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Answering John’s question
Answering John’s question
“Are you the one, or should we look for another”. John’s mission was to reveal the Christ unto Israel. The Holy Spirit came in a visible way to show that the Christ was Jesus. The Father spoke from heaven declaring Jesus to be His son. John had declared that this was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Worldly troubles often cause us to question, to even question the things that we know. Whatever the reason behind John’s question (some feel that he was just pushing Jesus to proclaim Himself as Christ in a more forceful manner), the question bears an answer. It is a question that SHOULD be asked by everyone! If Jesus IS ‘the one’, then follow Him without reservation or turning back. If He is NOT, He is a deceiver and a false teacher for leading the people astray. In our current society, such ‘either – or’ concepts are despised. But, how could He ‘sort-of’ be the Christ? How could he ‘sort-of’ be the Son of God? How could He ‘sort-of’ do miracles and rise from the dead?
Jesus answers, but notice the ‘how’ of this answer. He doesn’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Instead, He continues DOING the miracles. Such miracles were done ‘so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God’ (John 20:30-31). Such miracles were God’s way of putting a stamp of approval upon the claims of Jesus: "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know…” (Acts 2:22). While some were so hard headed that they acknowledge the miracles and yet denied the conclusion that God was thus approving of Jesus, many others were convinced that He was indeed the Christ.
Then, having demonstrated through such miracles that He was ‘the one’, he sent the messengers back to TELL John what they had heard and seen. Eyewitness testimony. John was given the same evidence as others, the same evidence that you and I have received from those who were with Jesus.
Add to this, Jesus then quoted from the scripture. As He told the people in John 5:39-40
39 "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
Such three-fold evidence is the foundation of Jesus answer: Approved by miracles, fulfilled prophecy, and eye-witness testimony. This was to be sufficient for John, and it is what we are faced with today. How do you answer John’s question? How do you deal with Jesus’ answer? Hugh DeLong
