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Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see.” You may be seated.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear saints, as we were praying the prayer of the church last week, there’s a particular sentence that jumped out at me like it never had before. I don’t know how many times I’ve prayed this prayer, and yet it just sort of stood me up and shook me. It’s in the middle of praying for the Lord’s mercy. The paragraph starts like this. It says, “O Lord, although we have deserved Your righteous wrath and manifold punishments, yet we entreat Thee, O Most Merciful Father, remember not the sins of our youth or our many transgressions, but out of Thine unspeakable goodness and grace and mercy defend us from all harm and danger of body and soul.”
And then having introduced the idea of danger to body and soul, there are a number of petitions that the Lord would preserve us from particular dangers, and this is really what sort of jumped up. It says this, “‘Preserve us from false and pernicious doctrine, from war and bloodshed, from plague and pestilence, from all calamity by fire and water, from hail and tempest, from failure of harvest, and from famine, from anguish of heart, and despair of Thy mercy, and from an evil death.'” The prayer concludes, “In every time of trouble, show Thyself a very present help, the Savior of all, especially of them that believe.”
Now, there are two things that sort of got me in the prayer. The one is how it has this list of all of the difficulties of this life, this list of all of these troubles that we’re in. It talks about plague and pestilence and war and bloodshed and calamity by fire and water, from hail and tempest, from failure of harvest, and from famine. And it reminded me how difficult life is in this fallen world, how most people for most of the history of the world have lived right on the edge of all of these disasters. And it’s really no different for us. In fact, some of you have lived through these things—war and bloodshed, plague and pestilence, calamity by fire and water. Some of you say, “This just sounds like the history of my life,” that we join in praying with all people and for all people that the Lord would protect us from this, this life which is tough, this life which hangs in the balance, this life which is always right on the edge.
But then, it’s not only a prayer that the Lord would protect us from physical dangers and physical afflictions, but also spiritual afflictions. In fact, right before and right after all of those terrible things that can happen, there’s petitions that the Lord would protect our soul—preserve us, the prayer said, from false and pernicious doctrine, one, and then this, from anguish of heart and despair of Thy mercy, and at last from an evil death.”
Now that prayer, that the Lord would preserve us from anguish of heart and despair of His mercy, this is an important prayer for us to pray. And it’s been an important prayer for the church to pray from the very beginning. In fact, it’s really quite something to see that our grandparents were praying this prayer and their grandparents were praying this prayer and so forth and so on, that the Lord’s people are always praying that the Lord would protect us from anguish of heart and from despair of God’s mercy. It reminds us, first of all, that if our life is in a precarious situation, then how much more our spiritual life? If the devil is attacking our bodies, how much more is he attacking our soul?
And, if there are spiritual dangers, if there are physical dangers, then how much more are there spiritual dangers? And this is true. The devil attacks our faith. Your faith, your trust in God, your confidence in the Lord’s Word is under attack. It was under attack yesterday. It’s under attack today. It will be under attack tomorrow until the Lord returns in glory. And he attacks it chiefly in three ways: false teaching, temptation and sin, and being sinned against, and through the troubles of this life.
Jesus outlines the attacks in the parable of the sower. Remember, we have it sculpted here in the pulpit, where Jesus sows the seed of God’s Word, and the birds come, and the weeds come, and the sun comes, reminding us of the devil and the world and the flesh, the attack of trouble and the attack of pleasure, and these attacks are intense.
Now one of the things for us to consider is that unlike the physical afflictions that happen to the body, like war and plague and fire and hail, which are obvious to us, I mean, we can see it. I mean, if someone’s house burned down tomorrow night, then we would all be able to recognize the difficulty that they were in, and we’d all be able to kind of rally around them. Or if hail came and destroyed someone’s crops, we can all look at it, and we can kind of see the tragedy, or if we’re in the midst of war and famine, everyone can recognize the difficulty of that.
But unlike the physical difficulties of this life, these spiritual afflictions are happening inside of us, in our minds and in our hearts and in our consciences, which means that even though we are all suffering these things, it seems like we’re the only one because you just can’t see it happening, but it is, and I know it. I know that this is happening with you, and I know, by the way, that this is happening with you for two reasons. I mean, number one, the Bible tells me. The Bible says that we’re under attack by the devil, but I also know because you’ve told me.
So, here, just in the last few days, I’ve heard sentences just like this: “Pastor, either my faith just isn’t what it used to be when I was younger, or I hear what you’re saying but it’s really hard to believe that that’s true, or I just don’t understand how God could be great and still let this happen.”
Now the first thing, and I think this is important, the first thing that we have to recognize is that we are not alone in this. As you sit there and wrestle with the devil, and wrestle with your own sinful flesh, and you wrestle against doubts and afflictions and all of these troubles, you are not the only one wrestling in that way. The devil wants you to think that you’re it, that everyone else around you has this rock-solid faith that never questions anything that the Lord says, and you alone are sitting here with this weak and trembling faith, wondering if all of these things can be true—you are not alone. This, in fact, is the common Christian experience. That’s why we pray, “Deliver us from anguish of heart and despair of God’s mercy.”
And it’s one of the comforts that we’re going to take away from the text today because we see John the Baptist, the greatest—Jesus says John is the greatest ever born of women. In the dungeon, we see John the Baptist wondering if Jesus is the Messiah, the one that he pointed to, the one that he preached, the one that he grew up with, the one whom he saw the Holy Spirit descending from heaven in his baptism. John is wondering now as he’s there in the dungeon in prison if Jesus is the one or if they should look for another.
Now we have to do a little bit of history work to kind of catch up to how John got into prison, because last week in Matthew chapter 3, he was doing fine. He was down by the Jordan River, he was eating locusts, and he was dressed in camel skin, but he was free at least and the whole of Judea was coming down to hear him preach and he was preaching repentance to them, and the whole world was hearing about John the Baptist. But now today in Matthew chapter 11, we find him locked up in Herod’s dungeon. So how did it happen?
Let’s get from here to there, and to do that we’re going to do a little bit of history. Now, if you like history, you will like the next five minutes. If you don’t like history, I’ll just give you a reminder when to tune back in. First, it’s good—and everyone pay attention to this because we kind of need this for the Gospels—it’s good to remember that there are two Herods in the Gospels. There’s the Herod at the beginning of the Gospel, and it’s a different Herod at the end of the Gospel. It’s Herod the Great who is at the beginning that the wise men find in Jerusalem, and they say, “Where is the one born King of the Jews?” And they go and say, “Well, He must be in Bethlehem,” and they go and see Him.
Herod the Great is the one who sent the soldiers to slaughter the babies trying to kill Jesus. Herod the Great was ruler of the whole country for 40 years or something like that. He was placed there by Rome, but basically he could rule on his own, and Rome gave him the title King of the Jews, which probably is why he’s so upset when the wise men said, “Where’s the king of the Jews?” And he says, “I’m right here, who else are you looking for?”
It’s no surprise that then he does this bloodthirsty stuff because he was brilliant, but he was bloodlusty and crazy, and he was killing everyone who even smelled like they might be a threat to him and so forth. That’s Herod the Great. He died in the year, about the year 1 AD. There’s some controversy over when Herod the Great died, but probably we can settle it at 1 AD. And when he died, he divided the kingdom of Israel up into three regions, and those three regions were ruled by three of his sons, called Tetrarchs.
There was Philip II, who ruled up north on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. He was there for quite a while. And then there was Archelaus, who ruled in Judea—that’s Jerusalem and the surrounding region—but Archelaus was only there for a few years, like four and a half or five years before everything just sort of fell apart. Rome pulled him and put in place a governorship, which is important for later in the Gospels. That’s why Pilate was the governor from Rome. That’s where the governorship happened. And then there was the third son, Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee.
That’s up north around the Sea of Galilee, on the east side of Galilee, and then Perea, which is on the west side of the Jordan River down by the Sea of Galilee across from Jerusalem. And that second Herod, Herod Antipas, up in Galilee, is the one that comes in later in the Gospels. That’s the Herod that was in Jerusalem for the Passover feast that Jesus appeared before and wouldn’t speak to Him. That’s the Herod that has arrested John the Baptist and thrown him in prison.
And why did he do that? Because there’s one more character that we want to introduce: the princess Herodias. Now Herodias, you’ve got to stick with me here, Herodias is the granddaughter of Herod the Great, the daughter of another one of his sons, and she, Herod the Great, has her own granddaughter married to his son, Philip. They lived in Rome and who knows what they were doing.
Well, this Herodias, probably plotting to kill their grandfather, it’s really kind of… This Herodias divorces her husband Philip and goes and marries instead Herod Antipas in Galilee. Now a little bit more on that later, but I want to just read you a paragraph from the encyclopedia on Herodias. This gives you a flavor of how it was in Herod’s family.
“Herod the Great executed two of his sons, Alexander and Aristobulus IV, in the year 7 BC, and after this, he engaged Herodias, his granddaughter, to Philip I, also known as Herod II, her half-uncle. The marriage was opposed by Antipater II, Herodias’ dad, another one of Herod’s sons, his eldest son, and so Herod demoted him, Herod II, to second-in-line to the throne. But then when Antipater’s execution in 4 BC for plotting to poison his father left Herod II as the first-in-line, but Herod II’s mother’s knowledge of the plot to poison Herod the Great and her failure to stop it led to him being dropped from the position in Herod I’s will just days before he died.”
That’s how it was in the family of Herod. In fact, I mean Herod, he had left a command that when he died, all of the rulers in Jerusalem were to be killed at the same time, like all the Jewish rulers were to be killed, just so that people would be mourning his death also, because everyone would be so happy when he died. That’s kind of the… it’s a mess.
Anyway, Herodias goes on to divorce Philip I and marry Herod Antipas, our guy in Galilee, and John sees that. John the Baptist sees that marriage happen, and like you, he says, “That is not right.” And that’s why he’s in jail. He saw this illicit nonsense in the family of Herod, and he, like the prophet of God, preached against it. And Herod couldn’t stand it. So he had him thrown in jail and put him in the dungeon of this palace, this is over in modern-day Jordan now, on the east side of the Dead Sea. And that’s how John gets in prison.
And probably, the history tells us that he was probably in prison for almost two years before he was at last executed by Herodias and her daughter’s plotting. But here we find him in Matthew chapter 11 in prison, and the darkness starts to press in on him. The affliction starts to come. The doubts start to grow. And he’s there in prison, and he’s wondering if what he preached and what he believed is really true, if the one that he trusted is really the one. After all, the Messiah, according to the prophets, was supposed to come and set the captives free. John was not free at all; he’s weeks away from having his head served up on a platter to the queen, and he doubts.
Now we just don’t want to pass this by, by just kind of honing in on this for our own conscience’ sake and for our own hearts’ sake. John the Baptist, the greatest of all, doubted. Now this is supposed to at least give us some comfort in our own doubts and in our own wonderings that we are not alone in this. In fact, as we read through the Psalms, we see the same thing, that this affliction comes up over and over again. In fact, it’s so common that the ancient church fathers in the old pastures had a name for it. They called it the “dark night of the soul.”
And that name really captures for us what it is, the dark night of the soul—the time when it seems like the light of the Lord’s mercy and kindness has just dimmed, like there’s no hope or no confidence that our faith is weak and dying, like a burning wick that’s about to be snuffed out, and it comes, and we can’t control it. The devil will sometimes press us hard, and he’ll bring these afflictions and these questions up for us. So, we turn to the Scriptures and ask, well, what do we do? In fact, that’s what you should ask, “Pastor, it’s fine to know that John also doubted, but what do we do about it?”
I mean, do we just concede that sometimes we have these doubts, and sometimes we have these afflictions, and sometimes we have these days where we simply wonder if it’s all true? Well, John, God be praised, not only shows us that he doubts but he gives us an example of what to do in the midst of this darkness—what to do in the midst of our doubts. He sends his disciples to Jesus, and this also is for us. John doesn’t give up. John doesn’t throw in the towel. He doesn’t just throw up his hands and concede that who knows what’s true, what’s up or down, what’s right or wrong—no. He sends his disciples to Jesus with a question: “Are you the one, or do we wait for another?”
Go to Jesus and listen to what He says. And Jesus sends back the disciples to John with these words. Verse 4, “‘Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them. Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.'”
Now, there’s a lot going on in this answer to Jesus, but I want to just pull out three things for us this morning, and then we’ll rejoice in the Lord’s Supper. First, there’s a specific comfort. Then there’s a general comfort, and then there’s a blessing.
First, the specific comfort; this: Jesus fulfills the Old Testament promises. When John sends his disciples, when Jesus sends John’s disciples back to John, He says some very specific things that they are to preach. Church, tell John what you see and hear. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf hear, dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them. All of these things are things that the prophets promised the Messiah would do.
In other words, Jesus is telling John’s disciples to go and preach to John that the promises of the Old Testament have been fulfilled in Christ, and that is also a very, very specific comfort for us. The Old Testament is filled with promises of Jesus, hundreds of them. I have a list somewhere that says 453, I think, 457 Old Testament promises fulfilled by Jesus. It’s incredible.
And I want to tell you that when this happens to me, when I’m driving around and all of a sudden I have these strange doubts that just come across my mind, like, well, is it true what God says about the creation of the world, or is it true what the Bible says about the second coming, or is it true that the doctrine of the Trinity or whatever—whenever those doubts come in, that I myself have found great comfort in this very specific thing: Jesus fulfills the Old Testament promises. We just look to see how Jesus was promised that He would be born in Bethlehem, and He was born in Bethlehem, that He would live in Nazareth, and He lived in Nazareth, that they wouldn’t break a single one of His bones, that they would gamble for His clothes.
I mean, promise after promise after promise that was given in the Old Testament prophets is kept and fulfilled in Jesus. And this very specific thing fortifies our conviction and our confidence, not only in Jesus as the Messiah, but also in the Scriptures as the Word of God. So they have this specific comfort.
And then Jesus gives them a general comfort. In fact, we might miss it, but when Jesus says to the disciples of John when He’s giving them instructions, He says, “You go and tell John what you see and hear.” Jesus doesn’t go to John and appear before Him in prison and perform miracles before Him. Rather, Jesus sends disciples to preach to John. And this also is for us, that our faith is made stronger in the hearing of God’s Word.
So what do you do in the dark night of the soul? You keep yourself close to the Lord’s Word. You read your Bible. You make it part of your everyday to hear the Lord’s voice. You come to church. Our faith is not like a trophy that sits on the cabinet and it never changes; it’s always the same. Our faith is like a plant that is growing or is withering, and so we want to water that with the Lord’s Word, nourish it with the Lord’s Word, and especially with this preaching of law and gospel. When Jesus says, “Tell John,” He’s saying that our own faith is sustained in the hearing of the Lord’s Word.
And then finally, Jesus has a blessing for John and also for us. He says, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Here’s John in prison. Here’s John no doubt hoping or wishing perhaps that Jesus would rescue him. Here’s John afraid, seemingly abandoned, and Jesus tells him not to be offended.
Now this is for us. Jesus does not always do what we expect Him to do. Jesus does not always deal with us like we wish He would. Jesus certainly does not always do what we want Him to do. Sometimes He rescues from prison. Sometimes He lets us sit for a while. Sometimes He breaks the door open, and sometimes He lets our head be put on a platter. Sometimes He fills us, and sometimes He lets us stay hungry. Sometimes He heals us, and sometimes He lets us stay in pain. Sometimes He gives us life, and sometimes we die.
It’s not life as we want it, but it’s life as He gives it. It’s not life as we expect it, but it’s life that comes from Jesus. And blessed is the one who is not scandalized or offended by Him.
We pray that the Lord would deliver us and preserve us from anguish of heart and despair of His mercy, and He’s pleased to hear that prayer, just like He was pleased to hear the prayer of John the Baptist, and He’s pleased to answer it.
Amen.
Please stand.
Now may the God of all grace fill your hearts in believing.
