My Friend, You're Going To Die

John the Baptist is in prison. He is frightened, because chances are good that he is going to die. So he asks Jesus this very cryptic question.

Mat 11:3 MKJV
(3) And they said to Him, Are You he who should come, or do we look for another?

John, a rabbi, was doing something very rabbinic. He was prompting Jesus for an answer that only Jesus would give. What he actually asked was, "Are you the coming One?" This is a ramez, which I've explained in previous posts. Only this is a very difficult one to track down. We have to know where in the text Messiah was referenced to as the 'Coming One'. The reference is found in Zechariah:

Zec 9:9-11 HNV
(9) Rejoice greatly, daughter of Tziyon! Shout, daughter of Yerushalayim! Behold, your king comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(10) I will cut off the chariot from Efrayim, and the horse from Yerushalayim; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak shalom to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
(11) As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.

Why was John asking this in this way? Because the Coming One would set those free who were 'prisoners', and John was definitely this. Here is his question in western English, "Jesus, are you going to leave me in prison?"

What did Jesus say?

Mat 11:4-6 MKJV
(4) Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John again those things which you hear and see:
(5) the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel proclaimed to them.
(6) And blessed is he, whoever shall not be offended in Me.

If you do not think these men knew the text, this passage should prove to you differently. Jesus is quoting from 6 different places in Isaiah to John, who would have known all of this - by heart.

1) & 4)
Isa 42:6-7 MKJV
(6) I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You, and give You for a covenant of the people, for a Light of the nations;
(7) to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness out of the prison house.
(8) I am Jehovah; that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images.
(9) Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they happen, I cause you to hear.

2) & 3)
Isa 33:23-24 MKJV
(23) Your ropes are loosened, they do not hold the base of the mast; they could not spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil shall be divided; the lame take the prey.
(24) And an inhabitant, the people who live in it shall not say, I am sick; iniquity is taken away.


5)
Isa 26:19-20 MKJV
(19) Your dead ones shall live, together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is as the dew of lights, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
(20) Come, my people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors around you; hide for a little moment, until the fury has passed by.

6)
Isa 61:1 MKJV
(1) The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me; because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;


All of these references of the sick being made well and the ropes loosened, the lame walking and the ropes loosened, blind eyes opened and the prisoner set free, those made to hear and the prisoner set free, the dead live while the people are beckoned, and the Gospel is preached while the prison doors open. Yet Jesus tells John, "the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel proclaimed to them." What is missing? The captive is set free. John, my friend, it is all true, but you are going to die in prison.

But blessed is he... what? That aren't offended because of these things. What things in our text are so obviously offensive? It is so very hard to know... if you don't know the scriptures. This is a personal challenge - to me.

The Ramez

In Hebrew, the word for 'hint' is ramez. It was a widely used method by rabbis to their disciples or followers, but Jesus used it to frustrate those who antagonized Him. It means 'hint', but a better word might be 'implication'.

Here is a for-instance:

Matthew 21:15-16 ASV
(15) But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were moved with indignation,
(16) and said unto him, Hearest thou what these are saying? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea: did ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou has perfected praise?

This would have infuriated the chief priests and the scribes because of the hidden implication. Jesus was quoting Psalm 8, only He didn't quote the entire verse - on purpose.

Psalms 8:2 CEV
(2) With praises from children and from tiny infants, you have built a fortress. It makes your enemies silent, and all who turn against you are left speechless.

The priests and scribes, naturally, had this memorized. They were not happy at being labeled 'enemies' of God, which is what Jesus did. Watch for the ramez in scripture.