Luke 1:32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give to him the throne of his father David: The title of "Great" is one which the wisdom of this world recognizes, though I am not sure that it always gives the title fairly. We have Alexander the Great, Charles the Great, Frederick the Great, and so on. The epithet has usually been applied to those whose great powers have been manifested chiefly in the subjugation of their fellows to their own will. This kind of manifestation is the most conspicuous, it involves the most open exercise of power, and is most mixed up with the gratification of human ambition, and pride, and vanity; but, undoubtedly, those who have most permanently and extensively influenced their fellows, have been those whose conquests have been in the regions of thought, in things spiritual — the founders of religions, the authors of philosophies, the great discoverers, the great teachers. A man like Alexander has ceased for centuries to be a living power in the world; but the great founder of Buddhism, e.g., is still affecting the daily lives and habits of something like a quarter of the whole population of the world. A great captain is like a brilliant meteor, but the author of a new thought, or a new system of thought, is like a fixed star. I. THINK OF CHRIST'S GREATNESS AS A MAN. Estimate in any just way the influence produced upon the world's history by His life and deeds; can there be any doubt that He is the greatest man who ever lived? Whose life has been the most like a seed in this world, rising up with the irresistible power of growth, and bringing forth fruit after its kind? Whose religious teaching has been practically most potent in subduing to itself the highest intellects the human race has produced? In the most tattered rags of humanity, Jesus Christ stands forth so conspicuously as the King of men, that there are few, who do not, in Some form or another, bow the knee before Him. II. CHRIST'S GREATNESS AS GOD. It is the light of Divine majesty and condescension shining through the rags of humanity, that makes the whole history intelligible. "He shall be great! " nay, He is great in the midst of the humiliation of the Cross itself. That humiliation was self-sought, and only adds emphasis to the declaration and promise of the text. III. CHRIST'S GREATNESS IS TO INCREASE. He is great now. But He is to be greater still — not absolutely, but relatively — in the magnitude of His Kingdom and the universality of His sway. IV. ALL MAY PROMOTE THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST. This is the noblest aim of man. Men are willing enough to make themselves great, to get themselves on in the world, to promote their own interests, wealth, glory, and within reasonable limits it is right that this should be so but the privilege of the believer is to transfer his zeal for promoting his own greatness to the promotion of the greatness of Christ. (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.) Parallel Verses KJV: He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: |
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