Desert Dawn
continued
The Measure
of Greatness
No Reed shaken With the Wind
“And they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went
ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken
with the wind?
“But what went ye out to
see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that
wear soft are in king’s houses.
“But what went ye out for to see?
A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a
prophet.
“For this he is, 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 woman there hath not risen a
greater than John the Baptist.” Matthew 11:
7-11.
The
Measure of a Man Lies in His Alignment of Soul With
God
The measure of a man, the
measure of manhood, is the depth, breadth and height
of the soul in the preparation and acquisition of the
knowledge of God, in the alignment of the spirit with
the Spirit of God, in the breadth of soul union with
the heart of God, in the absolute fidelity of the
soul’s following of Christ, in the degree of
resistance to evil and apostasy, in the alignment of
the heart with the kingdom of light, in the depth of
a heart that goes beneath the surface trivia of the
emotional responses of interpersonal relations and
anchors in the character of God Himself.
John Did Not Measure the
Degree of His Success by the Approval of the
Structure
John did not measure the
degree of the success of his ministry by the degree
of acceptance he received from the Structure. If
he had measured his success by the amount of
acceptance and approval he received from the
Structure, he would have been a reed blowing in the
wind.
John Sought the Approval
of God Only
No, the reference points of
John’s life and ministry were: God, God’s
Word [Revelation], nature, and Providence. He sought
the honor, approval and acceptance, of God only. He
did not seek the honor of men-not the Structure, not
those who came to hear his message, not his family.
Indeed, he did everything in his power to remove
himself from the influence of man. He sought to be
removed by the Spirit of God alone.
A New, Strange Power Moved
the People
However, his message stirred
the hearts of men: “Amid discord and strife, a
voice was heard from the wilderness, a voice startling
and stern, yet full of hope: “Repent ye:
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” With a new,
strange power it moved the
people. DA 104.
The power emanating from John
was new and strange. It moved the people. Even the
leaders came: “John singular appearance carried
the minds of his hearers back to the ancient seers. In
his manners and dress, he resembled the prophet
Elijah. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he
denounced the national corruption, and rebuked the
prevailing sins. His words were plain, pointed,
and convincing. Many believed him to be one of the
prophets risen from the dead. The whole nation was
stirred. Multitudes flocked to the
wilderness.” DA 104.
While the Leaders
Concluded that John Had a Devil, They Feared the
Wrath of the People, Who Believed Him to be a Prophet
In the end, however, with the
Spirit of God rejected, the leadership of the
Structure concluded that John had a devil. (Matthew
11:18). However, John’s influence remained
mighty with the people. When the leaders
challenged Jesus’ authority when he cleansed the
temple the second time at the end of His ministry,
they said, “Tell us, by what authority doest
Thou these things? Or Who is He that gave Thee this
authority?
“And he answered and
said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and
answer Me:
“The baptism of John,
was it from heaven or of men?
“And they reasoned with
themselves, saying, If we say, From heaven; He will
say, Why then believed ye him not?
“But and if we say, Of
men; all the people will stone us: for they be
persuaded that John was a prophet.”
Luke 20: 2-6.
The Leaders Were Afraid of
Being Stoned
The power of John’s
ministry, rejected by the Structure, was so great
that at the end of Jesus’ ministry, four years
after John had begun his ministry, and after John had
been beheaded, the Structure was afraid to say
that John’s ministry was of men, for fear
of being stoned by the people.
Godliness, Godlikeness is the
goal to be reached.
The Greatest Want of the
World
“The greatest want of
the world is the want of men-men who will not be
bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are
true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by
its right name, men whose conscience is as true to
duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand
for the right though the heavens fall.” Ed 57.
Sometimes, at all times,
it is good to be a man. John, and his Master, Jesus,
were such men. “John, by his unselfish joy in
the successful ministry of Jesus, presents to the
world the truest type of nobility ever exhibited by
mortal man.” 2SP 138.
Perfect Manhood
“Christ was God in the flesh. As
the son of David, he stood forth a perfect type of
true manhood, bold in doing his duty, and of the
strictest integrity, yet full of love, compassion,
and tender sympathy.” 3SP 259, 260. “He is
a perfect pattern of childhood, of youth, of
manhood.” FLB 219. Never was there such
manhood as that of Jesus Christ, the One, True Man
among men. However, as Jesus Himself said,
“Among them that are born of women there hath
not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he. And from the days of John the
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violet take it by force.” Matthew
11:11.
Jesus’
Measure of Greatness
Here is Jesus’ measure of
greatness, the greatness of a man:
- John
the Baptist is the greatest of those born of
women.
- But
the least of those born into the
kingdom of God is greater than he.
- The
spiritually violent take the kingdom of
heaven by force.
Here is the true greatness of what it
means to be born into the kingdom. No taking of
God’s name in vain here. To be born into the
kingdom, truly, means that one partakes so
deeply of the greatness of the great God, that one
greater than the greatest man born among women-the
man who spent his life seeking God, the man who was a
Nazarite from birth, the man who was filled with the
Holy ghost from the womb. The man who, as an
unborn child in the womb, leaped for joy at the sound
of the messiah’s mother’s voice.
God’s Plan is For You to
Have More of the Holy Spirit Than John the
Baptist-the Greatest Man Born of Women
“And I will pray the Father,
and He shall give you another comforter, that He may
abide with you for ever… It is expedient for you
that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send
Him unto you.” John 14: 17; 16:7.
God’s plan is for you to have
more of the Holy Ghost than even John, the greatest
of men. Why? Because Jesus gives the disciples the
greatest Gift that can be given-the Holy Ghost.
Jesus is not speaking empty words
here. The least in the kingdom of heaven is to have more
access and reception of the Holy Spirit than John-the
greatest man born of women.
With these words, Jesus portrays how great
it is to be a disciple! How great it is to be born
into the kingdom!
How important to not take the name
of the Lord in vain, but to live up to all that Jesus
intended for us to be as disciples in the kingdom.
Unreserved
Self-surrender Brings the Holy Spirit Without Measure
“We can receive of heaven’s
light only as we are willing to be emptied of self.
We can discern the character of God, and accept
Christ by faith, only as we consent to the bringing
into captivity of every thought to the obedience of
Christ. To all who do this, the Holy Spirit is
given without measure. In Christ “dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are
complete in Him.” Colossians 2:9, 10.” 8 T
334.
To
him that hath it shall be given. The more of the
Holy Spirit we seek, and cherish, and obey, the more
of the Holy Spirit we will possess. The more in
harmony we are with the holy law of God, the more of
the Holy Spirit is available to our spirit. The more
that we are in harmony with the Word of God, the more
of the Holy Spirit will be ours. Unreserved
self-surrender brings the Holy Spirit without
measure. But we must seek His face, we must ask, we
must knock. Seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall
receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you. And
do this with violence…
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