Did John the Baptist Lose His Faith?

Q: John the Baptist seemed to know for certain that Jesus was the Messiah when he baptized Him. But later, in Luke 7:19, we read that he sends messengers to Jesus to ask if He really is the Messiah or not. Is this a case of John losing his faith? And what can we learn from this to strengthen our walk with the Lord?

A: By Pastor Ken Burisek,
The Ole Country Church, Medford, Wisconsin
Email: kburisek @wildblue.net

When John the Baptist heard about all the miracles that Jesus was doing, he sent his followers to Jesus to ask a very curious question: Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else? We can find the whole story if we read 7:1-19.

John had some great expectations of Jesus. Notice his statement about Jesus coming in Luke 3:16: But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John was looking for even more of Jesus...perhaps even believing Jesus would deliver him from prison (Matthew 11:2), or maybe that Jesus would somehow over-ride the power of the worlds rulers and kingdoms and become an earthly authority figure. John was likely questioning himself as to where was this baptism of the Holy Spirit with fire? that John himself had prophesied about in Luke 3:16.

So we can see that Johns human-ness was putting second thoughts into his head just as often happens with us when our expectations fall short of ...