Caution and Counterfeits

Image previewCaution and Counterfeits

"Art you the Christ? Art you Elijah? Art you that prophet?"  (John 1:21)

We must realize that the Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew, and that He came unto His own as the Jewish Messiah.  Why, then, did His own not receive Him?

The greatest factor of all was that the center of their religion was their hope of a Messiah.  This hope was the heart that pumped the lifeblood through the nation and made them look with expectation at every figure that rose in the slightest degree above the ordinary mass of men.  This is demonstrated in the historical fact that there were many false Messiahs.  The leaders made it easy for these pretenders to gain a following.  Anyone can see that the questions which were asked of both Jesus and John the Baptist were stock questions on the lips of the religious leaders who sent their delegations to search out these amazing figures for the usual interview.  These were the questions which were put to John and to Jesus, and probably to many other false Messiahs.  The counterfeits, of course, were waiting for such an opportunity to announce their pretentious claims, counting the plaudits of the mob as sufficient prize for a day and a night, even if the morning brought death.

When the Lord Jesus proclaimed that He was the Messiah, there were in the minds of some of His hearers certain prejudices that had to be overcome.  When counterfeits are in circulation, many people look askance at good money.  There had been false Messiahs, and the people who had followed them had perished under the heel of Rome.

The mob was fully prepared, psychologically, for the advent of a deliverer, but they were prepared only for a Messiah who would fit certain preconceived notions which they had formed.  Every supposed Messiah had to be measured by their hard and fast pattern.  They were guided by two considerations: there was the psychology of despair which demanded a strong leader capable of breaking the Roman yoke, and there was the psychology of sin which demanded a Messiah who would keep the ruling classes in power without asking of them any change in heart.

Dr. Barnhouse’s description of Jesus’ time is much like our own time.  People are desperate for a deliverer and as a result are prone to the same errors.  One will make them follow a counterfeit; the other will make seek only a deliverer that meets their preconceived notions.  Our task is to preach the truth in love to spare them wrath and judgment.

Further Reading: John 1:19-28