We must let Christ increase. We all must decrease. The entire following must go to Him. If all of today’s Christian preachers and leaders would say, “Lord, let my following be Yours that You may increase and that I may decrease,” there would be no problem. Some people seem to say, “He must increase, and I must decrease, but I must hold my following.” As long as you hold your following, you will never decrease and He cannot increase. The increase or the decrease all depends upon the following. To whom does the following belong? This is the problem today: every preacher has his own following. Many think that we are the same as they are because, according to their concept, every worker must maintain his following. When we say that we do not keep a following, they do not believe us. May the Lord have mercy upon us. We need His mercy not to keep a following under our hand. If we do, sooner or later, we shall be cast into prison. Let the following go to Him. He must increase, and we all must decrease.
John 3:31-36 bothers many translators of the Bible. They do not know where to place these verses. One version even puts them in another place. Some translators have argued whether these words were spoken by John the Baptist, by the Lord Jesus, or by John, the writer of the gospel. Several suppositions have been made. But, by the Lord’s mercy, we have come to see that these verses should be where they are, because they continue what has transpired up to verse 30.
Verse 30 says that Christ must increase and that we all must decrease. Why? Because Christ is unlimited and all-inclusive. These verses reveal an unlimited Christ. He was the little Jesus who was born in a manger and raised in Nazareth in the house of a poor carpenter. He had no outward beauty or attractiveness and He was very limited. Nevertheless, He is all-inclusive, immeasurable. He is higher than the heavens and broader than the universe. He is everything, and everything is for Him. Let us read these verses and see what they unfold of the immeasurable Christ. “He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of this He testifies, and no one receives His testimony. He who receives His testimony has sealed that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit not by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who disobeys the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” These verses reveal that the Christ in whom we believe is unlimited and immeasurable.
Christ by then was a person on earth physically. But He was One coming from above. He was on earth, but His source was above. So, He is above all.
As Christ is a person from above, so He is also from heaven. Heaven is above earth. He was on earth, yet His source was heaven.
Christ is above all. In this portion of the Word, the word “all” does not mainly mean all things or matters, but all people. Christ is above all people, especially John the Baptist. At that time, John was in a position of rivalry with the Lord Jesus. Both Jesus and John accepted disciples. In the eyes of John’s disciples, John was on the same level as the Lord Jesus. But that was not right. Therefore, verse 31 tells us that Christ is the One who is above all. He is above you, me, and everyone else.
Christ was from heaven; yet while He was on earth He was still in heaven (3:13). He is universal; He is immeasurable.