My Messenger John the Baptist 

In Lk 7:11-30, Jesus first raised the dead son of a widow in Nain.  John’s disciples were there to witness this miracle.  Then John sent two of his disciples to Jesus to verify that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.  When they returned to John, Jesus proclaimed to his disciples and the crowd around him that there was not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, “my messenger”.  After which, all but the Pharisees and lawyers were baptized with the baptism of John.

The dead son of a widow raised, v.11-18

When Jesus entered the city of Nain (southeast of Nazareth in Galilee), he saw the only son of a widow woman being carried out on a bier.  He had compassion on the woman.  He said to her, “Weep not”, and to her son he said, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise”.  When the dead man sat up and began to speak, Jesus delivered him to his mother.

Once again, fear came on all that witnessed this miracle and they glorified God, Lk 5:26.  They said a great prophet is risen up among us and that God had visited his people.

It had been 400 years since God had raised up a prophet in Israel whose miracles and prophecies are recorded in the Bible.  This is why the people thought that Jesus might be Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets, Matt 16:14.  Elijah and Elisha both raised the dead in their day.  At this point they still weren’t thinking that he was their Messiah, the Son of God.

So, the rumor that spread throughout Judea and all the region round about was that Jesus was a great prophet.  Perhaps, he was even “that prophet that should come into the world”, Jn 6:14, Deut 18:15-18.

The disciples of John exhorted, v.19-23

The disciples of John the Baptist told him the rumor that had been spreading about Jesus, v.18.  John was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”, Is 40:3-5, L 3:4-6.  He was “my messenger” preparing the way before the Lord, Lk 7:27.

Up until now, John was sure that Jesus was the Messiah.  But after hearing the rumor, and coupled with the fact that John had been imprisoned, Lk 3:20, he was beginning to doubt whether Jesus really was the Messiah.

So, John sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus whether he was the one that should come or whether they should be looking for another.

Jesus performed many miracles in front of them and then sent them back to John with the message in v.22.  The message included this statement, “to the poor the gospel is preached”.  This is from Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy in Is 61:1-2, Lk 4:18-19.  That was intended to dispel John’s doubt, completely.

Then Jesus said, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me”.  Certainly, John was discouraged and on the brink of being offended since he had gotten thrown in jail.  When we get close to Jesus, we must be very careful not to get offended by our fear or the treatment we receive, Mk 14:27.

John the Baptist esteemed, v.24-30

After John’s disciples left, Jesus spoke to the multitude about John.  John wasn’t a “reed shaken with the wind”, like a man whose convictions bend in whatever direction the wind blows.  And he wasn’t a man clothed in soft raiment like those in king’s courts.

John was a prophet.  Those guys were tough.  Jesus said that John was “much more than a prophet”.  He was the man who fulfilled Mal 3:1.  In that passage, the LORD is speaking and he says, “he shall prepare the way before ‘me’”.  “My messenger” prepares the way before God Almighty.  Thus, when John prophesied of Jesus, he prepared the way for God manifest in the flesh, 1 Tim 3:16.

Imagine the public commendation.  Jesus said, “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist”. He was greater than all the Old Testament prophets.  But he was not greater than the “least in the kingdom of God”.  That person is Jesus, who humbled himself at that time, and now has a name which is above every name, Phil 2:5-11.  Compare, Matt 12:41-42; Matt 12:6.  He is greater than all.

Following Jesus’s testimony of John, all the people justified God (Lk 3:7-14) and were baptized with the baptism of John.  The Pharisees and the lawyers, on the other hand, rejected the counsel of God and refused to be baptized.