JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE MESSIAH
John the Baptist was a great personality, very much in the mould of the Old Testament prophets. In fact he was the last in their line. As a young man he’d had an inner urge to serve God. No doubt his parents had told him of the special circumstances surrounding his birth, of the angelic visitors to both his parents and the prophetic messages and instructions they received (Luke 1:13 and 26). This must have been a powerful influence in the formation of his character and stimulus to his vocation as the rather eccentric figure he cut as a young prophet in the Judean wilderness, living on locusts and wild honey and clothed in camels’ hair. But more than that was his message to the crowds who were quickly attracted to this phenomenon. He denounced the evils of society, branding the ecclesiastical leaders of the day, the Pharisees and Sadducees, as a brood of vipers, warning them to “flee from the coming wrath” (Luke 3:7). The burden of his message was his urgent plea for repentance and he baptised those who accepted his message. There was some speculation as to whether John was more than a prophet as people were “wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ” (3:15). But no, he said, he was “in the words of Isaiah the prophet (Isa 40:3): A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’” (3:4). It was:
THE CALLING OF THE MESSIAH’S MESSENGER
The highpoint in John’s ministry was when Jesus asked him to baptise Him and it was revealed to John that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and announced Him to the crowds, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). That was the climax, but the anticlimax soon came! Like for all of us, a moment of blessing can quickly be followed by a change of circumstances, to a dark night of doubt and disappointment. John was in serious trouble (Matt 14:1-12). He was a courageous man. It wasn’t his habit of turning a blind eye to wrongdoing. He was incapable of seeing evil without rebuking it. He had spoken out too definitely for his own safety. King Herod of Galilee had paid a visit to his brother in Rome and while there had seduced his brother’s wife. When he returned home he dismissed his own wife and married his sister-in-law. John publicly rebuked Herod, who took his revenge and threw John into the dungeons of the fortress near the Dead Sea.
John was paying a high price for his fearless denunciation of immoral behaviour by the king. It must have been agony for John, used only to the freedom of outdoor life in the desert, now to be kept confined to a grim prison cell. It was then that he was assailed by questions and doubts. Only a short time ago, at the peak of his ministry, he drew “crowds coming out to be baptised by him”, warning them “to flee from the coming wrath” and telling them that “The axe is already at the root of the tree, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:7-9). He expected his words to be vindicated by Messianic action by Jesus in a political deliverance of Israel from its Roman oppressors and routing out evil in high places. But it didn’t seem to be happening as he thought it should. John questioning seems to infer some:
CONFUSION AS TO THE MESSIAH’S MISSION
One of the most direct questions asked by Jesus was, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” (Matt 22:44). It’s the question that Jesus posed to the Pharisees who were in controversy with Him. This is perhaps the most searching question that can be asked of anyone because it probes into the heart of a person’s relationship with Jesus. It’s a question that everybody should be able to answer after giving it careful thought. We need to resolve the matter for ourselves and be certain we have the answer which will be accepted by God when it’s demanded of us on the great Day of Judgement.
John’s detention in Herod’s prison prevented him from doing it himself so he sent his disciples to Jesus with the question: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (11:3). It’s something that John the Baptist had thought through, long and hard, but the problem was that he wasn’t sure what his answer was and so instead of answering Jesus’ question of "what do you think about the Christ?" he asked Jesus to give him the answer. Jesus had openly accepted John’s ministry and had asked John to baptise Him. He had been so sure that Jesus “was the One who was to come”, the long expected Messiah. But now, in the loneliness and depression of the dungeon it was all so different. If we’re not careful, like John, our pre-conceived ideas can blind us to the truth. Even choice servants of God get despondent.
There’s a story told that, during the height of the Reformation, Martin Luther on one occasion found his wife Katrina dressed in deep mourning. He asked her who was dead, only to receive the reply, ’God is’. He was deeply shocked and angry at her irreverence, until she explained that his recent despondency and depression sent out that message to everyone. We have to be careful as to the message that we are sending out to the secular world when we hit hard times. John must have had a good idea that he wouldn’t come out of prison alive. A dying man can’t afford to have doubts; he must be sure, and so the question was asked: “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
There had been unparalleled religious fervour in Israel. John’s preaching by the Jordan seemed to be the signal for the establishment of God’s kingdom. He was the messenger of the Lord sent to prepare the way for the Messiah as the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. But quite unexpectedly it all ground to a halt when Herod clapped irons on him. The great expectation turned into a great disillusionment. The questioning of Jesus by John shows the misconception of Israel as to the programme of the Messiah and His method. He had heard of the works of Jesus and they certainly appeared to be Messianic. But it seemed to John that Jesus wasn’t using His authority to judge the people as John had thought He would. Jesus didn’t quite fit John’s ideas of what Messiah would do. John was in danger of stumbling, of drawing the wrong conclusions. It’s said that Field Marshall Montgomery paused while reading the Scriptures during a service to make the comment "And the Lord said, quite rightly in my opinion …’ We must not second guess God!
Everything gets out of proportion when a person is suffering in the dark night of depression, mental or physical. Was John thinking: “Jesus could have prevented Herod from doing this to me? Why hasn’t He commanded His angels to rescue me from jail and deal with wicked Herod once and for all?” But days turned to weeks and months and nothing happened. Had he made the mistake of his life in identifying Jesus “the one whom God has sent (who) speaks the words of God” (John 3:33)? I’m glad this record of John’s time of doubt and perplexity has been preserved for us to read and benefit from his experience. The same questions of the ultimate triumph of God undoubtedly face everyone in suffering for Christ’s sake. If our God is omnipotent, why does He permit the righteous to suffer? The answer, of course, is that the time of God’s judgment has not yet come but that the final triumph is certain.
John had been imprisoned because of his faithfulness, and while in that dreary prison he evidently got into “the slough of despond” that John Bunyan identified in “Pilgrim’s Progress”. Was it depression or disappointment; perplexity at the apparent appalling injustice when he had been unflinchingly loyal to God’s standards in proclaiming the truth? At any rate, it seems that he experienced a partial and temporary collapse of faith. It had happened before to some of his predecessors in the prophets of Israel when we remember the stories of Elijah and Jonah. C S Lewis said perceptively: “A Christian isn’t one who never goes wrong, but one who is enabled to repent and begin over again after each stumble — because of the inner working of Christ.” Yes, they may falter but God graciously raises them up. History tells us that John remained faithful to his martyrdom.
It happens still in the 21st century when Christians are baffled by events in their life; circumstances which can’t be understood this side of eternity. Doubts grow in such a soil. John was tempted to take offence with Christ because of His long delay in asserting Himself as the promised Messiah and His apparent indifference to John’s personal welfare. I wonder if we experience the same? If God really loves us and is an all-powerful God, why doesn’t He deliver us from some difficult and irksome condition? Wisely, John didn’t allow these negative thoughts to fester. He sent his disciples to refer the matter to Jesus Himself. It was then we learn of the:
CLARIFICATION OF THE MESSIAH’S IDENTITY
John was confined to his prison cell but news was reaching him of his cousin who was creating no small stir around the countryside through His words and deeds. There was only one thing to do. He had to get first hand evidence of this religious awaking. Was it the genuine Kingdom of God coming into being or was it a flash in the pan? So John sent messengers to Jesus, saying, “Are you the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” “Yes” or “No” would have been a much easier answer, but Jesus doesn’t always give easy answers. Jesus gave a straightforward reply, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Matt 11:4,5).
Jesus’ answer to John was to provide him with materials on which his faith should feed and be strengthened. “Go back,” He said in effect to John’s disciples, “tell him what I can do and have done so. He’s not mistaken, I have all power, and I’m the expected King. If I don’t come to his help in the way he expects, it’s not through lack of power or willingness, but because of divine policy to which I must be true. Tell him to trust me, even though I don’t deliver him. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me” (11:6).
In a sense we’re all in a prison of circumstances beyond our control, or we may be in the future! The truth is that Jesus knows all about us and He loves us. He could deliver us but may choose to leave us in the prison of disappointment, or sorrow or sickness, or even bereavement. Why does He do it? Because He is working in accordance with His own plan and purpose. Jesus doesn’t explain His actions. He only asks our trust, but He promises blessedness to those who don’t stumble at life’s mysteries.
John is told to look at the fulfilment of Scripture. Isaiah had predicted that in the days to come the nations would “see the glory of the lord, the splendour of our God … the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped … the lame leap … and the mute tongue shout for joy” (35:2,5,6). Jesus demanded that there should be applied to Him the most acid of tests, that of deeds. He’s the only person who could be judged, not only by what He said, but by what He did.
The challenge of Jesus is still the same. He doesn’t so much say, “Listen to what I have to tell you,” as, “Look at what I’ve done and can still do if you trust me. Maybe I’m not doing the things you expected me to do but my Kingdom is being established.” Jesus answered the question of His identity with a statement of His miracle-working power and how His actions were making a huge difference in the lives of common people. In other words Jesus was telling John, “Here are my references! Check them for yourself against the expectation of the Messianic prophecies and see how they stack up!”
References are an important safeguard in life against fraud. No prudent employer would employ a person in a position of trust without a careful check of references from someone who could vouch for the candidate for the position. This is something for us to give serious thought. If someone sent a messenger to me or you as followers of Christ and asked: “Can you offer any concrete evidence as proof of your identity in Christ?” What references could we give them?
When Jesus was stating who would be “blessed by my Father”, it would be those who lived out their faith: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. … I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt 26:35-40).
These are the references Jesus expects us to offer. We should do well to cultivate relationships now that could become references for us in the future, not because we need them to get to heaven – we don’t, because it’s by grace we’re saved – but because we want our lives to count for something, to ensure that the quality of our service for God will survive His scrutiny and trial by fire as “gold, silver, costly stones” rather than be burned up as “wood, hay or straw” (1 Cor 3:12). I don’t think we need have any fears for John’s ultimate reward as we see from Jesus’:
COMMENDATION OF THE MESSENGER’S MINISTRY
As John’s disciples left to take Jesus’ reply back to him, Jesus turned to the crowd to pay John a tremendous commendation. He was the divine herald whose privilege it was to announce the coming of the Messiah, “the Elijah who was to come” (Mal 4:5; Matt 11:14). Jesus was allaying public suspicion that John’s question might have arisen from a character defect or undisciplined weakness. John’s question didn’t arise from a misunderstanding concerning Messiah’s ministry. Jesus was defending John. The people had gone out into the wilderness to hear John because they believed he was a prophet. Jesus affirmed that identification. He was the first true prophet who had appeared in hundreds of years. But John was an unusual prophet. He wasn’t only a spokesman from and for God as the other prophets were, but He was also the fulfillment of prophecy himself. He was the one predicted to prepare for Messiah’s appearing.
Then comes a startling qualification of the tribute: “… yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” What could this mean? Jesus didn’t mean that John would fail to participate in the Kingdom. All true prophets will be in it. Jesus had made it clear that John was a very great man indeed, the greatest man of his age. But that age had come to an end with the coming of the Kingdom of God. A new era had arisen with the advent of King Jesus. The humblest person who knows Him as his personal Saviour and Lord has entered a greater experience than even John ever knew.
Jesus told John that “the good news is preached to the poor” (Matt 11:5), in other words, the message of grace, but the Cross of Jesus had yet to be accomplished. John had preached repentance but there had to be added Jesus’ offer of salvation made possible by His death on the Cross. The bringing of hope to many in Jesus’ earthly ministry was a prelude to His ultimate gift of His own life. The life of Jesus was wonderful but it wasn’t His example of living that won victory over evil. It was by the offering of His blood on the Cross of Calvary in atonement for the sin of the world. The message of the Gospel in the Sermon on the Mount, known as the “the Beatitudes”, was “to the poor in spirit” (Matt 5:3) – those who had ceased to rely on anything they could do to earn their redemption. John the Baptist had revealed Jesus to the crowds at the river Jordan as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
John had the Calling of the Messiah’s Messenger, a very human servant of God and capable of Confusion as to the Messiah’s Mission, but Jesus brought Clarification of the Messiah’s Identity and added a wonderful Commendation of the Messenger’s Ministry. We thank God for the Messiah and His Messenger and pray that Jesus will be our inspiration in our Christian life and witness, remembering the question we will have to answer to God:
“What do YOU think about the Christ?”
(Synopsis for overhead projection)
JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE MESSIAH
Matthew 11 : 2 – 14
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
THE CALLING OF THE MESSIAH’S MESSENGER
“In the words of Isaiah the prophet: A voice of one
Calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’”
(Isaiah 40:3)
HIGHPOINTS OF JOHN’S MINISTRY
- Jesus asked John to baptise Him
- Announcing Jesus to the crowds, “Look, the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)
LOWPOINTS OF JOHN’S LIFE
- Herod threw John into prison for denouncing his sin
- Loneliness and depression
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
CONFUSION AS TO THE MESSIAH’S MISSION
MISCONCEPTION OF JESUS’ MESSIANIC PROGRAMME
- Doubt as to whether Jesus was the Messiah, was He
“the one whom God has sent”? (John 3:33)
- Adverse circumstances sometimes hard to understand
- How should a believer react when baffled?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
CLARIFICATION OF THE MESSIAH’S IDENTITY
SEEK THE SOURCE OF ALL WISDOM:
- In person by prayer and the Scriptures
JOHN’S DISCIPLES QUESTION TO JESUS: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
JESUS’ REPLY TO JOHN:
- “Hear and see, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor”
- “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account
Of me”
CHECK THE REFERENCES OF THOSE WHO MAKE CLAIMS
- Deeds must match up with Scripture
WHAT EVIDENCE CAN WE OFFER OF OUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST?
- Our actions “speak louder than words” (Matt 26:35-40)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
COMMENDATION OF THE MESSENGER’S MINISTRY
JOHN WAS VINDICATED BY JESUS:
- Prophesied by Malachi as “The Elijah who was to come”
- The herald of “the kingdom of heaven”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
THE QUESTION WE WILL HAVE TO ANSWER TO GOD
“WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CHRIST?”
