Doubts and fears

Read Matthew 11:1–6

Jesus dealt with the doubts of John the Baptist. John expected the Messiah to do certain things. He thought that Jesus was the Messiah. So, John could not understand why Jesus did not do these things.

These verses begin a new section in Matthew’s book. In the next two chapters, there is much teaching. It is teaching about trust. It is teaching about people who do not trust God too.

We learn much about Jesus.

• He is the Christ ( Messiah, Matthew 11:2).
• He came after John the Baptist. The OT spoke about John as ‘Elijah’. (Read Matthew 11:13-14 and Malachi 4:5-6.)
• He is the Son of Man. (Read Matthew 11:19 and Matthew 12:8–32, 40.)
• He is the Servant of the Lord (Matthew 12:18).
• He is the Son of David (Matthew 12:23).
• The Spirit of God came on him. (Read Matthew 12:18, 28, 32.)
• His miracles were signs. They showed that God’s kingdom had come. (Read Matthew 11:20; 12:28.)

God had hidden these things from those who did not believe. They were:

• the people of this age (Matthew 11:16; 12:39, 41, 42, 45).
• people who were wise and clever (Matthew 11:25).
• the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law (Matthew 12:2, 14, 24, 38).
• the mother and the brothers of Jesus (Matthew 12:46).

But, God had shown the things about trust and belief too. He had shown them to certain other people. They were:

• the poor (Matthew 11:5).
• those who had no doubts about Jesus (Matthew 11:6).
• those who wanted to listen to Jesus (Matthew 11:15).
• those who were like little children (Matthew 11:25).
• those to whom God chose to show these things (Matthew 11:26).
• those who were tired. They might have hard problems or troubles. They might be worried (Matthew 11:28).
• the Gentiles (people who are not Jews; Matthew 12:18–21).
• his disciples (Matthew 12:49).
• anyone who does what the Father wants (Matthew 12:50).

First, the Jews had heard about the kingdom.

• John the Baptist announced it. (Read Matthew 3.)
• Jesus’ words announced it. (Read Matthew 5-7.)
• Jesus’ deeds announced it. (Read Matthew 8-9.)
• The disciples announced the kingdom. They did this by their words and by their deeds. (Read Matthew 10.)

But the Jews refused to believe the gospel (good news). They did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They had doubts about him. So, the message could now go to the Gentiles (people who are not Jews). They could hear God’s way of salvation. So, the prophecy in Isaiah 42:1–4 came true in Jesus. (Read Matthew 12:18–21.) This is an important section. It begins to show how God included the Gentiles. It is a major change in the way that Matthew is writing his book.

Matthew 11:1 links chapters 10 and 11. John’s question was because of the report of Jesus’ actions. John was in prison (Matthew 4:12). It seemed that he could have visitors. They told him all that Jesus was doing. When he heard the reports, John was very surprised. Jesus was not doing what John expected him to do. John had taught that the Messiah would come as a judge. This was why John asked the question that is in Matthew 11:3.

Jesus did not give a direct answer to John. Jesus reminded him of some OT prophecies. He was probably thinking about some words of Isaiah. (Read Isaiah 29:18-19; 35:5-6 and 61:1-2.) Isaiah had said that miracles would happen. Jesus reminded John about this. Then Jesus named the things that he was doing. The prophets had told about some good news too. Jesus was now teaching that good news.

John was not wrong. (Read the notes on Matthew 11:7–17. They are in the next section.) But John was missing an important part. It was true that Jesus would come as a judge one day. But he had something else to do first. Jesus must declare the good news. Then he must die. His death would be like a strong promise. It would show the truth of the things that he was teaching.

We can all learn from this:

• Real disciples will have doubts sometimes. Like John, we must all use what we believe. We must use it to live as we should. So, we will not always understand things. We may hope for something. But it does not always happen. We can make mistakes. We can expect the wrong things. We can have problems that we never expected. So, faith (what we believe) sometimes produces doubts. It does this because it is faith. This was why Jesus did not tell John that he was wrong. Doubt is not a sin. In fact, Jesus then praised him!
• A person with doubts should go to Jesus for an answer. This was what John did. And Jesus did help John. Jesus showed him that he had not understood God’s truth. He showed this to him from the OT. Then Jesus showed John the answer to his doubts. In the same way, our doubts should lead us to Jesus. He will help us to understand the Bible in a new way. This will make our faith stronger. It will help to remove our doubts.
• There is a very great difference between doubt and unbelief. A lack of belief can use difficulties. It uses them as an excuse for a lack of faith. But doubts help real disciples to go to Jesus. They go to Jesus in faith. They ask Jesus for an answer.

Questions

• How can this passage help me with any doubts that I may have? What causes most doubts in my life?
• Think about life in a modern church. Is there help in the church for a person who has doubts? How can we improve the situation?
• Prophecies had come true in Jesus and in his work. Jesus showed these things to John. Could we do this with people today? What other prophecies could we show them?