Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
LUKE 3:16-17, 7:28 | John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Jesus’ evaluation of John puts him equal to or ahead of every previous human figure, but behind those who become “citizens in God’s Kingdom.” What do we make of this? In John’s description of the Messiah, he acknowledges that the One who is coming is far superior in power and authority: “I am not fit to untie his sandals!” The Messiah will baptize with the Holy Spirit and initiate a new era. Those who belong to Christ’s Kingdom know a new and remarkable intimacy with their King. Those who he gathers and approves, have an ultimate security no other figure can guarantee. John’s greatness is real but bound up with an era that is penultimate and passing.
Have you ever known someone of great conviction and great humility?
John saw Jesus as the hinge of history, the decisive bringer of an ultimate Kingdom. Do you?
