When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (Matthew 11:2–6, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “Should we expect someone else? Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” If we expect someone else, or if we expect any other path or paths, we certainly will “fall away on account of [Him].” Because “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12. NIV 1984).
He certainly gave many proofs that He was the One and only. “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached.” Back then, they had witnessed these things. They did not dispute them, yet they still rejected Him. Today, we have the recorded testimony in four Gospels. By corroborating witnesses (Matthew and John) or from interviewers (Mark and Luke) of the witnesses. Often dismissed, but never discredited.
Back then, they “mocked him. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him.’” (Matthew 27:41–43, NIV 1984). But the Godhead had a different plan. To go “down now from the cross” to the grave and for God to raise Him up on the third day. In doing so, He saved many more “others” and Himself. For which is better, to come down from the cross or to be raised from the dead? But the mockers still did not “believe in Him.“
Today, the mockers still refuse to believe in the “Man” who divided history, the only person to rise from the dead and not die again. What greater sign could they want? But as Jesus once said, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:39–40, NIV 1984).
My Advice – Consider the evidence. Consider the testimony. Then render your verdict. To either fall in with Him or “fall away on account of [Him].”
The Brew Is A Musing 