Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus Is the One Isaiah Prophesied About (v.

18-23)

The last time we saw John was in chapter 3, where we see him locked away in prison.

King Herod was sleeping with his brother’s wife, and John was calling him out on it publicly, so Herod has him emprisoned to keep him quiet.

But he still had some contact with his disciples, for John has heard about all the miraculous things that Jesus is doing, and send his disciples to ask him a question.

V. 18:

18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him [“all these things” were the miracles Jesus was performing].

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?’ ”

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?’ ”

Anon, 2016.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

“The one who is to come” is a common way of referring to the Messiah—the Savior of the people of Israel who was prophesied by the prophets.

The Hebrews had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah for centuries, and now their anticipation had reached new heights, because their country was occupied by the Roman Empire.

They expected the Messiah to come in and free them from this foreign power.

So when John asks, “Are you the one who is to come?” what he’s asking is, “Are you the Messiah?”

It’s a revealing question—let’s not forget that John and Jesus are related: their mothers were cousins.

In addition, in the past John had actually testified to the identity of Jesus.

In , we see John preparing the way for the Messiah, and in v. 29 we read,

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Anon, 2016.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The point is, it’s not as if they’re strangers.

So it’s surprising that now that Jesus is actually coming out and doing these miraculous things, John sends his disciples to essentially ask Jesus, “Are you really the Messiah?”

Why the doubt?

Why is he now wondering if what he had said before was actually true?

To be honest, the Bible never tells us.

It could be because Jesus isn’t freeing Israel from the oppression of the Romans.

It could be simply—and this is my personal guess—because John is a human being, and human beings, when they’re suffering, tend to see things in a darker light.

John always did the right thing, said what needed to be said…and what is he getting for it?

He’s locked away in prison for doing what was right.

It would be easy for him to think, But it wasn’t supposed to go this way!

Whatever the case may be, what’s most important is not the question, but the answer.

V. 21:

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.”

Anon, 2016.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

There are two things that are remarkable about his answer.

First of all, Jesus quotes several passages from the book of Isaiah to confirm his identity.

All of these quotes speak of the coming Messiah, the one who would free Israel; and Isaiah prophesied that when the Messiah came, these are the things he would do—these are the ways you will know it is indeed the Messiah.

Jesus is essentially showing them his I.D., proving that he is who he says he is.

And his I.D. consists in his fulfilling the promises of God.

We know Jesus is the Messiah, we know Jesus is the Son of God, because prophecies had been made centuries before, and Jesus is fulfilling all of them.

And we know he’s not a charlatan who is simply organizing his life to meet certain historical criteria because the prophecies about him are humanly impossible: he’s giving sight to the blind, he’s making the lame walk, he’s raising the dead.

Jesus proves who he is by what he does.

This is the first remarkable thing: in his grace, Jesus gently reminds John of his identity using impossible facts: John’s disciples can see him doing these things—they're not just rumors.

And the impossible things they’re seeing are exactly what Isaiah said the Messiah would do, hundreds of years before.

Here’s the second remarkable thing—it’s not the main point, but it’s astounding.

V. 22 again:

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.

And he doesn’t say, “And the prisoners go free.”

The last thing he mentions—”the poor have good news preached to them”—comes from , a verse John would have known well:

61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

But Jesus never says that last part.

John, hearing this from his prison cell, would have understood what that meant: “You’re going to die in there.”

Anon, 2016.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Now, why is this remarkable?

It’s remarkable because it speaks directly to the doubt anyone in John’s position would have had: Why am I stuck in prison if he came to set the captives free?

Because Jesus came to bring a different kind of freedom.

Not a military or political freedom, not even physical freedom from prison—but spiritual freedom from sin. (Just a reminder, sin is rebellion against God and rejection of him—any act we do which is not done from faith in God in sin.

We are slaves to that sin, and Christ came to bring freedom from that slavery.)

End parentheses—let’s come back to the main point.

, , , (“the poor have good news preached to them”)

To prove his identity, Jesus points to the things he is doing: healing the sick, and proclaiming the good news to the poor.

Why is this fact so central to the Messiah’s identity?

Why was it those things which were prophecied about him in the first place?

Because Jesus came to show us the character of God.

He always goes toward those who have nothing to offer him (the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, the poor).

He is drawn toward those who are stunted, handicapped and sinful.

The love of Christ: he always goes toward those who have nothing to offer (the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, the poor).

He is drawn toward those who are stunted, handicapped and sinful.

Ever wonder why that is?

Why doesn’t he go to those who would be “useful” additions to his team? to the strong, or the intelligent, or the influential?

He does it because these people who are physically disabled all have something in common: they know they need help.

They all know they’re handicapped, they all know they can’t heal themselves.

They all know they need help.

And the thing is, there are loads of other, healthy people standing around, watching this.

So what must have it have been to be watching this from the outside, seeing Jesus spending time with the physically disabled and healing them; and then seeing him walk towards them, and hearing him say, “I want to spend time with you too.”

The message would have been crystal clear: “You need my help as much as they do.”

Their handicap was their sin, and Christ’s love drove them to repentance.

- Take him as he is.

Now the point of all of this is that Jesus does not work in the way people expect him to.

The Hebrews expected the Messiah to come in a certain way; and Jesus came doing something entirely different.

He came doing exactly what the Scriptures said he would, but not at all in the way people thought he would.

They knew those Scriptures, but they chose to see them in light of what they wanted, not in light of what they actually said.

And apparently even John fell prey to this to a certain extent.

And this still happens today.

People put so much emphasis on one aspect of Jesus’s character, to the detriment of all the others.

They’ll come to Jesus with their ideas of love and acceptance and harmony, and they’ll find themselves not quite knowing how to take his demands to righteousness, his warnings of hell or his commandments which frankly seem impossible.

Or they’ll come to Jesus looking for those teachings in which Jesus makes severe demands on his people, but they don’t quite know what to do with Jesus hanging out with sinners—because they certainly don’t feel comfortable doing that!

Jesus says (v. 23):

23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

In other words, blessed is the one who sees me for what I am, and who takes me as I am.

If Jesus makes moral demands on you, then obey him.