What are Messianic signposts? Let discuss this question.
“Now when John (the Baptist) had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said to (ask) Him, “Are You He who should come, or should we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2-3).
John the Baptist
The Forerunner
Over four hundred years before Jesus was born, the Old Testament predicted that a forerunner would come to prepare the way for the Messiah:
“I will send My messenger (John the Baptist), and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord (Jesus), whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight …. See, I will send you Elijah the prophet (John the Baptist) before the coming of the great and dreaded day of the Lord” (Malachi 3:1; 4:5).
John the Baptist was that messenger, and before Jesus began His ministry, he pointed people to Jesus as the Messiah:
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
The Holy Spirit
The Evidence
God gave John evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God:
“Then John bore witness, saying, “I saw the (Holy) Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him (Jesus). I did not know Him, but He who sent me (God the Father) to baptize with water said to me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is He (Jesus) who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and have borne witness that He is the Son of God” (John 1:32-34).”
The Struggle
So, what happened between the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when John confidently testified that Jesus was the predicted Messiah, and several months later, when Matthew said he sent messengers to Jesus asking if Jesus was the Messiah?
John struggled because he expected people to accept his testimony and believe Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah. But many rejected Jesus, especially the Jewish religious leaders.
The Unexpected
They, and John, expected the Messiah to come with irresistible force and establish an earthly Kingdom immediately. He didn’t expect God’s people to reject their God-ordained Savior. They didn’t expect Him to come (at His first advent) meekly offering a spiritual – not earthly — Kingdom, telling Pilate,
“My kingdom is not of this world” (John 19:36).
But the Jewish nation rejected the Kingdom Jesus offered. Instead, they delivered Jesus over to the Gentiles, who crucified Him, as the Apostle Peter explained:
“Men of Israel …: Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with powerful works and wonders and signs, which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know. You have taken Him … and by lawless hands have crucified and killed Him whom God raised up by loosening the pull of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:22-24).
The Signposts
Remarkably, Jesus didn’t rebuke John for his doubts. Instead, Jesus gave John some Messianic signposts. These flags are Old Testament predictions telling us the signs that would identify the Messiah in Matthew 11:4-5):
“Jesus answered them (John’s messengers), “Go and tell John what you hear and see:
***The blind receive their sight (Mark 8:22-26) and
***the lame walk (John 5:7-8),
***the lepers are cleansed (Mark 1:40-45) and
***the deaf hear (Mark 7:31-37),
***the dead are raised up (John 11:1-44), and
***the poor have the gospel preached to them (Mark 10:23).
The Messiah
Jesus fulfilled all these signs and more. Therefore, John could confidently know that Jesus was the heaven-sent Messiah.
Jesus didn’t come to save the wealthy and healthy, but the needy. The Messianic signposts all point to Jesus as the predicted Messiah. Jesus added the following encouragement to John the Baptist, and it applies to those of us who seek His salvation:
“Blessed is he who does not fall away because of Me” (Matthew 11:4-5).
“And on that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 29:18-19).