Imprisonment and Death of John
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“But what,” said Jesus, “went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I
say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is
written,—
“Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face,
Which shall prepare Thy way before Thee.
“Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there
hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” In the announcement to
Zacharias before the birth of John, the angel had declared, “He shall be
great in the sight of the Lord.”
Luke 1:15
. In the estimation of Heaven,
what is it that constitutes greatness? Not that which the world accounts
greatness; not wealth, or rank, or noble descent, or intellectual gifts, in
themselves considered. If intellectual greatness, apart from any higher
consideration, is worthy of honor, then our homage is due to Satan,
whose intellectual power no man has ever equaled. But when perverted
to self-serving, the greater the gift, the greater curse it becomes. 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 Sanhedrin, 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.
The witness borne of him after his death, by those who had heard
his testimony to Jesus, was, “John did no miracle: but all things that
John spake of this Man were true.”
John 10:41
. It was not given to
John to call down fire from heaven, or to raise the dead, as Elijah did,
nor to wield Moses’ rod of power in the name of God. He was sent to
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herald the Saviour’s advent, and to call upon the people to prepare for
His coming. So faithfully did he fulfill his mission, that as the people
recalled what he had taught them of Jesus, they could say, “All things
that John spake of this Man were true.” Such witness to Christ every
disciple of the Master is called upon to bear.
As the Messiah’s herald, John was “much more than a prophet.”
For while prophets had seen from afar Christ’s advent, to John it
was given to behold Him, to hear the testimony from heaven to His
Messiahship, and to present Him to Israel as the Sent of God. Yet