19th Post - His Authority

The passage is taken from Matthew 11: 4 - 6; Luke 7: 22 - 23. Disciples sent by John the Baptist, while John the Baptist was in prison in the palace of Herod Agrippa. John the Baptist is Jesus' cousin and is 3 months older than Jesus. We need to remember that John the Baptist's father was Zacharias. For the Angel Gabriel to come to him while he was working in the Temple Zacharias would have to be of the line of Aaron, of the Levites. Since Zacharias was a high priest, he would have access to all the sacred writings and would have taught his son John from these books (scrolls). This is the information John used to make way for the Messiah. Looking at what John the Baptist said "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand." "The one who follows me will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with Fire." Both of these statements seemed to look at the apocolyptic side of the Messiah. Since Jesus has come, we tend to look at these apocolyptic passages of scripture as being fulfilled after the second coming of Christ. The Zealots or conservative hard liners living at the time of Jesus, were hoping for the promised Messiah to be more appocolyptic, than one with a servants heart. I believe that John the Baptist also thought that the Messiah would come into His Kingdom very soon after His arrival on the scene. I believe that this is why John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the Messiah, or should they look for another. Jesus was counting on John's knowledge of the sacred writings when he told the disciples to tell John "The lame walk the leapers are cleansed, the dead are raised and the poor have the Gospel preached to them." These are also prophecies that the Messiah was to perform in order to prove that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.