Matthew Chapter 11 Verses 1 – 3

• John the Baptist had been thrown into prison by Herod Antipas, the ruler of Israel and we find out why in Mark Chapter 6 verses 17 – 18. You see Herodias, his (Herod’s) brother Philip’s wife, had left her husband and married Herod. Herod and Herodias together…just sounds weird. Anyway, John withstood Herod to his face and told him it was wrong what had been done. And so Herod had imprisoned John for it. And really it was Herodias that hated John, not Herod. We learn later in Mark that Herod thought highly of John…
• And so John sends his disciples to Jesus and asks Him, “Are you the Coming One…are you the Messiah…or do we look for another?” Now this is an interesting scene because it could be that John is languishing in prison and losing heart. Could be…but remember, this is the same John that baptized Jesus. The same John that saw the Holy Spirit descend from heaven and rest upon Jesus while hearing the voice of the Father booming from the open skies. The same John that readily identified Jesus as the Messiah in the public eye. The same John that from birth proclaimed His coming, even from the womb!
• The same John that said, recorded for us in John 3:30, “I must decrease and He must increase…” It could be that John is asking if he himself is forsaken…but it also could be that he is simply sending his disciples to Jesus. Do you see it? He’s told them about Jesus, He’s publically identified Jesus, He has exalted Jesus and yet his disciples remained with him. There’s a problem there…and so it could be, and I lean this way, that he is sending them to Jesus to see for themselves, to leave John and to follow Jesus…I believe Jesus picks up on this…watch this…

Matthew Chapter 11 Verses 4 – 6

• Jesus tells them of fulfilled scripture. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead live and the poor are welcomed…particular fulfillments of Isaiah 29:18-19, Isaiah 61:1 and Psalm 22:26. And they know those scriptures, John has taught them those scriptures, and Jesus partnering with John says, “Go and tell John what you hear and what you’ve seen.” Why?
• Can you imagine when they get back to John what John would say? He’s been saying all along that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, what are you still doing here with me? Go to Him. And yet they’ve stayed and now they come back with infallible proof, crystal clear fulfillment of Messianic prophecy seen and heard undeniably by their own eyes and ears…and John rejoices in his heart…, “Thank you, Lord….now my friends, you see, you must go…” And they leave him. They couldn’t stay after that…
• After you’ve learned the truth of Jesus and the Biblical doctrinal theological fact that He is who He said He is, you simply can follow no other…and you yourself count as another, don’t you? And so John wisely points them to Jesus and Jesus responds individually by calling them to Himself and yet they still have a choice to make…believe God or believe self. One side leads to sorrow, ultimate disappointment and one side leads to blessing…as Jesus says, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me,” …who chooses Me.
• And now the praise of John by Jesus…I believe Jesus knew what John was doing…pointing men to Jesus rather than himself…

Matthew Chapter 11 Verses 7 – 11a

• I love this and this is proof positive that Jesus knew what John was doing! Pointing his disciples to Jesus and away from himself because listen to what He says about John! “Born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist!” I mean dag on! And this tripped me up, because wasn’t Jesus born of a woman…yes He was…but finish His sentence…

Matthew Chapter 11 Verse 11b

• Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world…” And so fully God and yet also fully Man, Jesus was, is and always will be completely Other.   What do you think drew all men to Him? The miracles, maybe. The notoriety, maybe…but to be around Him, was to see…to sense…to witness God Himself. And the best part about that…this still goes on today…

Matthew Chapter 11 Verses 12 – 15

• The Jews and even the leading Jews, the Sanhedrin and such are no doubt tuned in at this point because what Jesus just covered about John the Baptist is crystal clear in the Old Testament writings of the prophets. And I love what Jesus does…He has their attention, so He turns up the heat.
• This bit about John the Baptist being the very representation of Elijah in their age would have caused the crowd to gasp! Why? Because written 400 years prior, right before God went silent for 400 years, the last prophet of the Old Testament Malachi wrote in Malachi 4:5, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord!” And so who were the Jews watching for, waiting for, looking for, and listening for….Elijah! And Jesus breaks through the wall like the Kool-Aid man and says, “HEY KIDS,” no…HA, He says to them, “He has come!”
• Very interesting parallels exist between Elijah and John. They were both considered prophets in the wilderness. Elijah preached mightily to Ahab, King of the Northern Tribes and his horrible wife, Jezebel. John the Baptist preached mightily to Herod, ruler of Jerusalem and his horrible wife, Herodias. According to Matthew 17:3, Elijah was at the transfiguration of Jesus and we know that John the Baptist was at the public anointing of Jesus (his baptism). The name “Elijah” means, “My God is Yah” and the name of “John” means “Yahweh is gracious.” So cool if you think in context of when they were both on the scene…
• Crazy interesting is that references to Elijah appear in the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Old Testament, the New Testament AND the Quran. (Although the Quran calls him a “favorite” of Allah.” Aren’t you glad that the one true God does not play favs?)
• And so understand, this is not reincarnation, not Elijah in John’s skin but rather the message and the prophet of the message of repentance has come! The spiritual successor to Malachi carrying the same message now shaded/colored for that day! Malachi said, “TURN, lest the curse strike you.” And John came on the scene and his first prophetic word? Matthew Chapter 3 verse 2, “REPENT!” And the crowd gasped…and Jesus delivers the message, no more violence between men and God…I will be the end of the sacrifice, I will be God providing Himself a sacrifice…
• He who has ears to ear today, let him hear!