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Commentary on "The Prophetic Gift"
Day 6: Thursday, January 8, 2009
This lesson introduces the subject of New Testament prophets. The texts for the lesson are Luke 1:67; John 1:6,7; Acts 11:27,28; Acts 13:1; and Revelation 1:1-3.
Luke 1:67: And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
John 1:6, 7: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
Acts 11:27, 28: Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius).
Acts 13:1: Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Revelation 1:1-3: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
The text of the lesson explains that the difference between apostles and prophets is that “apostle carries the concepts of mission and representation.” It further points out that some of the apostles were prophets, but not all apostles were prophets.
Then the lesson moves to addressing John the Baptist and Jesus’ statement in Matthew 11:11: "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” The lesson closes with this paragraph:
“John the Baptist was the greatest prophet in the sense that it was his privilege to announce the coming of Christ, to whom all the prophets had borne witness (see Luke 24:27; John 5:39, 46). Like Abraham, all the Old Testament prophets looked forward to the day the Messiah would come (1Pet. 1:10, 11), but John saw Him in the flesh. Hence, in some sense, the prophetic office in the Old Testament reached its climax in John. At the same time, John the Baptist was only at the door of the kingdom of grace, looking in, while the least follower of Jesus can look back and rejoice in the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies through Christ.”
In the E. G. White Notes for this days lesson is this excerpt from the Review and Herald, April 8, 1873: “The religion of the Jews, in consequence of their departure from God, consisted mostly in ceremony. John was the lesser light, which was to be followed by a greater light.…Those who were privileged with being with Christ when he walked a man among men, and listened to is divine teachings under a variety of circumstances while preaching in the temple—walking in the streets, teaching the multitudes by the way side, and in the open air by the sea-side, and while an invited guest seated at the table, ever giving words of instruction to meet the cases of all who needed his help; healing, comforting, and reproving, as circumstances required—were more exalted than John the Baptist.”
Problems
First, listing Zechariah as a New Testament prophet is inaccurate. While his story does appear in the New Testament, Zechariah was a levitical priest working in the temple prior to the crucifixion of Jesus when the temple veil was torn. Until that time, Israel was supposed to practice all the requirements of the law. Zechariah was actually functioning as an Old Testament prophet, still within the old covenant.
Next, Ellen White’s statement that John was a lesser light that was to be followed by a greater light deserves some notice. The only biblical passage that lends support to this claim is found in John 5:35-36 where Jesus is explaining His own commission. He refers to John who “has borne witness to the truth”: “He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.”
In this passage Jesus explains that John bore testimony to Jesus’ work and points out to the Jews that they were happy to listen to John. Jesus, though, has a greater testimony than John, but they did not believe Him.
This reference to John being a shining lamp is the only reference to John as a “light”. In John 1:6-8, however, Jesus specifically said that John bore witness to the light, but he was not the light. Rather, the true light was coming into the world—and that true light was Jesus.
This “lesser light-greater light” comparison is significant since Ellen White is often called, within Adventism, the “lesser light” which leads to the “greater light” of the Bible. Her comparison of herself with John the Baptist is disingenuous. God sent John to witness of the immediate coming of Jesus. Jesus, according to Hebrews 1:1-2, is God’s final word to us. There is no more preparatory “light” that witnesses to the coming of truth. With the Bible already written, there is no need of a lesser light to lead to Jesus or to the Bible. Nowhere does the Bible hint that there would be any further “lamp” witnessing to the coming of Truth. Truth has already arrived.
Greater than John
Moreover, the claim that John was the greatest of the prophets because he announced the coming of Christ but that all who listened to Jesus during his time on earth were greater than he is also unsupported in Scripture.
What Jesus actually said was that the least person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist. The definition of a member of the kingdom of heaven is found in John 3:5-6: “Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
A member of the kingdom of heaven is one who has been born of the Spirit. He or she is not merely one who listens to Jesus’ teachings and affirms them. Rather, a member of the kingdom of heaven must be one who is born again. Being born again is not a metaphor for affirming Jesus or assenting to truth. Rather, verse 6 states explicitly: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
The people who followed Jesus throughout Judea did not become members of the kingdom of heaven by being His followers. They only became members of the Kingdom if they placed their trust in Him and received the Holy Spirit after Pentecost.
The reason John was greater than all the prophets was because He personally saw and pointed out the living Messiah. All previous prophets foretold His coming; John was able to point to Him in person and declare, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Revelation 19:10 identifies the spirit of prophecy as the testimony, or witness, of Jesus. John had the privilege of personally witnessing to the presence of the Lamb of God. This privilege meant he was greater than all previous prophets; his was the greater honor.
The reason the least member of the kingdom of heaven is even greater than John is not, as Ellen White stated in the Review and Herald, because they experienced Him in person. If being in Jesus’ physical presence was what make people greater than John, then Jesus’ words would have applied only to the people in Judea during Jesus’ incarnation on earth.
The statement, though, was without time limit: the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. The real reason kingdom members are greater than John is that, instead of merely being in the presence of Jesus, they are indwelt by the Living God, the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).
Jesus said it was good for His followers that He go away. If he did not go, He could not send the Holy Spirit to them (John 16:7). All those who place their faith in Jesus, ever since Pentecost, experience the indwelling Holy Spirit. Because they know Jesus and are indwelt by God Himself, because they have been made alive by the resurrection power of Jesus (Romans 8:10-11; 5:10; Ephesians 2:4-6), they can personally bear witness to the resurrected Christ. John the Baptist only bore witness to the incarnate Christ before His death.
John died before Jesus’ crucifixion. The least person in the kingdom of heaven, however, bears witness to the living Christ who has conquered death and given life to all those who believe in Him.
Summary:
- Zechariah actually functioned in the role of an Old Testament prophet, not a New Testament prophet.
- The Bible does not present John the Baptist as a “lesser light” leading to the “greater light”. While Jesus did compare him to a bright lamp in whose light the Jews were happy to walk for awhile, the rest of Jesus’ message was that the Jews were refusing to believe Him, the one who bore the true light from heaven. John 1 explains that John was not the light; Jesus was the light. The Adventist comparison of Ellen White to John, calling her the “lesser light” that points to the “greater light” of the Bible, is a false comparison.
- The reality that made John the Baptist greater than all the Old Testament prophets was that he bore witness to the living, present Messiah rather than merely foreshadowing Him.
- The fact that makes the members of the kingdom of heaven even greater than John has nothing to do with sitting in His physical presence and listening to Him. Rather, the fact that makes them greater is that they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit—God Himself—and bear personal witness to the resurrection Jesus who has brought their own spirits from death to life.
Copyright 2008 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised January 8, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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