Jesus once said, “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). He then added this incredible statement, “Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Think about it; John’s ministry was all about preparing the world for Christ’s first coming, but ours is all about preparing the world for Christ’s Second Coming. John’s baptism was the baptism of repentance. In his day, men were baptized by him in the Jordan River in preparation for the promised salvation. Ours, on the other hand, is the baptism of believers. It is the initial proof of the possession of salvation offered to the world by all who have been baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). How much “greater,” then, is the present-day ministry of the church than the past ministry of John the Baptist? 

In Acts 19:1-7, the Apostle Paul encounters some disciples of John the Baptist in Ephesus. Upon learning of their ignorance of the indwelling Holy Spirit, he asked them, “Unto what then were ye baptized?” When they answered, “Unto John’s baptism,” Paul explained to them that John’s baptism was merely “the baptism of repentance.” It was a baptism intended to prepare one for the coming of the Messiah. 

Paul then proceeded to explain to these disciples of Christ’s forerunner that the Messiah for whom they had been preparing had already come. He had been born of a virgin. He had lived a sinless life. He had performed a miraculous ministry. He had died on a cross for the sins of the world. He had been buried in a deep, dark tomb. He had resurrected from the dead. He had ascended into Heaven. He had taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God. He had sent the Holy Spirit into the world. He had commissioned and given birth to His church. And He had promised to come again!

In light of the fact that all of these events had already come to pass, these disciples of John the Baptist were shown to be behind the times. They were stuck in the Old Testament and needed to step over into the New Testament. They no longer needed to be the disciples of Christ’s dead forerunner, but of the resurrected Christ.  They needed to posses the salvation that Christ had provided, not to be further prepared for the coming of a future salvation now readily available.

As surprised as some may be at Christ’s assertion of the church’s superior ministry to John’s, our Lord made a far more staggering declaration when He proclaimed that our works would prove to be “greater” than His (John 14:12). How can the works of the church prove to be “greater” than the works of Christ?

Have you ever considered that our Lord’s earthly ministry consisted of miraculous works that were temporal in nature? When He miraculously fed the hungry, they soon hungered again. When He healed the sick, they got sick again. And even when He raised the dead, they died again. However, the work that He has commissioned us to do in this world is eternal in nature. When someone is saved by God’s grace through faith in His Son, as a result of the witness of the church, that person is saved forever. They can never lose their salvation!

The “greatest” work of all time has been entrusted to God’s witnesses in the world today—the church. It is our mission to take the old, old story of how a Savior came from glory to the ends of the earth. We must be ever-mindful, however, of the urgency of our work today. Time is running out. The world’s hostility is ever-increasing. And the night is fast approaching “when no man can work” (John 9:4). As the Apostle Paul admonished us: “The time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS PUBLICATION SEND YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS TO: don@timefortruth.org