God's word | The Vision of God’s Work (1) | Eastern lightning
John worked seven years for Jesus, and had already paved the way when Jesus arrived. Before this, the gospel of the kingdom of heaven preached by John was heard throughout the land, so that it spread across Judea, and everyone called him a prophet. At the time, King Herod wished to kill John, yet he did not dare, for the people held John in high regard, and Herod feared that if he killed John they would revolt against him. The work done by John took root among the common people, and he made believers of the Jews. For seven years he paved the way for Jesus, right up until the time that Jesus began to perform His ministry. And so, John was the greatest of all the prophets. Jesus only began His official work after the imprisonment of John. Before John, there had never been a prophet that paved the way for God, because prior to Jesus, God had never before become flesh. And so, of all the prophets up until John, he was the only one to open the way for God incarnate, and in this way John became the greatest prophet of the Old and New Testaments. John began to spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven seven years before the baptism of Jesus. To the people, the work he did seemed above the subsequent work of Jesus, yet he was, nevertheless, still only a prophet. He worked and spoke not within the temple, but in the towns and villages outside of it. This he did, of course, among the Jewish nation, particularly those who were impoverished. Rarely did John come into contact with people from the upper echelons of society, only spreading the gospel among the ordinary people of Judea in order to prepare the right people for the Lord Jesus, and prepare suitable places for Him to work in. With a prophet such as John to pave the way, the Lord Jesus was able to directly embark upon His way of cross as soon as He arrived. When God became flesh to do His work, He did not have to do the work of choosing people, and did not need to personally seek people or a place in which to work. He did not do such work when He came; the right person had already prepared for Him before He arrived. John had already completed this work before Jesus began His work, for when God incarnate arrived to do His work, He got straight to work on those who had long been waiting for Him. Jesus had not come to do the work of man, or the work of rectification that fell to man. He had come only to perform the ministry that was His to perform, and all else bore no relation to Him. When John came, he did nothing but bring out from the temple and among the Jews a group of those who accepted the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, in order that they might become the objects of the work of the Lord Jesus. John worked for seven years, which is to say he spread the gospel for seven years. During his work, John did not perform many miracles, for his work was to pave the way, it was the work of preparation. All other work, the work Jesus was going to do, was unrelated to him; he only asked man to confess his sins and repent, and baptized people, so that they could be saved. Though he did new work, and opened a path that man had never walked upon before, still he only paved the way for Jesus. He was merely a prophet that did the work of preparation, and was incapable of doing the work of Jesus. Though Jesus was not the first to preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and though He continued along the path that John had embarked upon, still there was no one else who could do His work, and it was above the work of John. Jesus could not prepare His own way; His work was carried out directly on behalf of God. And so, no matter how many years John worked, he was still a prophet, and still one who paved the way. The three years of work done by Jesus surpassed the seven years of work by John, for the substance of His work was not the same. When Jesus began to perform His ministry, which is also when the work of John came to an end, John had prepared enough people and places for use by the Lord Jesus, and they were sufficient for the Lord Jesus to begin three years of work. And so, as soon as the work of John was finished, the Lord Jesus officially began His own work, and the words spoken by John were cast aside. That is because the work done by John was only for the sake of the transition, and his words were not the words of life that would lead man to new growth; ultimately, his words were only of temporary use.
