And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?  Matthew 11:1-3

Just to set the stage here, John the Baptist is currently in prison. It’s interesting because when we think of John in prison, we usually associate it with the incident with King Herod (Matthew 14:3), however after Jesus left the wilderness and began his ministry, John was put in prison also (Matthew 4:12) It doesn’t explicitly say why John was imprisoned the first time, but we can assume his bold preaching got him in alot of trouble.

John the Baptist asks a very interesting question, and it almost seems puzzling since he was called the greatest of all prophets by Jesus (Matthew 11:11) John asks Jesus “Are you the Messiah, or should we look for someone else”? So if you ever feel bad that you don’t know or understand something from the Bible, just remember John the Baptist had doubts or was unsure at first if Jesus is the Christ!

Now to John’s defense, since he was locked up in prison, he doesn’t really know what works Jesus has performed yet. He was present at the Baptism of Christ when God the Father said “This is my beloved Son” and saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Christ. (Matthew 3) However remember John is just a human like us, he probably doubts himself and wants to be certain he’s following the right man

Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Matthew 11:4-6

Notice how Jesus affirms who He is, he quotes scripture. Case in point, if you want to know the real Jesus, you need to read your Bible. Since John knew the Messianic prophecies from Isaiah (Isaiah 35, 61) John knew Jesus was confirming that He is the Christ. Jesus is also confirming that he is fulfilling scripture, confirming that He is the Christ based on the works he accomplished during his ministry

Jesus then says “Blessed is anyone who is not offended in me” Meaning have faith in Christ you will be saved. Salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone (John 14:6) Those who reject Jesus as the Christ can’t be saved because there is no atonement for their sins.

If you want to know more about Jesus , read your Bible! Salvation is by faith in Christ alone, Amen!