{"id":640,"date":"2015-04-24T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=640"},"modified":"2015-03-11T20:29:07","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T20:29:07","slug":"matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/04\/matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 11:1-19; Jesus and John the Baptist (Inductive Studies)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u201cAre you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s interesting that John asked an academic question, recorded in Matthew 11:3, and Jesus responded with a legal answer (Matthew 11:4-6). John\u2019s question really only required a yes-or-no reply, but instead of giving that simple solution, Jesus convened an impromptu, informal court\u2014right there in front of God and everybody.<\/p>\n<p>Figuratively speaking, to answer John\u2019s great question, Christ took off the cloak of Rabbi and put on judicial robes instead. \u201cGo back,\u201d he instructed the Baptist\u2019s disciples, \u201cand report to John what you hear and see\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exhibit A: \u201cthe blind receive sight,\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Exhibit B: \u201cthe lame walk,\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Exhibit C: \u201cthose who have leprosy are cleansed,\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Exhibit D: \u201cthe deaf hear,\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Exhibit E: \u201cthe dead are raised,\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Exhibit F: \u201cthe good news is proclaimed to the poor.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Anyone familiar with Old Testament prophesies of Isaiah\u2014and John was\u2014would recognize fairly quickly that each and every one of these miracles was overwhelming proof of the promised Messiah, the Coming One. In this way Jesus conclusively and forcefully answered John\u2019s faith crisis by placing the Baptist squarely in the jury box and saying essentially, \u201cLook at the evidence, Cousin. You\u2019ll find the truth in there. \u201d<\/p>\n<p>Why did Jesus change the parameters of John\u2019s simple question into something of a courtroom drama? The author of Hebrews gives us a clue: \u201cFaith,\u201d he said, \u201cis the <em>substance<\/em> of things hoped for, the <em>evidence<\/em> of things not seen\u201d (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV, italics mine).<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps John needed more than a simple assent regarding what he couldn\u2019t see; perhaps he needed evidence of those unseen things. Jesus gave to John <em>substance<\/em> on which to pin his hope and clear <em>evidence<\/em> to believe. In doing so, he gave to John the gift of real, unshakeable faith\u2014a faith that would endure in the depths of prison, a faith that would remain strong even when the executioner came to bring a savage end to John\u2019s earthly life.<\/p>\n<p>See also: Isaiah 29:18, 35:5, (blind see); Isaiah 35:6 (lame walk); Isaiah 53:4 (lepers healed); Isaiah 29:18\u201319, 35:5 (deaf hear); Isaiah 26:18\u201319 (dead raised); Isaiah 61:1 (good news preached to poor).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[GSM, 107-108]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAre you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?\u201d It\u2019s interesting that John asked an academic question, recorded in Matthew 11:3, and Jesus responded with a legal answer (Matthew 11:4-6). John\u2019s question really only required a yes-or-no reply, but instead of giving that simple solution, Jesus convened an impromptu, informal&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2],"tags":[80,16,62,20],"class_list":["post-640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inductivestudies","category-matthew","tag-isaiah","tag-jesus","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-messiah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 11:1-19; Jesus and John the Baptist (Inductive Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/04\/matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 11:1-19; Jesus and John the Baptist (Inductive Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cAre you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?\u201d It\u2019s interesting that John asked an academic question, recorded in Matthew 11:3, and Jesus responded with a legal answer (Matthew 11:4-6). 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John\u2019s question really only required a yes-or-no reply, but instead of giving that simple solution, Jesus convened an impromptu, informal&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/04\/matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2015-04-24T12:00:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-11T20:29:07+00:00","author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/04\/matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/04\/matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies.html","name":"Matthew 11:1-19; Jesus and John the Baptist (Inductive Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-24T12:00:44+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-11T20:29:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/04\/matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/04\/matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/04\/matthew-111-19-jesus-and-john-the-baptist-inductive-studies.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 11:1-19; Jesus and John the Baptist (Inductive Studies)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. Learn more at nappaland.com\/mikenappa.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblestudynerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/author\/mnappa"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":654,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions\/654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}