Matthew 11:2-3

THE BAPTIST’S DOUBT

‘Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto Him, Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?’

Matthew 11:2

Of this very remarkable passage in John the Baptist’s life, very various views have been taken. Some think that John sent his disciples for their own sake. Others have thought that he did not feel sure that the person, of whom he now heard such wonderful accounts, was the Christ whom he baptized. Others are of opinion that John’s own mind went under a cloud. This is probably the true interpretation.

I. Times of doubt.—There are times when the very foundations tremble and shake! At such times, it will be an immense strength and comfort to know that the man who had been once the nearest to Christ—‘the greatest’—up to that period—‘of those born of woman,’ and who had known Christ, and seen Christ, and touched Christ, and baptized Christ, and done Christ’s work—that even he could question the simplest elements, and go through such a dark passage of soul. Through such a night it may be appointed to some of us, at some time in the distant life, to pass.

II. How to meet doubt.—It is well, therefore, to be preparing beforehand what you will do, that you may meet it, when it comes, deliberately.

(a) As soon as it comes, define it,—what it is. Deal with it discriminately. ‘What do I believe, and what do I not believe?’ Sometimes, in the attempt to fix the boundary line,—where faith stops and unbelief begins,—the depression vanishes.

(b) Define the cause.—‘Why am I thus?’ Is it at all physical? Is it the penalty of careless prayer? Or is it a permitted temptation?

(c) Deal very practically with what you have found. Settle at once any matter which is between your conscience and God. And then go and rouse yourself to some work.

(d) Do not indulge your doubt till you become enamoured of it, and like it, and pride yourself upon it. Tell it to your clergyman, or to any spiritual friend.

(e) Wrestle in prayer for light. It is an act of God’s sovereignty to make it come into your dark heart.

(f) Seek your evidences in Christ. Go straight to Him. Let Him be the answer to all your difficulties.

III. The restoration of faith.—Observe how Christ dealt with His doubting friend. He simply showed Himself as He really was. Three things were the restorer of John’s weak faith; and every doubting child of God—in his hours of cloud—will do well to draw the confirmation of his faith from exactly the same three sources. The work of Christ—the power of Christ—the character of Christ.

(a) The work of Christ. A finished salvation, a remedy provided for every sorrow of every sinner. Realise it.

(b) The power of Christ, the Omnipotence of the Son of God. Accept it.

(c) The character of Christ,—sympathy—sympathy even with fear;—sympathy with the darkest hour that ever fell on the heart of man. Appropriate it.

—The Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustrations

(1) ‘Was there no excuse for the Baptist? He was a prisoner for his constancy in speaking the truth and for his boldness in rebuking vice, to which the Collect for his Day alludes. It is said that the traveller may still see among the ruins of the keep on the summit of the hill, two dungeons, in one of which are “small holes still visible in the masonry where staples of wood and iron had once been fixed.” From this captivity no effort had been made by our Lord to free His appointed forerunner. Can we not understand how great must have been the strain upon the faith of the disciples as well as upon the steadfastness of John himself of such inaction?’

(2)‘John, than which man a sadder or a greater

Not till this day has been of woman born,

John, like some lonely peak by the Creator

Fired with the red glow of the rushing morn.’

(3)‘Be faithful unto death. Christ proffers thee

Crown of a life that draws immortal breath:

To thee He saith, yea and He saith to me,

“Be faithful unto death.”

‘Tho’ trouble storm around us like the sea,

Tho’ hell surge up to scare us and to scathe,

Tho’ heaven and earth betake themselves to flee,

“Be faithful unto death.” ’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWER

It is a strange, pathetic story—full of heroism, full of hope, full of doubt, full of faith.

I. An ever-present question.—It is a question which is ever being repeated; it is never obsolete or unmeaning; it is the greatest question in all the world. Is Christ still the Coming One? Is the Christian interpretation of nature and of history the true interpretation? What is the destiny of the creatures whom God made in His own image? So many voices are asking all around us—in society and in literature. And as the question is asked, will you not recall the way in which it was met by our Lord Himself?

II. The appeal to experience.—The appeal is to experience in the last resort. What are the things which you hear and see? What has this religion done for the world? Certainly the appeal can be made now with as much power as in the days of the Baptist. What do we know of the works of the Christ? Have we not seen something of a Divine power in the Christian heroisms of common life? Look round any of our great cities, and ask yourselves who are the men and women that do most for its welfare? Who are the benefactors of the society in which we live and move? We may be bold to say that as matters stand in modern life the service of man is only displayed on any considerable scale by the servants of Jesus Christ. ‘ Go and tell the things which ye do hear and see.’

III. The revelation of the Living Christ.—But neither philosophy nor history nor common-sense observation of the world will entirely satisfy a soul that is seeking after the Living Christ. John had a deep-rooted belief and hope as to what the Redeemer of Israel was to be and to do. And the appeal to experience with which our Lord answered him had its power in this, that the works of Jesus corresponded to the vision of a Deliverer which John had before him. And so, when we ask of our Lord, ‘Art Thou He that should come?’ He answers us now as of old by bidding us think of His graces and His gifts in the light of our own personal desires and needs. This at least, One who can give us the victory over ourselves, through whose grace greed and selfishness and lust may be overcome. This at least, One who can speak to us, to whom we can speak, whom we can trust through silence and grief, One in whose love our poor lives may be transfigured and catch something of the light that comes from Him. And that all this is offered to you in Jesus Christ is the experience of countless multitudes. They tell you the things that they hear and see.

Dean Bernard.

Illustration

‘It is often said that a dark mantle of doubt or scepticism has settled on young England. It may be so—I do not know. But this I do know: an age that is too idle and indifferent to question at all is far worse. There are honest doubters, like St. John the Baptist. Your idea of a Christian is probably very different from the Bible portrait of the saint. If you drew a picture of a Christian, it would be that of a very holy person dwelling hard by heaven’s door, filled with joy unspeakable, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding. That would be only half a picture. The Bible pictures are painted from real life, and so we find in that Book saints crying “out of the depths,” we catch the sound of tearful voices gasping in the darkness, “O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul!” ’

(THIRD OUTLINE)

THE WITNESS OF THE MIRACLES

There were among the Socinians of a former generation those who rejected the doctrine of our Lord’s Divinity, but who yet felt no difficulty in admitting the truth of some, if not all, of the supernatural facts of the Gospel history. Nowadays, instead of regarding the miraculous part of Christianity as the foundation on which the remaining part rests, this miraculous part is looked on by many as the overburdening weight under which, if it cannot be cleared away, the whole fabric must sink. If we will but surrender the Christian miracles we may still have Christ.

I. A contradiction in terms.—But is such a compromise possible? We cannot in judging of Christ’s miracles leave out the consideration, how did He judge them Himself? How did He teach others to judge of them? It suffices to refer to the story as recorded in the text. If the wonders related of Him are to be reduced to exaggeration, misconception, natural occurrences falsely attributed to supernatural causes, we must say that the mistake which His Church has made was made in His own lifetime, and was shared by Himself. A non-miraculous Christianity is as much a contradiction in terms as a quadrangular circle; when you have taken away the supernatural, what is left behind is not Christianity. Christianity requires faith in a supernatural person.

II. The one miracle.—There is in Christianity but one miracle, the appearance in the world of a supernatural person. It is contrary to experience that a Man should be able to give sight to the blind, that at His word the dead should return to life, that he Himself should die and be buried and rise again the third day. But if He of whom these things are asserted be more than man, our experience has nothing to say. The Christian miracles form a connected system; it is idle to reject one unless you reject the whole. If one can be admitted all the rest are credible.

III. A miserable halting place.—It is said that if you remove the doctrine of our Lord’s Divinity our religion will be the nobler. The contrary is so much the case, that if we cease to worship Christ as God we shall cease to call ourselves by His name at all. The question is whether our souls are more likely to be elevated by the worship of God, or by creature-worship. It is by contact with God’s Spirit that man’s spirit is sanctified. If it be the perfection of the Christian life to set Christ ever before us, to live as in His sight, to strive to be like Him, to consider how by our actions we shall best please Him—when we say Christ we mean God. But if Christ be man, to lead us to Christ is a miserable halting-place.

Professor Salmon.