Kingdom Characteristics

When John the Baptist… the forerunner of Jesus… asked the question, it really stopped my in my tracks.

John was a passionate preacher who called for people to repent and be baptized to make ready the coming of the Messiah.  His assignment was to prepare for the “great and dreadful day of the Lord.”  (Mal 4:5)

As a part of his mission work, John, filled with Holy Spirit, called everyone to be baptized, even reluctantly baptizing Jesus who he considered his superior, the One who would, “baptize with Holy Spirit and fire.”  (John 1:33)

John was arrested (Matt 4:12), and in chapter 11 we discover that he was in prison when he sends his disciples to Jesus asking Him “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting or should we keep looking for someone else?”  (11:3)

Can’t you just feel his grief?
Can’t you just sense his weariness?  His exhaustion?
Because sometimes rescue doesn’t look the way we expected.
Sometimes comfort isn’t revealed through customary techniques.

John was experiencing disappointment and frustration, perhaps like we do, because the works he had heard of were not the kind he had expected the Messiah to perform.

Jesus had His own mode of operation which was uncommon and unconventional.
Jesus often:

• was slow and deliberate in action
• went against the grain
• was informal
• disregarded “popular opinion”
• was positive in nature and response
• challenged His hearers
• offered seemingly bizarre solutions
• seemed dismissive

I can imagine that John wondered why such passive inactivity was part of Messianic work of the Savior they had long awaited.  While John was fixated on his personal expectation that the coming of Jesus would include judgment in Israel and a swinging axe bringing ultimate destruction of years of evil, Jesus helped beggars, engaged with un-influentional sinners, and challenged the mindset of, then, heroic religious leaders.

In his own distress, discomfort, disappointment, and disillusionment, John missed the Kingdom characteristics he’d been employed to prepare hearts for.  “…One who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”  (Luke 3:16)

The work of Jesus is often shrouded in mystery. 
We cannot always know how He will perform in a particular situation or in a specific season, but we do have to trust that He knows best and is working everything out for our ultimate good and His ultimate glory.  (Phil 2:13)

My commentary says this, “Jesus chose His methods of action and is saying, ‘Blessed is he who understands the characteristic features of the Kingdom and can rejoice with them.  Blessed is he who understands that the most penetrating, lastingly efficacious powers in the world are forgiveness, tenderness, and pitiful ministering to the common wants.’”

His process may not look the way we had expected it to.
Provision might not come in the form or fashion we anticipated.
But know this: He is working.  He never stops fighting for you and for me.

When things seem like setback, when the world looks to be all against us, we must not allow that depressive state to cloud our perception of Kingdom characteristics.

Be on the lookout for His faithfulness today!
Where is He standing in your mess?
What ways is He using even this to draw you in closer to Him?

He is always good - and you are forever loved!