What Jesus Gives Makes Him Great

The main point is that it’s not what Jesus had at birth that made him so great. It’s not what Jesus got, it's what Jesus gave. Jesus gave the Holy Spirit, and that's made him great.

And it's the same for you. It's not what you have so much as what you give that makes you great. Do you also share the anointing God has given you? Do you lay your hands on people to transmit the power of the Holy Spirit?

Who gave the Spirit to mankind? Jesus did.

Who sent the Promise of the Father to enliven humans? Jesus did.

Once Jesus obtained the baptism of the Holy Spirit for himself, his priority became to share that very same baptism with us. If you have the Holy Spirit, how much of that grace are you sharing with others through love, prayer, and exhortations?

Jesus’ greatness was no secret to John. In fact, John liked to preach about it. John recognized publicly that Jesus was greater than him. But what was it that made Jesus greater? Not Jesus as a baby, but Jesus as a baptizer. Not his birth, but his baptism!

The baptism Jesus would give was much greater than the baptism John the Baptist gave.

… this was his [John’s] message: ‘After me comes one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit’ (Mark 1:7-8).

We see that by the time John became a public figure, he proclaimed that Jesus was more powerful than he was. Was John simply being modest? No—he was speaking the plain truth. John knew that Jesus was greater than he was. And Jesus knew it too.

Jesus knew that he was greater than any man before him, and he wasn’t shy to announce it.

Jesus didn’t feel like he had to keep his greatness a secret. Look at what he said about himself to the Pharisees:

… now something greater than Jonah is here… and now something greater than Solomon is here (Matthew 12:41, 42).

Why Jesus is Great

In what way is Jesus great then? Well, let’s go back to why John said Jesus was great. Do you remember his words? John said of Jesus:

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8).

And that lines up nicely with what Jesus told his disciples to do before he ascended to Heaven. He told them to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Regarding that baptism, Jesus said that it was ‘what my Father has promised.’ He also called the baptism of the Holy Spirit being ‘clothed with power from On High.’

Here are the Lord’s words:

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from On High (Luke 24:49).

The reference to On High means Heaven, where the Father dwells. God would send power down to the disciples according to his promise. When did the Father promise that he would send the baptism of the Holy Spirit? In the Old Testament through the prophet Ezekiel.

Read the exact promise here:

I will give you a new heart and put a New Spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

So Jesus is remarkable because of the baptism he gives, the baptism in the Spirit. That is, Jesus is great because he can give us the Holy Spirit. 

And there are no limitations on how much of the Spirit’s power we can get because the Bible tells us that ‘God gives the Spirit without limit’ (John 3:34). As our High Priest, Jesus can ask God to give us the Spirit and he will be heard.

And God always responds to Jesus’ prayers. Here's Jesus' prayer promise to us:

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth… you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17).

Power Channeled Through Jesus

The verses we just shared with you about Jesus sending the Spirit are very important because they will aide you in understanding how exactly Jesus transmitted power to his apostles. He gave power through the Holy Spirit. He gave them authority to cast out demons and to heal the sick by granting them God’s Spirit.

… having summoned his twelve disciples, he [Jesus] gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness (Matthew 10:1; NASB).

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from On High (Luke 24:49).

Notice that Jesus said that the power they would get was from On High (from God in Heaven), and the Spirit would only come because Jesus asked the Father. The bottom line is that God gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples because Jesus prayed for that to happen.

And he [Jesus] called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to heal diseases (Luke 9:1; NASB).

As usual, Jesus’ power was from God. The Father channels his power through Jesus. This is the same protocol God used during the Creation: God’s power works through Jesus. It works by Jesus. It does not start with Jesus. It comes from God. It's origin is God, our Father.

An Ancient Process

The Lord Jesus explained this process of God working through him as far back as the Book of Proverbs:

When he [God] established the heavens, I was there, when he inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed, when he set for the sea its boundary so that the water would not transgress his command.

When he marked out the foundations of the Earth; then I was beside him, as a Master Workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the World, his Earth, and having my delight in the sons of men (Proverbs 8:27-31 NASB).

In conclusion, contemplate how Paul explains Jesus’ role in Creation:

The Son is… the firstborn over all Creation. For in him all things were created: things in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him (Colossians 1:15-17).

How does God work through Jesus? He channels his power through him. God sent his Spirit to mankind, and he did it in a very specific way: through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that's something you can only get through Jesus.

The grace Jesus got is the grace Jesus gives. He gets it from God. He gives it to us.

Whether you get that grace early or late in life, you must make sure that you get it. And once you get it, share it just like Jesus did! That's what makes you great. The greatest among us is the one who serves, not the one who is served.