{"id":3343,"date":"2018-07-13T23:07:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-13T23:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3343"},"modified":"2022-02-23T16:24:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T16:24:03","slug":"john-whom-the-lord-called-none-greater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3343","title":{"rendered":"John\u2014Whom the Lord Called &#8220;None Greater&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 3<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note:\u00a0<\/strong>This MS is available in\u00a0larger font on our\u00a0<strong>Brief Articles 1<\/strong>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">Jesus gave unparalleled commendation to his kinsman, the prophet John: \u201cAmong them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist\u201d (Mat. 11:11). Let us explore some possible reasons for this unique accolade.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>John knew his role and filled it:<\/strong>When some thought He was the Messiah, he quickly denied it (John 1:20). He understood himself to be the \u201ctrail blazer,\u201d the forerunner for the Christ, Whose shoes he was not worthy to untie (vv. 23, 27). He said of Jesus, \u201cHe must increase, but I must decrease\u201d (3:30). Contrary to the claims of some, he did not build a church, but he was the first to announce that Jesus\u2019 kingdom\/church was soon to make its appearance (Mat. 3:2; 16:18\u201319). He did not seek to usurp a role not his.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>John preached what he was sent to preach:<\/strong>He preached repentance, a change of mind that could be seen in a change of behavior (Mat. 3:2, 8). He preached, \u201cthe kingdom\u2026is at hand\u201d (3:2), meaning its beginning was very near. Jesus said it would come in the lifetime of His contemporaries (Mark 9:1). Contrast their message with that of the majority of modern Protestant preachers who imply that John and Jesus were wrong, as they preach their heretical future kingdom theories. He preached and practiced \u201cbaptism\u201d (Mark 1:4; John 1:33). From this important facet of his work alone came the epithet,\u00a0<em>the baptist<\/em>. John\u2019s baptism was \u201cunto remission of sins\u201d (Mark 1:4), that is, it preceded and procured forgiveness of sins\u2014which would be secured with the shedding of Jesus\u2019 blood on the cross (cf. Acts 2:38; Heb. 9:15\u201322). Most modern preachers deny this clear teaching of the purpose of baptism. Also, unlike most modern \u201cbaptisms,\u201d John\u2019s baptism involved \u201cmuch\u201d water (John 3:23).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>John was a humble and spiritual man:<\/strong>He knew nothing of self-promotion. He dwelt in the wilderness, the fruits of which provided his food and clothing and where the crowds came to hear him preach (Mat. 3:1, 4\u20135). He knew nothing of the gross materialism seen in so many who fill pulpits presently, especially among the \u201ctelevangelists.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>John confronted error and evil without partiality:<\/strong>He sought no praise of men, but he called the religious\/political leaders of his day the \u201coffspring of vipers\u201d (Mat. 3:7). He dared tell a king he was unlawfully married, which led to imprisonment and eventually to his death (14:3\u201312). A marked contrast exists between John\u2019s bold and fearless preaching of the Truth. Modern pulpiteers are all too often governed more by \u201cpolitical correctness,\u201d creedal statements, yearning to be popular, and\/or fear of losing a paycheck than by the obligation to \u201cpreach the word\u201d (2 Tim. 4:2).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note:<\/strong>I wrote this article for and it appeared in the\u00a0<em>Denton Record-Chronicle,\u00a0<\/em>Denton, TX, February 25, 2011.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>Attribution:<\/strong>From\u00a0<em>TheScripturecache.com<\/em>, owned and administered by Dub McClish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 3[Note:\u00a0This MS is available in\u00a0larger font on our\u00a0Brief Articles 1\u00a0page.] Jesus gave unparalleled commendation to his kinsman, the prophet John: \u201cAmong them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist\u201d (Mat. 11:11). Let us explore some possible&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3343\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  John\u2014Whom the Lord Called &#8220;None Greater&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,37,137,172,81,153,141,29,126,40,10,9,11,86,38,167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adultery","category-baptism","category-deity-of","category-courage","category-covetousness","category-forgiveness","category-kingdom","category-mdr","category-persecution","category-plan-of","category-preachers","category-preaching","category-premillennialism","category-pridehumility","category-repentance","category-tests-of-faith","wpcat-76-id","wpcat-37-id","wpcat-137-id","wpcat-172-id","wpcat-81-id","wpcat-153-id","wpcat-141-id","wpcat-29-id","wpcat-126-id","wpcat-40-id","wpcat-10-id","wpcat-9-id","wpcat-11-id","wpcat-86-id","wpcat-38-id","wpcat-167-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3343"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17560,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions\/17560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}