THE GOSPELS: LESSON 34:

JOHN HAS DOUBTS

TEXT: MATTHEW 11: 2 - 19; LUKE 7: 18 - 35.

WE WILL CONCENTRATE MAINLY ON THE ACCOUNT FROM MATTHEW 11.

MATTHEW 11: 2 - 6. JOHN HAS DOUBTS ABOUT JESUS.

Verse 2: “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples”

          In Luke 7 we learn that John who was in prison was informed of Jesus’ activities by his disciples. He then chose two of his trusted disciples to Jesus to ask him a question.

John had been arrested by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great and Malthake, a Samaritan woman. Herod Antipas was the ruler of the Roman provinces of Galilee and Perea during Jesus’ lifetime. John had condemned Herod and his wife Herodias because she had divorced her husband Philip and then married her husband’s brother. (See Luke 3: 19, 20.) This is absolutely forbidden in the Law of Moses. (As in Lev. 18: 16; 20: 21; Mark 6: 18.) The levirate law mentioned in Deuteronomy 25 was to be practiced only after the death of the brother, NOT during his lifetime. John was imprisoned at Herod’s stronghold of Macherus on the highlands overlooking the eastern shore of the dead Sea. We will talk much more of John and Herod Antipas at a later date.

Verse 3: John wanted to know whether Jesus was the Messiah of prophecy, or if they should wait for another. Why would the man who testified so persuasively of Jesus’ divinity and Messiahship have doubts?

Verses 4 - 6: As proof of his status as both Messiah and Son of God Jesus offered the testimony of the many miracles he performed. In Luke 7: 21, it says, “In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight.” So, in addition to the many miracles he had already performed, Jesus offered them new miracles which they saw themselves. NOW, Jesus tells them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me."

MATTHEW 11: 7 - 15. JESUS TELLS THE MULTITUDES WHO JOHN IS AND WHAT HE DID.

Verses 7 - 10: Jesus teaches them about John by asking them the same question (basically) three times and then giving three different answers. What did you go out to the wilderness to see? (That is, when they went out to the Jordan to see John as in Matthew 3: 5, 6.)

What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? Of course not. John was a strong, unbending preacher of God’s true message, not one tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4: 14).

What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Of course not. John was an Essene, an ascetic who lived in the desert and wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather cloth about his loins. Only those in king’s palaces wear soft, expensive garments.

What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A prophet? Yes, and much more, for John was the forerunner of the Messiah as prophesied in Malachi 3: 1.

Verse 11: “Among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” John was God’s greatest prophet, but he is not as great as the least in the kingdom of God. What does this mean? 1. That John was not in the kingdom of God, for he was NOT a disciple of Jesus. 2. The kingdom of God (Jesus followers, especially the apostles) were then WITH their Messiah, not locked away in prison. They were yet learning God’s true message of salvation to all mankind.

Verse 12: “From the days of John the Baptist until now . . .” In other words, during the public ministry of Jesus. Ever since Jesus began to preach that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” violent and scornful men had attempted to deny and silence his message and took counsel together to put him to death. They tried to “pull it apart” by force – both the force of argument and the force of threatened violence.

Verses 13, 14: The message of all the prophets led up to John’s message: the Messiah has arrived! He is that same Elijah prophesied by Malachi (in Mal. 4: 5, 6). This was the very last prophecy of the Old Testament!

          John was not Elijah reincarnated, he was a “new Elijah.” That is, he was a new prophet, who came to preach with the power of Elijah, the greatest prophet of the Old Testament.

Verse 15: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In other words, those who are wise, those who desire to know the truth, will know that what I am saying is true.

Luke 7: 29 and 30 inserts the following observation:

(When they heard this all the people and the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John; but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.) In other words, the sinful, common people had accepted what John had said about repentance and obedience, and were then baptized. The scribes and Pharisees had rejected John’s message. The same thing would be observed about Jesus and his message. The lower, despised classes of people accepted what he taught. The elites of Jewish society rejected Jesus and ultimately condemned him to death.

MATTHEW 11: 16 - 19. JOHN AND HIS GENERATION. 

Verses 16, 17: Jesus gives a parable about “this generation” (the worldly-minded first-century Jews).

“It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 'We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.'”

The explanation of this parable is given in verses 18 and 19. Let’s look at the characters in this parable.

The children sitting in the market places calling to their playmates are John the Baptist and Jesus.

Their playmates are the Jews to whom they preached.

          Jesus and John preached their messages in very public places, but most of the Jews did not do what they said. Instead, those “crooked and perverse” people did whatever they wanted. John wailed at them and they did not mourn their sinful condition and repent. Jesus “piped” his message of glad tidings and they did not dance with the joy that comes to those who are saved. Instead, they perversely said what is recorded in verses 18 and 19.

Verse 18: John led a very austere life. As Luke 7: 33 says, “. . . John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine. . .” He preached his message of repentance and the people said he was demon possessed!

Verse 19: Jesus and his disciples did not live to such strict rules as John did. As Luke 7: 34 says, “The Son of man has come eating and drinking. . .” He preached his message of joy and the people said, “Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”

“Wisdom is justified by her deeds.” (Or by her children as Luke 7: 25 says.) Those perverse, worldly-minded Jews thought they were so clever, so very wise. But who proved the wiser? Jesus and his followers. This was demonstrated most clearly by the events of 70 AD when the Christians, heeding Jesus’ warnings of the destruction of Jerusalem (as in Matt. 24: 15 - 18), fled the city and were saved. The Jews who rejected Christ stayed in the city and were slaughtered by the Romans and their allies. Josephus comments in his Wars of the Jews that the slaughter was so great that not a single stick of wood could be found in Jerusalem during the latter days of the Roman siege for every piece of wood had been used to crucify or burn the Jews.

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