There has never been a more critical moment in human history. It was felt that humanity had reached a dead end and could not get out of there without the help of Someone Great and Strong. And so, among the best people of that time, the expectation of the appearance of the Great Prophet, who would show man new paths and save the world from destruction and decay, became more and more stubborn and intense.

In Judaism, this expectation had existed for a long time and was nourished by the predictions of the prophets, but even outside Judaism, in the best people of pagan society, one senses a trembling sensation and a passionate desire for the coming of the Savior and Redeemer of the world. The whole world was in a tense state, and at this great and solemn moment the Lord Jesus Christ was born and preached His Gospel to people, this Revelation of new ways of rebirth and true life.

This revelation was the message of Heaven that led people out of the blind alley of sin and despair, and which mankind had so passionately and so vainly awaited. That is why it was called the good news, or the Gospel.

But even now, when so many centuries have passed since the appearance of the Gospel, it has not lost its significance and is still good news for us, telling us about a high, pure, holy life; still, like a beacon on a stormy dark night, it shows us the only true path to eternal happiness and to God.

Where is this path? Paganism and almost the entire ancient world sought it in the service of their self-love, in self-gratification, in self-gratification. The personal egoism of paganism, the national egoism of Jewry - these are the cornerstones on which the people of antiquity wanted to build the edifice of their happiness. They have built nothing, and their experience has only proved that the path they have chosen is false and leads not to the palaces of happiness, but to the mire of despair.