When We Doubt
Matthew 11:1-6
This morning, we come to a turning point in our study of the Gospel of Matthew, and of the story it tells us of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Matthew 11:1 closes the previous section of the gospel and opens a new one.
Up to this point, Jesus’ earthly ministry was for the most part warmly received. The multitudes marveled at His teaching and wondered at the miracles He performed. Each of the Gospels shows that after a few months of initial enthusiasm for Jesus and His ministry, opposition began to grow so that at last Jesus was rejected by both the leaders and the people and was crucified. Already in Matthew 8-9, we saw that the Pharisees and religious leaders questioned Jesus’ motives. In Matthew 10, Jesus predicted that the disciples would also face opposition to their ministry. But now, when we come to Matthew 11-13, we find opposition to Jesus is growing.
Matthew designed these chapters to answer the question “Is Jesus really God’s king?” The kingdom of God has been Matthew’s theme from the beginning: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17). He is presenting Jesus as the king of that kingdom. But is Jesus really God’s king? James M. Boice points out that in these chapters, we find varying assessments of Jesus. The cities where He did many miracles did not believe in Him. The Pharisees and the religious leaders began to bring accusations against Him and plot to kill Him. The people of His own hometown and even members of His own family began to turn against Him. And as we’ll see today, even John the Baptist began to doubt Him.
Doubt is a subject we rarely discuss in church even though there are whole books of the Bible that deal with the issue of doubt in various ways—Job, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Habakkuk. Many of the Psalms touch on the theme of doubt and feeling abandoned by God.
If you are like the rest of us, chances are that you also have experienced doubts or times of disappointment when you asked the Lord to do something and it turned out as you expected. Perhaps you expected that, if you asked, God would get you out of some particular situation or problem and when He didn’t, you were disappointed. Or you prayed and asked the Lord to take away the illness of some loved one but you found yourself in a funeral director’s office somewhere disillusioned because God didn’t fulfill your expectation.
Disappointed people have said things like, “I’ve tried trusting Jesus, and I found that He didn’t help me.” It breaks my heart to hear someone say that. But I have learned over many years that the problem is never with Jesus. The problem is always with us and our expectations of Him. We may expect Him to do something that He never said He would do. Or we expect Him to answer our desires in our way and according to our timing.
Whatever the reason, many Christians have struggled with disappointment and doubt. Perhaps some of you are dealing with that right now. If so, today’s passage in Matthew 11 is for you. It tells us how the man who was appointed by God as the ‘forerunner’ and ‘herald’ of our Lord’s earthly ministry expressed his disappointment and doubt.
And more than that, it tells us that the Lord took John’s doubts seriously and answered them. The Lord’s answer should encourage the rest of us who have those times of doubt.[1]
First, we see ….
1. John’s disappointment and doubt (Matt. 11:1-3)
Matthew 11:1 gives us the setting for this story about John, “Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.” Remember that in Matthew 10, Jesus had commissioned His twelve disciples to preach about Him to the cities of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6). Jesus gave them many instructions and warnings, sent them out, and then went out to the cities of Galilee to teach and preach Himself. This was Jesus’ primary ministry, teaching and preaching. Jesus didn’t just send His disciples to do this ministry, He continued doing it also. But His teaching and preaching are set in the context of opposition and suffering.
Opposition and suffering were exactly what John the Baptist was experiencing during this time. Matthew has already told us in Matthew 4:12 that John had been thrown into prison. In Matthew 14 he will give us the details about why. John had served faithfully as God’s prophet and had even confronted open sin in the life of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, because Herod had married the wife of his own brother in disobedience to the Scriptures (Matt. 14:4; Lev. 18:16). According to Josephus, who writes about John in his Antiquities, Herod had imprisoned John in the fortress of Machaerus (modern Khirbet Mukawer), about five miles east of the Dead Sea, a particularly hot and desolate environment (xviii, 19).[2]
God appointed John the Baptist to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus Christ. He proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3:2). He prepared the way for the Lord (Matt. 3:3). He baptized those who came confessing their sins (Matt. 3:6) and told them to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Matt. 3:8). He told them the time was short because “even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 3:10).[3] John told them about the Coming One saying, “… He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:11-12).
And now John was languishing away in prison. His disciples apparently had told him what Jesus was doing (Luke 7:18). The things Jesus was doing were certainly wonderful. He was teaching and preaching the Kingdom of Heaven, healing people, and casting out demons. But is this what John expected? Where’s baptism the Holy Spirit? Where’s the winnowing fan? Where’s the unquenchable fire?
So John sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matt. 11:3). John’s question was whether Jesus was ho erchomenos (“the coming one,” Matt. 11:3), exactly the same expression ascribed to John at Matthew 3:11 (cf. also 21:9; 23:39; John 6:14; 11:27; Heb 10:37). This designation was derived from Psalm 118:26 and Psalm 40:7, which is evident from the acclaim of the multitude on Palm Sunday in Matthew 21:9 (cf. Matt. 23:39), and from the use of Psalm 40:7 to refer to Jesus in Hebrews 10:5–9. The “Coming One” was both understood and used by the Jews to mean the coming Messiah-King.[4]
The question was John’s, so the doubt and disappointment were John’s. We should not think it strange that John would have doubts. The greatest characters of the Bible all had weak moments, and there is no reason to think that John was any less subject to human weaknesses than figures such as Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, and others.[5] We usually think of doubt as a negative thing, maybe even sinful. But as Os Guinness, who wrote a finely nuanced book about doubt, points out, “Doubt is not the opposite of faith, nor is it the same as unbelief. Doubt is a state of mind in suspension between faith and unbelief so that it is neither of them wholly and it is each only partly.”[6] Unbelief refers to a willful refusal to believe, while doubt refers to inner uncertainty. God doesn’t condemn us when we question Him. Both Job and David repeatedly questioned God, but they were not condemned. The truth is that struggling with God is a sure sign that we truly have faith. If we never struggle, our faith will never grow.
Think about why John might have had these doubts. He was suffering in prison. Suffering often causes us to question God, to doubt our faith, or to be disappointed in our circumstances. Think about how mentally and physically exhausted John must have been. John might have felt a bit like Elijah, whom he resembled in many ways. Elijah had denounced the sins of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, just as John had denounced the sins of Herod and his stolen paramour Herodias. Drained from his encounter, Elijah had fled to the desert wanting to die (1 Kings 19). Would John have been any less exhausted after his demanding ministry?[7]
Most importantly, Jesus was not doing all that John expected. John had prophesied that Jesus would bring the judgment of God. D. A. Carson asks:
It was all right to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, still storms, preach righteousness, and announce the kingdom; but where was the judgment? Had the corruptions and cruelties of Caesar been abruptly shut down? Had the hypocritical temple leaders been banished? Had the disgusting corruptions of Herod Antipas been confronted? Why was he, John the Baptist, languishing in the stifling heat of the prison at Machaerus fortress for challenging the morals of Herod, while Jesus the alleged Messiah did nothing about this injustice?[8]
As far as John could see, the world was as wicked as it was before Jesus began His work.[9]
John was right about the things that He expected Jesus to do. He was right to expect Jesus to be the ‘conquering Messiah’ and judge. But the error of the Jewish people to whom Jesus came, even John who was the greatest and the best of the Jewish people, was in thinking that that was all Jesus was a conquering Messiah. Indeed, Christ will eventually be the ‘Conquering King’ that the Scriptures promised He would be. But first, Jesus came to be the ‘Suffering Sacrifice’ that the Scriptures ALSO promised Him to be.
John was also right to ask Jesus for the answer. John did not start asking other people what they thought of Jesus. He did not start polling the religious experts of the time to see what they were thinking. He did not keep mulling it over himself. Instead, he did what needs to be done whenever doubts arise. He sought out the source that could answer his questions. The fact that John sends to Jesus for an answer proves John’s faith in Jesus.
As we said, doubt stands between faith and unbelief. Healthy doubt always stands closer to faith. Sinful doubt always stands closer to unbelief. Healthy doubt is like the man who brought his deaf and dumb son to Jesus who said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). Sinful doubt is like the cities Jesus condemns later in Matthew 11 who refused to repent, or like the Pharisees in Matthew 12 who plot to destroy Jesus and charge Him with being in league with the devil.
John was confused and doubting. He was in a trying situation; his understanding of scripture was incomplete; and his expectations were not being met. But he took those doubts to Jesus. Let’s now look at Jesus’ answer.
2. Jesus’ answer to John’s doubt (Matt. 11:4-5).
I greatly appreciate how Jesus deals with John’s doubts. He loved John and respected his sincere question. Our Lord didn’t rebuke John for asking, but He did give him the answer he needed. We read in Matthew 11:4, “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see . . .’”
Jesus encouraged John by sending his disciples back to him as eye witnesses of what Jesus was saying and doing. Sometimes, our doubts and disappointments through the testimony of another brother or sister Jesus sends to us. They can remind us that Jesus truly is the Son of God and that He powerfully changes the lives of those who trust Him. He may not fulfill our own fallible expectations of Him; but if we listen to others who love Him, we may well be reminded that He does so much more than we expect!
Jesus then goes on to remind John of His messianic credentials. He tells the disciples of John to tell him what they both see and hear. Look at Matthew 11:5, “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”
These, of course, were all things that Jesus had done already in his ministry as Matthew records it for us. The disciples of John saw some of it with their own eyes and they heard the testimony of much of it from others. We have the same testimony recorded for us in the Scriptures. As the apostle John writes, “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
The report of these things would have been tremendously significant to any Jewish man or woman who knew the Old Testament promises about the Messiah. Every Jewish person who was truly paying attention, and who knew the Scriptures, would have remembered such passages as Isaiah 29:17-18 and its promise of the glorious days of the coming of the Messiah:
Is it not yet a very little while
Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness (Isaiah 29:17-18).
Or perhaps they’d remember Isaiah 35:4-6:
“Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
‘Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
With the recompense of God;
He will come and save you.’
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert” (Isaiah 35:4-6).
Or Isaiah 61:1-2; where the Messiah Himself prophetically speaks – words that Jesus even clearly attributed to Himself in Luke 4:
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD”
(Isaiah 61:1-2a; see also Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus definitely claimed that these messianic visions were being fulfilled in the miracles he was performing and that his preaching the Good News to the poor (cf. Matt. 5:3) was as explicit a fulfillment of the messianic promises of Isaiah 61:1–2 as Luke 4:17–21. The powers of darkness were being undermined; the kingdom was advancing (cf. Mt 11:12).[10]
I believe that when the disciples of John went back and told John these things that they heard and saw, John remembered these promises; and his heart was encouraged that Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah that he and his people had been waiting for. Jesus was doing what the Scriptures promised that the Messiah would do.
Daniel Doriani notes three features of these works that Jesus cited.[11] First, the miracles are great and rare. Jesus heals the blind and raises the dead. The verbs in Matthew 11:5 are in the present tense, implying that the healings occur repeatedly. No one else could do what Jesus did.
Second, Isaiah prophesied the very miracles Jesus mentions. All four of the Isaiah passages that Jesus alluded to in His answer refer to judgment in their immediate context (e.g., “Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God”, Is. 35:4; “the day of vengeance of our God”, Isa 61:2). So I believe Jesus was pointing John to these passages to assure him that the blessings promised for the end time had broken out in the coming of Jesus and prove the kingdom is here, even though the judgments are delayed. One day Jesus would come in judgment and the rest of the prophecies would be fulfilled. But for now, His goal was to teach the scriptures, preach the gospel, heal the sick, and die for sins. It was a day of God’s grace, even as it still is today.[12]
Third, word and work go together. Jesus heals the sick and preaches to the poor. The poor are those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy before God as Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).
I believe our doubts and disappointments with Jesus begin to disappear when we realize that He is so much greater than our expectations! He fulfills all His promises but always does so in ways that are greater than we could possibly imagine.
And I have to pause at this point and ask. Are you disappointed with Jesus? Has He failed in some way to fulfill your expectations? Perhaps it’s because you have not really expected enough of Him! Perhaps you’ve only looked to Him to provide something for you that you “want”; but didn’t realize that He first comes to provide something that you “need”. Perhaps you have not yet trusted Him as what He first came to be – the Lamb of God, who sacrificed Himself for our sins on the cross.
This leads us to one final thing. It’s a word that Jesus spoke to John, but I believe it is intended to be an encouragement to all who have doubts and disappointments about Jesus. In Matthew 11:6 we see …
3. Jesus’ encouragement for doubters (Matt. 11:6).
To John, and to all who have mistaken expectations of Jesus, He says, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matthew 11:6).
The word that is used here is the Greek word skandalizõ, and it means “to be caused to stumble” or to “be offended”. This word pictures a trap with a crooked stick to which the bait is affixed and which, when touched, springs the trap and catches and kills the victim. The point of this verb is that the trap is fatal, the victim is killed. This means to be offended in a way that destroys faith. The danger to which Jesus points John is mortal—blessed he who escapes it.[13]
Jesus encourages the doubter not to give up. It’s as if He says to the disappointed man or woman, “Hang in there, dear suffering one. I know I haven’t been what you expected Me to be. I know you think that I’ve let you down somehow. But the problem is not Me. The problem is the expectations you have laid upon Me. Realize that I am much greater than the little box you put Me into. Remember that I am not yours to command. Repent of your expectations. Believe what the Scriptures say about Me. Trust Me to do – not what you want Me to do – but what I have pledged Myself in the Scriptures to do for you. And if you trust Me in that way, I will never disappoint you. You will find that I will have accomplished everything I said I would do, and more! You will find that I am far more than you ever thought I could be, and that you will – in due time – be eternally satisfied in Me.”
Did you come here this morning in some way “disappointed” with Jesus? Do you struggle with doubts about Him because He hasn’t done what you have wanted Him to do? Has He, in some deeply personal and painful way, grieved you by falling short of your expectations? Then please know you are not alone. In fact, you are in good company. Even the great John the Baptist struggled in the same way.
Let me offer you some counsel from this morning’s passage.
First, step back and examine your expectations of Him. Have you been expecting Him to do something for you, or be something to you, that He never promised in the Scriptures? Remember – the disappointment never comes from Him. It comes from our wrong and unbiblical expectations about Him. Perhaps you have some “expectations” of Him that you have created in your own mind, or that you have been taught from those who misrepresented Jesus to you. Perhaps you have come here today with some expectations of Jesus that you need to repent of and let go.
Second, I would urge you to go to the Scriptures and get to know Him better. Find out what He is really like. Learn what He has truly promised to do. He always surprises those who get to know Him. He is always greater than our expectations, and He always does far more exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think. His word assures us that He always fulfills His promises; and will always do so in ways that far exceed our greatest expectations of Him.
Third, remember His word of encouragement: “[B]lessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Don’t give up. Hold on to Him and never let go. Admit that you don’t always understand Him, but that by faith you will cling to Him.
In 1822 a young woman named Charlotte Elliott was visiting some friends in the West End of London and there met a noted minister named Cesar Malan. Over supper, he asked her if she was a Christian. When she replied that she did not want to talk about the subject, the minister replied, “I did not mean to offend you. But I want you to know that Jesus can save you if you will turn to him.” Several weeks later they met again and Miss Elliott said that she had been trying to come to Christ but did not know how to do it. “Just come to Him as you are,” Mr. Malan said. Taking the advice to heart, she composed a poem that began this way:
Just as I am, without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou bidd’st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
In 1849 William Bradbury set the words to music. Since then it has become one of the most beloved hymns of all time. The third verse contains Charlotte Elliott’s own testimony:
Just as I am, though tossed about, with many a conflict, many a doubt.
Fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
And the last verse contains the gospel promise:
Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
That is the promise God makes to you and to me. God never turns an honest doubter away. Never. Come to him with your doubts, your skepticism, your unbelief, your hard questions, your uncertainties. He welcomes your hardest questions. Doubt is not a sin. It’s what you do with your doubt that makes all the difference. Don’t let your doubts keep you from Jesus. Come to him just as you are—and bring your doubts with you. He will not turn you away.[14]
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[1] Greg Allen, When Jesus Disappoints Us, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2006/031206.htm. I adapted Allen’s outline and drew from some of his points in this sermon.
[2] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 189–190.
[3] Daniel M. Doriani, Matthew & 2, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 458.
[4] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 425.
[5] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 189.
[6] Os Guinness. Doubt. Batavia, IL: Lion, 1976;1987. Quoted by Daniel M. Doriani, Matthew & 2, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 457.
[7] Boice, ibid.
[8] D. A. Carson, God with Us: Themes from Matthew (Ventura, Calif.: Regal Books, 1985), 62. Quoted by J.M. Boice, ibid.
[9] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 189–190.
[10] D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 262.
[11] Daniel M. Doriani, Matthew & 2, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 459–460.
[12] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 191.
[13] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 428–429.
[14] Ray Pritchard, If I Believe, Why Do I Doubt?, https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/if-i-believe-why-do-i-doubt-2/
