Holy ones,

In order for something to be considered “great” in a culture, it’s always compared to another thing. Usually, we see a positive relationship when referring to the word itself. But the word “great” can also be quite negative in its usage as we shall see.

If positive, the comparison is made to something negative like the ordinary, minute,  poor, or awful. If negative, the comparison is made to something positive like the normal, wonderful, or extraordinary.

This positive or negative “greatness” can usually be categorized as 1) an inanimate physical structure or condition of nature, such as the great Rocky Mountain range, a great skyscraper, or great destruction from a hurricane, or 2) a human person, group, or condition such as a great leader, great organization, great nation, or great genocide like that foisted upon the native Americans, or 3) a spiritual person, group, or condition such as the great Moses, a great religious movement like the Anabaptists, or great spiritual deception described in the Bible.

Lately, here in the west we hear an awful lot about America being “great” or becoming “great again.” This positive comparison implies that somewhere along the way in its history it attained to such a lofty status in the eyes of some of the culture. This description fits into the second category above.

Again, the spiritual litmus test is what does God think about all this.

In God’s Holy Bible, there’s over 770 references to the English word described as “great.” Great in the Old Testament occurs over 500 times.  Great in the New Testament occurs over 180 times.

So following the Holy Spirit led authors of the 66 books, it shouldn’t be too terribly hard to determine what is “great” to God. After all, it’s His world. It’s His air we breathe. It’s His sun and rain that brings both food and animals to eat. It’s in His kingdom that He graciously allows us to bear fruit so He may reward us for eternity. Amazing, actually.

God is the author of pleasure. The doctrine of bringing Him pleasure in all things we do in life is well documented. Here’s just one clue.

Colossians 1:9-12  For this reason (your love in the Spirit) also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

Now, to clearly know the heart of God and what brings Him pleasure, we dive into the Scriptures for a thorough peek at the evidence. It’s never up to us to determine what’s “great” in God’s world. The place to begin this discovery is with the Lord Jesus and His very words.

Jesus talks about greatness

We begin with the “greatest” body of Christ’s teachings in Matthew 5-7, the teaching by the sea. We encounter five passages here.

1. Our reward in heaven is great when we’re insulted, persecuted, and evil spoken against us for His Name’s sake. And we can rejoice and be glad for this special privilege.

Matthew 5:11-12  “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great (Greek word = polus); for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you…”

2. We’re called great in the kingdom of heaven, both now and eternally, for keeping (guarding) and teaching Christ’s commandments.

Matthew 5:19  “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great (Greek word = megas) in the kingdom of heaven…”

3. The King is great.

Matthew 5:34-35  “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT (Greek word = megas) KING…”

4. Negatively, a person’s life is full of great darkness if they’re deceived by mammon.

Matthew 6:22-23  “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!..”

5. In contrast to the wise man who built his spiritual house on the rock of Christ, we see the foolish man in a negative light, and heading to the lake of eternal fire.

Matthew 7:26-27  “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great (Greek word = megas) was its fall.”

Other teachings of Jesus mince no words as well. We find great faith, a great storm, one pearl of great value, and the greatest commandment.

Matthew 8:10  Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel…”

Matthew 15:28  Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

Matthew 8:23-24  When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.

Matthew 13:45-46  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it…”

Matthew 22:38  “This is the great and foremost commandment.

Many great things are described

We see the great love and mercy of God.

Ephesians 2:4  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

1 Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 John 3:1  See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Jesus the Father’s Christ is certainly great.

Luke 1:32  “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

Titus 2:13  looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 13:20  Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,

We see the great things of God.

Mark 5:19  And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

Mark 5:20  And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Luke 1:49  “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name.

Revelation 15:3  And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!

We see great men like Paul having great confidence.

2 Corinthians 7:4  Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.

2 Corinthians 8:22  We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

Hebrews 7:4  Now observe how great this man was (Melchizedek, king of Salem) who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils.

Lost and unsaved great men are always described in a negative light.

Matthew 20:25  But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

Revelation 6:15  Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;

Great fear comes upon the church when God kills liars among His holy ones.

Acts 5:5  And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.

Acts 5:11  And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.

Great joy is the response of real saints.

Matthew 28:8  And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.

Acts 15:3  Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren.

Great rewards are awarded for serving and suffering for Christ, i.e. being persecuted and loving your enemies, or conversely the great judgment of His wrath.

Luke 6:23  “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.

Luke 6:35  “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Revelation 20:11  Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

The end times of the great tribulation and Christ’s return at the end of it are described in detail.

The four horsemen of Revelation

Matthew 24:21  “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

Matthew 24:24  “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.

Luke 21:11  and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

Revelation 7:14  I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Matthew 24:30  “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

Matthew 24:31  “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

If you choose to review all the passages you’ll discover other areas mentioned as great.

Great nations?

Now…do we find any reference at all to a “great” nation in the New Testament?

No.

Do we find any reference to a nation at all in the New Testament?

Yes.

All the nations…all of them…and their great men who lord their authority over people at the end of time are deceived by the sorcery of Babylon, the whore, the great city. Deceived by sorcery…the sorcery of witchcraft.

Revelation 18:23  and the light of a lamp will not shine in you (Babylon) any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.

That includes America. Yes, that’s right. God says America will also be deceived by the sorcery of the whore, the great city Babylon. In the end, America will be folded right into the New World Order and its antichrist. You can count on it, beloved.

Let’s remember that America was founded on greed and genocide. It was founded on the occult by lost pagan founding fathers. Multiple resources exist to prove this fact. Modern American leaders too bear the sword to avenge wrong. But they’re sworn to kill their enemies. And this is mostly an aggressive and pugnacious  worldwide  offensive, not the simple defense of its borders.   Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.

America was never “great” in God’s eyes. It’ll never be great in His eyes. The fact that countless so-called Christians parrot a lie that America was founded on Judeo-Christian values doesn’t negate the actual truth. The Lord Jesus has used evil pagan America where He can to further His kingdom, His eternal purpose. But in the end, He’ll pour our His wrath on this nation too and slaughter all His enemies that reside there and refuse His holy love.

The occult mantra of “making America great again” is just that…a mantra. It’s from the pit of hell, and it’s demonic. Remember: all wars are bankers wars.

If you’ve fallen for that satanic strategy of MAGA then repent, dear one. Follow the real God, the God Who Is, not the false American gospel. Not the New Trinity and its baby manger Jesus.

Great in God’s eyes

Great encouragement is found in the holy Scriptures that we all can be great in God’s eyes. What wonderful news! It comes only through sacrificial service as a true servant, and never through selfish service. It’ll cost you…and indeed you must count the cost of true discipleship as we bear our own cross.

Matthew 20:26  “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant…”

Let us bring our Lord Jesus our most precious gift, the one which brings Him loving pleasure.

Our faithful and undying holy life…our obedience.

1 Peter 1:14-17  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth…

Hebrews 10:35-39  Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Please comment on this post right below. Feel free to write and proclaim your leadings in the Spirit in an honorable fashion.

Your friend and brother in fighting the good fight,

Marc

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Saints, we’re one day closer to Home, and Him! Love Him wholeheartedly!

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Please comment on this post right below. Feel free to write and proclaim your leadings in the Spirit in an honorable fashion.

Marc White, Director, Walk Worthy Ministries, www.WalkWorthy.org