Matthew 11:6
While in prison, John the Baptist heard of the works of Jesus and then sent some of his disciples to ask Christ, “Are You the coming One, or do we look for another?” (11:3). John was in a very distressing situation and was likely experiencing some doubt and confusion regarding his understanding of Jesus’ public ministry.
John knew of God’s last revelation to His people some 400 years before through the prophet Malachi, who wrote, “Behold I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple… But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap” (Malachi 3:1-2). As such, John knew himself to be the herald of this coming One, even the Lord, and his message therefore was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). He proclaimed the Lord will, “gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (v.12).
As such, it’s not surprising that John during this time of extreme duress would be confused about the works of Jesus. Are these works he had heard Jesus doing the kinds of things the great coming Messiah would do? But instead of this Coming One immediately exercising final judgment as John supposed, Jesus confirmed in His answer to John that His present works were such that, “The blind see 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 who is not offended because of Me.”
And so, as would be the case for Jesus’ disciples, it seems John did not yet grasp and come into a full understanding of the nature of Christ’s present humiliation and condescension in His earthly ministry. He expected Christ’s coming to be the final ushering in of the kingdom when God would gather His people and punish His enemies. This kind of reaction to the Messiah was foretold by Isaiah, who wrote that God’s Servant, “shall be exalted and extolled and be very high” (52:13), but then asked, referring to Christ’s humbling of Himself in His earthly ministry, “Who has believed our report?”(53:1).
Previously John had proclaimed regarding Jesus, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). But apparently, John did not yet see clearly that this Lamb of God must first become “the Lamb who was slain” in order that He might take away sin. He must first bear our sicknesses, carry our sorrows, be stricken, smitten, afflicted, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, be chastised for our peace, and finally be led as a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53).
John indeed was a believer, and has since entered into the fullest understanding of that which he knew dimly and weakly held by faith in this life. Now, he who heralded the coming of the Lamb of God has joined that heavenly host who at Christ’s ascension sang, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12). John’s faith is now sight, and all confusion and doubt are no more!
But we who remain are as the Apostle Paul was when he wrote, “Now we see in as mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Oh yes, we see more clearly then did John Christ’s atoning work on the cross. We see His righteousness as ours, and we believe He paid in full the debt of our sin and has purchased new life through His resurrection… and yet, as believers, we are often offended at Jesus.
You might be asking, “Who me? I’m a true believing Christian. How could I be offended at Christ?” Let me answer by saying every time we complain about our circumstances, an affliction, or a cross we must bear, or when we bristle from the rebukes that come from His Word, or when we refuse to actively submit to His ordinances in public worship, prayer and preaching, or when we are ashamed of standing up for Christ in our conversation and actions, or when we resist being humbled by circumstances He brings into our lives, or when we doubt His many great and precious promises, or when we hesitate to confess our sins… then we in effect show we are offended at Christ.
Beloved, as disciples of Jesus, let us be assured that we have a faithful High Priest who suffered, bled and died that we might be reconciled to God as His children. He has already accomplished all that was necessary for our greatest good and we are now objects of His favor. And therefore, let us not question the ways that Jesus Christ continues to administer and rule His kingdom, which He so dearly purchased with His precious blood. Let us not allow ourselves to be tripped up by any preconceived notions and ideas of how Jesus orders our lives, nor how it pleases Him to work out His will in the course of human history.
Indeed, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me”.