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John the Baptist, September 21
Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to
them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice
of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as
said the prophet Esaias.
John 1:22, 23
.
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
). 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 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.—
The Desire of
Ages, 219, 220
.
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