This morning I want to end a short series on the “Splendor of the Word” of God and begin to draw our attention to the incarnation in this season. However, I do not want to go from this series without us seeing what is central to the word of God. I want us to know why we read the scripture, why we meditate on it, why we pour it into our lives. And the reason is because Jesus Christ is supreme in the scripture. The scripture is about Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). He is the one who has explained the Father to us (John 1:18). And the world was created by him, to him, and for him.
This book we call the bible was written to show us God, and we see him most clearly in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the bible was written so we could gain knowledge about God’s purpose, plan, and character, so that we could behold him in looking at Jesus.
And by saying the whole of scripture was written to point us to Jesus, I mean the Old Testament as well. For some of us, the Old Testament is not regarded in the same class as the New Testament. We might think to ourselves that now that we have the New Testament, and we understand Christ, we do not need the Old Testament. However, I believe that as we read the New Testament and see how it points us back to the Old, we will gain a clearer picture of Christ and his glory than we have had before. For it is clear that he should be seen in the Old Testament.
In Acts 8, Philip was led by the Spirit to speak to an Ethiopian who was reading Isaiah 53. Luke writes that as Philip saw him he “opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him” (Acts 8:35). And in John 5:46, Jesus tells the Jews, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.” That means that the first five books, the Law, were written about Jesus. Finally, as Jesus appeared to two men on their way to Emmaus who were distraught as they did not know he had risen from the dead, Luke writes that “Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27).
Therefore, I want us to have our eyes opened to seeing the supremacy of Christ in the Old Testament. I do not want us to leave this series on the splendor of the word without you seeing the beauty of the pictures of Jesus Christ shown in the Old Testament.
And for us to see that, I want us to look at one example of that in this passage which we have just read—Matthew 11:1-15.
The background for the story is that John the Baptist had been proclaiming Jesus as the Christ in the wilderness as people were coming to him. He had told men that he was not the “Coming One” (or the Messiah). And he had announced that there was one greater coming after him whose sandals he was not worthy to loose. Then Jesus had come to John, and John was able to say, “This is the one.” And he baptized him.
However, at this point in the story, John is in prison. And as he was sitting there, it could be that thoughts were running through his head that maybe he had missed something. After all, almost everyone thought that the Messiah would come to reign as an earthly king, and yet Jesus hadn’t taken a step toward seizing the throne. And on top of that, John was not being applauded or praised; he was in prison. Therefore, maybe he began doubting if he had been right after all.
However, the scripture says, that he began to get word of the miracles that Jesus was performing. And all the sudden, he began to be encouraged again. But just to soothe any possibility of worry, he sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the One or if John should look for another.
Matthew records Jesus’ response to the disciples in verses 4-6. Jesus says, “Go and report to John what you hear and see; the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me.”
Now that is a pretty good answer that Jesus gives. After all, how could John doubt all the miracles he was doing. But was that all that Jesus was saying? I think he was making a much bolder statement than we can realize. I think he was identifying himself as the fulfillment of the prophecies Isaiah had made 700 years earlier.
For in Isaiah 35, Isaiah had prophesied of God himself being the one who would do such work for Zion. He writes, “Say to those with anxious heart, ‘Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy” (Isaiah 35:4-6). And the latter part of Jesus’ statement is a quote from Isaiah 61.
Therefore, what Jesus is saying is far more than simply, “Look at my miracles and marvel at my power.” He is making a connection between himself and the prophecy of Isaiah in Isaiah 35. He is saying, “Tell John that you see the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Tell John that I am the one. Tell him that I am God.”
That is a much bolder statement than what we might think if we did not understand the background of the Old Testament (and specifically, Isaiah). That is why Jesus goes on to say, “Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me” (Matthew 11:6). This is a bold statement that would cause many people to struggle in accepting. Jesus, by confirming that he is God, is affirming that there is no salvation outside of him. Either you accept this carpenter as the very Creator and Lord or you miss God himself.
That is the reason we must come in faith. That is the reason why Jesus can say in Matthew 21:44 that he is the stone that you either fall on and are broken or it falls on you and you are crushed into powder. To come to God, you must be broken.
Therefore, let it be clear in our minds that Jesus is not being unclear with John’s disciples here. He is claiming to be God. And this truth affects us tremendously. For since it is true, there are things that we need to have our eyes opened to that will allow us to grow in likeness to Christ.
Since Jesus is God, then the happiness that is said to be found in God is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
For example when the psalmist writes, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy, at Thy right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11), this can be directed toward Jesus.
For just as Moses prayed to see God’s glory in Exodus 33, and Paul stated that his sufferings in this life were not worthy to be compared to that glory that was to be revealed to him as he was with God—that glory to be revealed is found in Christ. Or to state it another way, the reward of God is to be found in all that God is for us in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the reward the author of Hebrews speaks of when he says that Moses chose “rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24-26). The reward is Jesus. The reward that God keeps assuring us as he encourages us to fast unknowingly, or stay free from the love of money, or lay down our lives is himself.
That is a remarkable, life-changing thing if you can truly realize that in your heart. For this realization will allow you to begin to long for, pray for, and strive after loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength—and not gifts that he might give you.
The glory of God which we seek after, and pray for, and long to see as Moses did is in Jesus Christ. He is the radiance of the glory of God as Hebrews 1:3 says.
By Jesus’ statement that he is healing the lame, deaf, and blind, and that he is preaching the gospel to the poor. He is speaking way beyond his ability to work miracles. He is saying that he is the one. He is the reward that all before us sought after. He is God.
And because he is God, then our greatest glory and joy must be wrapped up not in other things, but in him.
Jesus affirms this to us in making this tribute to John. It is something that we have seen before, but I want it to be fresh in our minds in this holiday season.
By making this tribute to John the Baptist. Jesus is not so much saying that John is great as much as he is saying that John’s greatness is found in being a part of showing Jesus’ greatness. Jesus says in 11:11, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”
Why? Jesus answers this question in verse 14 as he points out that John is the Elijah to come. John is greater than all those who prophesied before him—Moses, Elijah, David, etc.—because he had the privilege of being the one who prepared the way for the coming Messiah. He had the privilege of being able to point to Christ most clearly.
John’s glory was found in his ability to point to Christ as the Messiah even clearer than Isaiah and all the others before him had done. And yet Jesus says that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
By that, I think he means that anyone who is living after the coming of Christ, as his coming set in the presence of the kingdom (thought not in its entirety), is greater than John because that person can point to Christ as the Messiah even clearer than John.
For when John the Baptist died, for example, he died knowing that Isaiah 53 referred to Jesus, but he was not able to speak about it as clearly as we can on this side of the cross. And because no man is great in himself, but our greatness is found in Christ, we can be said to be even greater than John the Baptist because we can point to Jesus as the Messiah even more clearly.
Our glory is found in our great privilege of pointing to his glory. Therefore, as you read the Old Testament and see the fulfillment of it in Christ, and by the Spirit you see an even clearer picture of the glory of God in Christ, marvel in your great privilege of seeing it. And point to it for others.
This seeing of the glory of God in Jesus Christ is what we need so deeply for our sanctification. For by beholding the glory of God in Christ we are changed. For just as Moses looked on God and God’s glory radiated off of his face, so when we see the glory of Christ will we begin to be conformed to his image and his glory will radiate from us.
We are changed by looking at the glory of God and by allowing that glory to mold us into the image of Christ. That is why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as form the Lord, the Spirit.” As we look at the glory of God in Christ, we are changed. Isn’t that remarkable? That is why I say that the fight of faith is a fight to constantly behold the glory of God. For we become what we behold.
And unless you think that you want to be able then to go back to the time when Moses was able to sit, look upon God’s glory, and be changed, you need to realize that we can see his glory more clearly than any on the other side of the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. That is why Jesus said that John was greater than Moses and we are greater than John. It is because we can see his glory most clearly.
And how do we do that? How do we see his glory? We do it by seeing clearly who Jesus is in all his glory as it is revealed to us by his Spirit in the word of God. We do it by seeing the beauty of Christ spoken of in Isaiah 35 and fulfilled in Matthew 11. We see his glory as we sit before his word and his Spirit shows his radiance so brightly that we are transformed—one degree of glory at a time.
Therefore, the fight of faith is a fight to see the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. And we see that most clearly through the word of God.
That is why in order to run the race with endurance we need to “[fix] our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” We do it so that we do not lose heart but instead grow in his likeness. Therefore, this season fight to see the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Spend time before his word asking the Spirit to glorify Christ—for that is why he came.
O how truly great is the splendor of the word is showing us the supremacy and glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.