Posted on 11/07/2025 11:56:14 PM PST by metmom
“‘But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, “Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.” Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he’” (Matthew 11:9–11).
God always calls the right person to the right position in the realm of greatness. In John, the greatest man and the greatest human assignment converged—God called him as the valedictory prophet, the most dynamic, articulate, confrontational, and powerful spokesman ever.
Jesus quotes Malachi 3:1 in declaring to the people that John’s privileged call meant he was more than an ordinary prophet. We could expand the Lord’s quotation this way: “Behold, I, Yahweh, send My messenger John the Baptist to be the forerunner of You, the Messiah, and to prepare the people for Your coming.” After centuries of divine preparation and prophecy, God gave John the unequaled privilege of heralding Messiah’s coming.
Jesus’ point here in calling John the greatest is that, humanly speaking, he was the greatest person who had lived until that time. With his superior human qualities, John was unequaled until the God-Man Himself came to earth.
John the Baptist was a spiritual giant, but his privileged call mainly concerned his historic role. In spiritual inheritance, every believer is the equal of John: “The least in the kingdom of heaven [the spiritual realm] is greater than he.” Average saints are greater than anyone in the human realm, including John the Baptist, the one called to be the messianic forerunner. That’s a reality for which we should be ever thankful as Christians.
Ask Yourself
How would you define the specific calling God has placed on your life?
What duties and responsibilities go into your faithful performance of it?
How is God employing your natural abilities in serving Him, while also providing you spiritual gifts as vehicles of grace to others?
Studying God’s Word ping
metmom, please add me to your ping ;^)
Thanks for posting the reminder to answer the call, metmom
Yep - God always sent/sends the right person - and often an unlikely one. Gideon had fears and doubts about what God asked him to do - and God called him a “mighty warrior” despite his fears and what he considered to be insane (dropping a 32,000 man army down to 300 warriors)...And Gideon, after receiving some bolstering (compassionate) signs from God, prevailed.
God also sent the right woman/women when men failed to meet their responsibilities....maybe that’s why you bring so much of His Word to FR.
Have a blessed day.
“Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
And since Mary, the mother of Jesus, was born of a woman, this means that, according to Jesus, John the Baptist was greater than Mary. (At least this was the case until the coming of the Holy Spirit, that John foretold.)
Thought I’d point this out relevant to our other conversations about Mary recently.
Jesus’ own words.......
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