The Lord Jesus said that of those born of women there was not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, Luke 7. 28, and that he was a burning and a shining lamp, John 5. 35. This was tribute indeed from the Saviour Himself. But what exactly was it that made John great?
True he was a plain and powerful preacher. He was a faithful man, straightforward and honest in his dealings with men and with truth. He was fearless, too, not regarding either the frown or the favour of men and treating all men alike with a bold impartiality. He preached to the common people as well as to the religious leaders, and even to King Herod himself. John’s vocabulary was simple and unambiguous. No one could misunderstand what John was saying. Also, he was earnest, interested only in spiritual and eternal things. He would have a short life, and a brief ministry lasting but a few months, but he would give his all in a selfless, untiring service for God and for the nation.
But perhaps above all else, John was a humble man. He had no ambition for earthly honours. Had he not been content to live for thirty years in those desert parts? ‘He must increase’, he said of the Saviour. ‘I must decrease’, he said of himself. He was happy to be but a voice crying in the wilderness. The ‘Word’ was coming. He was just a ‘voice’. Messiah would come; John was only a messenger, Matt. 11. 10. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all speak of John Baptist. He was the last of a long line of prophets and his finest hour came when he pointed, that memorable day by the banks of the Jordan, to the Lamb of God. For four thousand years, since the days of Abel’s lamb in Genesis chapter 4, men had waited for God’s Lamb. To John was given the high privilege of announcing to Israel that at last He had come.
What features are these, to be emulated by everyone aspiring to greatness. John Baptist illustrates so perfectly that which the Saviour constantly taught His disciples, that true greatness is humility. To be great, a man must become little. To be greatest a man must become least of all. As another has put it, ‘The greatness of voluntary humility is a greater greatness than official greatness’. John was truly great.
