Title: The Fall Away of John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher who taught the basic of faith and gave baptism to the people around Jordan River. One day, he was imprisoned because he pointed out the sin of King Herod who took his brother’s wife. Then, he was beheaded by King Herod.
- Who is John the Baptist? (Luk 1:13-17)
John is the son of priest Zacharias and Elizabeth. He was born 6 months earlier than Jesus. God informed Zacharias through the arch-angel Gabriel that John will work in the spirit and power of Elijah. He will be the middleman reconciling the hearts of the sons of Israel to the Lord. He will be an introducer of Jesus, the Messiah.
While John the Baptist was preaching and giving baptism of repentance in Jordan River, Jesus came to him and received baptism from him (Mat 3:13-15). After the baptism, there was a loud voice from heaven, saying “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Therefore, John must have witnessed this amazing moment with his own eyes and ears (Mat 3:16-17).
- The Faith of John the Baptist
- In early stage (Mrk 2:18)
We can see that John kept the law faithfully and diligently like the Pharisees (Mat 3:14; Luk 3:16). We can see that he was humble and truly expecting the Messiah to come soon (Mat 14:3-4). We can see that he was so brave that he wasn’t afraid of pointing out the corruption of a king and telling off his wrongdoing.
Considering above, he was almost a perfect man as a servant of God. All the prophets prophesied about Jesus the Messiah in a distance, but John lived with Jesus contemporaneously. How good he was that the people of Israel started thinking that John could be the Messiah that God had sent (Luk 3:15).
- In latter stage
However, his faith and spiritual reputation changed when it comes to the later part of his life (Luk 7:19-20). We can see that John was asking Jesus “Are you the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” The Expected One is the expression referring to the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament (Gen 49:10; Psa 118:26; Isa 11:1-5; Isa 35:4; Dan 7:13; Dan 9:24-27). Therefore, this question can be nothing but a question of doubt.
- The Fall Away of John the Baptist
Firstly, did John fail? The founding pastor said that fall away is a big word to use unto John the Baptist, and there is no scripture that says John failed. However, in today’s main scripture, Jesus said that the one who doesn’t fall away because of Me is blessed (Mat 11:6).
So, it tells us that John the Baptist fell away and stumbled over Jesus. Again, if we look at Mat 11:11, Jesus said that among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.
It means that John the Baptist is the least of all in the kingdom of heaven. In 2005, the founding pastor taught us that it is not that John the Baptist didn’t believe in Jesus completely, if it was so, Jesus would have directly judged him. But while he was believing he fell away because of the doubt that arose in him. That’s what the fall away means and that’s what happened to John the Baptist (Deut 32:35; Job 12:5; Mat 5:29).
So, he was the greatest among mankind and became the smaller than the least. He was the one who introduced and preached about Jesus the Messiah living at the same time, perhaps working side by side, and he became the one who doubt about him. How did it happen?
What caused John the Baptist to fall away?
- Humanly disappointment (Mat 11:1-2)
We can see that John was already in the prison, but Jesus was busy sending His disciples to the various cities.
Verse 2 says that therefore, John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus.
Although John the Baptist didn’t follow Jesus all the time, he was the greatest supporter for Jesus. Yet, when he was imprisoned, Jesus didn’t visit him, nor sending any messages to him. This disappointed the humanly John the Baptist.
- Misunderstanding of the scriptures regarding Jesus
The more important reason why John stumbled over Jesus was because he misunderstood the scriptures about Jesus. From day one, John the Baptist proclaimed and preached about the day of God’s judgment. And through this, he asked people to repent before the Messiah comes (Mat 3:10-12).
So, he expected that when Jesus comes, He would bring about judgment here and there. Even for the corruption of King Herod, John thought that Jesus would do something about it. Since he was imprisoned for correcting him, he thought Jesus would do something about this issue. However, Jesus preached “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” John thought that Jesus would go around and judge the sinners, but He rather mingled with the sinners: prostitutes and tax collectors (Mat 9:13; Mat 9:10).
- Misunderstanding the time (Isa 63:4; Mal 4:5)
These scriptures say that the day of God’s vengeance will come, and the great and terrible day of the Lord will come. So, the understanding of John the Baptist wasn’t unbiblical or wrong. However, the other scriptures says that the Messiah will come and open the eyes of the blind and ears of the deaf, and He will bring comfort to the mourn (Isa 29:18: Isa 61:2-3).
Conclusion:
We can only understand God through the Bible
As we said, it wasn’t a failure but fall away. Thus, Jesus gave John the Baptist a second chance (Mat 11:4-5).
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 