This morning I was meditating on the scripture in Matthew chapter 11:
When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him: ” Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else.?” Jesus replied, ” Go back and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”
Is He the One? THE One? That is the question that so many have been asking over the centuries. Is He THE one who will:
Save my marriage?
Take away my pain?
My drug addiction?
My sense of unworthiness?
Is He THE one who will wipe away my tears and comfort me when my loved one dies? Is he THE one who will follow through on His Word? After all, no one else does. The list is endless. John the Baptist was thrown into prison. Read the story as to how he got there. (Read Mark 6: 14-20). And now he is discouraged, feeling defeated perhaps and wondering. He remembers baptizing Jesus and seeing the dove rest on Him. He remembers that he was told that the one on whom the dove would rest would be the Messiah and yet here he is in prison. He had waited so long and hoped that it was He.
We all find ourselves in seasons of feeling imprisoned by our losses, our sorrows, our disappointments. This last year has taught us that we aren’t really in control of our lives; that things just happen like COVID and in the midst of it all, it’s easy to forget. John questioned because for a moment his presumably discouragement in prison caused him to wonder if Jesus was really the long awaited Messiah. Jesus answered him by describing the miraculous things He was doing as well as the power of the Gospel being released into the world. He assured them that the testimony of these things pointed to Him as the Messiah.
We need a Messiah and not just a wanna-be-Messiah (there are plenty of those) but a genuine Messiah, Son of God who performed miracles, declared God’s Word and sent His Holy Spirit so that we could do the same.
So, I have a question for you this morning. Do you find yourself asking: Is He THE one? Years ago raising teenagers, I asked myself this question. I remember raising my fist up and saying: ” If you are not THE one I am helpless. ” I even went one step further and said I will believe when I see. Yet God spoke to my heart that day. “No Joanne, you will believe and then you will see.” Not what I wanted to hear and it’s not what our world wants to hear. We are sophisticated, educated and we want facts. Nothing wrong with that unless you are searching for the ONE Messiah. In our quest we may find counterfeit Demi-gods, cultural gods, power, prestige, self serving… but when we find the ONE… ahhhh… everything changes. We find the suffering servant who washed His disciples feet and went to the cross to save us. We find a humble servant who did not want to be crowned a king and was given a crown of thrones instead. He struck out in ministry to serve and He proved that He was the Messiah by serving.
Is He THE ONE? That is the question we all must face. That is the question that will determine whether or not you are able to walk in the same manner as He did.
To receive future Abiding Space blog posts and daily devotionals straight to your inbox, visit Drawing Near to God.com. Also, please become a part of the Drawing Near to God Facebook community. If this post resonated with you, we’d love to hear from you, please leave a comment below.
