John, the (Doubting) Baptist (Matt 11:2-11)
Recap of Matt 1-11:1
An overview of the first 11 chapters of Matthew:
Matt 1:1-4:11 presents to us Jesus’ credentials through His genealogy and acts that fulfill Scripture, showing us that He is The King.
Matt 4:12-7:29, we see The King proclaiming His Kingdom message.
Matt 8:1-11:1, the King’s authority is displayed in, as we read about His power over diseases, spirits, sin and death..
Matt 11:2-12:45 provides a list of how people responded to The King, starting with John the Baptist.
Background To Matt 11:2-11
John is in prison (Matt 11:2, Mark 6:17-18), and is informed of Jesus’ works of power (Luke 7:11-18).
Feeling conflicted, he sends 2 disciples to query Jesus about His identity (Matt 11:2-3).
Jesus then reaffirms His identity to John (Luke 7:21).
3 questions that this incident throws up:
A) John doubted: Is he a believer?
Jesus reaffirms to the crowd John’s credentials as a prophet of God. This, He did by pointing out that:
John is a man of conviction, not easily swayed by others.
Nor is he a man who indulges in personal luxury.
Jesus Himself says that John is “...more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee,” (Matt 11:9-10, quoting Mal 3:1) and “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” (Matt 11:11)
Hence, we see that while John had lapsed into doubt; he did not fall into unbelief. This serves up a few reminders for us:
we will fall into doubt at some point in our walk as a Christian
we can draw assurance that, if one as great as John doubted, we shouldn’t be overly despondent when we lapse into doubt
B) If John the Baptist is so good, why did he doubt?
Some possible reasons.
His circumstances are difficult. He is the forerunner to The King, yet he is in jail.
He falls victim to external deception, where people may mock him for his plight and his seemingly powerless King Jesus.
His theology (the study of God) is incomplete; he did not know then that the Messiah needs to be humbled, before He is exalted.
Learning point:
our Theology, how well we know God, underpins our faith response
C) What does John teach me about tackling doubt?
Run to Divine help
Just as how John sent disciples to query Jesus, we learn to run to our Heavenly Father whenever we have doubts.
Stand up and go again
John evidently recovered from his doubt, and was seen to be resolute to the end (Matt 14:21). Likewise, should we trip up in doubt, learn to stand up and walk again.
Then, help others through their doubt
As a forerunner, John has always pointed to Jesus. From Matt 14:12, we see that John’s disciples were also guided to Jesus, the right Divine source (i.e., they turned to Christ when John was killed). Likewise, we are to guide and encourage others after we have sought the Lord and cleared our doubts. Our experience should be deployed to benefit others who are going through similar challenges.
Faith, as our go-to response
Better still, we should partner the Holy Spirit to give a faith response to the challenges that we face, as “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb 11:6)
Let us remember the Lord’s promise to those who believe in Him: “blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”
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