Note 1 at Mt. 11:7: It is very interesting to note that Jesus' proclamation of John the Baptist as the greatest of all Old Testament prophets came after the disciples of John had left. Why did Jesus wait to say these things until after John's disciples were gone? Wouldn't it have comforted John to hear Jesus' announcement of him as the greatest of all the prophets? Instead, Jesus didn't even give John a direct answer but told his disciples to go and show John the miracles that Jesus was performing.

As can be seen by John's earlier testimony (Jn. 1:22-23), he was very familiar with the prophecies of Isaiah. When Jesus told John's disciples to show John that "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," Jesus was pointing John back to the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa. 29:17-19; 35:3- 6; 61:1-2). The faith John needed to banish his doubts would come from the Word of God (Rom. 10:17; Eph. 6:16-17). What might appear to some as Jesus giving an inadequate reply to John was actually Jesus ministering to John in the most powerful way possible. The Word of God is magnified above the name of God (Ps. 138:2) and is more trustworthy than the audible voice of God out of Heaven (2 Pet. 1:17-20).

Many times when we experience times of doubt and discouragement, we pray for God to do something special to lift us out of our despair. However, we should remember how Jesus responded to John in this situation by pointing him back to the Word, and receive the greater blessing of walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7; see note 2 at Mt. 8:10, p. 116).