daily java

Daily Java:

As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind? Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people with expensive clothes live in palaces. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,
     ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
      and he will prepare your way before you.’
“I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it. For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time. And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would com. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” (Matthew 11:7-15)

John the Baptizer is about to die. And Jesus tells about how good and strong he has been in the pursuit of God’s will.

Jesus said that John was a strong individual, one who was uncompromising in his service to God. In fact, Jesus said that he was one of the greatest men who ever lived. In fact, it was he who began the preaching about the Kingdom of God. He was the one Malachi talked about at the end of his book, the last one in the Old Testament.

A greater person never lived. But, Jesus said, the smallest person in the Kingdom of Heaven, the most insignificant person in that kingdom, has something John never had: membership in the church of our Lord Jesus.

John came to point out. After Jesus died, what John was pointing out came to pass. John was preparatory, we are part of the fulfillment.

All those who came before the death of Jesus were old law, old covenant. All those afterwards are new covenant.

All of the prophets and teachers who had ever lived before Jesus looked forward to the day when the great plan of God would be revealed. But they did not get to participate in it. They were Old Testament.

As members of the church, we have a position that they envied. Isaiah writes about the stripes of Jesus healing (Isiah 53), we are healed by those stripes. Malachi writes about the spirit of Elijah being present in someone who prepared the way for the Messiah. We know that person now to be John the Baptizer. All of the Old Testament prophecies are seen now in the context of their fulfillment.

We know things they only dreamed of knowing. On one level, there is no way I could ever be as great as John. But on another, I have access to God in the Kingdom of Heaven in a way that John never dreamed.

I am a child of God in a way John never conceived of.