Matthew 11:1-19
A Press Conference for
the King
Read
Matt. 11:2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples
Matt. 11:3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
Pray
Intro
√ A new chapter
Chapter 11 begins a new section in Matthew’s Gospel…
Chapters 1-3 ~ the presentation of the King
Chapters 4 ~ the war of the King
Chapters 5-7 ~ the message of the King
Chapters 8-9 ~ the work of the King
Chapter 10 ~ the companions of the King
Chapters 11 & 12 record the growing resistance of the religious leaders to Jesus and His teaching.
Matthew records a number of run-ins with the Scribes and Pharisee who are now openly questioning the Lord’s authority and doctrine.
Jesus uses these conflicts to clarify His message and His mission.
So, we might group these two chapters under the heading…
“The resistance against the King”
√ A press conference for the King
This new section begins with a question to King Jesus from one of His most loyal subjects…
…His cousin John the Baptist!
While John is certainly not in the camp of the religious leaders and their resistance to Jesus…
…he is confused about Jesus’ mission.
So, we find in our text that Jesus uses this opportunity to do a “press conference” and clarify for the people the…
Ministry of the Messenger
Malcontent of the Multitudes
Cool stuff!
Matt. 11:1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.
Matt. 11:2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples
Matt. 11:3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
Matt. 11:4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:
Matt. 11:5 The blind see 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.
Matt. 11:6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
√
Verse 1 helps us to understand the sequence of events in Jesus’ ministry…
After choosing and counseling His apostles He sends them out to help with the work of the harvest.
While Jesus continues His work taking the Message of the Kingdom to other areas where the apostles are not going.
Each working a different part of the harvest field.
It is then that two of John’s disciples show up with a question for the King.
1) The question
Matt. 11:2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples
Matt. 11:3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
John had been arrested earlier by Herod Antipas (grandson of Herod the Great) because he had called Antipas on the carpet for his immoral relationship with his brother Phillip’s wife (Matt. 4:12 & Matt. 14:3-12).
According to Josephus, John was imprisoned at Herod’s fortress Machaerus (the “Black Fortress”).
Located in modern day
Sitting in prison John begins to wonder whether or not he got it right when he pointed to Jesus and declared…
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” ~ John 1:29
It’s not hard to sympathize with John as he suffered in prison!
He was a man who liked to be out of doors, now he’s stuck in a dark prison cell.
He was a man on a mission with a message to preach, now he’s sits in silence and can’t preach to the people.
He had proclaimed that judgment was coming upon the wicked, now he sits under the judgment of a wicked man.
He proclaimed Jesus as the promised Messiah King, he must have wondered…
“If Jesus is the promised King, how come He hasn’t tossed the Romans out and come to rescue me!”
So he asks Jesus…
“Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” vs. 3
John’s question arises from a wrong perspective, an incomplete theology.
Like most of the Jews in his day he was looking for a conquering Messiah, like David…
…a Messiah who would do away with sin and unrighteousness and bring judgment upon the wicked – including the Romans who occupied the Promised Land.
So, sitting in a prison under the authority of a puppet to
the
2) The answer
Jesus answer’s John’s question by taking him back to the Scripture, helping John to understand that the mission of the Messiah was bigger than the popular theology of his day.
Matt. 11:4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:
Matt. 11:5 The blind see 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.
Matt. 11:6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
Jesus instructs John’s friends to go back and give him an eye-witness account of what Jesus was doing.
Remember, the works of Jesus as recorded in chapters 8 & 9 were done specifically to provide evidence that Jesus was in fact the promised Messiah…
…the King of
What evidence? Jesus quotes from Isaiah’s Messianic prophecies (29:18; 35:4-6 & 61:1)…
“The blind see 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.”
…to show John from the Scripture that He was fact doing the work of Messiah.
√ What kind of Messiah?
With hindsight we realize that John and his generation didn’t understand the mystery of Messiah, that He would come to the earth twice…
1st time to redeem Man from the devil, sin and death, making a way to become a citizen of the Kingdom.
2nd time to redeem the Earth from the devil and set up His Kingdom for those who trust in Him.
However, for many Jewish people in Jesus’ day that simply wasn’t the kind of Messiah they were looking for, thus we find Jesus saying…
“And blessed is he who is not offended because of
That is, those who recognized in Jesus the character of Messiah and His mission…
…would be blessed because they would receive Him into their hearts and experience His love, forgiveness and power.
Those who took offence because He didn’t meet their expectation of what they thought Messiah was supposed to do…
…would not be blessed because they would reject Jesus and His Message.
So, Jesus’ message to John is essentially…
“You’re on the right path, don’t give up now!”
Ap. What kind of Messiah are you looking for?
Sometimes I meet people who are disappointed with the Christian faith, or have rejected faith in Jesus because they believed in a different Messiah!
They say things like…
“I tried Christianity and it didn’t work for me.”
I know immediately that they never met the real Jesus!
Ex. Burned by the Positive Confession faith
My friends in
I found them to be broken men and women, convinced that they had somehow failed the Lord because they weren’t rich and blessed with perfect health!
Much of our ministry there was to show them the Jesus of the Bible is a different Messiah than the one presented by American Television.
Ex. Those trapped by sin
Some think that becoming a Christian means that they will never experience temptation again!
Then they’re surprised when they discover that their flesh still wants to engage in sin and wrongly conclude that Jesus doesn’t “work”.
The reality is that while Jesus will sometimes do a special work or Grace in our lives and remove even the desire to sin…
…more often our experience is that He gives us the power and will to say “no” to sin but leaves the choice to us.
So, if you want to experience the blessing of the Lord make sure that you’re trusting in the Jesus revealed in the Bible…
…not a “Jesus” of your imagination.
Ministry of the Messenger (Vs. 7-15)
Matt. 11:7 As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
Matt. 11:8 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.
Matt. 11:9 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.
Matt. 11:10 For this is he of whom it is written:
“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’
Matt. 11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Matt. 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matt. 11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
Matt. 11:14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.
Matt. 11:15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
√ Ministry of the Messenger
As John’s friends return to give him Jesus’ message, Jesus speaks to the people about John and his unique ministry for the King. Jesus tells them that John was…
A prophet ~ vs. 9
That is, he was sent by and spoke for God!
More than a prophet ~ vs. 9-11
He is the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets!
Greatest in that while all of the prophets in the Old Testament pointed to coming of Messiah…
…it was John’s privilege to be the one to announce that the Messiah had come!
Like Elijah ~ 14-15
Ministered in the “spirit and power of Elijah” ~ Luke 1:17
Dressed like Elijah ~ Matt. 3:4 & 2 Kings 1:7-8
Preached like Elijah ~ Matt. 3:1
But, he was not actually Elijah!
John himself testified that he was not Elijah (John 1:19-23), rather, he was the voice, or the messenger who proclaimed that Messiah has come (Malachi 3:1).
Rather, he was a foreshadowing of Elijah’s ministry in the Last Days before and during the Great Tribulation.
Many believe that Elijah will be one of the Two Witnesses who minister during the 1st half of the Tribulation as recorded in Rev. 11.
So, Jesus honors John and his faithful ministry to act as His messenger preparing the nation for their Messiah.
Ap. Greater than John!?
In verse 11 Jesus says that John is the greatest of all the prophets, yet…
“…he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
How can that be!? By Grace!
The reality is that all of us who have trusted in Jesus for salvation and come under the Grace offered at the Cross have received a new nature…
…the nature of the King! (2 Cor. 5:17)
The reality then is that the perfect righteousness of Jesus has been inputted into our lives!
Therefore, we are greater than John and the whole host of the Old Testament prophets because we are the glad recipients of the New Covenant!
We are Christ-like by means of His blood!
Malcontent of the Multitudes (Vs. 16-19)
Matt. 11:16 “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions,
Matt. 11:17 and saying:
“We played the flute for you,
And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
And you did not lament.’
Matt. 11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon.’
Matt. 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”
√ Malcontent of the Multitudes
King Jesus closes His “press conference” with a rebuke to the people who were following Him.
Specifically, He rebukes the religious leaders who rather
than having a childlike faith
necessary to enter the
…were acting childish toward Jesus and John because the Messiah and His Messenger weren’t doing things the way they wanted them done.
I refer to this section as the…
“Malcontent of the Multitudes”
A malcontent is defined as…
“A chronically dissatisfied person.”
(I know some of those!)
That’s what we find in the heart condition of the religious leaders, and later spreads to the multitudes who once followed Jesus.
They weren’t satisfied with either John or Jesus’ ministry!
Jesus said they were like children signing…
“We played the flute for you,
And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
And you did not lament.’
In other words, they wanted to dictate to Jesus what kind of a Messiah He should be!
They wanted Messiah their way and if they didn’t get their way they weren’t interested in the Kingdom that Jesus offered!
We see that attitude culminate in John 6 when the multitudes rejected Jesus after He refused to feed them again and taught that they needed the spiritual food of His “body”.
But, the reality is that they simply could not be satisfied as evidenced by the fact that they found fault with both John and Jesus!
Ap. He’s the King!
Many people in Jesus’ day, as well as today, miss out on the eternal blessings that Jesus offers because they are not willing to bow their knee to the King.
They want to be the captain of their soul, the king of their fate.
The tragedy is that the King will grant them their demand, but they’ll soon discover that they aren’t fit to rule anything…
…including their own lives.
Oh what a mess we make of our lives when we usurp the King!
Close
√ Are you the coming One?
Who will you trust your life to, the King or yourself?
OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Around 1900 a young lady that had been greatly enamored with Henley and his
Humanistic philosophy
was converted to Christ. She wrote a response to
Out of the light that dazzles me,
Bright as the sun from pole to pole,
I thank the God I know to be,
For Christ - the Conqueror of my soul.
Since His the sway of circumstance,
I would not wince nor cry aloud.
Under the rule which men call chance,
My head, with joy, is humbly bowed.
Beyond this place of sin and tears,
That Life with Him and His the Aid,
That, spite the menace of the years,
Keeps, and will keep me unafraid.
I have no fear though straight the gate:
He cleared from punishment the scroll.
Christ is the Master of my fate!
Christ is the Captain of my soul!
Beware that you don’t reject Jesus because He doesn’t meet your expectations of what Messiah should be…
…because they you’ll be setting yourself up to receive the messiah that rebellious men will receive, the Antichrist!