Doubt. Such a troubling thing. If you have been a Christian for a while, you probably have a good head knowledge of Jesus Christ. You will have some real roadside experience of the things He can do and does do. You know He is real and you aren’t troubled too much with doubt. But here we are talking about head-doubt. Not too much of a problem for those of us with long-standing relationships with the Lord. What I want to talk to you about today is heart-doubt. That deep-down… not can He?, but will He? Jesus promises to meet our needs and answer our prayers if we love Him and don’t doubt, if we serve Him and obey. Do I trust Him enough? Do I believe Him enough? He can heal me, but He hasn’t yet. Does He love me? My aunt is still dying, will He let her? Is there an area where I haven’t done enough to serve Him? Have I let Him down?
If you have been a Christian for any amount of time, you know that there is nothing God cannot do. But yet we doubt if God loves us, personally, enough to step in to help. Will He allow Himself to be bothered with our problems? Sometimes, God has a larger plan that we cannot see or understand, and we may even hold that against Him out of bitterness when it does not work in our favor. In today’s text, we will see someone who has to deal with this type of doubt.
Read today’s text in Matt 11:1-19. As this text opens, we see that Jesus and His disciples are out and about teaching and preaching in the towns of Galilee (northern Israel). Where was John the Baptist, at this time (vs 2)? Why was he there (Mark 6:17-18)? What message does John send to Jesus from prison?
Out of billions of people to be born into the world, John the Baptist had been chosen by God to come and be the forerunner of the Messiah. To prepare the way for Him. Now, he is asking Jesus whether He is, in fact, the Messiah. On the surface, after the ministry John has been performing, this question makes no sense. But let’s look at this from John’s point of view. He has been in ministry for about a year. He has baptized many people, including Jesus. And now, Jesus is wandering the countryside teaching the same repentance of sins that John had been teaching, yet John was sitting here in prison. The ministry John had believed in, and poured himself into, had come to a sudden stop. John knew all the Scriptures about the Messiah (e.g. Isa 29:18-19, 35:5-6). John knew the qualifications for the Messiah. John knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah. What John is needing now is reassurance. He is dealing with doubt. He is in a period of “what about me?”. He was probably even remembering Isaiah’s prophecies about the Messiah which said that He would set the captives free (Isa 58:6, 61:1-2) and yet here he was sitting in prison on death row.
Notice how Jesus answers John. He never says, “Yes, I am the Messiah.” John already knew that. He tells the men to go back and report to John all the things He is doing. People are being healed. People are being taught. Demons are being cast out. The dead are being raised. He is sending reassurance to John that the Messiah is busy doing the Messiah’s business. This is God’s plan being worked.
We are at a very sad part in the story and Jesus knows this. John was sent to do a job… to fulfill a prophecy. What was that (Mal 3:1)? John’s job was to come and prepare the way for the Messiah. John had done that. John had done that very well. But now, it is no coincidence that John has been arrested and is sitting on death row just at the time when Jesus’ ministry is beginning to take root. There is a transition of focus which must occur. John was a very important man in his time and he was very famous. If he had continued in his ministry while Jesus began building His, there would have been a distraction from the Lord’s work. This was no longer John’s time. His job was done. Jesus knew this sad fact. Jesus knew that John was confused and hurting and He was trying to comfort him by assuring him that God’s work was underway. But Jesus could not, would not, disrupt God’s plan by coming to John’s rescue. This does not in any way mean that God loved John any less. Sometimes, God has a plan that affects our lives in ways that we do not and cannot understand and His will must always be done. Look closely at verse 23. Jesus is saying here that John, though he is in prison and does not understand God’s plan, he is blessed because his life is not becoming a stumbling block as it would be had he tried to continue in his ministry. It is important that we remember some previous words of John the Baptist that we have studied before. They apply here (John 3:30).
After John’s disciples leave and return to him, Jesus begins to speak to the crowd about him. Why did they go out to see him? Jesus made three points:
- Was he a reed swayed by the wind? No, he went to prison rather than compromise the truth.
- Was he just a man dressed in fine clothes? Obviously not. John was not in this for the money or greed.
- Or was he a prophet? Yes, he was. He was more than a prophet. He was the one who was sent ahead, as prophesied (Mal 3:1), to prepare the way.
I want you to notice that John’s doubts did not lower him in Jesus’ eyes. Jesus comforted him. Jesus then went on to say that there was never anyone born of women who was greater than John the Baptist. And folks, we know that John the Baptist performed a great ministry. Jesus applauded it. But what did Jesus say next? Whoever is even least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John. What did Jesus mean by that? Well, folks, Jesus knew that they were on the brink of Calvary. It would not be long before Jesus would die on a cross, raise from the dead, and enter us all into a time period where we could trust Jesus’ resurrection power to save us from our sins. Jesus knew that we were on the brink of an age where Salvation by Faith would take us into the Kingdom of Heaven as part of God’s family. John was a great man. John had a great spot in history. But we are firmly in the Age of Grace and can easily become a part of God’s family and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven through faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Belonging to God’s Kingdom is a great privilege. And being part of God’s Kingdom is always even better than being a prophet!
Verse 12-13 talk about violence and how John’s ministry for the Kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and opposition. And we know from history that Jesus’ ministry did, in fact, experience its share of violence while He was here in the world. Up until John came, prophets had been predicting the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said that the Elijah who was to come (Mal 4:5) had already come. It was John.
The next verses that follow, I once heard referred to, tongue-in-cheek, as the parable of the brats. Jesus began comparing the religious persuasions of the time to children sitting in the marketplace, refusing to play because John and Jesus would not play the way they wanted them to. They were doing things differently than the religious leadership and teaching people the true intentions of The Law and the Scriptures. Jesus points out to the crowd how He and John are often mocked but says that “wisdom is justified of her children.” This is a reference to Old Testament teaching where wisdom is often personified as a woman giving her children practical guidance. Jesus is making the point that if the crowd had seen Jesus and John for who they really were, their lives would have been changed.
Responding to God: Worship Jesus as Messiah and Lord of the universe, Creator of all things. Praise His Holy Name. Acknowledge Him as Sovereign. Thank Him for His earthly ministry and the amazing plan of salvation that allows us, as lowly sinners, to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven as part of God’s family. Always go to God for help dealing with doubts. Pray for His help in overcoming doubts and fears. Trust Him with those prayers which seem to go unanswered. Share His message with others.
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