IT is possible for a servant of God to preach the truth, and at the same time not fully understand it. This is a fact that is illustrated time and again in the writings of the prophets, where there is an immediate application which the prophet can perceive, but also a future one which he is unable to appreciate or understand. This explains how John the Baptist, who had preached that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit and be the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world, could still find his faith faltering in the time of his greatest need. Satan is very good at attacking God's people at the time when they are most vulnerable through trial, temptation or suffering. John lived in the atmosphere of the Jews of his time whose aspirations concerning the coming of the Messiah was so far from the truth, and which was earthly and temporal and not spiritual and eternal. So when he was very low in prison facing death his mind was filled with doubts concerning Jesus because the ministry and life of Jesus did not fit in the thoughts concerning the Messiah he had been brought up to believe.

What is plain from the narrative is that the crowd and the disciples who were around Jesus when the disciples of John came to Jesus with the doubts expressed by him, had begun to think negative and judgemental thoughts concerning John, for in these verses before us Jesus goes out of his way to praise and commend John the Baptist. Jesus contradicts all the negative thoughts against John he perceived in the minds all around him.

The way Jesus does this is to challenge the thinking of the crowd before him. Jesus causes these people to examine their thinking with questions. The questions require no answer from the crowd, but they do bring the thinking of the crowd back to the time when as individuals they had followed so many other people in going out to listen to John the Baptist preach. At that time they did not think about whether John would be a mountbank, who would fall under their challenges and change his teaching like a weak reed swayed by the breeze. Nor did they go to John because they expected to see a rich and important man, dressed sumptuously and obviously well connected. In fact Jesus challenges them to confess they saw neither of these two opposites in John, but in reality they saw a prophet of extraordinary quality. He was more than, and greater than, any of the prophets who went before him, and this was because of his mission which was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus commends John's greatness above all prophets before him, and above the greatest of men this earth has known. His greatness was in the fact that he carried out perfectly his mission to prepare people for the coming of Jesus. He fearlessly preached the truth, and fearless called all to repent, and fearlessly and clearly called people to face their need as sinners, and so in this way they would be ready for the message of the Kingdom, which Jesus would bring, of forgiveness of sins made available, and the way into the kingdom of God opened, to all who believe. The fact that John did not wholly understand the meaning and greatness of the message he proclaimed, nor understood clearly the mission of the Messiah and the nature of his kingdom, did not undermine his faithfulness in preaching, nor his greatness in doing it.

John's lack of understanding did not effect his faithfulness, but it did effect his peace and blessing which is the fruit of the Gospel.

Now exactly what Jesus is saying in verse 28 is not easy to determine, at least to my mind, and this is confirmed by the fact that commentators and preachers all down history since the first century AD have shown different understanding as to the interpretation of this verse. To my mind the meaning is determined by what Jesus actually meant by the word 'greater'. Jesus says there was no human being born who could be said to be greater than John the Baptist. Plainly the greatness Jesus is refering to is greatness in the eyes of God. Human ideas of greatness vary considerably and depend on what they feel is excellence.

Then Jesus says that the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than John. Being in the Kingdom of God can only mean someone who has been saved from their sins through the merits of Jesus in whom they have put their unreserved trust as Saviour and Lord. The Bible makes clear that this is what being in the Kingdom of God means. We are translated from the kingdom of this world and Satan into the Kingdom of God. Through faith in Jesus we become citizens of the Kingdom of God, and children of God.

In the context it is impossible to understand that Jesus was implying by this that John the Baptist was not a member of the Kingdom of God. Jesus had just praised his unconditional trust and obedience to the Lord. The Bible makes clear that all the faithful Old Testament saints, though they did not have the full light of the Gospel as we receive it from the New Testament, were nonetheless saved through Christ's death for them, and because they had been given the grace of faith to believe in God and trust in him according to the promises of grace in the Old Testament.

With all this in mind, it seems to me, that the only way we can interpret the meaning of Jesus here is, that though John the Baptist and the Old Testament saints enjoyed the benefits of membership in the kingdom of God, and were heirs of faith, they fell short of the greatness in blessing and assurance in this life which the knowledge given in the New Testament, and after the death and resurrection of Jesus, is given to even the least believer in the Gospel age we live in. If this is so then we should praise God for such greatness, and not neglect to enter into it through the New Testament teaching made known to us by the operation of the Holy Spirit.