28 August 2010

24 Aug (Matt 11 & Luke 7)


The Gospels: Is Jesus the Promised One?


Matthew 11

(v.3) Why did John the Baptist ask if Jesus is the Promised One? After all, as a baby in the womb, he jumped when the Messiah was in the belly of Mary when she entered Elizabeth's home. Also, John himself proclaimed Jesus as the Lamb of God...knowing that Jesus was the Passover Lamb for all of us.

So why did John ask this? I think it's quite simple...he was human. Like so many of his contemporaries, they were expecting the Messiah to come and conquer the Romans and set up His kingdom. Like Abraham, Moses, David and others, John the Baptist was human, and prone to mistakes.

Chuck Smith, in his Bible commentary, suggests that since John the Baptist was a loner and not used to being cooped up in a prison cell, he was anxious and impatient with how long the Messiah was taking to do His work. If we look at our own lives, we are the same...we want immediate gratification and results. This is another lesson to us that we need to conform to God's timing, which is perfect, and NEVER LATE!

(v.27) Here is one of many verses where Jesus is pronouncing Himself to be God. As we saw earlier, in the Jewish culture, the son is equated with the father...that is why the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus...His Son status equates Him with the Father. John 10:30

(v.28) Jesus gives us rest...peace. Being a Christian doesn't mean we live easy lives. Most of the time, we live more troublesome lives with persecution and torment. But through it all, with our faith in Christ, we go through our trials, knowing that He will never forsake us! That is peace which allows us to live a life full of joy! Deut 31:6


No comments:

Post a Comment