WWUTT 2338 John the Baptist Sends Disciples (Luke 7:18-23)

While John the Baptist was in prison, it seems like he began to have some doubts. Is Jesus really the one who is to come, or shall we be looking for someone else? And so he sent some disciples to ask him, when we understand the text.

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John the Baptist’s Question from Prison

Thank you, Becky. And our study of the gospel according to Luke, we're still in chapter 7, and we're up to that section where John the Baptist sends a couple of his disciples to Jesus to ask him, are you the one we've been expecting?

Are you the Messiah? Or shall we be looking for another one? So let me read to you here, verses 18 to 35. Hear the word of the Lord. The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 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?

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? In that hour, he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind, he bestowed sight.

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 blessed is the one who is not offended by me. When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in king's courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

The Messiah John Expected

To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, We played the flute for you, and you did not dance.

We sang a dirge, and you did not weep. For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, He has.

A demon.

The son of man has come eating and drinking, and you say, Look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by all her children. Which is a great line, by the way, and I'm going to talk about its implications, but we won't get to that section today.

We'll have to come back to it again next week. Of course, it's a great line. It was spoken by the son of God. So this is an interesting section, and there have been various different interpretations regarding what is happening here with John the Baptist, who's in jail at this particular time, by the way, and he sends disciples to Jesus to ask him if he's the one that we've been waiting for.

Are you the Messiah that has been prophesied? Has finally the Christ come, or shall we be looking for another one? Now when we read of that question, we can take it straight up. John the Baptist was curious.

Maybe he even had his doubts. It was almost a matter for him that was like, Lord, I believe, now help my unbelief. So he sends disciples to Jesus to ask him, point blank, give me the answer. Say it right to me.

Let me hear the words so that I may know. Are you the Messiah that we have been looking for? And Jesus doesn't tell him straight up yes or no. We'll get to that here in just a second. So we can read the story just as it is.

John the Baptist is wanting to know whatever doubts he has, he wants to have them satisfied since he's in prison and maybe going to his death. Did he fulfill everything that he was meant to fulfill as a forerunner to the Messiah who was to come?

John the Baptist knew even that he was the fulfillment of that Isaiah prophecy because when he was questioned about his identity, he said, I am the one of whom it is said, prepare the way of the Lord.

Hear the voice in the wilderness crying. So John the Baptist knew that he was the fulfillment of that Isaiah prophecy. He knew that. Well, at least that's the way he answered. At this point when he's in prison, maybe he started to question that.

Did I really do what was expected of me to do? Was I that guy that fulfilled those words that were spoken by the prophet? Or is there another Messiah that we're waiting for? Or maybe John the Baptist had prepared the way thinking that it was preparing the way for Jesus, but maybe somebody else was coming.

Maybe Jesus is the guy that's preparing the way for the next person. So whatever doubts John has, he sends his disciples to Jesus to answer those doubts. That's one way and really the most straightforward way that we can understand this passage.

But there is another way that this passage gets interpreted and I don't agree with it. And unfortunately, I'm going to have to sit here and disagree with John MacArthur because he's one of those persons that has presented this particular view of this passage.

In MacArthur's view and when he's taught on this section, John the Baptist doesn't doubt that Jesus is the Messiah who is to come. He knows he is, absolutely believes it, but he's sending his disciples to Jesus to ask these questions because John is about to go to his death and he knows that.

Here he is rotting in a prison cell. He's not going to get back out. He's going to die. So he needs to send his disciples out to follow the Messiah and he wants them to see for themselves that Jesus is the one who is to come.

So he sends them to Jesus to ask this question, not because John doubts, but because he wants his disciples to see and be able to follow, be able to know confidently that Jesus is the one and therefore follow him in faith.

And so they ask him, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another? And then of course Jesus does all of these incredible miracles right in front of them. And thus they are able to see for themselves he is the Messiah.

And so when John the Baptist is gone, they will now follow Jesus. And that was John's entire reason for doing this. Again, that's how MacArthur is taught on this section. I just don't agree with that though, because there's nothing in the text that lends itself to that.

And in fact, when you're looking in the context of Luke, it makes sense why John the Baptist would begin to question, has all of this happened the way that the scriptures said that it would happen? And I'll point out why John the Baptist would be asking that question as we go through our text here.

The Captives, the Prophets, and the Kingdom of God

So coming back to verse 18, the disciples of John reported all these things to him. All of what things? Well, not just a couple of miracles that we've read here. So on Monday and Tuesday this week, we read of Jesus healing the centurion servant.

And then we read of Jesus raising a widow's son from the dead. And he performed both of these miracles simply by saying a word. He just said that the servant would be healed and he was healed. Didn't even see the servant.

Didn't even enter the centurion's home. He just spoke a word and the man was healed. And the centurion believed that Jesus had such authority that he could accomplish that. With raising the widow's son, Jesus doesn't even touch him, just says, rise, and the man comes back to life.

The power of God demonstrated in these incredible miracles, even through the power of his word. The God who created all the universe by the power of a word is the same God who is able to even raise the dead by speaking and making it so.

So those are the couple of miracles we saw at the beginning of the chapter. But John the Baptist's disciples are reporting not just on this, but even what we read previously. What Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Plain.

They were there, listened to him teach. The miracles that he did while he was there in Galilee, even before the Sermon on the Plain, that thing that had brought so many people to him, that they might have their diseases healed or evil spirits cast out, or they could see the miracles for themselves and they could listen to this incredible man teach.

All of this stuff that we've been reading about for about the last chapter and a half. These are the things that John's disciples saw and reported back to John. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying.

Now, maybe when John MacArthur reads that, MacArthur and anybody else that would teach this particular view, maybe when he reads that, he calls two of his disciples to him, sending them to the Lord. Maybe he's interpreting that as John the Baptist was truly sending them to Jesus.

Now you go follow Jesus. But I don't, again, I don't think that that's how the text is supposed to read. I remember the first time that I heard about this, I can't remember what I was teaching on, but it was not out of the gospel.

So I was teaching something else and somehow this account came up with the account in whichever gospel it was. I don't remember because it's not just in Luke, but somehow this account came up of John sending his disciples to Jesus and somebody in my class that I was teaching said, well, John MacArthur says that John didn't doubt that Jesus was the Messiah.

He was sending his disciples to Jesus so that they would follow Jesus. That was the first time I had ever heard that because I myself had not heard John MacArthur teach on that particular section and had heard him say that.

I've since listened to it, but at the time it was kind of like I was getting it second hand from people in my Sunday school class. And even then when they told me that, and they said it was MacArthur who taught that, I was standing there going, no, that's not accurate.

John the Baptist was truly sending his disciples to Jesus to ask him that question, exactly that question, not in some sort of shrewd way to send his disciples to Jesus so that they would begin following Jesus.

He was genuinely asking Jesus, are you the one that we are expecting or should we be looking for another one? And that's the question they ask. And when the men had come to him, verse 20, 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?

The one who is to come is the one that John the Baptist had been preaching about. So the context is all there, even though it doesn't say Messiah, it doesn't say Christ, but are you the one? Are you that one that has been prophesied that John the Baptist was supposed to prepare the way for?

Or is there somebody else that we should be looking for? Why would John be asking that question? Well, remember, once again, he's in prison. He's in jail. And I've shared this with you before, that the Messiah in Jesus Christ was not coming the way that the people expected him to come.

They were expecting more of a David-like figure. I mean, Jesus is the greater David, but they were looking for somebody who was a powerful king like David. Where is the guy who slayed giants, who himself was a warrior, who led men into battle?

Isn't that what our Messiah is going to do? He's going to show up, maybe he's going to round up the zealots or whatever army he's going to have at his disposal, and they're going to go kick the Herods out of the palace.

They're going to go kick out Pilate and all the Romans, and we're going to be freed from the tyranny of Rome. Israel will become a superpower again, and every nation that blesses us will be blessed, and every nation that curses us will be cursed, just like the covenant promise that was made with Abraham.

That was what the people were expecting. They wanted an emancipator. They wanted a warrior king who was going to assume that throne, kick Herod out of the throne, because Herod wasn't even a Jew anyway.

Herod was an Edomite. So let's get the Herods out of there. Jesus is going to assume that place, and then on the throne of David, the descendant of David will rise to that throne and lead Israel back to power, and we're going to have that presence on earth once again, just like was experienced in the days of David and then in the days of his son Solomon.

Wealth and prosperity will be pouring back into the Holy Land. That was what everybody was expecting. They wanted somebody who was going to set them free militarily, that was going to lead armies and be a political leader.

That's what they wanted, even John the Baptist. John the Baptist is not an exception here. Even he was looking for that kind of person. Again, what is John the Baptist's condition here at this particular point in Luke's narrative?

He's in prison. What was it we read that Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth? Back in Luke chapter four, what did Jesus read? Remember, he read from Isaiah. He opened up the scroll of Isaiah, and he read to the people there in his own hometown, in the synagogue that he grew up in.

He's reading from Isaiah, and he read, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

And then as we read in Luke 4 .20, he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All the eyes of everybody in the synagogue were fixed on him, and he began to say to them, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Jesus is saying right there to them that he is the fulfillment of this passage. He is the promised one, the anointed one, the Messiah whom God was sending. He's saying, I am the fulfillment of this prophecy that was made by Isaiah.

And consider once again what was said in that prophecy. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives. He's going to set the captives free. Where's John the Baptist? In prison. So if the Messiah is coming to set the captives free, why am I here?

Was surely the thought that was on John's mind. Like some people have this idea that the prophets were shown absolutely everything. So whatever God knew, the prophets knew. And that's not true. That's not the case.

There were many things that God did not show the prophets. You have multiple occasions where the prophet doubted whatever it was that God was doing. Remember that Samuel was sent to Jesse's house to anoint the next king after Saul.

And when Jesse's oldest son passes in front of him, Samuel's going, oh, this has got to be the guy. Surely this is the guy. He didn't know. He did not understand. And even when he anoints a shepherd boy named David, still doesn't understand that this is going to be the guy that's going to rise up and will lead Israel and will even be the very one whom God would make a covenant with and through David's line would eventually come the Messiah.

Samuel didn't know that either. There were a lot of things that a prophet didn't know. There were only certain things that God revealed to him and those words that he was meant to share with the people.

And I've heard this teaching a lot. I've heard some people teach that whenever God spoke to a prophet, the prophet knew everything that God told them to tell the people and in exactly its meaning and its interpretation, even for future generations and the fulfillment of Christ and what he was going to accomplish and all this other kind of thing.

The apostle Paul said in Ephesians that all of this was mysterious and no one even knew how it was that the Messiah was going to accomplish, was going to accomplish all those things that had been prophesied in the Old Testament until he showed up and did it.

And then even, well, I guess I could say even then the disciples didn't understand. We're going to see that at the end of Luke because after he rises from the dead, they still don't get it until Jesus opens their minds to understand the scriptures.

So, yes, there were things that were spoken even to prophets that the prophet didn't fully understand. John the Baptist had seen heaven open up, had seen the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus, had heard the voice of the father say, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

What we know from John's gospel, the apostle John, what we know from his gospel is that God even told John the Baptist, the one whom my spirit comes upon will be the one. So God had even spoken to John the Baptist in this way.

John the Baptist received the word of God, not just in the sense that Jesus, who is the son of God, spoke to him. John the Baptist even heard from the father. And yet he hits this moment here and has his doubts because the scriptures said that the Messiah would set the captives free, but John the Baptist is a captive.

So maybe I'm missing something. He was interpreting a prophet in an absolute literal sense and not understanding that the prophecy of Jesus setting the captives free was in reference to the fact that we were going to be set free from our sin.

It didn't mean Christians will never have to go to prison again, because that's still happening in the world. That's been going on for 2 ,000 years, ever since Jesus and the disciples and they planted the church.

And from then on, Christians have been thrown in prison for being followers of Christ. And that's still going to happen until Jesus comes. So the setting free of the captives is in the spiritual sense that we've been set free from our sin.

The thing that most holds us captive, the thing that we really need deliverance from, not from our literal jail cell, but from the spiritual chains that bind every single person who is a descendant from Adam, who is born with his sin nature, who is inclined in their hearts to rebel against God and sin and go after the carnal passions of the flesh.

We need set free from that enslavement. And it's Christ who sets us free. And so, Jesus, in showing to John the Baptist's disciples, it says in verse 21, in that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind, he bestowed sight.

Because again, what was part of that prophecy? He came to recover the sight to the blind, to open their eyes that they may see. Now, these miracles, though, and we've already considered this as we've been going through Luke's gospel.

These miracles, though Jesus would accomplish them on a physical level, pointed to a spiritual reality. Remember Jesus raising the paralyzed man so that you would see that the Son of God has the power to forgive sins, has the authority to forgive sins.

He tells the man, rise up and walk. And if he can make a man walk by commanding him to do so, then he has even the authority to forgive a person of their sins. And that's the real healing that we need.

A person having their sight restored? Well, if Jesus can do that physically, then he can open up a person's eyes that are blind to the truth and help them to see what God has said according to his word, according to the scriptures, according to what Jesus has said, according to what will be preached by the disciples.

So when these two disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus and ask him that question, again, verse 21 says, in that hour. So as they're there, they're watching him do all these things, healing people of diseases, plagues, evil spirits, restoring sight.

And he answers them, go and tell John what you have seen and heard, what you have seen and heard with your own eyes, with your own ears. The blind receive their sight. The lame walk. Lepers are cleansed.

The deaf hear. The dead are raised up. The poor have good news preached to them. That was part of that prophecy too, remember? To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, to proclaim good news to the poor.

And blessed is the one, Jesus says, who is not offended by me. You have no reason to feel any offense. Though you are in prison, John the Baptist is blessed because he did the work that God had appointed him to do.

We're going to consider that further when we get to the rest of this section, which we'll have to come back to on Monday. We come back to our Luke study. Tomorrow we're going to be in Jeremiah. So John's messengers are going to go back to John with this word of what they have seen, and that will be enough for John, and he will know, and he will be assured, and he will be confident.

This is the son of God because only he could accomplish all these things. And all those things are in fulfillment of the scriptures that I have read. It was because of those very scriptures that John the Baptist was asking this question, are you the one?

Or shall we be waiting for another? Because here I am in prison in this prison cell, and Jesus points to all these other things that he does and accomplishes. And so through this, John the Baptist would know, okay, setting the captives free then is not what I thought it was.

And then he will understand. And Jesus turns to the crowd and says, none born of women are greater than John the Baptist. Let us also trust the word of God that we have read. And we know that through Jesus Christ, we have received sight.

We may see our sin and the truth about God and have come to believe in him. The lame walk, we previously couldn't do anything for ourselves. God has given us a new walk in Christ Jesus that we might walk in newness of life.

Lepers are cleansed. We were diseased with sin and Christ has cleansed us. The deaf hear, we could not hear and understand the word of God. The Holy Spirit has opened our ears to understand it and rejoice in it.

The dead are raised up. We were once dead in our trespasses and sins in which we once walked, and we've been made alive together with Christ. The poor have the good news preached to them. We understand as said in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five, we were poor in spirit and we turned to Christ who was the only one who could give us what we lacked, what we needed.

And we've received all good things in Christ Jesus that we would also receive the kingdom of God. And blessed is the one who is not offended by him. It is our joy and it is our delight to be followers of Jesus, though the world will hate us for it.

Bring it on because my home is forever in glory with God. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here and I pray that it stirs confidence in our souls that we may know Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again from the dead and whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Work out this truth in our hearts that we may be sanctified and prepared for that day of glory. And may we walk in holiness this day in obedience to our savior. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Closing Exhortation and Program Sign-Off

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.