The Kingdom of God

"Verily I say unto you, 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" (Mat. 11:11). The message I have today is to explain the simplicity of what Jesus was saying here about Jon the Baptist, and about those who are in the kingdom of God. First and foremost, it's all about Jesus, like everything is. John was the greatest man or prophet born of women simply because of his proximity to Jesus. In other words John was closer to Jesus than any other prophet in history because he was actually within earshot and eyesight of Jesus, not to mention that he baptized Jesus. Not only so, but John was also the only prophet or man that was ordained by God to introduce Jesus to God's people of Israel. In fact John was so significant that he was actually prophesied of by prophets before him who prophesied of Jesus. John's testimony went like this: "And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet [Isaiah]" (Jn. 1:19-23). So we see that there was prophecy that went before of Christ, which actually included John the Baptist, because his mission was so great. And again, John's ministry was that great because he was that close to Jesus, and he was the only man sent by God to tell why God's Son had been sent from heaven to earth. That brings us to why "he that is least in the kingdom of [God] is greater than [John]." John's explanation of why Jesus had been sent from heaven was actually mega simplistic: "And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Mk. 1:5-8). God gave the ordinance of water baptism to John because it was the perfect natural representation of what Jesus was going to do, which is to baptize with the holy Ghost, even as John said. To baptize with the holy Ghost, according to John, was and is the reason that Jesus came to earth.

Now let's remember that John was the ONLY man sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus, and for what Jesus was going to accomplish for our sake. Jesus could not baptize anyone with the holy Ghost while he was on earth, but what he DID do was die for our sins on the cross of Calvary, and raise from the dead on the third day (Jn. 14:16,17; Acts 1:4,5). In fact the death of Jesus at the cross, and his subsequent resurrection from the dead was the means by which he was able to return to heaven and operate as the high priest of the new covenant, whose job it was and is to baptize with the holy Ghost all who come to him repentant and believing on him for the remission of their sins. Just as those who came to John, came to him confessing their sins, and were baptized by him in water for the remission of their sins under the old covenant; so it is under the new covenant that all who come to Jesus confessing their sins and entrusting themselves to him, are baptized by him with the 'living waters' of the holy Ghost. Jesus said the same like this: "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.]" (Jn. 7:38,39). As John's baptism in water was for the outer man and did not literally take the people's sins away, so Jesus' baptism is for the inner man and it DOES literally wash our sins away (I Cor. 6:11; Tit. 3:5). But let's get to the part about being in the kingdom of God and being greater than John. The reason that everyone in the kingdom of God is greater than John is the exact same reason that John was greater than all of the prophets who came before him. That reason would be proximity to Jesus, and the baptism that Jesus died and rose to baptize us with is what gives us the ultimate proximity to Jesus: "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26). Now a whole lot of 'Christian' folks like to leave it at that, and just say very generally that it's by faith that we become a child of God. That mindset leaves everything open to the individual or the 'church' to decide when someone has shown due faith in Jesus to be born again. But the apostle Paul did NOT leave it at that, but rather he explained what he was saying in the very next verse, and defined exactly HOW we are made children of God by faith in Christ: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). There it is my friend, it comes back to what John said Jesus had come to earth to accomplish, namely to baptize with the holy Ghost everyone who believes on him. It's really a shame that pretty much everyone in the entire 'Christian' world thinks that verse and others like it are speaking of water baptism, because that thinking undermines EVERYTHING that Jesus suffered, died, and rose again to provide us with.

You may note that the verse quoted from Galatians 3:27 says that those who are "baptized INTO Christ have PUT ON Christ." That means exactly what it says my friend, and there is nothing symbolic there at all. John's baptism was symbolic of what Jesus was going to do, but Jesus has DONE what John said he would do, and there is NOTHING SYMBOLIC about what Jesus has done and does do, which is to baptize with the holy Ghost. Those who experience the Spirit baptism with its accompanying sign of speaking with other tongues, have literally "put on Christ" because the scripture also tells us that "the Lord IS that Spirit" (Acts 2:4; II Cor. 3:17). That brings us full circle to the kingdom of God, and to the one definition of the kingdom of God that we have in the Bible: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy IN THE HOLY GHOST" (Rom. 14:17). So we have established that we get INTO Christ by his baptism of the Spirit, and this verse clearly tells us that the holy Ghost IS the kingdom of God for us. So being in Christ and being in the kingdom of God are both the same thing, and that stands to reason since "the Lord is that Spirit." So what this ultimately means is that everyone who is baptized by Jesus with the holy Ghost is in closer proximity to Jesus that John the Baptist was, because we are literally IN Jesus Christ! And again, we are IN CHRIST by the very means that John said Jesus had come to earth to establish, which was and is to baptize with the holy Ghost. We are IN him and he is IN us by means of the baptism that he died and rose to baptize us with. This is what Jesus was talking about when he prayed fto the Father for us: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one" (Jn. 17:22,23). The 'glory' that Jesus has given to those who truly believe is in fact his Spirit, which is the means by which we are in him and he is in us; and also how Christ is in the Father and the Father is in him. The scriptures also confirm these things with clarity (Rom. 6:4; I Pet. 3:18; Jn. 10:38; Jn. 14:10). There is simply no way to be closer to Jesus than to actually be IN him, and have him in us. Though John had closer proximity to Jesus than any prophet before him, he did not have THAT proximity to Jesus. So everyone who is baptized by Jesus with his Spirit is closer to Jesus than John was, and it is for that reason that "he that is least in the kingdom of [God] is greater than [John]." As is always the case, and as can only be the case, it is all about Jesus; and it is that way because that is the way the Father wanted it. Myself, I wouldn't have it any other way. Amen.