Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, #2, Living in Fullness of Time

I. Continuing our 3 week series on several amazing things the NT says about the people of Christ, we are looking this morning at two verses: 1Corinthians 10:11 and Matthew 11:11.
II. Explanation of 1Cor.10:11
A. Background: Paul has been applying lessons from the exodus & the sin of Israel in the wilderness to the Christians at Corinth.
B. And suddenly he drops this amazing comment in v.11: “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
C. Now the first part of this verse is pretty amazing: “Now these things happened to them as an example [TYPOS = from which we get the word type], and they were written for our instruction.”
D. “In this sentence one captures a sense of Paul’s view that both the historical events and the enscripturated narrative are not simply history or isolated texts in Scripture; rather, behind all these things lies the eternal purposes of the living God, who knows the end from the beginning, and who therefore has himself woven the prefigurement into these earlier texts for the sake of his final eschatological people.” (Fee, G. D. 1987. The First Epistle to the Corinthians [pp. 458–459])
E. But our focus today is on the final phrase: “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
F. This is a remarkable saying. We are the people of the End.
1. We live in the last days, as it says in Acts 2:17; 2Tim.3:1; Heb.1:2; and 2Peter 3:3.
2. The coming of Christ marked the end of all previous ages and began the final age: the last days, the end times. (Heb.9:26 “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”)
3. “The culmination of all past ages has arrived.” — Leon Morris
G. “This does not mean that Israel, or its history, was not important in its own right, but that they stand at the beginning of the promises of God that are now finding fulfillment at the end of the ages.” (Fee, p.459).
H. “Christians stand at the end of history, at the time when God is bringing all of the divine purposes into focus and fulfillment in Christ.” (Fee, p.459)
III. Explanation of Matt.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.”
A. Background: Matthew 11:2–10 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’
B. Why such praise of John? In what way was he great?
1. Most likely, Jesus didn’t say this because he was the greatest man in terms of godliness. John was probably not the most righteous man ever. If John was really the greatest in that sense, you’d think his name would be listed in the faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. I do not believe that Jesus is saying that John was more righteous than Moses, Daniel, Elijah, etc. That’s not the point.
2. Most Bible scholars believe this is primarily a reference to the greatness of the mission he fulfilled.
a. He was the forerunner of the Messiah, of the Kingdom.
b. He was the greatest up to that point in terms of his ability to see the Kingdom that was promised through all the OT prophets.
c. The glory of a prophet, the greatness of a prophet was in being able to see the mysteries of God hidden to others, and then report it to others.
d. John saw the mysteries of God brighter than any man born of woman up until that time.
e. He was so close to the actualization of these prophecies that he stood at the very threshold of its inauguration, he actually was part of its fulfillment without having been in it himself.
C. What does Jesus mean that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the baptist?
1. You would think that however it is that we are greater than John must be the same way that John is greater than the others in the OT.
2. Once again, it cannot mean with regard to their righteousness or their reward, for that could simply not be true of the weakest NT member compared to Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and other OT heroes.
3. He certainly means greatness with regard to privilege, like Mt.13:16-17 last week.
4. The greatness of the lowest member of the Kingdom as opposed to John is largely a matter of timing and proximity:
a. John is the high point of the valley, but lower than the low point of the mountain range. Not because he was not tall but because of where he was standing.
b. John is a part of the law-and-the-prophet era, as opposed to the Kingdom era: the Kingdom-anticipated era, as opposed to the Kingdom-realized era.
c. It involves the significance of the message he brought: "The King is coming" is far less than "The King has come and has redeemed!"
d. John, above all the prophets of the OT, pointed to Jesus.
e. But the least member of the Kingdom can now point to Jesus even more than John.
5. In other words, Jesus is saying:
a. How much I appreciate those faithful servants in the OT. But they have only a tiny bit of the blessing that you little ones now have and will have.
b. To be in My Kingdom is greater than being the forerunner of it.
6. The greatness Jesus is referring to here is the greatness of privilege. But not the greatness of just any privilege. It’s the privilege of having knowledge of Christ.
a. John the baptist had more knowledge of Jesus than any man before him.
b. But every one of us has more knowledge of Jesus than John did. The truths of Christ, hidden for many centuries, longed for by prophets and righteous people of old, were visible to John only as the first glimpse of morning light, but we live in the brilliant light of day! The humble Sunday school teacher of little children knows more about Jesus than the greatest sage, the greatest prophet, the greatest godly intellect before Christ.
7. These verses aren’t about how wonderful we are, but about how wonderfully we’ve been blessed!
D. We all know that the expression in the Bible for pregnant is “with child.” And we know that as a woman progresses in her pregnancy, it becomes more and more obvious, more and more undeniable that she is pregnant. You can help but notice. The Bible says she is “great with child.”
1. Well, we are great with the knowledge of Christ. That’s what Jesus is talking about.
2. This is the single most distinctive feature about us! The greatest fact about you is that you are great with knowledge of Christ. And the greatest historical fact about you is that you live in the age of Christ.
3. We’re greater than Abraham, greater than Joseph, greater than Moses, greater than Joshua, greater than David, greater than the greatest king, greater than the greatest prophet, greater than the wonderful, heroic prophet named John who was called to be the forerunner of Jesus.
4. John announced: "The King is coming." But we can say, "The King has come & has conquered!"
5. We are greater than the OT prophets:
a. What they sought after has been freely given to us.
b. What they strained to see from a distance has been set right before our very eyes.
c. The mystery hidden for ages and generations is now revealed to his saints! (Colossians 1:26)
d. They were great because they were given little glimpses of God's secret mysteries. But you are greater, for God has given you the full revelation of His mystery, which is Jesus Christ.
IV. Application
A. Do you realize what all this means about Jesus Christ? “What a place, then, does Christ claim! Our relation to Him determines greatness. To recognize Him is to be in the Kingdom of Heaven. Union to Him brings us to fulfil the ideal of human nature; and this is life, to know and trust Him, the King.” [Maclaren, A., Expositions of Holy Scripture]
B. God is not holding anything back from us. He has given it all! We are the ones upon whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. He has given us His best!
C. This can be seen in Luke 12:32 with which we end every service: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”
D. This is not saying there’s something about us that’s better than the rest of mankind.
1. “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus...so ...Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1Cor.1:26–31)
E. This isn’t good news for everyone. For some, this is bad news.
1. Because of the greater blessing in living in the age of Christ, there is also greater danger.
2. Three times, the author of Hebrews tells us that the punishment for those who deny Christ will be much worse than those who lived in the days of ignorance – Heb.2:2-3; 10:28-29; and 12:25... “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”
3. And this is why Jesus said such condemning words about the people who saw His miracles and heard His teaching and still rejected Him (e.g. Matthew 11:20–24 He began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.“Woe to you, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Sodom than for you.”)
F. And even for those who receive Him there’s a sobering side of this blessing. Luke 12:48 “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”