This week, as we close out the third week of Advent, we take another look at John the Baptist. This time our Gospel reading from the Lectionary focuses on one specific event in the prophet’s life. It focuses on probably the lowest point in this man of God’s life. Let’s look into the Scripture to see what we might learn from John the Baptist.
As we read through the Gospels, looking at portions that speak about John the Baptist, we see that he boldly preached the Word of God. He was not timid, nor was he afraid to speak forth what the Lord gave him to say. If he saw that the religious leaders, namely the Pharisees and Sadducees were not obeying God’s Word, then he called them on it. John the Baptist was also not afraid to speak out when he saw sin in the life of the king. God gave him a job to do, and that was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah and to preach His Word to the people, and he was going to do that regardless of what the consequences would be.
As our Scripture opens, we find John the Baptist in prison. The reason he was in prison was because he spoke out against the improper marriage that King Herod Antipas had made with his brother’s wife. Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great, the king who tried to have the baby Jesus killed. Herod Antipas took his half-brother’s wife, Herodias, to be his own wife. This was not a levirate marriage, where a man could marry his late brother’s widow if there were no children, in order to raise up children for the deceased brother. This was sanctioned by Scripture in Deuteronomy 25:5. Herod’s brother was still alive, and Herodias divorced him to marry Herod Antipas. John the Baptist spoke against this, which led to his arrest and imprisonment (Mark 6:17).
Prisons in Biblical days were extremely harsh. John most possibly was chained to the wall. Depending on where his cell was, it could have been damp, and either cold or quite hot, depending on the weather. Food was probably just bread and water, enough to keep him alive. In these conditions, John started to become discouraged and disillusioned (vs. 2-3). He wondered why God had let him be imprisoned when he was doing His work. He wondered whether he might have been mistaken as to whether Jesus was really the Messiah. So John the Baptist sent a message through his disciples to Jesus, bringing his doubts to Him.
Jesus did not condemn or chastise John’s questioning and doubts. Instead, He pointed to what the disciples could see, and the messages that they heard Him preach (vs. 4-6). Jesus was healing people, the blind, crippled, lepers, the deaf. The people were hearing the gospel message of salvation. Jesus’ ministry was a fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-3 and Isaiah 35:5-6. Jesus urged John to not lose faith or have doubts about Him.
Jesus then turned to the crowds, and rather than scold or berate John’s moments of doubting, He praised his ministry and work for God (vs. 7-11). He reminded them that many in the crowd had gone out to see and hear John the Baptist when he had been preaching God’s Word, and that they believed he was a prophet. He wasn’t some slick con-man preacher in an expensive, designer suit, flying around in private jets. John was the forerunner of the Messiah, and the fulfillment of Malachi 3:1. (vs. 10). Jesus proclaimed that John the Baptist was greater than other Old Testament prophets because he got to see the promised Messiah in person (vs 11).
Do difficult and tough circumstances that you go through ever steal the joy of your Christian life? Do they raise doubts in your mind if Jesus is really God’s Son? Doubt is the enemy of faith, and plagues every Christian at one time or another. John the Baptist, one of the greatest believers in the Bible, had some of these doubts at the lowest time in his life, shortly before he would be executed for speaking and preaching God’s Word. Jesus reassured John, reminding him of God’s Word and promises, and pointing to all He was doing, which were signs proving He was who He said He was. When doubts and questions come our way, we need to do what Jesus told John the Baptist to do - look to Him. We need to look into God’s Word. John called out to Jesus, and had his faith revitalized. We, too, can have our faith restored and revived when we turn to Jesus and His Word.
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