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None Greater Than John the Baptist, November 21
Those Who Have Conquered
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there
hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.
Matthew 11:11
The tall reeds that grew beside the Jordan, bending before every
breeze, were fitting representatives of the rabbis who had stood as critics
and judges of the Baptist’s mission. They were swayed this way and that
by the winds of popular opinion. They would not humble themselves
to receive the heart-searching message of the Baptist, yet for fear of the
people they dared not openly oppose his work. But God’s messenger was
of no such craven spirit. The multitudes who were gathered about Christ
had been witnesses to the work of John. They had heard his fearless
rebuke of sin. To the self-righteous Pharisees, the priestly Sadducees,
King Herod and his court, princes and soldiers, publicans and peasants,
John had spoken with equal plainness. He was no trembling reed, swayed
by the winds of human praise or prejudice. In the prison he was the same
in his loyalty to God and his zeal for righteousness as when he preached
God’s message in the wilderness. In his faithfulness to principle he was
as firm as a rock....
In the announcement to Zacharias before the birth of John, the angel
had declared, “He shall be great in the sight of the Lord.” In the estimation
of Heaven, what is it that constitutes greatness?—Not that which the
world accounts greatness.... It is moral worth that God values. Love and
purity are the attributes He prizes most. John was great in the sight of
the Lord, when before the messengers from the Sanhedrim, before the
people, and before his own disciples he refrained from seeking honor
for himself, but pointed all to Jesus as the Promised One. His unselfish
joy in the ministry of Christ presents the highest type of nobility ever
revealed in man.
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