Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 7:19
And John calling [unto him] two of his disciples sent [them] to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come or look we for another?
18-35. The Message from the Baptist.
19. John calling unto him two of his disciples ] The Baptist was now in prison (Mat 11:2-6), but was not precluded from intercourse with his friends.
to Jesus ] The reading of B and some other Uncials is “to the Lord.”
Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? ] Rather, Art thou the coming [Messiah], or are we to expect another? “The Coming (One)” is a technical Hebrew term for the Messiah ( Habba). This brief remarkable message is identical with that in St Matthew, except that St Luke uses allon (‘another’) and St Matthew heteron (‘a second,’ or
‘different one’). Probably however there is no significance in this variation, since the accurate classical meaning of heteros was partly obliterated. Probably too the messengers spoke in Aramaic. “ The coming ” is clearer in St Matthew, because he has just told us that John heard in prison the works of “the Christ” i.e. of the Messiah. Those who are shocked with the notion that the faith of the Baptist should even for a moment have wavered, suppose that (1) St John merely meant to suggest that surely the time had now come for the Messiah to reveal himself as the Messiah, and that his question was one rather of ‘increasing impatience’ than of ‘secret unbelief;’ or (2) that the message was sent solely to reassure John’s own disciples; or (3) that, as St Matthew here uses the phrase “the works of the Messiah ” and not “of Jesus,” the Baptist only meant to ask ‘Art thou the same person as the Jesus to whom I bore testimony?’ These suppositions are excluded, not only by the tenor of the narrative but directly by Luk 7:23; (Mat 11:6). Scripture never presents the saints as ideally faultless, and therefore with holy truthfulness never conceals any sign of their imperfection or weakness. Nothing is more natural than that the Great Baptist to whom had been granted but a partial revelation should have felt deep anguish at the calm and noiseless advance of a Kingdom for which, in his theocratic and Messianic hopes, he had imagined a very different proclamation. Doubtless too his faith like that of Elijah (1Ki 19:4), of Job in his trials (Job 3:1), and of Jeremiah in prison (Jer 20:7), might be for a moment drowned by the tragic briefness, and disastrous eclipse of his own career; and he might hope to alleviate by this message the anguish which he felt when he contrasted the joyous brightness of our Lord’s Galilean ministry with the unalleviated gloom of his own fortress-prison among the black rocks at Makor. ‘If Jesus be indeed the promised Messiah,’ he may have thought, ‘why am I, His Forerunner, suffered to languish undelivered, the victim of a wicked tyrant?’ The Baptist was but one of those many glorious saints whose careers God, in His mysterious Providence, has suffered to end in disaster and eclipse that He may shew us how small is the importance which we must attach to the judgment of men, or the rewards of earth. “We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour: how is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!” Wis 5:20 . We may be quite sure that “in the fiery furnace God walked with His servant so that his spirit was not harmed, and having thus annealed his nature to the utmost that this earth can do, He took him hastily away and placed him among the glorified in Heaven.” Irving.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See this passage explained in Mat. 11:2-19.
Luk 7:29
The people – The common people.
That heard him – That heard John.
The publicans – The tax-gatherers, the worst kind of people, who had, however, been converted.
Justified God – Considered God as just or right in the counsel which he gave by John – to wit, in calling people to repentance, and in denouncing future wrath on the impenitent. Compare Mat 11:19.
Being baptized … – They showed that they approved of the message of God by submitting to the ordinance which he commanded – the ordinance of baptism. This verse and the following are not to be considered as the words of Luke, but the continuation of the discourse of our Lord. He is saying what took place in regard to John. Among the common people he was approved and obeyed among the rich and learned he was despised.
Luk 7:30
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected … – It appears from Mat 3:7 that some of the Pharisees came to John to be baptized; but still this is entirely consistent with the supposition that the great mass of Pharisees and lawyers rejected him.
The counsel of God – The counsel of God toward them was the solemn admonition by John to repent and be baptized, and be prepared to receive the Messiah. This was the command or revealed will of God in relation to them. When it is said that they rejected the counsel of God, it does not mean that they could frustrate his purposes, but merely that they violated his commands. Men cannot frustrate the real purposes of God, but they can contemn his messages, they can violate his commands, and thus they can reject the counsel which he gives them, and treat with contempt the desire which he manifests for their welfare.
Against themselves – To their own hurt or detriment. God is wise and good. He knows what is best for us. He, therefore, that rejects what God commands, rejects it to his own injury. It cannot be well for any mortal to despise what God commands him to do.
Luk 7:31-35
See this passage explained in the notes at Mat 11:16-19. And the Lord said. This clause is wanting in almost all the manuscripts, and is omitted by the best critics.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 7:19-22
Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another?
—
Johns doubting message to Jesus
1. Much discussion has taken place concerning Johns doubt, whether it was real or affected; and if real, what was its cause? We believe there was doubt in the mind of the Baptist–serious doubt–arising out of no personal or petty source, but caused by the way in which the Messianic career of Jesus was developing itself.
2. This doubt was not in regard to the identity of the worker of the works reported to John with Jesus, but in regard to the nature of the works viewed as Messianic. But why should John stumble at those works, so full of the spirit of love and mercy? Just because they were works of mercy. These were not the sort of works he had expected Messiah to busy Himself with; at all events, so exclusively. Cf. Jonahs zeal for righteousness.
3. The reply sent back by Jesus to John amounted to this, that the sure marks that He was the coming One, the Christ, were just the very works which had awakened Johns surprise.
4. Having recounted rapidly His mighty works, Jesus appended the reflection, And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me. We are not to find in the words traces either of harshness towards John or of wounded feeling in the speaker. The tone of compassion rather than of severity is audible in the utterance. Jesus felt keenly how much John missed by being in such a state of mind that that in His own work which was most godlike was a stumbling-block to him. Translated into positive form the reflection means, Blessed are they to whom the mercy and the grace of which I am full, and whereof My ministry is the manifestation and outflow, are no stumbling-block, but rather worthy of all acceptation. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
The test of Christianity
1. Jesus deliberately declined to rest His claims upon any other grounds than the testimony of His Father, a testimony which shone in the truth of His words, and in the heavenly character of His mission.
2. If the Master Himself is willing, nay demands, to be judged by results, manifestly organizations and churches that claim to be called by His name must not shrink from the same test.
3. The only proof of your being in contact with the living Saviour, the only proof that you rightly apprehend and sincerely embrace Him, is the result in your own hearts and conduct. No religion is worth anything that is not a power. (E. W. Shalders, BA.)
Looking for another Christ
There are times when, through the disappointments and failures of our personal religious lives, it may be necessary to look for another Christ than the Christ we have already known.
1. There are some who have been restless for months, perhaps for years, about their sin. They have appealed to Christ again and again, and the peace of Christ has not come to them. They are tempted to put this question. Christ may reply by pointing them to the great triumphs of His mercy by which they are surrounded. Go to Christ with all your trouble, and with a clear and vivid remembrance of His death, and you cannot put this question.
2. There are some who feel that their Christian life has not had the power and brightness they hoped for. This, also, often arises from a defective knowledge of Christ. Perhaps you have forgotten that He is not only a Saviour, but a Prince, and that you must accept His law as the rule of your life, and strive to get His will done on earth as the will of God is done in heaven.
3. This question may be suggested by the general condition and history of the world, a large part of the world is still unsaved: the misery Jesus came to console still largely unconsoled. Do you look for another Christ? Can the contents of His revelation be anyhow enriched? Can there be more careful warnings, more glorious promises, more compassion, more gentleness and beauty, than there are in Him and His gospel?
4. We do not look for the coming of another Christ, but the Christ whom we know will come in another form, to complete in power and majesty the work which He began in weakness and in shame. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)
The answer of Jesus to John
It seems to me that here the Lord prescribes to His Church the answer she should give in all days when men rise up and question whether He comes from God, when men rise up to say to His Church, Are you the kingdom of God? are you the Divine society established upon earth to be the home of the new life, and the source of a wide-spreading influence? Are you the city set upon a hill that cannot be hid? When such questions are asked, the Church must be ready, not merely to give proofs of her ancient origin, her orthodox title-deeds drawn from the dusty safes of her theology, but she must be able to say, Look at my life, my work. See what I am doing for the poor, the destitute, the oppressed, and judge me as you find me. Can the Church of God, in these days, bear such an appeal as that? Can she say, Look at the asylums I nave founded and support for the poor, the lame, the halt, and the blind! Look at my children giving devoted labour in the lowest dens of your cities; at my sons faithfully striving for the truth in the halls of your legislature; and see in juster laws and a purer life, and a more brotherly relation between man and man, proofs of the power of my spirit, and of the truth of my labours? She must answer so, and so must you and I, when challenged to prove that we are of God. We hear a great deal in these days about answers to the infidel, about arguments philosophical, historical, and scientific, which shall have the power, in the hands of skilful men, of silencing the antagonist. But a better argument and a mightier that any of these, an argument that never fails, is that derived from the fruits and results of religion in the life. The man who reads your history with criticism, and meets your argument with argument, will bare his head and bow his neck before the spectacle of a holy and devoted life. That he sees is true, whatever else be false; that is of God, whatever becomes of books and institutions. (Bishop Moorhouse.)
The message of John the Baptist
I. THE MESSAGE. What did it mean?
1. To convince his disciples? Not suited to do it; suggesting doubtfulness in their master; impairing previous witness.
2. To reassure himself? At variance with
(1) his character, testimony, Divine assurance.
(2) Words of the Lord (Luk 7:24), aimed to prevent the supposition.
(3) The occasion. When he had heard the works of Christ–the last work being the raising of the dead.
3. Message not of uncertainty, but of impatience. Things do not go as the Baptist expected. The world left in doubt. Opinion taking wrong turn for want of distinct assertion. Works of Christ, but no proclamation of Christ. It ought to be made. The time is come. He the proper person to obtain it. He will demand it in the interests of all.
II. THE REPLY.
1. Answer.
(1) To what was said. The facts are sufficient answer.
(2) To what was meant. The method will not be changed. The Lord must choose His own course. Men must see and judge. Facts first, then assertions.
2. Warning. There is danger in this disposition–danger of questioning Gods methods; restlessness, dissatisfaction, diminution of attachment, failure of faith. (Canon T. D. Bernard.)
Moral evidence of Christianity superior to miracles
1. It is evident John did not clearly apprehend the spirituality of the kingdom Christ was to introduce. Like the apostles, he expected the kingdom of God would come with observation, instead of its being of a slow, quiet, spiritual growth. He looked for something more visible. There were the remains of the old dispensation mixed up with his ideas of its nature; too much of the Old Testament theocracy.
2. The remarkable manner in which the idea of the coming of Christ had taken possession of the minds of men at the time John sent his disciples to inquire respecting it. The familiar designation of the Messiah was the Comer. Him that is to come is but the common version of the worlds designation of the Messiah. The Comer, as if with Him came everything else desirable. The coming of all future good depended upon His coming.
3. I might notice the worlds slowness in recognizing Christ as the Messiah, and the circumstances which occasioned that slowness to admit His claim.
4. He proceeded to enforce His claim by evidence corresponding with His character, and their necessities, and by evidence alone, the result of which
He is prepared to wait (Luk 7:21-23). As if He had said, Go and tell John My kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, and the employment of other than spiritual means would be uncongenial and obstructive.
5. That our Lord not only employed evidence in contradistinction from worldly display and physical force, but that He presented to these inquirers and the multitude moral evidence as superior to miraculous.
I. CHRISTS PREACHING CONSISTED, IN A REMARKABLE DEGREE, OF DEEDS.
1. Thus on this occasion, the God-like reply to the inquiry, Art Thou He that should come? His deeds spoke. He entered into no argumentative defence of His claims–Actions speak louder than words. In the same hour He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind He gave sight. He left the stupendous miracles He had performed to speak for themselves (Psa 19:1-14.l-3). The heavens had done much, and now He is in the world to develop what the heavens could not declare. It was not to be expected that His more full manifestation would be verbal merely, or chiefly, for how can speech, which is but the symbol of thought, convey ideas of what thought cannot grasp respecting God, who is a spirit, immaterial, infinite, invisible, incomprehensible. Speech fails to do justice to the finite, the visible, the material, and comprehensible; to convey the greatest and best conceptions of our own minds.
2. Christs verbal teaching related especially to Himself. Each portion of it was either the vindication of acts He had performed, or an intimation of some purpose he was about to accomplish, or a development of the kingdom He was then establishing–relating to its nature, origin, character, or growth.
3. This distinctive and important fact supplies a reply to the following objections.
(1) The first objection we refer to, more frequently felt than expressed, relates to the greater fulness of evangelical doctrines in the Epistles than in the Gospels. Although the latter comprise the discourses and teaching of Christ Himself, we reply to this by saying, Christ came not so much to preach the gospel as to procure it, to establish and confirm it, to perform the deeds, the record of which constitutes the gospel.
(2) The second objection urged from the time of Celsus downwards is, that parallels to some of our Lords sayings are to be found in the writings of
Plato, Isocrates, and others. Hence it has been inferred, absurdly enough, that the gospel had been anticipated–that Christianity was not original. To which we reply, admitting the supposed resemblances, the wonder is that they are so extremely few–two or three mere maxims of morality, and these but the distant reverberations of Sinais echoes of the ancient and moral law. What is Christianity? Nothing but a few maxims of morality? We triumphantly point inquirers for Christianity to her spirit and her works–her resemblance to her Lord.
II. His WORKS WERE WONDERFUL. It is a frequent description given of God in the Old Testament, He only doeth wonderful things. To achieve wonders is the prerogative of God. He alone doeth wonders; and this called forth the grateful praises of His people. Not only is God the wonderworker, but strictly speaking, all that God does are wonders, only wonders. The atom is as an atom not less wonderful than a world. Both owe their origin to His creative power, and are impressed with the Divine signature. Was it strange then that when God was manifested in the flesh, that when He appeared amongst us, who was predicted as the wonderful, His works and deeds should be mighty signs and wonders. There was a sense in which He could do nothing which was not wonderful; His constitution made it impossible that anything ordinary could emanate from Him.
III. HIS WONDERS WERE MERCIES.
1. All His miracles were miracles of mercy. Nor was it necessary to alter His laws, imposed at the first on nature, they suffered no violence from His mercy; on the contrary, they harmonized with it. In giving sight to the blind, He was but restoring the eye to the use and exercise of its proper function. His power He used as a trust to be administered for mans good alone.
2. Besides the present happiness, His mercies conveyed in the physical and mental benefits, miraculously bestowed, they had a higher value, a symbolical meaning, pointing to spiritual necessities and supplies, to the things relating to our redemption.
3. His miracles demonstrated His power, and our interest in turning the elements of earth to account of spiritual uses, relating them to heaven. In opening the blind eye He denoted that He came to be the Light of the world, and that we need that the eye of the understanding should be open to receive that light. The greatest wonder was that of His incarnation. In comparison with this wonder, all mere acts of His power were less splendid. This was the long desired and promised wonder. The ancient tabernacle foreshadowed His tabernacling among men. The temple with its indwelling Shekinah symbolically predicted this. Every instance of union between God and man, and the union of soul and body, prefigured this infinitely more mysterious union of the Divine and human natures in His person.
IV. HIS MERCIES, like His acts, by which He replied to Johns disciples, WERE ANSWERS TO MANS NECESSITIES. This is only another mode of saying that the blessings of His redemption are fully adapted to mans exigencies. It might have been otherwise. His words might have been works; His works might have been wonders; His wonders might have been mercies; and yet, after all, there might have been a want of strict suitableness between our necessities and the mode of meeting them, but the text reminds us that His mercies and deeds are exactly suitable and fully answerable to the exigencies.
1. This correspondence admits of universal application. He comprehended the entire scheme of nature and Providence. No legitimate question on any natural subject can ever arise in the mind of man, which his Creator and Redeemer has not foreseen; to which He has not inserted an answer in the things which He has made. Ten thousand answers are silently awaiting the future questions which shall call them forth. At this moment, while we are assembled here, the Creator may be elsewhere exhibiting similar demonstrations of His perfections in reply to inquirers. In the amplitude of space, hosts of intelligent beings may be collected around the chaos of a world, wondering whether it will ever be restored to harmony and order; whether all creative acts are at an end, and while they are inquiring the fiat may go forth from the Creator again, as in the beginning, Let there be light, and the light of Divine power may kindle around them.
2. The lessons of the Old Testament are represented as replies. God was graciously pleased to allow Himself to be inquired of. His replies were called responses or oracles.
3. But now Christ had come as the living oracle; from Him the questions which human guilt and misery had never ceased to agitate, were to receive a full practical satisfactory reply.
V. A PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY ALONE, A CHRISTIANITY EMBODIED IN DEEDS OF MERCY, ADEQUATELY ILLUSTRATES THE WORKS OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me. Our
Lord meant not that His wondrous works should end with Himself. All power was given to Him as Mediator and Head of the Church, as a centre of an ever-enlarging circle. From Him as the Head of all things to the Church all emanates. (J. Harris, D. D.)
The soul dependent on physical conditions
However good and great you may be in the Christian life, your soul will never be independent of physical conditions. I feel I am uttering a most practical, useful truth here, one that may give relief to a great many Christians who are worried and despondent at times. Doctor Rush, a monarch in medicine, after curing hundreds of cases of mental depression, himself fell sick and lost his religious hope, and he would not believe his pastor when the pastor told him that his spiritual depression was only a consequence of physical depression. Andrew Fuller, Themes Scott, William Cowper, Thomas Boston, David Brainard, Philip Melancthon, were mighty men for God, but all of them illustrations of the fact that a mans soul is not independent of his physical health. An eminent physician gave as his opinion that no man ever died a greatly triumphant death whose disease was below the diaphragm. Stackhouse, the learned Christian writer, says he does not think Saul was insane when David played the harp before him, but it was a hypochondria coming from inflammation of the liver. The Dean of Carlisle, one of the best men that ever lived, and one of the most useful, sat down and wrote: Though I have endeavoured to discharge my duty as well as I could, yet sadness and melancholy of heart stick close by and increase upon me. I tell nobody, but I am very much sunk indeed, and I wish I could have the relief of weeping as I used to. My days are exceedingly dark and distressing. In a word, Almighty God seems to hide His face, and I intrust the secret to hardly any earthly being. I know not what will become of me. There is, doubtless, a good deal of bodily affliction mingled with this, but it is not all so. I bless God, however, that I never lose sight of the Cross, and, though I should die without seeing any personal interest in the Redeemers merits, I hope that I shall be found at His feet. I will thank you for a word at your leisure. My door is bolted at the time I am writing this, for I am full of tears. (Dr. Talmage.)
Inactivity a cause of doubt
Doubt often comes from inactivity. We cannot give the philosophy of it, but this is the fact, that Christians who have nothing to do but to sit thinking of themselves, meditating, sentimentalising, are almost sure to become the prey to dark, blank misgivings. John the Baptist, struggling in the desert, needs no proof that Jesus is the Christ. John shut up became morbid and doubtful immediately.
We are mysteries, but here is the practical lesson of it all: for sadness, for suffering, for misgivings, there is no remedy but stirring and doing. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Christ is the dispeller of doubt
During his earlier life Dr. Merle DAubigne, the Swiss historian of the Reformation, was grievously vexed with depressing doubts. He went to his old teacher for help. The shrewd old man refused to answer the young mans perplexities, saying, Were I to get you rid of these doubts, others would come. There is a shorter way of destroying them. Let Christ be really to you the Son of God the Saviour. Do His will. His light will dispel the clouds, and His Spirit will lead you into all truth. The old man was right, and the young DAubigne was wise enough to adopt his counsel. He hoisted anchor, and moved out of the region of fogs, and quietly anchored himself under the sunshine of Christs countenance. (Dr. Cuyler.)
Devotion to Christ a cure for despondency
Active devotion to Christs service is another cure for spiritual despondency. The faith-faculty gets numb by long inaction, just as a limb becomes numb and useless if it is not exercised. The love-power grows cold if it is not kept fired up. When faith and love both run low, the soul easily falls into an ague-fit. What you need is to get out of yourself into a sympathy with, and downright efforts for, the good of others. When a desponding Christian came to old Dr. Alexander for relief, the Doctor urged him to prayer. I do pray continually. What do you pray for? The young student said, I pray that the Lord would lift upon me the light of His countenance. Then, replied the sagacious veteran, go now and pray that He will use you for the conversion of souls. (Dr. Cuyler.)
To the poor the gospel is preached
The gospel preached to the poor
I. THE EXCELLENCY OF THIS LAW. A new development of a heaven-laid plan to enlighten the poor; to raise them in the scale of being; to sweeten and adorn their lot by the honours of intellectual culture, the comforts of social life, and the hopes of immortality. The wisdom of our text, as a poors law, excels all the contrivances of men. It does not so much provide for the poor as it prevents men from being poor. It cuts off the causes of poverty.
II. THE OBLIGATION IT LAYS UPON US. The way to the most effective sense of duty is by discovering the need and the worth of the thing that is enjoined; and is this a thing to be countermanded or opposed?: But if the argument from the goodness of precept seem too weak, let us view its peremptory demand. It is the will of our Saviour that none live in a Christian land without hearing the glad sound, that so all may walk in the light of His countenance.
III. How is THIS GOOD LAW OF OUR LAND TO BE FULFILLED.? (N. Paterson.)
Christs works
1. Our Saviours works were words.
2. His works were wonders.
3. His wonders were wonders of mercy.
4. His wonders of mercy were suited to the necessities of man.
5. The suitableness of His wonders of mercy to the necessities of man is a satisfactory proof of His Messiahship. (G. Brooks.)
The suitability of the gospel to the poor
The gospel is especially adapted to the poor, in respect of–
1. Their education.
2. Their resources.
3. Their opportunities.
4. Their prospects. (G. Brooks.)
A preacher to the poor
John Wesley always preferred the middling and lower classes to the wealthy. He said If I might choose I should still, as I have done hitherto, preach the gospel to the poor.
Trophies of the work of Christ
Before many a Popish shrine on the Continent one sees exhibited a great variety of crutches, together with wax models of arms, legs, and other limbs. These are supposed to represent the cures wrought by devotion at that altar–the memorials of the healing power of the saint. Poor, miserable superstition, all of it, and yet what a reminder to the believer in Jesus as to his duty and his privilege? Having pleaded at the feet of Jesus, we have found salvation; have we remembered to record this wonder of His hand? If we hung up memorials of all His matchless grace, what crutches and bandages and trophies of every sort should we pile together! Temper subdued, pride humbled, unbelief slain, sin cast down, sloth ashamed, carelessness rebuked. The cross has healed all manner of diseases, and its honours should be proclaimed with every rising and setting sun. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christianity and the poor
A celebrated doctor of divinity in London, who is now in heaven I have no doubt–a very excellent and godly man–gave notice one Sunday that he intended to visit all his people, and said,that in order to be able to get round and visit them and their families once in the year, he should take all the seatholders in order, A person well known to me, who was then a poor man, was delighted with the idea that the minister was coming to his house to see him, and about a week or two before he conceived it would be his turn his wife was very careful to sweep the hearth and keep the house tidy, and the man ran home early from work, hoping each night to find the Doctor there. This went on for a considerable time. He either forgot his promise, or grew weary in performing it, or for some other reason never went to this poor mans house; and the result was this, the man lost confidence in all preachers, and said, They care for the rich, but they do not care for us who are poor. That man never settled down to any one place of worship for many years, till at last he dropped into Exeter Hall and remained my hearer for years till Providence removed him. It was no small task to make him believe that any minister could be an honest man, and could impartially love both rich and poor. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. Art thou he that should come?] That is, to save. Art thou the promised Messiah? See Clarke on Mt 11:3.
Some have thought that this character of our Lord, , he who cometh, refers to the prophecy of Jacob, Ge 49:10, where he is called Shiloh, which Grotius and others derive from shalach, he sent: hence, as the time of the fulfilment of the prophecy drew nigh, he was termed, He who cometh, i.e. he who is just now ready to make his appearance in Judea. In Zec 9:9, a similar phrase is used, Behold, thy king COMETH unto thee-having SALVATION. This is meant of the Messiah only; therefore I think the words to save, are necessarily implied.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And John calling unto him two of his disciples,…. Which were a sufficient number to be sent on an errand, to ask a question, and report the answer, or bear witness to any fact they should see, or hear done.
Sent them unto Jesus, saying, art thou he that should come, or look we for another? not that he doubted that Jesus was the Messiah; nor was it for his own satisfaction so much that he sent these disciples of his with this question, but for theirs; and to remove all doubt and hesitation from them about Christ.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| John’s Message to Jesus; The Ministry of John and of Christ. |
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19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 21 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. 22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. 23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 25 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts. 26 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. 27 This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. 29 And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. 31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? 32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! 35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.
All this discourse concerning John Baptist, occasioned by his sending to ask whether he was the Messiah or no, we had, much as it is here related, Matt. xi. 2-19.
I. We have here the message John Baptist sent to Christ, and the return he made to it. Observe,
1. The great thing we are to enquire concerning Christ is whether he be he that should come to redeem and save sinners, or whether we are to look for another, Luk 7:19; Luk 7:20. We are sure that God has promised that a Saviour shall come, an anointed Saviour; we are as sure that what he has promised he will perform in its season. If this Jesus be that promised Messiah, we will receive him, and will look for no other; but, if not, we will continue our expectations, and, though he tarry, will wait for him.
2. The faith of John Baptist himself, or at least of his disciples, wanted to be confirmed in this matter; for Christ had not yet publicly declared himself to be indeed the Christ, nay, he would not have his disciples, who knew him to be so, to speak of it, till the proofs of his being so were completed in his resurrection. The great men of the Jewish church had not owned him, nor had he gained any interest that was likely to set him upon the throne of his father David. Nothing of that power and grandeur was to be seen about him in which it was expected that the Messiah would appear; and therefore it is not strange that they should ask, Art thou the Messiah? not doubting but that, if he was not, he would direct them what other to look for.
3. Christ left it to his own works to praise him in the gates, to tell what he was and to prove it. While John’s messengers were with him, he wrought many miraculous cures, in that same hour, which perhaps intimates that they staid but an hour with him; and what a deal of work did Christ do in a little time! v. 21. He cured many of their infirmities and plagues in body, and of evil spirits that affected the mind either with frenzy or melancholy, and unto many that were blind he gave sight. He multiplied the cures, that there might be no ground left to suspect a fraud; and then (v. 22) he bade them go and tell John what they had seen. And he and they might easily argue, as even the common people did (John vii. 31), When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? These cures, which they saw him work, were not only confirmations of his commission, but explications of it. The Messiah must come to cure a diseased world, to give light and sight to them that sit in darkness, and to restrain and conquer evil spirits. You see that Jesus does this to the bodies of people, and therefore must conclude this is he that should come to do it to the souls of people, and you are to look for no other. To his miracles in the kingdom of nature he adds this in the kingdom of grace (v. 22), To the poor the gospel is preached, which they knew was to be done by the Messiah; for he was anointed to preach the gospel to the meek (Isa. lxi. 1), and to save the souls of the poor and needy, Ps. lxxii. 13. Judge, therefore, whether you can look for any other that will more fully answer the characters of the Messiah and the great intentions of his coming.
4. He gave them an intimation of the danger people were in of being prejudiced against him, notwithstanding these evident proofs of his being the Messiah (v. 23): Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me, or scandalized at me. We are here in a state of trial and probation; and it is agreeable to such a state that, as there are sufficient arguments to confirm the truth to those that are honest and impartial in searching after it, and have their minds prepared to receive it, so there should be also objections, to cloud the truth to those that are careless, worldly, and sensual. Christ’s education at Nazareth, his residence at Galilee, the meanness of his family and relations, his poverty, and the despicableness of his followers–these and the like were stumbling-blocks to many, which all the miracles he wrought could not help them over. He is blessed, for he is wise, humble, and well disposed, that is not overcome by these prejudices. It is a sign that God has blessed him, for it is by his grace that he is helped over these stumbling-stones; and he shall be blessed indeed, blessed in Christ.
II. We have here the high encomium which Christ gave of John Baptist; not while his messengers were present (lest he should seem to flatter him), but when they were departed (v. 24), to make the people sensible of the advantages they had enjoyed in John’s ministry, and were deprived of by his imprisonment. Let them now consider what they went out into the wilderness to see, who that was about whom there had been so much talk and such a great and general amazement. “Come,” saith Christ, “I will tell you.”
1. He was a man of unshaken self-consistence, a man of steadiness and constancy. He was not a reed shaken with the wind, first in one direction and then in another, shifting with every wind; he was firm as a rock, not fickle as a reed. If he could have bowed like a reed to Herod, and have complied with the court, he might have been a favourite there; but none of these things moved him.
2. He was a man of unparalleled self-denial, a great example of mortification and contempt of the world. He was not a man clothed in soft raiment, nor did he live delicately (v. 25); but, on the contrary, he lived in a wilderness and was clad and fed accordingly. Instead of adorning and pampering the body, he brought it under, and kept it in subjection.
3. He was a prophet, had his commission and instructions immediately from God, and not of man or by man. He was by birth a priest, but that is never taken notice of; for his glory, as a prophet, eclipsed the honour of his priesthood. Nay, he was more, he was much more than a prophet (v. 26), than any of the prophets of the Old Testament; for they spoke of Christ as at a distance, he spoke of him as at the door.
4. He was the harbinger and forerunner of the Messiah, and was himself prophesied of in the Old Testament (v. 27): This is he of whom it is written (Mal. iii. 1), Behold, I send my messenger before thy face. Before he sent the Master himself, he sent a messenger, to give notice of his coming, and prepare people to receive him. Had the Messiah been to appear as a temporal prince, under which character the carnal Jews expected him, his messenger would have appeared either in the pomp of a general or the gaiety of a herald at arms; but it was a previous indication, plain enough, of the spiritual nature of Christ’s kingdom, that the messenger he sent before him to prepare his way did it by preaching repentance and reformation of men’s hearts and lives. Certainly that kingdom was not of this world which was thus ushered in.
5. He was, upon this account, so great, that really there was not a greater prophet than he. Prophets were the greatest that were born of women, more honourable than kings and princes, and John was the greatest of all the prophets. The country was not sensible what a valuable, what an invaluable, man it had in it, when John Baptist went about preaching and baptizing. And yet he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. The least gospel minister, that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be skilful and faithful in his work, or the meanest of the apostles and first preachers of the gospel, being employed under a more excellent dispensation, are in a more honourable office than John Baptist. The meanest of those that follow the Lamb far excel the greatest of those that went before him. Those therefore who live under the gospel dispensation have so much the more to answer for.
III. We have here the just censure of the men of that generation, who were not wrought upon by the ministry either of John Baptist or of Jesus Christ himself.
1. Christ here shows what contempt was put upon John Baptist, while he was preaching and baptizing. (1.) Those who did show him any respect were but the common ordinary sort of people, who, in the eye of the gay part of mankind, were rather a disgrace to him than a credit, v. 29. The people indeed, the vulgar herd, of whom it was said, This people, who know not the law, are cursed (John vii. 49), and the publicans, men of ill fame, as being generally men of bad morals, or taken to be so, these were baptized with his baptism, and became his disciples; and these, though glorious monuments of divine grace, yet did not magnify John in the eye of the world; but by their repentance and reformation they justified God, justified his conduct and the wisdom of it in appointing such a one as John Baptist to be the forerunner of the Messiah: they hereby made it to appear that it was the best method that could be taken, for it was not in vain to them whatever it was to others. (2.) The great men of their church and nation, the polite and the politicians, that would have done him some credit in the eye of the world, did him all the dishonour they could; they heard him indeed, but they were not baptized of him, v. 30. The Pharisees, who were most in reputation for religion and devotion, and the lawyers, who were celebrated for their learning, especially their knowledge of the scriptures, rejected the counsel of God against themselves; they frustrated it, they received the grace of God, by the baptism of John, in vain. God in sending that messenger among them had a kind purpose of good to them, designed their salvation by it, and, if they had closed with the counsel of God, it had been for themselves, they had been made for ever; but they rejected it, would not comply with it, and it was against themselves, it was to their own ruin; they came short of the benefit intended them, and not only so, but forfeited the grace of God, put a bar in their own door, and, by refusing that discipline which was to fit them for the kingdom of the Messiah, shut themselves out of it, and they not only excluded themselves, but hindered others, and stood in their way.
2. He here shows the strange perverseness of the men of that generation, in their cavils both against John and Christ, and the prejudices they conceived against them.
(1.) They made but a jesting matter of the methods God took to do them good (v. 31): “Whereunto shall I liken the men of this generation? What can I think of absurd enough to represent them by? They are, then, like children sitting in the market-place, that mind nothing that is serious, but are as full of play as they can hold. As if God were but in jest with them, in all the methods he takes to do them good, as children are with one another in the market-place (v. 32), they turn it all off with a banter, and are not more affected with it than with a piece of pageantry.” This is the ruin of multitudes, they can never persuade themselves to be serious in the concerns of their souls. Old men, sitting in the sanhedrim, were but as children sitting in the market-place, and no more affected with the things that belonged to their everlasting peace than people are with children’s play. O the amazing stupidity and vanity of the blind and ungodly world! The Lord awaken them out of their security.
(2.) They still found something or other to carp at. [1.] John Baptist was a reserved austere man, lived much in solitude, and ought to have been admired for being such a humble, sober, self-denying man, and hearkened to as a man of thought and contemplation; but this, which was his praise, was turned to his reproach. Because he came neither eating nor drinking, so freely, plentifully, and cheerfully, as others did, you say, “He has a devil; he is a melancholy man, he is possessed, as the demoniac whose dwelling was among the tombs, though he be not quite so wild.” [2.] Our Lord Jesus was of a more free and open conversation; he came eating and drinking, v. 34. He would go and dine with Pharisees, though he knew they did not care for him; and with publicans, though he knew they were no credit to him; yet, in hopes of doing good both to the one and the other, he conversed familiarly with them. By this it appears that the ministers of Christ may be of very different tempers and dispositions, very different ways of preaching and living, and yet all good and useful; diversity of gifts, but each given to profit withal. Therefore none must make themselves a standard to all others, nor judge hardly of those that do not do just as they do. John Baptist bore witness to Christ, and Christ applauded John Baptist, though they were the reverse of each other in their way of living. But the common enemies of them both reproached them both. The very same men that had represented John as crazed in his intellects, because he came neither eating nor drinking, represented our Lord Jesus as corrupt in his morals, because he came eating and drinking; he is a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber. Ill-will never speaks well. See the malice of wicked people, and how they put the worst construction upon every thing they meet with in the gospel, and in the preachers and professors of it; and hereby they think to depreciate them, but really destroy themselves.
3. He shows that, notwithstanding this, God will be glorified in the salvation of a chosen remnant (v. 35): Wisdom is justified of all her children. There are those who are given to wisdom as her children, and they shall be brought by the grace of God to submit to wisdom’s conduct and government, and thereby to justify wisdom in the ways she takes for bringing them to that submission; for to them they are effectual, and thereby appear well chosen. Wisdom’s children are herein unanimous, one and all, they have all a complacency in the methods of grace which divine wisdom takes, and think never the worse of them for their being ridiculed by some.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Calling unto him (). First aorist middle (indirect) participle.
Two ( ). Certain two. Not in Mt 11:2.
Saying (). John saying by the two messengers. The message is given precisely alike in Mt 11:3, which see. In both we have for “another,” either a second or a different kind. In verse 20 Westcott and Hort read in the text, in the margin. , may be present indicative or present subjunctive (deliberative), the same contract form (= , ).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Two [ ] . Lit, two certain ones. Rev., in margin, certain two. Art thou. The thou is emphatic. See on Mt 11:3.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
JOHN’S DISCIPLES SENT TO QUESTION JESUS V. 19-23
1) “And John calling unto him two of his disciples,”, (kai proakalesamenos du tinas ton matheton auto ho loannes) “And John upon calling two certain disciples of him,” that they might bring direct testamentary evidence from Jesus, concerning His identity, in harmony with the law-basis of establishing evidence, Joh 8:17; Num 35:30; Deu 17:6.
2) “Sent them to Jesus, saying,” (epempsen pros ten kurion legon) “Sent (them) to the Lord, inquiring,” in a more direct and definitive manner, for their faith in Him.
3) “Art thou he that should come?” (su ei ho erchomenos) “Are you the one who is coming?” Mat 11:3; Zec 9:9, as foretold by all the prophets, as the Messiah-redeemer, Deu 18:15-18; Isa 53:1-12; Act 10:43; Rev 19:19; It appears that John may have expected Jesus to prepare to set up His earthly kingdom, restore the kingdom of David at that time, as so many did, Act 1:6.
4) “Or look we for another?” (e allon prosdokomen) “Or may we expect another,” one similar to you? The one I baptized that day in Jordan, when the spirit came upon you visibly and the Father spoke from heaven that you were His beloved Son, Mat 8:15-17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(19) Two of his disciples.According to some MSS. of St. Matthew, which give simply, sent through His disciples, St. Lukes account is the only one that gives the number of the disciples sent.
Sent them to Jesus.Some of the best MSS. give, to the Lord. (See Note on Luk. 7:13.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you he who is coming, or look we for another?” ’
Having heard the news of this rapid spreading of the word and of all that was taking place (as much as his disciples could tell him) John called two of his disciples and sent them ‘to the Lord’. This use of ‘the Lord’ connects up with Luk 7:13. They were sent to the Lord Who had raised the dead (compare Luk 7:18, ‘all these things’). The contrast between Jesus and John is being emphasised. Jesus is increasing, John is decreasing (Joh 3:30). For John worked no miracles, whereas Jesus wrought wonders wherever He went. He is revealing His power as ‘the Lord’ (Christ the Lord – Luk 2:11), besides which John is merely the greatest of the prophets.
(B; f13; 157 and others have ‘the Lord’. Aleph A W Theta f1 f28 have ‘Jesus’).
We should not be taken by surprise by John’s doubts as he languishes in the darkness of his prison cell in chains. If Jesus could express hesitancy in Gethsemane when He knew what was happening, how much more likely John in prison when he did not know what was happening. John had been expecting so much, and now time hung heavy on his hands. He did not doubt God (‘look we for another’). He was still as involved as ever (as far as he could be). But he just could not understand what he heard about the ministry of Jesus. Things did not seem to be going as he had expected (we are not wise when we decide how God should act). Jesus was no longer preaching in the wilderness regions, as He had for a while alongside John (Joh 3:22 to Joh 4:3). Indeed from all reports he was partying with outcasts and the non-religious. And there was no suggestion of His gathering an army. All He had was a small band of Galileans (although they could be tough fighters), and all they did was go around preaching. That was all very well for a time. But he had expected that by now other stirrings might have been taking place.
‘A certain two (duo tinas) of his disciples.’ John wants a twofold witness in order to confirm its certainty. Although it may be that his disciples also went around in twos. It was quite common.
The message that his disciples took was in the form of a simple question. “Are you He Who is coming, or look we for another?” For John had been looking for ‘the Coming One’ to act as the eschatological figure through Whom the Holy Spirit would be poured out, when all who were in rebellion against God would be brought into judgment (Luk 3:16-17). For ‘the Coming One’ compare ‘blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord’ (Luk 13:35), ‘blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord (Luk 19:38). But this was not what appeared to be happening. Where were the fires of judgment? He was puzzled.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
Ver. 19. Art thou he that should come ] The soul resteth not till it pitch upon Christ. See Trapp on “ Mat 11:2 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 11:3 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 7:19 . , two; more explicit than Mt., who has . . The may be an editorial change made on the document, from which both drew. ( T. R.): a second instance of the use of the title “Lord” in Lk.’s narrative. , etc.: question as in Mk., with the doubtful variation, for .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
two = a certain two. The mission in Mat 11:1, &c., was earlier than this. See notes on Mat 11:2. No number named there. See note on “two” there.
Jesus. All the texts read “the Lord”. See note on Luk 7:13.
He That should come = the coming [Messiah].
look we = do we look.
another. Greek. allos. App-124. But Tr. and WI read “heteros”. App-124.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Luk 7:19. , having called to him) John had not disciples so frequently with him as the Saviour had.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Christ’s Endorsement Of John The Baptist — Luk 7:19-35
And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art Thou He that should come? or look we for another? When the men were come unto Him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto Thee, saying, Art Thou He that should come? or look we for another? And in that same hour He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind He gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard: how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me. And when the messengers of John were departed, He began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And all the people that heard Him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? And to what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of Man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children – Luk 7:19-35.
During the early part of our blessed Lords ministry, John the Baptist was arrested by order of King Herod because of his faithfulness in seeking to press upon the conscience of that wicked monarch his vileness and corruption, particularly in connection with his adulterous relation with his brothers wife, Herodias. For months John was allowed to languish in prison.
According to tradition, this was the castle of Machaerus, a stronghold in the wilderness of Judaea overlooking the Dead Sea. There is no positive proof, however, that John was there incarcerated. Machaerus is quite a distance from Tiberias, where Herod held his court and where John was brought to be beheaded. At any rate, wherever he was confined, it must have been for him a strange ending to his great ministry. He who had been used to speak to thousands and who had presented the Lord Jesus to them as the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, now seemed to be neglected and forgotten. Doubtless, there would come to him from time to time rumors of the great miracles that Jesus did, and reports of His discourses, but there was nothing to indicate that He was actually presenting Himself to Israel as the promised Messiah. Whether John himself began to entertain doubts as to this, or whether it was simply his disciples who were perplexed, we cannot now say, but we are told in this passage that John called unto him two of the disciples, and gent them to Jesus, inquiring Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another? Could it be that Jesus, like John himself, was simply another forerunner of the true Messiah, or was He actually the promised King, and was there some reason for which He refrained from asserting His authority? These were the problems involved in Johns inquiries.
When these men came to Jesus, they asked Him according to Johns instructions. We do not read that He gave any immediate answer, but He permitted them to look on as He healed many of various diseases and plagues and cast out demons. He also gave sight to some that were blind. These were the visible tokens of His Messiahship and should have counted far more than any words in proving that He was truly the expected One. After Johns disciples observed the evidences of His power, Jesus told them to return to John and tell him of the things they had seen and heard: how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. What more could Messiah do so far as ministering to the needs of men? Jesus added, Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me. That is, He meant those who would not be stumbled by His failure to assert Himself in the way that many in Israel expected Messiah to do.
No sooner had the messengers of John left than the Lord began to speak to the people concerning His forerunner. In a most appreciative way He insisted on the greatness of the ministry of this devoted man. There is something here that should be very precious to our hearts. We are all inclined, at times, to feel that we have been neglected and forgotten, and the Lord does not always speak words of endorsement directly to us, but we may be assured of this: if we have sought to be faithful to Him, He always approves us before His Father and the holy angels. John himself could not hear what Jesus said to the multitude. If he could have done so, it would, no doubt, have been a great encouragement to him, but he was left in ignorance of this for the time, in order that his faith might be more firmly established.
The Lord inquired, first of all, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? And then suggested an answer to the question. A reed shaken with the wind? John surely was not that. He was a strong, fearless messenger of the truth, not turned aside by any opposition. But, continued the Lord, what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Was John like many of the leaders in Israel, one who looked upon his office as a lucrative profession and profited by it, and so lived in luxury, and dressed magnificently in order to impress the people? Such men had access to kings courts and were honored by enjoying the favor of rulers. But it was otherwise with this wilderness preacher. Again the Lord puts a question. But what went ye out to see? A prophet? Immediately He adds, Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. A prophet is one who speaks directly for God. He is not merely one who foretells future events, but he is one who speaks forth divine truth in the energy of the Holy Spirit. This indeed characterized John the Baptist.
The Lord then definitely identified John as the one whose coming was predicted in Isa 40:3. He declared, This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Whatever Johns doubts or those of his disciples may have been, if any, as to the Person and ministry of the Lord, because He did not immediately ascend Davids throne, Jesus Himself leaves no possible doubt in the minds of those who were prepared to receive His Word, as to the identity of John himself.
He was the one whose coming had been foretold over seven hundred years before he appeared. It was given to him to herald the advent of Israels Messiah, Gods Son, the worlds Redeemer.
Because of this special privilege granted to John, the last of the prophets, Jesus added, I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and all the rest of the prophetic brotherhood, looked forward to the coming of Messiah, but it was given to John alone to actually present Him to Israel and proclaim Him definitely as the long-expected Deliverer.
John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. We are told elsewhere, The law and the prophets were until John. Following him we have the bringing in of the acceptable year of the Lord, the presentation of Christ Jesus as the only Saviour, who came to establish the kingdom of God on earth. It was given to John to direct people to the King and to stand, as it were, at the open door of the kingdom and invite people to enter; but he did not live himself to go into the new dispensation and so become a member of that kingdom in the form in which it has taken since Christ came into the world. And so Jesus said, He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
We need to remember that the terms the kingdom of God, as used here, and the kingdom of heaven, as used in Matthew, refer at times to two different aspects of the kingdom. They speak primarily of heavens rule established on earth. That kingdom was offered to Israel, but rejected by them. Nevertheless, the authority of the Lord was recognized and has been recognized by millions since, and these enter into the kingdom of God in its present spiritual and mystical form. John will have his part in the coming age in the manifested kingdom, but he had no part in the kingdom as now set up in the hearts of men, while the King is on the Fathers throne, awaiting His own second advent.
We have the results of Johns ministry set forth in Luk 7:29, where we are told that all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. That was a baptism unto repentance. It was the acknowledgement on the part of the baptized that they were sinners and deserved to die. In making this acknowledgment they justified God. Baptism itself had no part in their salvation. That could only be through the Lord Jesus Himself, whose great atoning work John proclaimed when he exclaimed: Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. John never taught that baptism, as such, could take away sin. His baptism was only the outward acknowledgment of the fact that men were sinners and needed a Saviour. Great multitudes in Israel listened to John with appreciation and exercise of conscience, and so received the testimony of God against themselves and humbly owned their lost condition by being baptized of John. But it was otherwise with the majority of the leaders. The Pharisees and lawyers, we are told, rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. These proud, haughty legalists refused to take the place of lost, needy sinners, and so, would not stoop to a baptism which spoke of the necessity of repentance.
In the verses that follow, Luk 7:31-35, the Lord draws a vivid contrast between the conscience-searching ministry of John the Baptist and the message of grace, which He came to proclaim. He likens the men of the generation to children sitting about in the market-place. One group of them are trying to arouse the others to take part in some childish games. First they say, as it were, Let us play wedding, and they attempt a merry tune upon their pipes, but the others refuse to dance. Then the first group say, Well, if you will not play wedding, let us play funeral. And so they pipe out a doleful elegy. But the others refuse to mourn. The ministry of John was more like the latter. He came with a very solemn message, calling upon people to recognize the seriousness of their condition as sinners needing a Saviour, but the Pharisees and those of their group turned away with a sneer and said, He hath a demon. Jesus came with a more joyous message, mingling with publicans and sinners, as He proclaimed that grace and truth which offered salvation to all who would trust in Him; but the legalists turned coldly away, declaring Him to be a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But Jesus said, Wisdom is justified of all her children. That is, in the wisdom of God there is a time to stress the importance of repentance; there is also a time to stress the preciousness of the grace of God, and He will be glorified in both messages and in whatever servants He uses to give them forth.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
John: When we remember the Baptist’s solemn testimony to Christ, the sign from heaven, and the miraculous impulse which made him acknowledge Jesus the Messiah, we shall be constrained to think that he sent to Christ, not for his own satisfaction, but for that of his disciples.
two: Luk 10:1, Jos 2:1, Mar 6:7, Act 10:7, Act 10:8, Rev 11:3
Art: Gen 3:15, Gen 22:18, Gen 49:10, Deu 18:15-18, Psa 110:1-4, Isa 7:14, Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7, Isa 11:1, Isa 40:10, Isa 40:11, Isa 59:20, Isa 59:21, Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6, Dan 9:24-26, Mic 5:2, Hag 2:7, Zec 9:9, Mal 3:1-3, Mal 4:2, Joh 4:25
Reciprocal: Joh 11:27 – which Act 26:7 – hope Heb 10:5 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE FINAL REVELATION
Art Thou He that should come? or look we for another?
Luk 7:19
That is the question to which we must all give a definite answer.
I. A definite answer required.If we have never yet settled accounts with ourselves as to our true attitude towards Christ, or if at any time we should find ourselves becoming hazy or doubtful about His true Divinity, this is the point to which we must pin ourselves down. We must constantly force home upon ourselves this one question, we must hold ourselves to it, and determinedly extort from ourselves an unambiguous Yes or No. And if we have once for all owned and hailed Christ as the Great Fulfiller and are unshaken in our faith on this point, we should not overmuch worry about doubts on any minor points.
II. But we may be met with an objection.How can I, it may be asked, say that Christs revelation is final and absolute? Let us put the question in this way: does not Christs revelation completely meet all the needs of the human heart? Is there any element in human nature that cannot here meet with its satisfaction? We know sufficiently well what is in man, we know the nature of that universal man, who is everywhere fundamentally the same; so then, these questions are by no means beyond our power of answering.
III. Step by step.And if we are doubtful as to what our answer shall be, let us diligently study the life and character of Christ as they are so marvellously depicted for us in the Gospels; let us thoroughly steep ourselves in the spirit of those unique narratives. And when we have formed from them some general idea of what sort of man the historical Christ really was, let us pass on to those other works of the earliest Christian literature, which are included in the New Testament canon, and see in them what He was to His immediate followers. Let us try to master Johns magnificent exposition of the new commandment, and St. James rhapsody over the perfect law of liberty. Above all, let us study and meditate on St. Pauls wonderful teaching upon justification by faith. And then let us observe the working of Christianity all down the ages; let us see how it has completely changed the face of modern civilisation, how it has regenerated and reformed societies, and revolutionised the lives of individuals; let us look at the long roll of saints which it has produced, and the dazzling heights of moral and spiritual achievement to which, in persons of many of these, human nature has attained. And, finally, let us look round the world to-day and see what great deeds Christianity is accomplishing even now.
Rev. N. E. Egerton-Swann.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2
This paragraph is so much like Mat 11:2-5 which is commented upon at length, that I shall ask the reader to consult that place in explanation of this.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 7:19. Two of his disciples. This shows that the imprisonment did not shut him off from intercourse with His followers.
To the Lord. Eleven times is this title applied to Jesus in this Gospel (see marginal references).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 7:19-28. And John, calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, &c. See this whole paragraph explained in the notes on Mat 11:2-11. To the poor the gospel is preached Which is the greatest mercy and the greatest miracle of all.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 19
He that should come; the promised Messiah.–Or look we; are we to expect?
Luke 7:24-27. The precise point of the particular questions asked in Luke 7:24,25 is somewhat obscure. Commentators have attempted to explain them; but the meaning which they assign seems to be a meaning which they put into, rather than deduce from them. The intention of the whole passage is obvious. It was to declare, in the most emphatic manner, that John was a divinely-inspired prophet, and that he was acknowledged to be such by the act of the Jewish people in attending in crowds upon his preaching in the wilderness.
Luke 7:29,30. These verses are a continuation of the Savior’s remarks. The meaning is, that the mass of the nation, and even the publicans, acknowledged John as a prophet, and glorified God by their repentance. He was rejected only by the Pharisees and lawyers, who, acting against themselves, resisted God’s gracious designs for their salvation.