John The Baptist Doubts

Violence in the Kingdom of Heaven? We'll see.

Herod threw John the Baptist in jail. The prophet had criticized the king for his adultery and marriage to the emperor's daughter while still married to his first wife. Supposedly that first wife seduced him into promising to give her John's head on a platter through Salome's famous dance.

While in prison, John got to thinking. I thought Jesus was the Messiah. I thought this was the end of times. Was I wront? Satan seems to be winning. So he sent some of his followers to Jesus to find out how things stood. Don't let anyone tell you Bible characters did not doubt. Oh yes they did. They kept going, however, and God brought them out on the other side.

Jesus answered immediately, but indirectly. “Spend the day with me. Then go home and tell John what you have seen. See the people who are helped: sick are healed, demons cast out, the dead are raised. Doesn't this show the Kingdom is at work?” Can you answer someone who asks if you're a Christian by inviting them to watch what you are doing today?

When the Baptizer's men left, Jesus turned to the crowd and praised John, while teaching his role in salvation history. John, he said, had come to prepare the way for the Messiah. He fulfilled OT  prophecy that “Elijah” would return and even fit the description of that expected prophet. Jesus made an odd statement in the process. He anointed John as the greatest man in the entire succession of prophets. Remember the listeners would have thought of Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah. And then the Lord said even with all his greatness, the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. How can that be? If you are five feet tall and on the second floor, you are higher than someone 6'6” on the first floor. The floor is on a different level. So it is with the Kingdom of Heaven. Everything is different after the Messiah comes!

Another very difficult saying is verse 12. Here are some different translations:
Holman: from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence (or has been forcefully advancing) and the violent have been seizing it by force.
NIV: ...heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.
The Greek word can mean dominate or constrain, and it is in passive voice. Thus someone was acting against the kingdom to try to hold it back, dominate, or at least constrain it. In context, Herod had thrown John in prison and would execute him. I've read that there are more persecuted Christians in the world today than ever before. And don't be  guilty of thinking we are picked on in America. We aren't. Find a copy and read “The Insanity of God” a book written by an SBC missionary who reports back from a dozen countries of how strong the persecution is and how triumphant the church is in the midst of all that. Imagine how Christians in persecuted countries would read this!

Next, Jesus asks what this generation wants. He says you remind him of kids playing   -  or trying to play – with some other kids. They offer to play happy games or sad games, but whatever they offer, their friends wouldn't participate. Jesus says He gets accused of being to lax and permissive, associating with all the wrong crowd, but the people likewise criticize John the Baptist for being too stern and condemnatory. He then moves on to a stern warning, this man who they see as too agreeable, and predicts destruction on three specific cities. These three are examples of all Israel, and the Lord says if Sodom and Gomorrah, even then considered the epitome of evil, had seen Jesus's mighty works, they would have repented.

Then Jesus turns to the crowd and issues one of his most famous invitations:
Come to me and find rest. Turn from the tensions of the world and your attempts to deal with them in your own ways. Let me give you a  yoke that fits and is designed for you. Then you will be able to deal with the stress of the world and get in harness for the Lord!

As a carpenter, Jesus would have made wooden yokes for oxen and perhaps other animals. One writer suggested He might have had as a logo “My yokes are easy” or “My yokes fit.” The idea is that if the harness does not fit, it can rub blisters and unbalance the load. A good fit enables the animal to use all its strength in effectively pulling. When Jesus says he is meek and humble, He is assuring us that when we come to Him, we will not meet punishment, but salvation.

It's worth checking now and then: am I in harness for theLord or trying to deal with life without Him?