God Reacts To Your Doubts

Where the Bible says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), we live in a culture that doubts everything. In 2001, Katie Couric told Today Show audiences that seven percent of Americans doubt the moon landing happened — that it was staged in a Nevada desert. Speaking of doubt, did you hear about the Catholic priest who doubts the Holocaust ever occurred? British-born Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson told a Swedish TV reporter that no one was killed in Nazi gas chambers and that no more than 300,000 Jews died in concentration camps, rather than the widely accepted figure of 6 million Jews exterminated. He has since apologized. Doubt is everywhere. Some doubt global warming and climate change while others simply doubt themselves. No doubt about it, doubt is popular in our culture.

And a lot of our doubts focus on the person of Jesus Christ and Christianity. Religious doubt is a complex organism. Doubt can lead to unbelief and this can be devastating. But doubt can also serve to strengthen faith. Luke has written his gospel to dispel doubt and to increase our faith: “it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:3-4).

Now, sometimes, we have good reason to doubt. A man stood up in a Pentecostal church and addressed the congregation: “Thus saith the Lord, ‘As I was with Abraham when he led the children of Israel across the desert, so shall I be with you.’”He sat down, and his wife whispered something in his ear. Then he stood back up. “Thus saith the Lord, ‘I was wrong. It was Moses.’”

More seriously, Luke shows us, Jesus, answering the perplexing questions of John the Baptist.

But first, who is John the Baptist, you might ask? Luke introduces John the Baptist early in his gospel. We learn that John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus. The four Gospels describe John’s mother, Elizabeth, and Jesus’ mother, Mary, as good friends, and close family members. Elizabeth was convinced that Jesus Christ was the real thing. John’s father, Zechariah, was a priest. John was an answer to prayer as his mother was up in years and was childless. She and Zechariah prayed and John was God’s answer to their prayers. John grew up to be a preacher, a prophet. His style was take no prisoners, an “in your face kind of preacher.” His ministry was so successful that he was even asked if he was the Messiah. John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. It was at this point, even John himself could point to Jesus with confidence and say “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

As we move closer to our story, what Luke fails to mention in our immediate story, but the gospel of Matthew makes clear, Luke is in prison (Luke 3:20). Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, had imprisoned John. The Bible tells the story of Herod Antipas divorcing his wife and then stealing the wife of his half-brother, Herodias. One night when Antipas was putting on an orgy for few close friends, Herodias’ young daughter danced for her stepfather. The ruler’s lust was so aroused that he promised the young girl anything. The daughter conferred with her mother and requested that John the Baptist’s head be placed on a platter. Later, after today’s story, John was executed. Until John’s execution, he was placed in jail. He was probably being held just east of the Dead Sea. All of this for publically naming Herod Antipas’ sin.

Now, John is a bridge between the prophets of the Old Testament and the new era dawning in Jesus Christ. Indeed, Jesus calls John the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. So it is especially perplexing that John, stuck alone in a putrid jail cell, was assaulted by accusing doubts. As he sat in jail, John thought, “What if he had been wrong about Jesus?” There had been many false prophets in Israel. There had been false messiahs. What if Jesus was just another? It felt as if God had left him and the devil himself had taken God’s place. It was difficult to think straight. Comfort just wouldn’t stick to John’s soul. Doubts buzzed around his brain like the flies around his face. So he sent two close friends to ask Jesus the following question: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:20)