Posted on 10/29/2025 4:50:32 AM PDT by metmom
“Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?’” (Matthew 11:2–3).
Countless Christians since John the Baptist’s time have dealt with doubt, which might better be called perplexity or confusion. Here John did not question the truthfulness of Old Testament Scripture or the veracity of Jesus’ baptism, which he himself had seen. Rather, John was simply uncertain about his understanding of those truths. And the kind of question he asked could come only from a believer. In that transitional period between the Testaments, many things seemed unclear and called for further explanation.
Until this time, John the Baptist was the greatest man who had ever lived (Matt. 11:11); so when believers are confused, they can take comfort that even John was perplexed for a time. Also encouraging for us is that Jesus often said to His disciples, “You of little faith” and “How long will you doubt?” (e.g., Matt. 8:26; 14:31; Mark 11:23; Luke 12:28).
Although Christ understands His children’s doubts, He is never pleased with such misgivings because they reflect against Him. When messengers from the Gentile Cornelius arrived where Peter was staying, the Holy Spirit told the apostle, “Get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself” (Acts 10:20). James warns us that “the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6; cf. Eph. 4:14). But John’s doubt derived from weakness, not sin, and the only remedy for similar doubt by us is sincere inquiry, prayerful confession, and reliance on Scripture for reassurance.
Ask Yourself
How do you respond to people in crisis, especially when the trauma of their situation has left them doubting God’s goodness or shaken in their faith?
How do you go about reassuring them of the Lord’s faithfulness when they will hear none of it or aren’t ready to listen?
Studying God’s Word ping
No Bible scholar here. But I have found myself over these past few years saying, basically, the same thing. Not out of doubt, but out of impatience of Christ fixing this sinful world.
“Jesus, are you going to set us straight or are we to look forward for someone else to gets us out of this mess.”
I always believed John TB was trying to inspire Jesus to start concluding His mission of salvation through His Passion, death and resurrection.
Just my gut feeling on the why John said what he did.
I don’t for a minute believe John the Baptizer was doubting in his faith. We know from Scripture that he was “full of the Holy Ghost” from the womb on.
I believe John was priming his disciples (John, James, Peter, and Andrew among these) for a “hand-off” to the Messiah.
The passage in question is not easy to interpret. Srednik remembers a respected professor at seminary meandering through it without saying much in chapel one day.
From the Religion Moderator’s homepage. Please familiarize yourself with the RF guidelines.
Religion Moderator
Religion Forum threads labeled “Devotional: ”Devotional threads are closed to debate of any kind.
https://freerepublic.com/~religionmoderator/
Religion Forum threads labeled “Caucus”
Caucus threads are closed to any poster who is not currently and actively a member of the caucus group.
For instance, if it says “Catholic Caucus” and you are not currently, actively Catholic, then do not post to the thread. However, if the poster of the caucus invites you, I will not boot you from the thread.
The “caucus” article and posts must not compare beliefs or speak in behalf of a belief outside the caucus.
There is little to no tolerance for non-members of a caucus coming onto the caucus thread to challenge whether or not it should be a caucus. Gross disruption usually follows.
If you question whether the article is appropriate for a caucus designation, send me a Freepmail. I’ll get to it as soon as I can.
Caucus Designations, Generally
Caucus labels exist only for the purpose of avoiding unwanted disruptions on Religion Forum threads. The terms used in a caucus label are not necessarily precise with reference to Canon Law, theology or even dictionaries – but are intended to communicate briefly who should or should not post on a thread. A reply post may be removed from a caucus thread if the moderator recognizes the poster as a non-member.
If you believe a poster is not a member of the caucus, or if you believe the article or reply posts are mentioning the beliefs of non-members of the caucus then let me know by Freepmail and I will follow-up as soon as possible.
Do not disturb the caucus.
I think sometimes people doubt when God doesn’t act in the ways that we expect Him to.
Perhaps that was the case with John as the Messiah was to set the prisoners free and here John was..... in prison.
The issue is not questions.
I have questions all day long of God. Many times I get an answer and right after that another question. I think God likes questions.
The issue is the heart when asking a question and when getting an answer and another question.
By the way, the answer to every question eventually is God.
I pray against doubt and unbelief in my heart quite often.
Extremely timely message!
Psalm 103:8-14 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.