Mat 11:1 (KJB)
And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an
end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to
preach in their cities.
In chapter ten the Lord Jesus Christ was not
giving His disciples suggestions but He was commanding them because He knew that
they would face the same type of opposition that He did. The word for “command”
in the Greek may also be understating as “directing.” Their ministry would not
be a random ministry done any way they saw fit, but their ministry would be done
according to the principles the Lord Jesus Christ just gave them. While the
disciples had gone out to minister according to the way the Lord Jesus commanded
them, Jesus Himself did not just sit around idly, instead He had preached and
taught in the cities around Galilee. This is a principle for leadership. If we
have the privilege of heading up a ministry or a church, the people in other
positions will do their jobs and the leaders are never to sit around and just
give orders but are to be involved as much as those who are being led.
Mat 11:2 (KJB)
Now when John had heard in the prison the works of
Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
John had openly rebuked Herod Antipas for taking his
brother’s wife for himself which resulted in him being thrown into prison. John
had heard of the works of Jesus. Herod Antipas was Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea
so the prison where John was sentenced would not have been too far from the area
where Jesus was doing all His mighty miracles and mighty works. John heard of
this and apparently he was allowed to have visitors, so John had dispatched two
of his disciples to meet with Jesus. At this time John was probably a little
confused by his situation. He was in prison and maybe he thought that he would
be connected with the ministry of Jesus, instead he was in prison.
Mat 11:3 (KJB)
And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do
we look for another?
The two disciples of John had come to Jesus and asked
Him straight out if He was the prophesied Messiah or is it someone else? John
probably thought that if Jesus was the Messiah, then things should have been
happening by now concerning the nation of Israel, instead Jesus was doing all
kinds of miracles and mighty works and it did not seem that the Kingdom of
Heaven was being established under Jesus. Personally, I do not believe that John
lost faith but that he needed a clarification of what was happening and once he
understood, then he could properly assess the present ministry of Jesus. It does
sound strange that John knew that Jesus was the Lamb of God that takes away the
sin of the world and yet he is questioning the ministry of Jesus.
Mat 11:4 (KJB)
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John
again those things which ye do hear and see:
If you notice, Jesus did not give a long theological
answer to their question, instead He points them to the visible fruit of His
ministry. People were being taught the Kingdom of God and many of the people in
the area had experienced physical healing. Jesus knew that John would
immediately know that He was the Messiah because who had the authority to heal
sickness, to heal the paralytics, to feed the multitudes, to quell the storm on
the sea of Galilee, to raise the dead, give divine authority to His disciples,
deliver people from devil possession, etc. John would know immediately that only
the prophesied Messiah, sent from God, would have the power and authority to
accomplish these things.
Mat 11:5 (KJB)
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor
have the gospel preached to them.
(Isa 35:6 KJV) Then shall the lame man leap as an
hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break
out, and streams in the desert.
(Mat 9:30 KJV) And their eyes were opened;
and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
(Mat 9:6 KJV) But that ye may know that the
Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of
the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
(Mat 8:3 KJV) And Jesus put forth his hand,
and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed.
(Mark 7:33-35 KJV) And he took him aside from
the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his
tongue; {34} And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha,
that is, Be opened. {35} And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of
his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
(Luke 7:15 KJV) And he that was dead sat up,
and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
(Mat 9:24-25 KJV) He said unto them, Give
place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
{25} But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand,
and the maid arose.
Only the true Messiah could do these works. For who
has the power to raise the dead, or give sight to the blind? Only God Himself
has that power and here God the Son has accomplished all of these miracles and
mighty works. This was all John had to know and he would be convinced that Jesus
was the prophesied One. Then Jesus stated that the poor have the Gospel being
preached to them. The poor people were the outcasts of society but the fact that
Jesus was preaching to them shows His care for their souls as well.