WWUTT 1998 John the Baptist is Elijah (Matthew 11:12-19)

Jesus said that John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, and they said he has a demon. Jesus came eating and drinking, and they said he's a gluttonous man and a drunkard.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in Matthew chapter 11.

Finishing up the section we've been looking at this week with Jesus talking about John the Baptist, I'm going to pick up in verse 12 and go through verse 19 out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. And from the days of John the

Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it,

John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to the other children and say, we played the flute for you and you did not dance.

We sang a dirge and you did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a demon.

The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. So as we're looking at this section today, we've got it broken up into three parts here.

Verses 12 and 13, Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven suffering violence.

What is meant by that? And then in verses 14 and 15, Jesus says that John himself is

Elijah. What is meant by that? And then we have these closing illustrations here where he talks about the playing of the flute, playing a dance and a dirge, but you didn't dance and you didn't mourn.

And that's in verses 16 to 19. What does Jesus mean by that? So let's look at these three sections that we have to look at here.

So once again, Matthew 11, 1 through 19, this is where John, the Baptist disciples have come to Jesus on John's behalf.

John who was in prison. We know he's going to be martyred soon. John sends his disciples to ask

Jesus, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for someone else? And Jesus answers to John's disciples with the scriptures and saying, look at what has been happening.

It's been a fulfillment of what was prophesied in the scriptures. The blind receive sight, 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.

As I pointed out on Monday, it was not simply enough that Jesus did these miracles.

They also had to fulfill the scriptures because the scriptures prophesied about the one that was to come.

So then Jesus makes tribute to John the Baptist saying that of all those who have been born of woman, there is none greater than John the

Baptist. That was in verse 11, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

And that's a reference to his own disciples. They who were also going to give up their very lives for the preaching of the gospel.

And that is a point we're going to come back to a little bit later on in the gospel of Matthew. This concept of the least in the kingdom of heaven comes up several times in Matthew's gospel.

Because remember, one of the main themes that we have in this gospel is the kingdom of heaven.

That Christ is the king and here is what his subjects in his kingdom are to be like.

So who is least in the kingdom of heaven will be even greater than John. A concept as I said, once again, we'll come back to later.

So now picking up in this last section, verses 12 to 19, and from the days of John the

Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force for all the prophets in the law prophesied until John.

Now this is a curious phrase and you would probably be tempted to assume that Jesus is talking about the persecution that would come against those who are part of the kingdom of God.

Especially with this reference in verse 13, for all the prophets in the law prophesied until John.

And what did Jesus say about the prophets back in chapter five? But that the prophets were persecuted even before you as Jesus said to his disciples, blessed are you when they persecute you for my name's sake, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And so you might think with this reference here in verses 12 and 13 that you're talking about the kingdom of heaven or those who are part of that kingdom suffering violence by persecution.

But that isn't actually what Jesus is talking about. This is metaphorical here. And the language is similar to when a city was besieged.

So when armies came against a city and they would surround the city, people couldn't go out. Nothing could come in.

They would just kind of wear the people out before they breached the city walls. And so where Jesus is talking about that here in verses 12 and 13, he's talking about those who come into the kingdom and they, they take the kingdom by force.

Well how could that be? The kingdom of God would be subject to violence or people that would take the kingdom of God by force?

No, because once again, with verse 13, all the prophets in the law prophesied until John.

So these things were talked about even before John came, it was in the old

Testament talking about the kingdom of God coming and now the king is here. But because of all those things that were prophesied in the law and prophets and even up until John, it has burned in the hearts of people who desire the kingdom.

And so they seize the kingdom once it's finally come, Christ is here, the kingdom of God, all those who want to be part of it, take hold of Christ and you will be part of it.

And so this is speaking of the yearning and the zealousness that was in their hearts to desire

Christ and his kingdom, that they take it as those who would besiege a city and seize it by force.

This is the metaphorical language that Jesus is using here with reference to that. So once again, verse 12, from the days of John the

Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.

They desire the kingdom so much that they would seize it. It would be as those who seize a city for all the prophets in the law prophesied until John.

In other words, this is not new. This is the fulfillment of those things that had been prophesied before.

It is new in the sense that now it's come, but it's not that it was unexpected. There were those who were anticipating it, and now it's here and they desire it so much that the zeal in their hearts, it would be as if they were like the violent who take a city by force.

So this is not at all Jesus saying that in order to advance the kingdom of God, that we should do it violently or by force.

It shouldn't be read that way either. But again, speaking of those who in their hearts yearn for the kingdom.

And then the next portion in verses 14 and 15, Jesus says, and if you are willing to accept it.

John himself is Elijah, who was to come, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

This is another metaphor. So we have we have three metaphors here, 12 and 13.

The the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent men take it by force. And now this next metaphor, if you're willing to accept it,

John himself is Elijah, who was to come. You could call it typology if you wanted to or symbolism in some way that Elijah was even a type of prophet that was to come.

There would be another that would come in his line, and that's in reference to John the Baptist. This is in fulfillment of, once again, what was said in Isaiah.

We talked about that yesterday with Isaiah saying, one who cries out in the wilderness prepare the way of the

Lord. We saw Matthew reference that earlier in chapter three, pointing that John pointing to John the

Baptist as being the one who fulfilled that prophecy from Isaiah. But this one specifically, this is from Malachi.

Yesterday, we looked at Malachi three, one where it is said, behold, I am going to send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the

Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his people. OK, but the reference to John the

Baptist being Elijah is actually in chapter four. It's the last line in chapter four, the last line in Malachi's prophecy, verse five.

Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh.

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.

So this statement here in Malachi four or five, I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet. There were some who believed that Elijah would literally be sent.

It would actually be Elijah, because once again, how did Elijah depart this earth?

Did he die? No. He was one of two men recorded in the Bible who did not die.

They were taken up into heaven, Enoch being the other one in Genesis. Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind before Elisha's eyes and also 50 other prophets who were with him on the other side of the

Jordan. Elisha wasn't the only witness to this. So Elijah was taken up, not by chariots of fire.

Chariots of fire separated Elijah and Elisha. But if you go back and read the story, it wasn't in chariots of fire that Elijah was taken up into heaven.

He was taken up in a whirlwind. But we know that Elijah did not die bodily.

He was taken up. So because of that, and because of this prophecy here in Malachi four or five, the belief was that Elijah would literally return.

It would actually be him that would come back. But this was rather in reference to a type of Elijah, not that it would be

Elijah exactly. And Jesus is showing that here, that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of that particular prophecy.

So let me skip ahead a little bit to John's gospel. This is

John chapter one in verse 19. It says this, this is the witness of John when the

Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?

Now this John is John the Baptist. The gospel of John is written by the apostle John. The John that the priests are coming to, the priests and the

Levites are coming to is John the Baptist. So they come to John the Baptist and they say, who are you? And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed,

I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah?

And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, no.

Therefore they said to him, who are you? So that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?

And he said, I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.

So consider the first two questions that are asked of John the Baptist here in his answers.

The first question is, are you Elijah? And he said, I am not.

But here Jesus is saying that John the Baptist is Elijah. Well, John the

Baptist knew that the question they were asking him was, are you literally Elijah? Are you like the reincarnation of Elijah?

Or are you Elijah that has come down from heaven to come back to us?

Remember, they wouldn't have had Facebook back in this time. It wasn't like there were portraits of Elijah around anywhere.

They had these pictures they could just go and reference and see whether this man was actually

Elijah. So here's John the Baptist. He's prophesying in the wilderness. All these incredible things are going on surrounding his appearing and his coming.

So they ask him, first of all, if he's the Christ, at least that would be the assumption which prompts

John to say, I'm not the Christ. So then are you Elijah? I am not. John knows that their question is, are you literally

Elijah? That's why he says, I am not. He's not saying that he's not the fulfillment of Malachi 4, because Jesus says

John is the fulfillment of Malachi 4. He just knowing their intentions denies to them that he's actually

Elijah the prophet. So then he says, or then they ask him, are you the prophet?

And he answered no. So that could be doubling up on the question, could be asking him again if he is

Elijah, or it could be asking him if he is the Messiah who is to come.

And John denies that as well. So then they say, well, then who are you? And he says that he's the fulfillment of the prophecy that was made there in Isaiah.

And John would have known that because once again, as I mentioned yesterday, the

Lord spoke to him. God actually told him. And that's recorded in John 1 also that he would see the

Holy One who was sent by God when the Holy Spirit would come and rest upon him. And we know that happened after Jesus was baptized by John.

So here, Jesus says, coming back to Matthew 11 again, if you are willing to accept it,

John himself is Elijah who was to come. And Jesus mentions this to not only give tribute to John the

Baptist, but also to show to the people that he is the one. Jesus is the one.

John the Baptist came before the Messiah, who is

Christ. So if you're willing to accept it, John is Elijah who was to come.

He has the spirit of Elijah is what is meant by that. He's not literally Elijah.

He's not the reincarnation of Elijah in any way like that. But he is the spirit of Elijah. Just as Israel had fallen so far from God, there were some faithful, but Israel was far from God at the time

Elijah came. And if it were not for Elijah, Israel would have continued in their bail worship to their destruction.

So just like what was said in Malachi, behold, I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh.

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.

So this is what John the Baptist came doing so that the hearts of the people would be prepared for the coming of God and would hear him and believe in him.

Hence the statement Jesus made previously in verses 12 and 13, that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.

Their hearts are burning within them for the kingdom of God and they seize it. All right.

Now we go to the next part. So here's the two metaphors. So far, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, 12 and 13.

John himself is Elijah. He has the spirit of Elijah verses 14 and 15, a ministry that's like Elijah.

And then we have this final reference in verses 16 to 19 to being like children in the marketplace.

Jesus says, but to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to the other children and say, we played the flute for you and you did not dance.

We sang a dirge and you did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he has a demon.

The son of man came eating and drinking and they say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. So verses 18 and 19 explain the metaphor that Jesus made in verses 16 and 17.

How shall I compare this generation talking about the people that Jesus is ministering to at that time, the people

John the Baptist ministered to, and then Jesus is proclaiming himself to as well. This generation is like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to the other children.

Now, remember that I said the other day that Jesus refers to his own disciples as being little ones.

And so he kind of continues that metaphor here with children in the marketplaces.

They call out to other children and they say, we played the flute for you and you did not dance.

We sang a dirge and you did not mourn. Now I've seen some commentators say that John the

Baptist played the dirge and Jesus played the dance because the dirge would have been a mourning song, right?

It's a song that would have been played during a funeral procession, whereas a dance during a time of festival.

And Jesus said of himself back in verse five, that the poor have the gospel preached to them.

They've heard the good news. So that would be like a dance. Jesus came preaching good news.

John the Baptist came to convict the hearts of the people. So it would have been like, like they would have mourned over their sin and longed for the revealing of the kingdom when the king came.

Because then as Jesus goes on to say in verses 18 and 19, John came neither eating or drinking and they say he has a demon.

So he was, was not eating and drinking, which is, you know, that's what you do during a festival.

That's what you do in a time of great celebration. You eat and drink, but John was not doing that.

So he was like the one morning and they said of him, he has a demon. But then the son of man came eating and drinking and there you have joyful exuberance.

And they say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. We read that just a couple of chapters ago.

And so in other words, what Jesus is saying here is no matter what is done, it does not please this generation.

We could sing a dirge so that everybody would mourn, but they say, no, John the Baptist has a demon or we could come eating and drinking and celebrating, preaching the gospel, preaching good news.

And they'll say, no, that's a gluttonous man, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

So there's no way to please this generation. Those who have rebellious heart and hearts against God, no matter what is said, they won't believe whether you give them bad news or good news, they won't be convicted over it.

They won't rejoice over it. And so then Jesus says at the end of 19, yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.

What is meant by that phrase? Wisdom is in reference to godly wisdom. And remember that Proverbs 1, 7 says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.

So wisdom, godly wisdom vindicated by her deeds means that however that wisdom comes, however the good wisdom of God comes, whether it's in a word of conviction that causes the heart to mourn over sin, or whether it is with rejoicing, with the preaching of the good news of the gospel that causes the heart to rejoice.

Either way, the one who truly seeks the Lord will be compelled by both and will desire godliness and holiness with either one of those things.

And so wisdom, godly wisdom is going to be vindicated by her deeds. It doesn't matter which way this came, through mourning or through rejoicing, it is good if it is in the wisdom of God.

And so we come to a close on this particular section we've been looking at this week, Matthew 11, 1 -19.

And so may we be a people who desire the kingdom of God, that we would be, it could be said of us that we would be like those who would take it by force.

Not that we're violent, that's not who we are, because remember Jesus said in the Beatitudes, blessed are the peacemakers.

But we yearn for the kingdom of God, we're zealous for it, that we would reach out and seize it and cling to it, we would besiege it, we would take all the treasure and everything that could be received from the kingdom, let us take more and more and more because there is much to give.

May that be said of us who desire the kingdom of Christ in that way. That's number one, because we read that in verses 12 and 13.

Number two, let us understand what has been prophesied in the scriptures and believe it.

For as Isaiah said in Isaiah 66 too, while Isaiah speaking the words of God, this is the one to whom

I will look. The one who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

So let us be willing to accept it. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Anything that the word of God says, we would be willing to accept, for in these words, we find eternal life.

So we long for the kingdom, we long for God's word, and then finally, however that word comes, whether it convicts our hearts or causes us to rejoice, it's all good because it brings us closer to Christ.

The point of verses 16 to 19. May the desire of our hearts be for Christ and for his word and every work that he does in our hearts until his appearing.

For as said in Philippians 1 .6, I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here in Matthew 11, and I pray that you would continue to work these things in our hearts, that it stirs in us a delight for the things of God.

To read what we've read with regards to the kingdom, with the promises that have been given to us in Christ, the promise of everlasting life, the forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance with you in your eternal kingdom.

So teach us to walk in your ways until that day comes when we will join

Christ forever in glory. Let us not be discouraged by anything that is happening in this world, for we know that the kingdom of Christ is our inheritance.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. This has been When We Understand the

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