"Came Upon the Stage!"

 "John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me; for he was before me." (John 1:15) 

  "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8 NLT)

  There is really no better way to explain what this means, than to check out what is being said, and then believe that it means what it says! Basically, John, the writer of this illustration, is given the account of what John, the one that came in the Spirit and power of Elijah, testified about Jesus the Christ! As if we might have understanding in such matters; because without the Holy Spirit affirming this within us, we simply cannot see or understand the Truth of God! 

  That said, there are some very serious misconceptions about who Jesus was, how He came, and what exactly He performed when He left. We all know that His mission was to be crucified upon the cross; He spoke frequently about what was going to happen; as does the Scriptures, some of which are almost so detailed, there are some that doubt their authenticity. Make no mistake, John's witness is not of man: this man was on fire for the Lord, and he had something that needed to be said, by the Holy Spirit! 

  Matthew Henry gives this observation with a question: "This proves two natures in Christ. Christ, as man, came after John as to his public appearance; Christ as God, was before him; and how could he otherwise be before him but by an eternal existence?" We cannot try and put it any other way; doing so, would simply challenge the eternal existence that is purely evident! But then again, if someone can fall for the evolutionary theory about the world making itself, then they might fall for anything! 

  The title today was taken from one of the meanings from the Greek translation for the word, "preferred." I know, right? It's pretty amazing how that might even work, and why it is even part of the equation. But if you stop and think about it, this is something Jesus made a reference to when He questioned the people's observation of what was going on with John's witness...

"And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, "What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way for thee."" (Mathew 11:7-10 KJV)