22 Overcoming Doubt (11:1-6)
And it came about that when Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples, and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.” (11:1-6)
The first ten chapters of Matthew are, in general, a series of testimonies that prove who Jesus is. He presents the testimony of history (1:1-17), of the miraculous birth (1:18-25), of fulfilled prophecy (2:1-23), of Christ’s forerunner (3:1-12), of God the Father (3:13-17), of Jesus’ power (4:1-11), of His words (5:1-7:29), of His works (8:1-9:38), and of His disciples (10:1-42). Matthew marshals all of that evidence in the courtroom, as it were, to testify that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah and Son of God.
In chapters 11-12 Matthew focuses on the reactions of various individuals and groups to that evidence, organized into several general categories of response. In each chapter there is a series of negative responses followed by a positive appeal. Chapter 11 looks at the negative responses of doubt (vv. 1-15), criticism (16-19), and indifference (20-24), followed by a positive appeal to faith (25-30). Chapter 12 looks at the negative responses of rejection (vv. 1-21), amazement (22-23), blasphemy (24-27), and curious fascination (38-45), followed by another positive appeal to faith (46-50).
In the opening six verses of this section, Matthew first mentions Jesus’ brief tour of ministering alone (v. 1; see 10:5) and then presents John’s negative response of doubt (vv. 2-3) and Jesus’ response to that doubt (vv. 4-6).
JESUS MINISTERS ALONE
And it came about that when Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.
(11:1)
Although the text does not say so explicitly, it can be assumed that, after Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, they went out preaching and healing among the Jews of Galilee as He had told them to do (see 10:5). While they were gone, Jesus departed from there (the place of instruction; see 10:1) and began Himself to teach and preach in their cities, that is, the cities of Galilee. For a relatively brief period of time Jesus ministered alone while the disciples were out on their first mission.
His twofold ministry was to teach and to preach, to explain and to proclaim the good news. Most of His teaching would have been done in the streets of the cities, but since the synagogues were the normal place where Scripture was taught among the Jews, some of His teaching was probably done there as well. The Jewish historian Philo reports that the main purpose of synagogue services was to read and expound Scripture. Visiting rabbis and scholars were always welcome to teach in the local synagogues, and Jesus availed Himself of that privilege many times (see Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 12:9; Mark 6:2; Luke 6:6; John 18:20).
JOHN DOUBTS JESUS
Now when John in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples, and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” (11:2-3)
In the case of John the Baptist, and of countless believers since his time, doubt might better be described as perplexity or confusion. The perplexity dealt with in these verses is the perplexity of a believer, a true child of God and citizen of His kingdom. John was not questioning the truthfulness of God’s Word as revealed in the Old Testament or as revealed to him at the baptism of Jesus. He was rather uncertain about his understanding of those truths. Virtually all the gospel references to doubt pertain to believers rather than to unbelievers; and the kind of questioning John the Baptist experienced concerning Jesus’ identity can only occur in the life of a believer. In that transitional time, before the written revelation of the New Testament, there were many things that seemed unclear and needed explanation and confirmation.
Jesus Himself testified of John that “among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matt. 11:11). He was the greatest man who had lived until his time, and, when they are confused, all believers can take comfort in his perplexity. It is also encouraging to remember that it was to His true disciples, primarily the twelve, that Jesus repeatedly said such words as “O you of little faith” and “How long will you doubt?” (Matt. 8:26; 14:31; 21:21; cf. 28:17; Mark 11:23; 16:11; Luke 12:28).
Though the Lord understands the doubts of His children, He is never pleased with their doubt, because it reflects against Him. While Peter was pondering the vision of the unclean animals, the messengers from Cornelius arrived at the house where he was staying, and the Holy Spirit said to Peter, “Behold, three men are looking for you. But arise, go downstairs, and accompany them without misgivings,” that is, without doubt (Acts 10:19-20). James warns believers that “the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6; cf. Eph. 4:14). But the doubt of which John the Baptist was guilty was the result of weakness rather than sin.
By the time Jesus began this time of ministering alone in Galilee, John the Baptist had been put in prison by Herod for denouncing the king’s adulterous marriage to his brother’s wife (Matt. 14:3-4). John had already announced Jesus’ coming as the Messiah, addressed Him as the Lamb of God, baptized Him in the Jordan River, and declared in humility that “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). He had already acknowledged Jesus as the Christ and trusted Him as his own Lord and Savior. Yet he was now perplexed, and he sent word by his disciples, and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”
The fact that John sent his disciples to Jesus is a strong testimony to his faith. In his heart he believed that Jesus truly was the Messiah and trusted Him as his Lord; but the events or lack of them caused his mind or emotions to put a cloud of doubt over his assurance. He was saying, in effect, “I have firmly believed You are the Messiah; but have I been wrong?” He was not asking for information but for confirmation. He believed, but his faith had become weakened. John came to Jesus through his disciples, saying, like the father of the boy Jesus cleansed of an evil spirit, “I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
A number of John’s disciples had already been observing Jesus for some time, probably on John’s instruction. Shortly after the banquet Matthew gave in honor of Jesus and to which he invited fellow “tax-gatherers and sinners,” the “disciples of John came to Him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?’” (Matt. 9:10, 14). And after Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain, “the disciples of John reported to him about all these things” (Luke 7:18).
Obviously John’s disciples had some access to him while he was in prison, and apparently he sent them out on various assignments, primarily to observe and report on Jesus’ ministry. After being imprisoned for many months, unable to preach or to have any contact with the outside world except for occasional visits by his disciples, John was plagued with misgivings and doubts about Jesus—the One he had announced, baptized, and declared to be the Christ.
He therefore told two of his disciples (see Luke 7:19) to ask Jesus specifically, Are You the Expected One? Along with the Branch, Son of David, King of kings, and other such titles, the Expected One (ho erchomenos) was a common designation for the Messiah. The title is first found in Psalms 40:7 and 118:26 and is frequently used or alluded to by the gospel writers (see Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:7; 11:9; Luke 3:16; 13:35; 19:38; John 1:27). Every Jew of Jesus’ day would have known that to ask if He were the Expected One was to ask if He were the Messiah.
It should be reassuring to us that even a man of John’s spiritual stature and gifts was subject to doubt. From the text and from John’s situation at least four reasons for his doubt can be seen—reasons that also cause many Christians today to doubt. Those reasons are difficult circumstances, worldly influence, incomplete revelation, and unfulfilled expectations.
DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES
Humanly speaking the career of John the Baptist had ended in disaster. He had been the fiery, independent, dramatic, confrontational, courageous man who preached exactly what needed to be preached, to whom it needed to be preached, and when it needed to be preached. He was fearless, aggressive, and faithful to the Lord in every way. He called sin sin and sinners sinners. And now he was in prison because of his faithfulness.
On a trip to Rome, Herod Antipas, governor of Galilee, had taken a liking to Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, and had seduced her. After returning to Galilee, Herod divorced his own wife and married Herodias. When John the Baptist heard of it, he publicly confronted Herod with his sin and was promptly thrown into prison. Only Herod’s fear of the multitudes kept John from being killed immediately (Matt. 14:5).
John was imprisoned at an old fort at Machaerus, located in a hot and desolate region five miles east and fifteen miles south of the northern end of the Dead Sea. He was placed in a dark, stifling dungeon that was little more than a pit. After some eighteen months in the limelight, this free spirit of the wilderness was confined and isolated. He had been in prison for perhaps a year when he sent the two disciples to Jesus.
William Barclay captures much of the significance of John’s situation:
He was the child of the desert; all his life he had lived in the wide open spaces, with the clean wind on his face and the spacious vault of the sky for his roof. And now he was confined within the four narrow walls of an underground dungeon. For a man like John, who had probably never lived in a house, this must have been an agony. In Carlisle Castle there is a little cell. Once long ago they had put a border chieftain in that cell and had left him for years. In that cell there is one little window which is placed too high for a man to look out of it when he is standing on the floor. On the ledge of the window, in the stone, there are two depressions worn away. They are the marks of the hands of the border chieftain, the places where, day after day, he had lifted himself up by placing his hands on the ledge that he might look out on the green dales across which he would never ride again. John must have been like that; and there is nothing to wonder at, and still less to criticize, in the fact that questions began to form themselves in John’s mind. (The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1958], p. 2)
John was a true saint and a true prophet of God—holy, loyal, selfless, and unreserved in His service to the Lord. He had done exactly what God told him to do. He had been filled with the Spirit from the time he was in his mother’s womb, and all his life had lived under the Nazirite vow, the highest vow of dedication a Jewish man could take. But now he could not help wondering if prison, shame, hunger, physical torment, perplexity, and loneliness were his rewards.
John knew the Old Testament well, and he could hardly have kept from wondering where the God of comfort (Ps. 119:50; Isa. 51:12) was now. And if Jesus were truly the Messiah, why did He let his forerunner and servant suffer in prison? Where was God’s love and compassion, not to mention His justice? Where was God’s promise that the Messiah would “bind up the brokenhearted,… proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners; . . . proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning” (Isa. 61:1-3)?
When a believer has faithfully and sacrificially served the Lord for many years and then experiences tragedy, perhaps even a series of tragedies, it is difficult not to wonder about God’s love and justice. When a child is lost to death or to unbelief, a husband or wife dies or leaves, cancer strikes us or a loved one, we are tempted to ask, “God, where are You now when I really need You? Why have You let this happen to Me. Why don’t You help?” But if we dwell on such thoughts, Satan magnifies them and tries to use them to undermine our trust and confidence in God. Except for when we willingly continue in sin, we are never so vulnerable to doubting God’s goodness and truth and believing Satan’s lies as when we are suffering.
John knew where to go to find the answers to his questions and the resolution of his doubts. He had indeed begun to have doubts about Jesus’ identity as the Christ; but it was to Jesus that he sent his disciples for confirmation. In his mind he had perhaps been crying, “Lord, why don’t You help me?” Now, through his disciples, he was pleading, “Lord, please help me!”
In His great love and mercy, Jesus was glad to respond, performing miracles especially for John’s sake and promising him spiritual blessing if he did not waver in trust even in the midst of mystifying circumstances.
Paul was himself in prison, probably in Rome, when he wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:4-7). He went on to say, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. . . . And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (vv. 11-13, 19).
Negative circumstances are painful and trying, but our response should be same as John’s—going to the Lord and asking Him to quell our doubts, anxieties, and fears (cf. James 1:2-12).
INCOMPLETE REVELATION
A second major cause of doubt is incomplete revelation. Although John had heard of the works of Christ, his information was secondhand and not complete. He had been in prison for a year; but even while he was preaching, He had no direct contact with Jesus after the baptism. If Jesus’ own disciples failed to understand Him fully and demonstrated “little faith” after being with Him intimately for three years, it is easy to understand why John had doubts. He was not an “eyewitness of His majesty,” as were Peter, James, and John (2 Pet. 1:16-18; cf. Matt. 17:2), nor did he have the opportunity to see with his own eyes or handle with his own hands the Son of God as He taught, preached, and healed, as had the twelve and many others besides (see 1 John 1:1).
John did not experience the full truth about the Messiah he was sent to proclaim. He was in a position not unlike that of the Old Testament prophets. “As to this salvation,” Peter explains, “the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow” (1 Pet. 1:10-11).
The information that John’s disciples brought back to him was still not firsthand, but their report was based on confirming demonstrations of divine power that Jesus performed specifically for John’s benefit.
Many believers today also doubt certain truths about God because of incomplete information, because they have inadequate knowledge or understanding of His Word. The Christian who is immersed in Scripture has no reason to stumble. When God is allowed to speak through His Word, doubt vanishes like mist in the sunlight.
Jesus responded to the doubts of the two disciples on the Emmaus road by first rebuking them for being “slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.” Then, “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scripture” (Luke 24:25,27). After Jesus revealed to them who He was and “vanished from their sight, . . . they said to one another, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?’” (vv. 31-32). Even before they knew it was Jesus who was speaking to them, the truth of His Word began dispelling their doubts and building up their faith.
We all need the continual truth of His Word to protect us from doubt and to dispel doubt when it comes. The Bereans were noble-minded and “received the word with great eagerness” because they examined “the Scriptures daily, to see whether” the things Paul preached were true (Acts 17:11).
WORLDLY INFLUENCE
A third cause of doubt is worldly influence, from which not even the godly John was completely insulated. What Jesus was preaching and doing did not square with what most Jews thought the Messiah, the Expected One, would do, and John probably shared some of those misconceptions. The Messiah was expected first of all to free Israel from her bondage, which at the time was under Rome. He obviously could not establish His own kingdom of justice and righteousness without first dealing with the pagan, unjust, and cruel Romans. But Jesus had done nothing to oppose Rome, either in words or actions.
The Jewish people also thought the Messiah would eliminate all suffering—all disease, affliction, hunger, and pain. Yet Jesus’ miracles, marvelous and extensive as they were, had not fully banished those things from Israel, much less from all the world. Many Jews also probably envisioned a type of welfare state, in which all their material needs would be provided for them. They expected health, wealth, and instant happiness, and when Jesus fed the multitude on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, they were ready to immediately crown Him king (John 6:15, 26).
John the Baptist knew Jesus refused to be made king, and that He had done nothing to change either the pagan and brutal political and military systems of Rome or the worldly and corrupt religious system in Israel. Sin was still rampant, injustice was still the rule, political and religious corruption were the norm, and the world was essentially the same as it had been for thousands of years—except for a few cleansed lives and healed bodies. No visible kingdom was in sight, and no radical changes could be seen.
A common misconception about the Messiah was that His coming would be preceded by the coming of a number of other men. First Elijah would return, then Jeremiah, then a group of other prophets. Therefore when Jesus asked His disciples, ‘“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’… they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist [who by that time had been killed]; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets” (Matt. 16:13-14). It is possible that John the Baptist thought that perhaps Jesus was not the Messiah after all but only one of those forerunners, as he himself was.
Jesus’ own disciples had some of those misconceptions concerning the Messiah. They were continually righting doubts about Jesus because He did not fit their preconceived ideas. Even after the resurrection they still expected Him to establish His earthly kingdom. “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” they asked (Acts 1:6). He had repeatedly told them about the nature of His mission and plan, but the ideas they had formed from the world around them clouded and distorted their understanding. What Jesus said to Philip shortly before His crucifixion applied to all the disciples: “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me?” (John 14:9). Even after Peter confessed that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he could not accept the truth that the Christ would have to die, even though he heard that truth from Jesus’ own lips (Matt. 16:16, 21-22). The disciples on the road to Emmaus were puzzled for the same reason (Luke 24:19-24). All of them had been victimized by what people around them thought the Messiah should be and do.
The people’s ideas about the Messiah were so distorted and ingrained that they disregarded or misconstrued whatever Jesus said or did that did not fit those ideas. When some of the Jewish leaders said to Jesus, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly,” Jesus answered, “I told you, and you do not believe” (John 10:24-25).
People today, including some believers, are confused and perplexed about the plan of God for the same reason. Their minds are so full of the ideas of people around them that they fail to understand God’s plan even when they read it in Scripture. We continually hear people ask, “If Christ loves everybody so much, why do children die and people starve and get diseased and become crippled? If God is a God of justice, why is there so much corruption and injustice in the world? Why do so many good people have it so bad and so many bad people have it so good? If God is so loving and merciful, why does He send people to hell? If God is so powerful and false religions are so evil, why doesn’t He just wipe out those false systems?” Because the Lord does not fit their preconceived ideas of what He should be like, people are perplexed, often indignant, and sometimes even blasphemous.
The world does not know God or understand His nature or His plan. “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). The Jews who would not believe Jesus’ claim to messiahship even when He told them plainly of it, did so because they did not belong to Him. “You do not believe,” Jesus said, “because you are not of My sheep” (John 10:26).
To the unbelieving Pharisees who asked Jesus about “when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or, “There it is!” For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst’” (Luke 17:20-21). Ignorance and unbelief always blind the eyes of men to the realities of the kingdom that are all around them.
UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS
The fact that John instructed his disciples to ask, or shall we look for someone else? seems to indicate that John’s expectations about the Messiah were unfulfilled. Under the Spirit’s direction, John had been boldly proclaiming, “He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:11-12). John knew that what he preached was true, and he knew that Jesus was the one about whom he preached; yet Jesus had done none of those things. The Messiah was to come in judgment, and John therefore expected Jesus to take “His winnowing fork in His hand” and start clearing the threshing floor and burning up the chaff. He expected Jesus to display the blazing power of absolute, complete, and worldwide judgment.
But instead of executing judgment, Jesus assembled a group of twelve nondescript followers and began teaching them in the same manner as many other rabbis had done for centuries before Him. He demonstrated miracle-working power, but He used it only to save and heal, never to judge. Especially now that he was imprisoned, John no doubt wanted to cry out with David, “When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before Thee. For Thou hast maintained my just cause; Thou dost sit on the throne judging righteously” (Ps. 9:3-4); and, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth!” (Ps. 58:11: cf. 35:1-9; 52:1-5). John wanted to cry out like the saints under the altar who said, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev. 6:10). But John saw no divine intervention, no judgment, no execution of justice. Jesus did not avenge the righteous. He did not even defend Himself against His accusers.
It has always been hard for believers to understand why God allows so many of His children to suffer and allows so many wicked, ungodly people to prosper. It was doubly hard for John the Baptist. For one thing, he had a deep devotion to righteousness and was called by God to preach repentance and judgment. More than that, he was called to proclaim the coming of the Expected One who would execute that judgment—which he thought would begin shortly, if not immediately, after the Messiah appeared on the scene.
Christians today sometimes get excited about the Lord’s imminent return; but when many years pass and He does not come, their hope, along with their dedication, often fades. They do not stop expecting Him to return some day, but they stop thinking about it and hoping for it as much as they once did. Some scoffers will even say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:4).
JESUS REASSURES JOHN
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.” (11:4-6)
Jesus did not answer with a simple yes or no, because He knew that would not have satisfied John. He rather told John’s disciples to present their teacher the evidence. Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Because many of John’s disciples had already been with Jesus and heard Him teach and seen Him perform miracles, part of the report to John would be a reminder of what they had reported earlier. In addition to having heard accounts from his disciples, John doubtlessly had heard from other sources as well, because people from all over Palestine—from Syria, “from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan”—had followed Jesus from early in His ministry, largely on account of His miraculous works (Matt. 4:23-25). After Jesus cleansed a man in Capernaum of an unclean spirit, “immediately the news about Him went out everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee” (Mark 1:28); after He raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead, “this news went out into all that land” (Matt. 9:26; cf. Luke 4:14, 37); and after He healed the Galilean man of leprosy, “the news about Him was spreading even farther” (Luke 5:15).
John was a great man of God and beloved by Jesus. As His faithful forerunner languished in prison facing imminent death, the Lord Jesus determined to give him a more direct and personal report of evidence. Luke tells us that when John’s disciples asked Jesus if He was “the Expected One,” that “at that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many who were blind” (7:20-21). Right on the spot and before their eyes, Jesus put on a display of miracles expressly for the personal benefit of John’s disciples and even more for the benefit of John himself. How it must have thrilled John’s heart not only to receive fresh confirming evidence of Jesus’ messiahship but to know that the Lord had performed that plethora of miracles specifically to reassure him in his time of loneliness and perplexity.
Although Jesus did nothing to relieve John’s physical confinement and suffering, He did send back to him special confirmation that He was indeed performing messianic works: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them—just as Isaiah had prophesied (Isa. 35:5; 61:1). Jesus said, in effect, “This, John, is but a preview, a taste, a picture of the coming kingdom. You can see by what I am doing now that I care, that I heal, and that I have power over all things.”
John’s circumstances did not improve; in fact, he was soon beheaded at the cruel request of Herodias. But it is safe to assume that Jesus’ response was more than enough to encourage John and renew his faith and confidence.
Jesus’ closing beatitude was primarily for the sake of John: And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me. It was a gentle warning, a tender rebuke. “Don’t doubt,” He said to John, “if you want to have the blessing of My joy and peace.” The warning did not take away from Jesus’ esteem for John, as his testimony immediately afterward shows (vv. 7-11).
Stumbling is from skandaliz
, which originally referred to the trapping or snaring of an animal. It was used metaphorically to signify an entrapment or stumbling block and carried the derived meaning of causing offense. Jesus’ divine messiahship and the gospel of deliverance from sin through faith in Him are great stumbling blocks to sinful, unbelieving man, and Jesus did not want John to be affected by the world’s skepticism and unbelief.
Matthew does not tell of the end to John’s doubt until later. After John was beheaded by Herod, “his disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus” (Matt. 14:12). They went to Jesus because He was the most important Person in John’s life and apparently had become the most important Person in their lives as well. When he died, John did not have all his questions answered, and he must have still wondered when Jesus would establish His kingdom, judge the wicked, and usher in the long-awaited kingdom of righteousness. John must have regretted not being able to witness those marvelous events about which he had so earnestly preached. But he no longer had doubts about who Jesus was or about His goodness and justice or His sovereignty and wisdom. He was content to leave in the Lord’s hands the many things he did not yet understand – and that is the secret of being blessed and of not stumbling.
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful,” Paul assures us; “For He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). Even when we doubt Him, God is faithful to us. Doubt does not cause a believer to lose his relationship to the Lord, because God cannot deny His own promises to keep those whom He had saved. And because of His faithfulness, we can go to Him even when we doubt Him. In fact, only by going to Him as John did can our doubts be relieved.
John the Baptist would have loudly affirmed the apostle John’s declaration, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).