The Coming King and the Agony of Waiting
Notes
Transcript
18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ ” 21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,
“ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
“ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’
33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Introduction: Living in the In between
Introduction: Living in the In between
Have you ever been in-between a job that you hate and a job that you just got but don’t start until a few weeks down the road?
Maybe you’ve closed on a home and signed a lease on a new apartment and you’re in-between moving from the old location which had plenty of troubles to a new promising location…
Maybe you’ve been between not having a car or having that car that can’t stay running and you’ve almost saved up enough money to get that new promising car…
The emotions of the wait
A Man For Advent
A Man For Advent
Few Biblical figures are more suited for the Advent season than John the Baptist. See, Advent is all about arrival. Jesus entering into the world...once at the incarnation to rescue us the curse of sin and then again at His glorious return to consummate His completed work and deliver us once and for all from the impacts of sin.
John was a man born for the purpose of proclaiming the arrival of Jesus Christ. It is affirmed through several sources: Prophetic Witness, Parental Witness, and Personal Witness
Prophetic Witness
Prophetic Witness
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
1 “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; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Parental Witness
Parental Witness
John the Baptist’s fitness for Advent was not only declared by OT prophets but it was his affirmed by His parents…
As Elizabeth carried John, Scriptures speak of an incident in Luke 1 where Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus visited Elizabeth and at the sound of Mary’s voice the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped. How many times Elizabeth must have shared that story with John growing up…
However, his affirmation was not limited to only his mother but extended to his father as well...
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Personal Witness
Personal Witness
Lastly, John himself affirmed this calling on his life for this moment. As he grew in age and stature, he started his ministry not in the comforts of synagogue and temple but in the wilderness of Judea.
In place of fine priestly robes, he wore coverings of camel’s hair
In place of fine delicacies, he ate locust and honey.
And even his message was rough around the edges, calling the least to the greatest to repentance with these words…
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Speaking to the religious elite, he was bold and unwavering…
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
John’s prophetic, parental and personal witnesses all testified to the reality that if there was anyone on earth who was prepared for Advent, it was him
AND YET this John and the John we read about here in Luke 7 seem to be in two different places...
A Question For Advent
A Question For Advent
The John we just spoke of is a man who is so suited for this ADVENT moment. It’s a moment he has been preparing for. A moment he was uniquely gifted and called into and yet the John of Luke 7 seems to be completely jarred by the Savior’s arrival. The question he's asking is an alarming one.
So here is my question: How did get from the John baptizing on the banks of the Jordan river to this John...asking Jesus should he look for another savior to save His people? We answer that by answering a question about the question...Where did John’s question come from?
Well first...this question came from a molded, cramped, stinky jail cell. That’s an answer, but that doesn't answer our questions completely.
Again, where did the question come from or to ask it another way: why would he ask such a question...
14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” 17 For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.
21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” 23 And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” 24 And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” 25 And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26 And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28 and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
It appears that John saw the arrival of the Savior as the arrival of a Kingdom reign where righteous actions finally and forever would be handled rightly. That doing the right things would to reward rather than suffering/persecution.
John seems to have interpreted the arrival of Jesus as the departure of suffering. He saw the arrival of the good and righteous King as a sign that the reign of evil and unrighteous ones was over.
And yet, after all the preparation, after all the prophecy and signs, after all of the proclamation, here he is in a prison cell with no hope of a future in this life and no certainty of anything other than death is more than likely nearer than he could have ever imagined.
Suffering has the ability to disrupt our confidence.
An Answer For Advent
An Answer For Advent
John wants to know are you the one that I prepared my whole life for…
Did my mother testify in vein?
Did my father speak prematurely?
Did I leap in my mother’s womb just because I heard my mom’s cousin not because I heard the voice of the mother of the Savior of the world?
These are all reasonable questions for a man who prepared his whole life for the arrival of the Savior only to see Him show up and now He is in prison...
Jesus responds only like He can to such a question:
22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
There are a lot of very important takeaways in this passage.
I AM who you believe I am and I will do what You believe I will do
To answer John’s question of doubt, Jesus starts with the obvious...EVERYTHing
Jesus moves as HE SEES fit…
John’s question is personal and Jesus’ answer is personal...
A Hope For Advent
A Hope For Advent
At this point those who were listening, maybe even the disciples who are charged with going back and sending the message may have been doubtful, confused, angry, frustrated...
How Foolish of John to waste his life on this apparent hoax...
Application: Have you ever felt that sneaky suspicion creep into your mind that you might in fact be wasting your life for Christ...
Why don't I just go ahead and give into those lust of my heart?
Why don’t I seek to grab every single dollar I possibly can?
Why don’t I just go ahead and leave this marriage. So I can find happiness?
Why don’t I just go ahead and engage in all of sexual temptations outside of the biblical design of marriage. So I can find happiness?
How many of you have ever silently asked the question...is it really all worth it?
This life that we live between what has already come through Christ and what is yet to come through Christ is full of unresolved sinful messes and because of that, it is easier than some of us care to admit to say...why am I actually doing this?
To what end is my faith actually taking me…
To these questions Jesus brings hope...
John Reaffirmed
John Reaffirmed
The first thing that I want to highlight is that even in the midst of John’s doubt. He is reaffirmed by the Savior…
24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,
“ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
For the sake of the audience gathered, Jesus answers the questions of any who may be doubting…
No John didn’t waste his life. In fact, no one is living a life more purposeful than John in this life. Did he the way that you expected? No he didn’t but neither have I…
A King Confirmed
A King Confirmed
John prepares the way not only in his life but in his death…
In John we have a precursor of the King’s path…
John doesn’t realize it but the one He prepared the way for is taking a similar path as him in order to secure salvation for him…
And so in this way Jesus lives in the inbetween with us…Jesus isn’t standing by distant from our suffering...He experiences it with us!!!
He knows what it’s like to live in this world of promises yet to come…
He knows what it’s like to taste the realities of the Kingdom but not yet experience its full culmination as humanity.
He knows what’s it’s like to taste injustice, unrighteousness, hatred, evil.
He knows what’s it’s like to taste death and feel the full payment for sin…
A People Blessed
A People Blessed
23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Don’t quit...Don’t flee...Don’t leave...Don’t give up...Don’t allow the inbetween to rob them of their Hope in Christ…
Why are they blessed? Because they have the opportunity to experience the Kingdom when it is fully realized!!!
And there is no life greater than a life in the Kingdom...
28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”