Text: Matthew 11:1-6
(1) And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. (2) Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, (3) And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? (4) Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: (5) The blind receive their sight, 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. (6) And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
We call him “John the Baptist.” He was the cousin of our Lord Jesus Christ, a man of passion and fervor who preached the message of baptism for repentance.
He even preached of the soon coming Messiah who preparing the people to receive.
Malachi 3:1, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me:…” – That’s John
This is Jesus – “…and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.”
He was a man on a mission, unafraid of the faces of others who would try to block and diminish the message he preached.
Nobody could buy his silence, distract him from his duty, or sidetrack him from his purpose.
He preached fervently a message that identified Sin and called sinners to Repent:
Matthew 3:4-12, “(4) And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. (5) Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, (6) And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. (7) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (9) And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. (10) And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (11) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: (12) Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
And when he recognized the One who was mightier than he, with upraised hand on banks of the Jordan River, he focused the crowd’s attention on the Lord Jesus Christ walking down to the water saying:
John 1:29-34, “(29)…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (30) This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. (31) And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. (32) And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. (33) And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Uponwhom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. (34) And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
John was a man, a prophet of God, stuck between to covenants, wedged (if you will) between two biblical ages.
He was caught in a time of transition.
And finally, his prophetic ministry got him in trouble and now He’s in a prison for doing what he’s called to do. Naming sin(regardless of who it is, or how powerful they might be), and calling sinners to repentance.
Herod was guilty of adultery and incest with Herodias.
Herod, because of the fury of his guilty wife Herodias, had John throne into prison.
Have you ever been in a traffic jam? Felt the frustration of knowing that you can’t go backwards, and there’s a blockage forward, but your irritation is really because you have a vision of where you’re going and you just want to get there.
John, had a moment of frustration and he sent men to ask Jesus, “Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? (Luke 7:20).
Jesus’ response to the frustration of John was simply to tell him the fruit of His ministry: “And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Luke 7:21-23).
Herodias had a daughter.
She was a damsel.
Certain writers identify her by the name “Salome,” which means “peaceful.”
She was supposed to be a peaceful, calm, moderate, modest individual, but her example was her mother who was none of those things.
Herodias had a flesh problem…her flesh was out of control.
She allowed her daughter to dance before Herod a sensual seductive dance that so impressed his own flesh to the point that he promised her anything she wanted
Out of control flesh saw the opportunity and said, “I want to silence that prophetic voice in my life. I want to sever that message to such a degree that I’ll never hear it again.”
So, Herod listened to the damsel, who was instructed in her godless way by her mother, and rather than face the confrontation that would be difficult, but right, he gave in.
A friend told me that “when you disobey the messenger, don’t be surprised when God goes silent.”
No more words came from the lips of the last prophet of the Old Testament.
No more anointed heaven sent messages would be heard from the mouth of one who Jesus said, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist:…” (Matthew 11:11).
Jesus did go on to say, “…Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
It is imperative that we recognize that we are the Children of God.
As great as John the Baptist was he was not able to be in the kingdom of heaven.
As great as his message of repentance was it is inadequate when compared to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are all, every born again saint and minister of gospel in here, greater in understanding of the New Birth.
So, we all have a responsibility to not only obey the gospel and share the gospel, but to take on the characteristics of this gospel message that placed us into this Kingdom of Heaven, which is the Church and is identified by Paul as Wisdom from the Spirit:
(6) Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: (7) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: (8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (11) For what man knoweththe things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth;comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (15) But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (16) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
James identified this mind of Christ as “wisdom that is from above.”
(17) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (18) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
James also identified the wisdom of this sinful world:
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. (15) This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. (16) For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
So, we go to our text, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”
It is plain to see that we are engaged in a spiritual battle between to different governing spiritual systems: