paid by our Lord to his noble servant.
Some two or three centuries before, Malachi had foretold that Elijah,
the prophet, would be sent before the great and terrible day of the
Lord came; and the Jews were always on the outlook for his coming.
Even to the present day a chair is set for him at their religious
feasts. This is what was meant when they asked the Baptist, at the
commencement of his ministry, if he were Elijah. He shrank, as we have
seen, from assuming so great a name, though he could not have refused
the challenge, had it been worded to include the spirit and power of
the great prophet of Thisbe. But here our Lord went beyond John's own
modest, self-depreciating estimate, and declared, "If ye are willing to
receive it, this is Elijah which is to come." As He descended from the
Mount of Transfiguration, He returned to the same subject: "And they
asked Him, saying, The scribes say that Elijah must first come. And He
said unto them, Elijah indeed cometh first, and restoreth all
things.... But I say unto you that Elijah is come, and they have also
done unto him whatsoever they listed, even as it is written of him"
(Mark ix. 9-13).

III. THE MASTER'S RESERVATION. Let us again quote His memorable
words: "Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a
greater than John the Baptist; yet he that is but little in the Kingdom
of heaven is greater than he" (Matt. xi. 11, R.V.).

The greatness of John the Baptist shone out in conspicuous beauty in
his meek confession of inferiority. It is always a sign of the
greatest knowledge, when its possessor confesses himself to be as a
child picking up shells on the shores of a boundless ocean. And the
Baptist's greatness was revealed in the lowliness of his self-estimate.

When the Lord Jesus summarized his own character He said, "I am meek
and lowly in heart." In doing so He expressed the character of God;
for He was the Revealer of God, "the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person." He was "God manifested in flesh." He
was not only the Son of God, He was God the Son: "He that hath seen Me
hath seen the Father. I and the Father are one." The greatness of
John was proved in this, that like his Lord he was meek and lowly in
heart. Neither before nor since has a son of Adam lived in whom these
divine qualities were more evident. No sublimer, no more God-like
utterance ever passed the lips of man than John's answer to his
discipl