John the Baptist #4: The Preparer and His Doubt - Matthew 11

 

John the Baptist #4: The Preparer and His Doubt

Text: Matthew 11:1-15

This is the fourth in our series on John The Baptist. The man who God chose to bridge the Old Testament and the New. In today’s passage Jesus will tell the crowds that Matthew 11:13 “…all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” But John’s ministry has now ended. He has been arrested and those disciples loyal to him, perhaps the same ones who asked about Jesus and John’s relationship in John 3:25-36 are now sent from John to ask a question of Jesus.

John was arrested not for daring to call people to repentance but for daring to call Herod to repentance. In Luke 3:18-20 we read, “And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison”  He was arrested because he told the King publicly his sins and the sins of his wife, who had been taken from his half-brother. She was now his wife by Roman law but not by God’s law. John did not hesitate, did not vacillate, did not procrastinate. Instead, he manned up, stood up, and spoke up telling the King, he was a sinner and needed to repent. We often talk about the gift of prophecy; in John the Baptist you see it in action. Here is sin, John says, and here is what you must do about your sin and here is what God will do if you won’t act. That is the gift of prophecy and it is needed more than ever today when we consider our own leaders, politicians and political parties.

John’s prison was at Machærus, east of the Dead Sea. Jesus was somewhere in Galilee, probably near Nain,  which was in the southern part of Galilee. John had been in prison some months

Jesus’ Reassurance  - Matthew 11:1-6

And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

John Looks to Jesus With His Doubts

John had been cast into prison about December, A.D. 27, and it was now after the Passover, possibly in May or June, A.D. 28. He hears about the work that Jesus is doing reported to him by his still loyal disciples. But something bothers John about what he hears. It has been a long time in the prison for some time, locked away from his preaching, his ministry and his wilderness. He had to be wondering if it was worth it. He then sends two disciple to Jesus with a very difficult question, Matthew 11:3 Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

Now there is no doubt that John is having doubts, serious doubts about the man, his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, but the key to understanding what John is asking is in the work another. There are two words in the Greek for “another.” One means “another of the same kind,” as when Jesus said, “He shall give you another Comforter” in John 14:16. But that is not the word used here. This is the word for  “another of a different kind.”
 

John had been preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He has warned this generation of vipers that the Messiah was coming with and would sweep the chaff into a fire of judgment. But his disciples weren’t bringing that report back to him. Where was the judgment, where was the fire that the Messiah of God was supposed to bring.

John was aware that some believed there were two Messiahs, one who was to be the suffering Messiah as Isaiah 53 prophesied and another judging Messiah who would be the captain of the Lord’s Army and cleanse Israel of both its internal sin and external enemies. John was asking, “Are You the Messiah, or do we look for another Messiah, a different kind of Messiah, the one who will purge the nation and judge sin?”

Jesus gave his answer in his deeds. Jesus in their presence healed many.  Luke 7:21 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. 22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.

Jesus tells the disciples to return to John tell what they have seen for these works could not be done by any one other than the Messiah. Then he adds this word, this beatitude, Matthew 11:6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
He is telling John the doubts can cause you to stumble, to fall, to be tripped and trapped, but there is blessing is you hold on past the doubts.

Something else stand out here, Jesus did not fully answer John’s question, “Is there another messiah?” He reassured John that he was truly the messiah, but he did not tell him that there were two comings of the same Messiah, not two different Messiahs. The same Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God who came the first time to pay for sin, to become the sole point of judgment and the second time He comes to bring the judgment of the sin of rejecting Jesus as Messiah and Savior.

But Jesus did not tell John that, nor anyone else until it was the right time according to the Father’s timeline.

Going to God With Our Doubts

What we need to see about John and his doubts, is not that John failed because he had questions, but instead John trusted Jesus enough that he trusted him even with those doubts. The Bible is a book that stands brutally in its honesty. When the heroes of the Bible struggle, when the fail, when they have doubts. The Bible does not hide those things, does not whitewash them. Instead, we see them in all their flaws and weakness. We see it here this account  of John the Baptist. We see it with Elijah hiding in cave in fear and depression. We see it with Jeremiah down in the bottom of a well up to his bottom lip in oozing mud and wanting to quit his calling. We hear it in the voice of utter doubt from Thomas who says I will not believe. We see these things with David time after time, Psalm after Psalm.
 

Psalms 69:1-3 Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. Psalms 69:14-15 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

This is a man who is not sure he is going to make it. He has doubts and fears, but what is sure here and with each of these people of God struggling with their doubts, fears and failures is this truth. They can and did go to the Lord, because they knew that God was greater than their doubts.

The old song says, “If you trust and never doubt, he will surely bring you out.” And that is a great admonition, but His bringing me out isn’t based on my never doubting, it is based upon my Lord never failing.

Go to God in your doubt. Go to Jesus in your fear. Go to the throne of grace and collapse in your weakness because as John wrote in his epistle 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

And have the faith to know that even if you don’t get a full explanation or answer from the Lord, you will receive what you need to make it through.

The truth is that we are often like the father in Mark chapter 9, who brought his demon possessed son to Jesus’ disciples and they could do nothing to help him. Jesus then turned directly to the man and said, Mark 9:23 If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

And do you remember what the broken father of that broken child said? Mark 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

That is me, that is you if you are a child of God, Lord I believe but here are my doubts and fears, my faults and my failures, my flaws and my weakness. Lord, I believe in you, I believe in your Word, I believe in your promises, but I need your help with me and my doubts, my fear and my failure. Take it to the Lord, just like John and the Lord will get you through and you’ll leave knowing you’ve been blessed, just like John.

After Jesus sends back John’s disciples with the answer they need, he turns to the crowd and seeks an answer from them. In vs 7

Jesus’ Recognition - Matthew 11:7-15

7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 8  But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9  But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 10  For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 13  For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

Jesus Looks To John With Praise

When the disciples of John leave, Jesus then turns to the crowd who had just witnessed and probably overheard this exchange. It seems that Jesus wants to clear the air about John, was he wavering, was he failing, was he already a failure? So he asks the crowd a rhetorical question, something he does as much as teaching in parable. He asks, Matthew 11:7 What went ye out into the wilderness to see?

When you heard about this new prophet John the Baptist, what did you find when you went out of the cities and towns to hear him preach? Jesus continues Do you go out to see a reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? Then Jesus answers the question, You went out to see a prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet!”

Jesus says, John was the messenger of God sent to prepare the way before the Messiah a fulfillment of the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 3v1.

Jesus goes on giving His full testimony and support to the Baptist, Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.  Can you imagine Jesus ever say that about anyone but John the Baptist. No one greater than John ever born. Powerful praise.

The Hard Sayings of Jesus - And then Jesus adds this statement, Matthew 11:11 notwithstanding (thought that is true yet) he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

This is one of the tough, hard sayings of Jesus. I believe it is hard for the same reason that Jesus didn’t directly answer John, it wasn’t yet time to reveal all. So Jesus gives the answer that is needed but in an indirect way. It tells us something about the coming kingdom but now all.

First, Jesus says that John was not in that coming kingdom of God, simply because it was not here yet, it has not been instituted on the earth. Second that the kingdom that John and Jesus preached was not the kingdom that John and the people of Israel expected right now but was yet a future kingdom. When that kingdom comes, first in a spiritual sense, it would bring with it knowledge, revelation, blessing and a mission that were greater than John’s. Even the least in the that Kingdom would be greater than John in this sense.

A.T. Robertsons explains it wonderfully, “The paradox of Jesus has puzzled many. He surely means that John is greater than all others in character, but that the least in the kingdom of heaven surpasses him in privilege. John is the end of one age and the beginning of the new era. All those that come after John stand upon his shoulders. John is the mountain peak between the old and the new. - A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933)

2nd hard Saying - Next in vs 2 we have another hard saying of Jesus concerning John and the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

When John preached the reaction to his message was forceful, powerful, explosive in a word violent. It was violent both in its acceptance and in its rejection. In Luke 16:16, Luke says it this way, “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” Jesus was saying this was not the way a man enters the kingdom it was not by force of will but by submission of will. We see an example of this in John 6:15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. Jesus was telling them you’ve got the wrong time, you’ve got the wrong action and you are missing the real kingdom. And that brings us to the last hard saying in this passage about John the Baptist.

3rd Hard saying, Look at Matthew 11:14-15 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, (Elijah) which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Jesus was trying to tell them that the Kingdom you and John are expecting is a conditional one, “If you will receive it, will accept it, will believe it, John the Baptist is Elijah the forerunner.” But it was a condition that they as a nation, as a people had already missed. They chose violence, their own physical actions rather than their spiritual reaction to the messages of John and Jesus. John was not their Elijah and would not usher in the physical Kingdom but instead a spiritual one just as Jesus said in Luke 17:21 “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Jesus knew they would reject him as their Messiah, not all but taken as a whole, the nation would not receive John’s Message, “behold the Lamb of God.” The condition of their receiving by faith that message was not met and the violent Kingdom they expected and were striving for did not come.

Going In Greatness

There is a lot of application for us here, in fact the answers and hard sayings of Jesus all applies to us today and that should be a very sobering realization.

Least In The Kingdom - Jesus said, The least in the Kingdom has greater privilege, greater knowledge a greater mission that John. That is talking about us. Jesus gave us this rule in Luke 12:48 For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

People Of  The Kingdom  - Jesus said, the Kingdom Is In Us. It cannot be forced, not to enter it and nor to oppose it. The Kingdom today is one we enter by repentance and faith, we submit to our King Jesus and His kingdom is within us and we are in that Kingdom in Him. Most of the parables told by Jesus were parables about the Kingdom and our place in it. So important that Matthew in chapter 13 retells 7 of them. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto…” a sower sowing seed, a field of wheat and tares, a grain of mustard seed, like leaven in a loaf, a treasure, a pearl of great price, a net catching all manner of fish. All of these tell us about the kingdom we now are citizens of. We have a place, we have a part and we have a responsibility because we are citizens of that Kingdom, members of the Lord’s church and children of God.

Offer Of The Kingdom - The last thing Jesus said to the nation of Israel doesn’t apply to us directly, that time is past and Israel must now wait until their Messiah appears in the eastern sky like lightning flashing from the east to the west. But what we do take with us from the last answer Jesus made is this. The offer the of kingdom then and now is conditional. I don’t care what some may say about being predestined, election or fate. God’s grace is open to all and all must make a choice, just as Israel was called to choose, we are called to choose.

Believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior or reject Him and depending on your choice you can enter the kingdom and take your place in blessing and privilege serving Him as King or you can walk away await the coming judgment what come as a consequence of your choice. Jesus said, “If you will receive it.” The same can be said of the Gospel as it was the Kingdom, if you will receive the good news. It is as simple as that, and it is as dangerous as that. “If you will”

The final part of this passage is about Jesus and that choice that Israel was in the process of making, their rejection of Him as Messiah.

Jesus’ Rebuke  Matthew 11:16-24

But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.  Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

Jews Look For Judgment

I won’t spend much time here because what Jesus says is not at all hard to understand is it? Jesus says this generation, the people of this day and time are like spoiled children because Jesus won’t act like they want. He isn’t the Messiah they demand him to be.

And because he won’t play their game they not only reject him but they revile Him as a person possessed of a demon. The rejected John because he did not touch wine and they reject Jesus because he dared to eat and drink with publicans and sinners who were drinking wine.

Listen to his response to this generation in Matthew 11:19 But wisdom is justified of her children. He is saying, the results speak for themselves both in John’s ministry, Jesus’ ministry and in the consequences of the generation that rejected and blasphemed God’s chosen ones. “wisdom is justified of her children” Wisdom is proven in its results.

Jesus then upbraids the cities where He had done the most miracles. The word upbraid means to defame, i.e. rail at, chide, to cast in teeth, to reproach, to revile. His words are fiery and filled with doom. “Matthew 11:21-23 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. … And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell:… it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”

What these verses tell us is that Jesus was the sole pivot point of judgement. Jesus in his coming go earth and doing what He did became the one and only charge that will be laid before those at the Great White Throne Judgment. “What did you believe and do about Jesus?”

Jesus put it this way in John 15:22-24 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

Yes, the lost will be judged according to their sins and the degree of their punishment will be set accordingly but their dwelling place for eternity is not based upon what they did, but upon what they believed about Jesus.

Going With Reassurance, Recognition or Rebuke

As you look back on this chapter, you are left with three distinct categories of people and their connection to Jesus.

Feeling Reassurance -Today I may be like John and I need to come to Jesus with my doubts, my fears and my failures. The fact that you come to Him despite those things is proof that you believe in Him. You know that you need reassurance and only one person can give you that which you need. Come to Jesus and rest.

Finding Recognition - You know what category I pray we can all be in, the second one that Jesus dealt with that day. The people that Jesus recognizes as his own. His faithful servants. His loyal disciples. His missionaries carrying out the great commission. One day I pray I’ll hear in heaven, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” And if its not said in KJV English it won’t sound right. No matter how its uttered the fact that it comes from the lips of my Lord and Savior will mean it was all worth it. That no sacrifice, no suffering, no slight was too great. As the song says, “It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus.”

Fearing Condemnation - The final category is the one I pray no one here or no one I’ve ever known will be in. The category of the damned, those who cross that line of decision at death and did not choose Jesus, did not believe His message, did not accept His works, did not receive the Gospel. I cannot think of a more heart-breaking words to hear from the lips of Jesus than “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”
I don’t want to leave it there and you know Jesus didn’t leave it there either. The final verses 28-30 are the final words that Jesus wants us to remember.

Conclusion: Jesus Reaches Out - Mt 11:28–30

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Its all about Jesus. It all comes down to you and Him. Nothing else matters, nothing else counts, nothing else will stand in eternity except Jesus and your response to His invitation. Jesus says Come unto me.

The New Testament ends with Jesus’ amplified invitation. Now it is His, the Bride’s and the Spirit’s invitation, the last words of the Bible. Revelation 22:16-17 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.