Jesus' verdict on John

by Doug Mason 2 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Doug Mason
    Doug Mason

    Jesus’ verdict on John (Matthew 11:7-17).

    7-9. John’s preaching had created a sensation. … Jesus now show(s) the real significance of John. 10. John is not just a prophet, but the messenger of Malachi 3:1. …

    11. John is thus the greatest of prophets, indeed of all men up to his time — great, that is, in his place in God’s purpose, not necessarily in his personal worth. But that purpose was leading to a new order, the kingdom of heaven, of which John was only the herald, and which is the fulfilment of all that went before. To be in that kingdom, even as the least, is to be greater (in the same sense) than the great man who proclaimed its coming, but remained as yet outside it. …

    John is thus seen, in his capacity as the forerunner, as standing outside the kingdom of heaven. He is the last of the old order, as the subsequent identification with Elijah (v. 14) will make clear. In v. 12 his ‘days’ are seen as the time when God’s kingdom begins to be a reality, but his own place is rather with the Old Testament (v. 13). It was not his privilege to be involved in the ministry of Jesus, with its new perspective and dynamic. To speak of him as ‘outside the kingdom of heaven’ in this sense is not of course to pronounce on his personal salvation (any more than that of any of the Old Testament saints), but on his place in the development of God’s plan.

    Verse 11 suggests, as v. 12 will make explicit, that now with the ministry of Jesus the kingdom of heaven which John proclaimed is already a reality. The old order has been superseded.

    12. John’s coming precipitated a new situation, described here in terms of violence. … This violence began with the time of John’s preaching, because that was when the kingdom of heaven began to be proclaimed, even if John himself was not ‘in’ it. … v 11 showed his exclusion from the subsequent kingdom of heaven. He belongs to the forward-looking (prophesied)era of the Old Testament. (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Matthew, R.T. France, pages 197, 198, 199)

  • Listener
    Listener

    Thanks Doug for putting some prospective on this. It makes the JW message look miniscule in relation to this, or at least their idea that Russell depicted John the Baptist.

    It would seem that according to the WTBTS that Russell was the 'prophet' who declared that Jesus was now enthroned as King in that Kingdom of heaven in the year 1874. He gave this message and died believing it, even though many years later the Faithful & Discreet Slave declared that Russell's message was wrong and Jesus was enthroned in 1914.

    If there is a paralle then Russell was never part of that Kingdom of Heaven with Jesus reigning as King, although it supposedly occurred when he was still alive. It become very hard to make sense of this.

  • Cold Steel
    Cold Steel

    Hmmm...Tyndale's take also is speculation. Jesus, having taken the sins on the world on his shoulders (Isaiah 53), had the least claim on the Kingdom of Heaven of all. He, however, was greater than John. Just as the greatest of all is the servant of all, this saying of Jesus, in my view, has nothing to do with old and new testament dispensationalism. John, as well as all worthy prophets of old, have every right of inheritance as the newest worthy new testament prophet or apostle. Jesus' statement, I think, simply means that HE is greater than John.

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