Matthew 11:10-11: This is the one about whom it is written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.” I tell you the truth, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.

This is part of the passage in which John sent messengers to Jesus, asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3). Jesus Christ sent a message back to them. He is now telling the people listening to him about John. This is where we have the conclusion now.

In verse 9, he had said, “A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” (Matthew 11:9) He said, look, John is a special messenger ahead of a special manifestation of God, who Jesus Christ is. So Jesus Christ is making sure the people have it very clear in their mind who John is. When they have it clear in their mind who John is, then they can have it clear in their mind who Jesus Christ is.

Jesus Christ is not a forerunner of anybody. John is a forerunner. Jesus Christ is the full stop of divine revelation. If you go to the book of Hebrews 1, the writer said, “After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, in these last days he has spoken to us in a son.” (Hebrews 1:1–2)

He said, “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you.” And that is a reference to Malachi: “I am about to send my messenger, who will clear the way before me.” (Malachi 3:1) So we see the powerful message of the work of John, and we have the Holy Spirit also who has been sent to us.

The Holy Spirit is operating, is working, and there is a second coming of Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit is working to prepare the way toward. The Holy Spirit is working in the church, and there is also a washing of water, according to Ephesians chapter 5. Jesus Christ is going to present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, and the means to achieving that is by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word. (Ephesians 5:26–27)

And the water, when you see water, a lot of the time we are talking about the operation of the Holy Spirit. In John 7, Jesus Christ said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me,” and “From within him will flow rivers of living water.” And John in that passage said he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. (John 7:37–39)

I go to all that length to say that Jesus Christ made it clear that John the Baptist was a forerunner to prepare the way for Jesus Christ’s ministry. And I am also saying Jesus Christ is coming back, and the Holy Spirit has been sent as the divine messenger.

Remember, when you look at the latter chapters of the book of John, Jesus Christ made this very clear: “I will send him to you.” (John 16:7) The Holy Spirit has been sent, and the Holy Spirit has a work to do in the life of the church to ensure that when Christ appears, Christ appears for a church that is glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle. That will happen according to the Scriptures because He said He is coming for a glorious church.

That is the end point. Meaning that at this time we see a lot of spots and a lot of wrinkles, but Jesus Christ has already said, “I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18) So it is a process. When you hear the word build, we are talking about a process. We are talking about something happening, then something else, then something else, culminating in his second coming. Do not lose sight of that.

In this passage, we read that in a way, John lost sight of who Jesus Christ is because of certain things that he was observing, certain things that were happening to him. We can lose sight of who Jesus Christ is and of the endpoint. We can lose sight of that.

So Jesus Christ is coming back, and the Holy Spirit is preparing the way. And I have already talked about the fact that the way we measure things is different from the way God measures things, just like Jesus Christ responded to John the Baptist and said, " The poor have good news proclaimed to them. (Matthew 11:5) And we may have a different way in which we see the operations of God in the world, the operations of the Holy Spirit, different from the way God is seeing it between now and when Jesus Christ is going to come back.

Remember that Jesus Christ is trying to help the people in this passage to get it more accurately. Look, regardless of what you are seeing, the person you went to see in the wilderness is a true prophet. He prepared the way for me. And in a way telling you, yes, you can be sure that I am the one he said I was. You can be sure that Jesus Christ is coming back too. And he said, “Look! I am coming soon, and my reward is with me.” (Revelation 22:12)

God bless you. See you later.