Vance Breise

Perhaps John expected to die soon and was making one last effort to transfer his disciples (“John’s disciples,”still attached to him) over to Jesus. I believe these verses show us that John’s intentions all along were to transfer his disciples over to Jesus. John 1:29, 35-37, The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Now notice in Luke 7:19, John still has at least two disciples. I doubt if John intentionally held back these disciples for himself. It says he sent them to Jesus to ask (perhaps to find out/decide for themselves) if He was the one. Luke 7:19, And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?

Hi Cheryl: You, (and I must admit, just about every Christian I know) are apparently ‘assuming’ that John sent his disciples to ask this question for his own benefit, because of his own doubt. I am only saying that he may have sent them to see Jesus to eliminate their doubt. He had already tried the “This is the Lamb of God” approach before, and apparently it worked for some, but not all of his disciples. At least two were still following John and not Jesus. Luke 7:19 can be read either way. NIV, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Notice that it does not say; “I’m starting to wonder if Jesus is really the one, so go and ask him this question for me.” It only says go and ask Him this question. I grant that the text does use the word ‘we.’ But the popular version does assume a very radical change in a man whose life was very consistent. I certainly do not know for sure; I’m just pointing out that there is another way to read this verse.

Hi Cheryl: Yes, it does sound like John is the center of the conversation. I intend to ask him when I see him. I was just sharing something that seems to me to fit better with John’s character. However the text does not say John was offended with Jesus, and it does not say John was not in the Kingdom. These things have only been assumed. When Luke 7:28 says – – “but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Jesus may have been speaking about His ‘upside down’ Kingdom, wherein the least is the greatest. Our own assumptions are usually invisible to us. Anyway, I think I have run out of things to share on this subject. I will be praying for your conversation with the Calvinists. My experience is that some things can only be out grown.