Can John the Baptist be an encouragement to people who are in distress? Jesus declared him to be such a wonderful man that "there hath not risen a greater" than he in all history (Matt. 11:11). What an encomium! Yet Jesus left him to suffer unjustly, alone, a prisoner of the wicked Herod. As the days and months dragged slowly by and John was left in his dungeon cell, he could only glimpse the blossoms of spring through the bars of his cell window. He naturally wondered if God had forsaken him. He had done nothing to deserve this monstrous injustice.
There are "prisoners" today; some in jail when they know they are innocent of the crimes charged against them; history testifies of cases of even executions of innocent people; and some suffer illness that they fear is a lethal judicial sentence; some are pained by the loneliness and rejection of those they love.
Can John the Baptist encourage them? He was never set free until the executioner came!
Yes, don't feel sorry for him. The Lord "beset [him] behind and before" and he could not "go from [His] presence." Even if he "made [his] bed in hell, behold, [the Lord] was there." When John said, "Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night [became] light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day" (Psalm 139:5-12). Angels from heaven dwelt with John in that lonely dungeon; his heart was ravished with the sense of the nearness of the Lord with him. Never was he forsaken.
And you, whoever you are who suffer alone in injustice, remember why the Lord Jesus did NOT deliver John from his prison: He knew of the millions of His loyal believers of later generations who would suffer injustice. John's experience is an encouragement to each one. Each can claim the New Covenant promises as his, even if he knows he is unworthy.
The Lord is your Shepherd; you are not alone as you walk through the valley; let Him anoint your head with oil and run your cup over and set you down to His banquet "in the presence of [your] enemies." Let His Holy Spirit melt away the bitterness in your heart. And let the happiness steal in upon your soul, for you "shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." All that the New Covenant needs is for someone to believe it, for it is the promises of the Lord.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 3, 2004.
Copyright © 2011 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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