Desert Dawn
continued
The Measure of
Greatness
John a Type of Our
Work
“The work of John
the Baptist, and the work of those
who in the last days go forth in the
spirit and power of Elijah to arouse
the people from their apathy, are in
many respects the same. His work
is a type of the work that must be
done in this age. Christ is
to come the second time to judge the
world in righteousness. The
144,000 prophet- messengers of God,
who bear the last message of warning
to be given to the world, are to
prepare the way for Christ’s
second advent, as John prepared the
way for his first advent. In
this preparatory work, ‘every
valley shall be exalted, and every
mountain shall be made low; and the
crooked shall be made straight, and
the rough places plain;” for
history is to be repeated, and once
again ‘the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together; for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken
it.’” SW 3-21-05
The Apocalypse of
Christ
The book of
Revelation begins with these words:
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ,
Apocalypse means “revelation,
unveiling, revealing.” The words
“of Jesus Christ” are a
genitive construction, in which Jesus
Christ can be the object of the
revelation, that is, the revelation
reveals Jesus Christ, or it could be
a subjective genitive, in which Jesus
Christ is the One Who originates the
revelation. Usually this genitive is
taken to be the latter, a subjective
genitive, meaning that Jesus Christ
is the One Who gives the revelation.
However, as I have noted over the
years, I see no reason at all why it
cannot be both-the revelation of all
Who Jesus Christ is in His glorified
Being in the heavenly sanctuary,
ministering throughout the Messianic
Age, and last-day Power and Glory-the
Eschatological, End-time Christ
coming in power and glory, as well as
the revelation that Jesus Christ
gives us regarding the unfolding of
the future in advance throughout the
Messianic Age with a focus on the
End-time.
Both Visions
Both visions
must possess our souls. Not
only the vision of the Christ must
possess our souls, but the vision He
has entrusted to us in the prophecies
that are the Testimony, or Witness of
Jesus Christ-Revelation and the Great
Controversy. Being possessed of the
vision of Christ, and the vision
Christ has entrusted to us of the
Messianic Age, the End of Time, and
of Eternity, will help keep us
steadfast, so that we may enter that
better, most wonderful land and live
forever with Him in heaven and the
New Earth.
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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