Matthew-024

Today, we will study in the teaching of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 11:1-11, and we will read this passage:

The teaching of John the Baptist focuses on judgment of sin

Here there is something of great importance the Lord Jesus is saying to us. Let us first try to see what the whole picture is in this section. When you look at this section, you will know that it is concerned with John the Baptist. He is sitting in prison because he rebuked the king for taking his brother’s wife to himself. Now this was a very daring thing to do, because to rebuke the king was a matter of life and death. It shows John’s character: he feared no man. When it came to preaching God’s Word, he carried out that responsibility fearlessly. John the Baptist was in prison and it was pretty nasty places to be in those prisons. There was certainly no television to watch in prison like they have today. No nice food was served every day. And certainly, if the conditions were not good, you couldn’t protest or beat up the prison guards. There he was, sitting in jail waiting for the end, and not long afterwards, he was beheaded.

While he was sitting in prison, he heard about what Jesus was doing when preaching the gospel. All the reports he heard from his disciples were about Jesus’ goodness and kindness to people. He was healing the sick and the blind. And John the Baptist began to feel rather uncomfortable. Why was he feeling uncomfortable? He did not expect the Messiah, the Savior of the world to be doing all this.

When you look back at his preaching about the one who is going to come in Matthew 3:12 and Luke 3:17, he was saying, “his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The central element of John’s preaching was judgment, not on grace. He thought that the Messiah would bring judgment basically when he comes, and only after the judgment comes the gathering in of the wheat.

However, he did not see Jesus judging anyone. He did not see the fire burning away the chaff. He did not see the judgment against sin burning up Israel. He saw that Jesus did things in a different way from himself. When the king, Herod, was committing sin, it was John the Baptist who rebuked him for his sin. John the Baptist was longing for the judgment against sin. All the prophets thundered against sin. But he saw that Jesus was a friend of publicans and sinners, eating with them. John the Baptist was very confused now. Where is the judgment?

When Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit coming upon him. And God had said to John the Baptist that when he sees the Holy Spirit coming upon that person, he will know that is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. (Jo. 1:33) So John the Baptist thought, “Yes, I saw the Spirit coming on Jesus. He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Yet, he is not behaving like the Messiah who would destroy sin. Instead of destroying the sinners in Israel, he is making friends with them!”

When John the Baptist was preaching by River Jordan, the sinners came for repentance. And John the Baptist spoke to them with utmost severity. He said to them, “Don’t think that your being Abraham’s children is going to save you. God’s axe of judgment is now aimed at the root of the tree that does not bear good fruit, and the next stroke will bring it down. It will be thrown into the fire. God is going to destroy every unrepentant sinner. Don’t think that because you come to me to be baptized, you will be saved. No, I want to see the fruit of repentance coming out in your life. Live a godly life from now on.” (Mt. 3:8-10)

John the Baptist’s understanding of the Messiah is lop-sided

The Lord Jesus approved of everything that John taught as true and right. He said, “John the Baptist is a true servant of God. Everything he says comes from God.” But what is puzzling John the Baptist is why is the Lord Jesus befriending the sinners? So in Matthew 11:3, John sent his own disciples to Jesus and asked him, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for someone else?” “He who is to come” is a well-known Jewish expression referring to the Messiah. “Are you the Messiah or is he someone else?” John the Baptist did not say that Jesus is not the Messiah, but as he sat in prison, he was rather confused. He was simply asking Jesus, “Why is your behavior not what I expected it to be? Help me to understand this.”

How dangerous it is when we measure people according to our preconceptions, when “I” measure a man of God according to “my” definition of what a man of God should be! Men of God come in all shapes and sizes, all kinds of different personalities; they don’t behave alike. If you see another man of God, don’t compare him with me and say, “I think he doesn’t behave like Eric Chang. Perhaps he’s not a man of God.” He may be an even better man of God than I am, although he doesn’t behave like me. Or you might judge me as not comparing very favorably with someone else. That can also happen. We must not judge men of God with preconceived ideas.

We had a great servant of God in Liverpool, in one of the Anglican churches. If you met him, you might be quite offended by his very informal behavior because you are not used to his character. At a wedding, he would be smiling, talking to the bridegroom as the bride is walking up when everyone is silent. When he came to visit us, as soon as he entered our home and exchanged greetings, he was sitting on the floor playing with my daughter. You may have the impression that pastors don’t behave like that, so you are offended at him. But personally, I find it very beautiful that he doesn’t behave in a stiff manner, but is relaxed with children.

This is what is happening with John the Baptist. He had in mind what the Messiah should be like, and found that Jesus did not seem to fit into that picture. So he began to feel offended about Jesus. From this you can see that even a great man like John the Baptist had his shortcomings. Don’t think that when a person becomes a Christian, that person is perfect. If someone so great as John the Baptist had his faults, then have a bit of pity on other Christians too. That is not to make excuses for Christians. But it is simply to realize the fact that there are lots of things that they themselves don’t understand. What John the Baptist did not understand was that his knowledge of the Messiah was very inadequate. He had understood only one aspect of the work of the Messiah. He failed to understand the other more important, or equally crucial aspect of the work of the Messiah.

Jesus quoted Isaiah to remind John the Baptist

John the Baptist’s disciples came to Jesus and put John’s question to him. How did the Lord Jesus answer? Did he say, “Now sit down and I’ll give you an Old Testament lecture on how the Messiah should behave”? Did he say, “I’m really disappointed with John the Baptist. I expected better things of him. After all, he’s a great servant of God. He should know better”?

We found nothing of this in the Lord Jesus’ teaching. The beauty of Jesus’ gentle character came forth. He only said to the disciples of John, “Come with me and see what work I am doing, and then return to John and tell him what you saw. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers become clean, the deaf can hear, and even the dead are raised up. Also, the poor, the rejected of Israel hear the good news.” And he added one more sentence, “Tell John, blessed are those who don’t get offended with me.”

When you look at what the Lord said, you will find that there is nothing in it that John the Baptist did not already know. The fame of what Jesus was doing was known all over Israel. What is the point of the message then? Jesus did not underestimate the greatness of John the Baptist. He knew that this time when John the Baptist heard these words he would understand. What would John the Baptist understand this time?

He is going to understand that what the Lord Jesus is quoting to him is in fact three passages in Isaiah. John the Baptist was a man well-versed in the Word of God. And the Lord Jesus is saying to him,

Among those born of women, no one is greater than John the Baptist

As these disciples of John went back to report to their teacher, Jesus said to these great crowds,

That is a startling statement! He is saying that John the Baptist is greater than any prophet, or anyone born of woman that has ever walked on this earth. Now that gives us something to think about.

You immediately ask yourself, “That sounds to me, if I may say respectfully, rather like an exaggeration. It seems as though you are saying he is greater even than Abraham and Moses?” In the eyes of the Jews, no man was ever greater than Moses. A Jewish scholar living about the time of Jesus called Philo, wrote a whole book about the life of Moses, saying that there is simply no one equal to Moses in greatness. And when you read the Old Testament, you will have to say that Moses had tremendous spiritual stature!” But the Lord Jesus is saying that John the Baptist is greater. Now you will ask, “What does John the Baptist’s greatness consist?” And this is the question we want to discuss in the remaining moments.

What is spiritual greatness? What makes a person spiritually great in God’s eyes? That is a very important question for us to under­stand, for it has to do with spiritual ambition as to how you become great in the kingdom of God. How can you become someone who is precious in God’s eyes? A man after God’s own heart? But when you look at what John the Baptist did, you don’t seem to see anything that qualifies him for this title of the greatest. This is what puzzles the commentators and Bible scholars. They ask the question, “Could Jesus really mean what he said? Could John the Baptist be even greater than Moses?”

What an accomplishment it is that Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt in the face of overwhelming power! Moses, a man with a stick in his hand went to Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go!” You’d say, “This man is fantastic. He hasn’t got an army behind him, and he comes to the most powerful king of the time and says, “I want to take my people out of here!” And he led his people out against impossible odds. What power of leadership to lead two million peo­ple in the desert for 40 years! This man’s ability is unmatched, as he has managed to keep control over an unruly multitude of 2 million people, and also teach them the Word of God! Indeed, God said, “I speak to no man as I speak to Moses.”

And yet Jesus said, “There is no one greater than John the Baptist.” What did John the Baptist do? Moses performed miracles, but John the Baptist did not perform one miracle that we know of. John the Baptist never spoke in tongues although he was filled with God’s Holy Spirit from birth. He never healed any sick people. He seemed to have shown no works of spiritual power. It’s true he preached out in the wilderness, and perhaps thousands of people came to him and were baptized, but many great preachers have also done that. He never planted a church. What did he do to be called the greatest? What is your answer to that question?

Now you can see why the scholars are so puzzled about this. Isn’t Jesus exaggerating a bit? Maybe John the Baptist is just a little great­er but not greater than all! What comprised his greatness? If you were to write a biography, you wouldn’t even know what aspects of greatness to focus on. However, John the Baptist is very great. How are we going to understand this? Have you got an answer to this question?

Is John the Baptist great because he is God’s messenger?

Did his greatness perhaps derive from the function that was given to him? Perhaps it’s because Jesus said he is the messenger that God sends before the Messiah. Is it possible that he isn’t inherently great, but rather holds a high position to prepare the way for the Messiah? That doesn’t make much sense either. Firstly, what is so great about a messenger even if Jesus said, “John the Baptist is my messenger”? Every prophet is a messenger, and the messenger of the king is the one who goes before the king; he is just a herald. In the king’s government, there are many officials who are higher than the messenger.

Secondly, the Bible never connects a person’s greatness with his office, especially when the Lord Jesus is talking about spiritual greatness. How are we going to understand this? If the greatness of John the Baptist does not lie in his being a messenger of God, then where is his greatness?

“The least in the kingdom of God” is greater than John the Baptist!

The Lord Jesus said something more also at the end of this. He says, “John the Baptist is the greatest person ever born of woman, but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” We already have enough problems so far, and we add more to it! If you look into a commentary, you will find that by now, the commentator is totally confused! They have not even been able to see why John the Baptist is great, and the Lord Jesus is saying the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Is he or isn’t he great? We don’t understand anymore.

Who is “the least in the kingdom of God”? If you and I are the least in the kingdom of God, then we are all greater than John the Baptist. What is the point of saying that John the Baptist is the greatest born of woman, since we are all born of woman? To say he is the greatest is meaningless! It really makes no sense anymore. So the commenta­tor has even more problems.

Is John the Baptist in the kingdom of God or isn’t he?

The Lord Jesus says, “Whoever is the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist,” so anyone in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist. That is, if that is what the Lord Jesus is saying. The question is: Is John the Baptist in the kingdom of God or isn’t he? The only way we can be greater than John the Baptist is we are in the kingdom and John the Baptist isn’t. And because we are in the kingdom, even though we are nobody, we are greater than John the Baptist. Maybe we can make some sense in this way, and think we have solved the problem.

In fact, we have not solved any problem. We have made the problem even worse for two reasons. First of all, Matthew 8:11 says that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are all in the kingdom of God, and we are going to sit with them in there. We have just learned, as the Lord Jesus said, John the Baptist is greater than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that is, “those born of women,” and if they are in the kingdom, is John the Baptist not in the kingdom?

Secondly, not to be in the kingdom means that you are not saved. In the Bible, the only way to be in the kingdom means that you are saved. If John the Baptist is not in the kingdom, it means that he is not saved. And now you are in even worse trouble. That is what I mean. Not only have you not solved the problem, you have got yourself into a worse mess by that alleged solution.

What is greatness in God’s eyes?

Therefore, how are we going to understand all this? What is the spiritual principle of greatness in God’s eyes? The only way you can solve the second question is to answer the first one first. The first question is: What is John the Baptist’s greatness? We have already seen that he did no mighty works; he never spoke in tongues; he organized no great work in Israel. What he did was he preached repentance and many people repented. But other prophets have also done that, so we don’t see where is the greatness of that. So you’ll say, “You have dangled this question in front of us long enough. What’s the answer?” The answer is to understand how a person becomes great spiritually.

Throughout the Bible you will find one principle. I can give you examples throughout the Old Testament in which you will find that the one God chose was always the one who was the least in his family, or tribe, or nation. Take for example, Joseph in Genesis, was chosen out of his family to become the greatest in his family. He became the Prime Minister of Egypt. And do you know why he was the greatest? He had no mother, no status among his brothers in his family, and they sold him off into slavery.

Gideon was surprised when he was chosen to save Israel. Do you remember his words? He said, “My tribe is the least in Israel and I am the least of my tribe” (Judges 6:15). So he was saying, “I am really the least in Israel.”

David was the youngest in the family, and God chose him to be anointed by the prophet Samuel. He was the one God wanted. “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And Yahweh said, ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is he.’” (1 Sam. 16: 11-12, NJB)

It is always like this all through the Bible. The one that everyone overlooks is the one that God wants to look at. God loves the people who are meek and lowly of heart, the people who know “I am nothing.”

I came from quite a good family, but God had no use for me. First, God had to bring me down to the gutter. I was hungry day after day for three years in China. My physique was being eroded away by having no proper nourishment. I was becoming increasingly thin until my ribs were protruding, making me look like a guitar that could be played! I was so poor that I only had the one pair of shorts I had on, and I couldn’t change my shirt because I didn’t have a spare one. So my shirt turned from white to yellow, from yellow to brown, and I need not go on from there.

That was the way God had to humble me. He said, “Do you think you are so great? Look at yourself in front of the mirror.” I looked and I hardly recognized myself in the mirror. The cheeks were sunk in. The once straight figure became bent because I was no longer that strong. I looked at my dirty shirt. Before, the servant used to wash it. Now I couldn’t even wash it myself because I didn’t have soap, and I had no other shirt to change into. It was three years of this before God even wanted to look at me, before he could use me. Do you understand that principle?

God grinds your face in the mud until all the arrogance, the filth can come out; until you realize, “God, but to you, I am nothing in this world. Unless you sustain my life, I wouldn’t even be alive by tomorrow. I’ve got no money even to buy food to eat. My life is totally dependent on you.” God made me ready to serve him in this way. When God humbles you, thank God for it! If you don’t want to be humbled, God will have no use for you. Can you understand the secret of greatness in the Scriptures?

The spiritual greatness of a man in the Bible does not consist of how much he did or didn’t do; that is to measure it in terms of quantity. The spiritual greatness that God looks at is the quality of your life. It doesn’t matter if you are nobody in other people’s eyes. The question is whether you are something in God’s eyes.

John the Baptist was as meek and lowly as the Lord Jesus

We, like the scholars, were looking at John the Baptist with our human eyes and saying, “What did he do? He didn’t do anything spectacular.” His greatness did not consist of whether or not he healed the sick. The greatness of John the Baptist consisted in the quality of his person.

Do you want to see where the quality of John the Baptist is? You only need to see the way he speaks to understand, and then you will admire him more and more. The more I study John the Baptist, the more I can see his greatness, although at first, like all the scholars, I could see nothing there.

“I am not even fit to untie the strings on his sandals”

In John 1:19-28, when someone asked John the Baptist, “Are you the Messiah? Are you the great prophet? Who are you then?” John the Baptist said, “No, I’m not the Messiah. Don’t call me the Messiah. I am not even fit to untie the strings on the Messiah’s sandals, not even fit to wash his feet.” When most people read that, they just gloss over that sentence. I would like you to think carefully of what that sentence reveals of John the Baptist’s character.

When most people become Christians, they think, “What an honor it is to Christ to have such a Christian like me! I’ve got first-class honors in my exam. What a privilege it is for Jesus that he’s got a disciple like me! He can really be grateful about that! And if I get baptized in this church, what glory it is to this church. Just think, this church has on record that I got baptized in it. What a privilege for the pastor to have me sitting in this congregation listening to his message!” Be honest. How many of us have thoughts like that going through our minds?

But how totally different is John the Baptist! He said, “Don’t ever call me the Messiah. I am not even fit so much as to untie his shoelace!” And that is spoken by a person with an extraordinary history behind him. John the Baptist’s birth was announced by the angel. I am sure his mother told him about that. “You were a very special baby. The Archangel Gabriel himself, God’s highest messenger announced that you would be born, and that you are to prepare the way of the Messiah.” He came from an exceedingly good family in Israel, a family of priests, which is the highest order in Israel. He was filled with the Spirit from birth. He had a very special history. He could say, “If anyone is to prepare the way for the Messiah, who else can it be but me?”

Think about it, if we had a history like that, the head would be swelling bigger all the time, and we would say, “I am an exceptional man in history!” Instead, he said, “I am not fit to untie his shoelace.” In the light of that, can you understand John the Baptist’s humility?

I am just a voice crying out in the wilderness

People asked John the Baptist, “If you are not the Messiah, not the Prophet, what are you anyway?” John the Baptist said, “Do you want to give me a title? Then don’t call me Prophet, or Messiah, but just a voice that’s crying out in the wilderness.” Just a voice!

When I look at John the Baptist’s words, my heart bleeds in me. I am so ashamed of myself. This man preached to thousands of people, and thousands of people were repenting. All Israel was crawling to his feet. Even the leaders of Israel were coming to be baptized by him. What a tremendously successful preacher he was! That is success! The word we love in North America today is “success.” Everyone looked up to John the Baptist. The crowds came to him, but he didn’t take it to heart in the slightest. He only asked for one thing: Just remember me as a voice crying in the wilderness.

By this time, I say, “John the Baptist is a great man!” He may not be great in your eyes but he is the highest in God’s eyes. The more you try to lift yourself up, the more God will press you down. The more you humble yourself, the more he lifts you up.

“He must increase; I must decrease.”

And on another occasion, some of his disciples and some Jews came to John the Baptist and said, “Do you know that Jesus is baptizing more people than you? You are losing out to him. He has more success than you. Look, what’s happened to you! You kept saying, “He is the Messiah. He is the One” and so everyone has gone to him now. No one wants to listen to you. You have put yourself out of business. You used to be a great success and all Israel came to you. But now, they are not coming to you but going to Jesus.” (Jo. 3:26)

What did John the Baptist reply? He said, “I am happy about that. Just like the bridegroom’s friends, I am delighted to hear his voice.” He had done his job so faithfully and what has happened? There was not one trace of jealousy to be seen, not one sense of bitterness now that he was left in the shade. Then he went on to say his most famous sentence: “He must increase; I must decrease.” (Jo. 3:30) He said, “Jesus must go on and on to greatness, but as for me, John the Baptist, I have to go to the point of zero and disappear.”

When I read these words, tears come to my eyes. You cannot compare with a man like this. No one greater than this man has ever walked on the earth! No prophet can compare with this man in God’s eyes. Think of how enormous is the contrast with that great prophet Jonah. When God did not carry out Jonah’s words, Jonah was really protesting with a long face like a child. You find the prophet complaining to God, “You’re not dealing fairly with me. I’ve lost face now. My reputation as a prophet is gone now. I didn’t want to come here in the first place, but you dragged me by the scruff of the neck. But when I preached the words you told me to preach, look what has happened! They all repent and no judgment comes now. You don’t do what I say, so I’m not happy about you.” Can you see the difference in character? It’s from one extreme to the other.

John the Baptist’s incredible humility is seen by those statements he makes, and your heart goes out to him. You can see why he is so great in God’s eyes. Now you know why God chose this man to be the herald of the Messiah. Why? It’s because no character is closer to Jesus’ than John the Baptist’s.

By the time you have read Matthew chapter 11, you will realize that the whole chapter deals with humility. You see it all the way through. Verse 19 speaks of Jesus as the friend of the lowly, the outcasts: the tax collectors and sinners. In verse 23, the Lord Jesus warns Capernaum, “You who exalt yourself to heaven will be brought down into hell. In verse 25, he speaks about his own disciples as “babes.” Babies have no status in Jewish law. Finally, in verse 29, the Lord Jesus said, “Learn of me because I am meek and lowly of heart.” Isn’t John the Baptist meek and lowly of heart?

The greatest in the kingdom of God is the least

Can you understand the secret of spiritual greatness? Always remember the words in Luke 9:48, “Whoever will be the greatest in the kingdom of God, let him be the least of all.” This self-humbling has to do with the very fact of salvation. Two times in the New Testament—in James 4:6b and 1 Peter 5:5b—we find these words: “God opposes the proud but gives (his saving) grace to the humble, to the meek.” If you want to become a Christian, the first thing you must do is learn to humble yourself. That is why every time when people come to God, I kneel down with them before him. For many of them, it is the first time in their lives they have ever knelt before God. This is to express their total self-humbling before God, because God will never accept you in your pride. God only accepts the humble. He gives his saving grace to the humble.

Let us come to this final sentence in Matthew 11:11b. The Lord Jesus said, “He who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist.” How are we going to understand that? Which one of us would ever dare to imagine ourselves to be greater than John the Baptist? Which one of us even comes near to his spiritual stature, not to say greater than him? We cannot even be equal to him never mind greater than him. I would never dare to imagine for one moment, that I come even within 100 miles of John the Baptist. He is so far ahead of me. I can only look at him in the distance with binoculars! How can I be greater than him? There is no way to be imagine it. Which persons in the church would dare to imagine themselves to be greater than John the Baptist?

Each one is full of pride. Each one is imagining himself to be something, thinking, “I came into this church and no one took notice of me. You should have rolled out the red carpet.” It’s very true that many churches have no love. Many people in the church have this feeling: “Really, I’m a somebody, and people should take notice of me.” I was inclined to imagine myself to be somebody many times. That is why I have to look at John the Baptist through binoculars. Which of us would ever dare to imagine ourselves to be even equal to John the Baptist?

So how are we ever going to understand what the Lord Jesus means here, that the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist? There is no problem to understand if you have understood that the greatest is the least, and the least is the greatest.

Jesus is “the least in the kingdom of God”

Do you know who is “the least in the kingdom of God”? When I mention it, you may have a surprise. It is Jesus himself. Jesus humbled himself to be the least in the kingdom, that’s why he is the greatest. You need to understand that it is the least who is the greatest.

He washed his disciples’ feet. He said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve everyone else” (cf. Mk. 10:45). He took a towel and washed their feet: the last lesson he wanted to teach his disciples was this very one. That was the work which was performed by servants, by slaves in that society. He made himself as a slave to his own disciples. He was going to do more than that; he was going to give his life to save them. We see in Philippians chapter 2 that from man, he became slave, and from slave to criminal because he died on the cross; this makes him worse than a slave. There was no one lower in any society than a criminal. As Isaiah prophesied, “He was numbered with the transgressors,” with the criminals. (Isa. 53:12)

He was the least. He humbled himself to the lowest position. None of us have gone as low as Jesus had. Again, in Philippians chapter 2, precisely because he humbled himself to the lowest possible position, God raised him to the highest position, and gave him the name that is above every name.

Notice again the word, “the least.” In the Greek, it is in the singular. “The least” is always only one, not many. Just as the greatest can only be one, the least can only be one. There can only be one in the superlative. The error of our reading was to imagine that “the least” refers to anyone who is a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Is John the Baptist in the kingdom of God? Certainly he is in the kingdom of God! That is why if “the least” means anyone in the kingdom of God, it would be meaningless to say that “the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist.” But when you understand “the least in the kingdom of God” refers to Jesus and to him alone, then immediately, the meaning is perfectly clear. John the Baptist is the greatest ever born of woman, with only one exception: Only Jesus is greater than he.

As we go on, in Matthew 12:6, we see that Jesus is greater than the temple. In Matthew 12:41, we see that he is greater than Jonah. In Matthew 12:42, he is greater than Solomon. And here he is also greater than John the Baptist. But John the Baptist is greater than Solomon and greater than Jonah. No one was greater than he.

The secret of spiritual greatness in God’s eyes is to go down

Let us close as we consider this message. I hope you will understand the richness and beauty of the Lord Jesus’ teaching, that if you ever want to be near to God, to be great in God’s eyes—regardless of whether or not you are esteemed in the eyes of men—the secret is to go low. The further down you go, the greater you will become in God’s eyes. Always remember James 4:10 – “Humble yourself before God and he will exalt you.”

And the Lord Jesus said, “Unless you turn and become as little children,” that is, unless you humble yourself, which is something you have to do, “you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 18:3-4) If you want to enter the kingdom of God, the minimum is that you humble yourself down to at least the level of a child. That is not the lowest you can go. As we saw, you can go lower than a child. You can go down to the level of a slave. You can go down to the level of a criminal. If any of us are executed for being Christians, we are executed as criminals. It is criminal to be a Christian in the eyes of the executor.

Blessed are those brothers and sisters of ours in China, who sit in prisons because they are treated as criminals although they have never done anything against their country. But you don’t have to be sorry for them. They humbled themselves, chose to be Christians, and got charged as criminals. They have reached the lowest state, and God will exalt them. That is the beauty of being humble. On that Day, you will see them exalted in the high places beside God. They have the better part. Let us, by God’s grace, understand the secret of the Christian life: To go low is to go high.