Luke 7:26 “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.”
Jesus here confirms that John the Baptist was indeed a prophet. He was to be included in the long line of God’s men who had spoken to the people of the Messiah. But, he was different in so many ways. And he was so much more than they could have ever hoped to be.
John’s rank among the prophets is here established by the One Whom the message was about. As the heralds of the Messiah, these prophets were all servants of Him. Jesus is eminently qualified to determine the importance, significance, and preeminence of the ministry of John the Baptizer. We cannot argue with the designation.
What, however, is the goal of Christ in bringing this ranking of the prophets to light? What is the motivation here? The cold indifference of the religious leadership to the coming of the Messiah is all we need look for as the reason. This generation of the Jews stood poised to completely reject the Son from heaven. They needed to understand that John was not just another of the prophets, but that he was the forerunner, the one who would signal the coming of the Lord of Sabbath to His temple.
Heavenly Father, we live in a day in which everywhere we find those who would embrace the message of ‘love thy neighbor’ and yet stand ready at all times to stab their neighbor in the back. This present, confusing, spiritual landscape is full of information, indoctrination, and inflammation. But dedication, discipline, and determination, these are rare gems, hard to find. The time for good to be called evil and evil to be called good seems just around the corner. Yet, in spite of all this, we dare not interpret the signs without Your Word as our guide. We know we live in the last days. We know we approach the end even now. But, we also know this is the time for Your grace. You are claiming a people for Your Name. You are at work. You have not stopped, slowed, or slackened. Thus we must, to keep with our Lord in all things, be busy about the work You have left us to do. We must make disciples. And we may cry for Your blessings when it is Your work we are trying to do. Bless us we pray, but only as we seek to obey! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.