Prisoner in the Third Cell – When God Doesn’t Meet Your Expectations (DCLC – July ’86, Part 3)

I want you to know who’s in the cell next to him. There’s a man in the cell next to him who was very wealthy, and Herod had taken away his wealth by sleight of hand and now has him in a dungeon to rot and die, and you can hear him screaming rages and curses on Herod all day long. Next to him is another man, a thief who’s been put in prison there and is awaiting death. And you can hear him. He’s angry with God. And you can hear his blasphemies and curses and railings against God. One is blaming God for all of his problems, and the other is blaming man for all his problems. But in the third cell is the second cousin to the living God.

He finally gets permission to have his disciples come and visit him. And these seriously looking men come, and he says, “What’s going on out there with my cousin?” They shake their heads and drop their eyes, and they say, “John, he’s having a good time. He’s not fasting and he’s not praying.” They said, “You were mad for your prayers and fasting. They’re calling Him a drunk and a glutton because He never fasts, He never prays.”

John has now met the God you must meet. He has met the God who does not live up to His expectations. The days pass, and John keeps hearing reports of multitudes hearing the gospel and being healed. His disciples bring him report after report after report, and about a Messiah who is just having one great time of it. By the way, isn’t that encouraging to know that God came to earth and had fun? Think about it and say, “Praise the Lord.” You want a God like John the Baptist? You want a God like Jesus Christ?

Now then, John gets word that things are very serious, that Herodias is after him and will do anything she can to kill him, and he senses his time is near. And he calls his disciples, and he says, “I don’t understand. Where’s the kingdom? Why is He out there eating and drinking? Where’s the kingdom? He’s healing and teaching. Nothing’s happening. Where’s the kingdom? Go ask my cousin. Was I right that He’s the Messiah, or was I wrong? Is there another one coming?” And John is in prison, and he doesn’t understand. Oh, John’s not in prison; he’s chained to a smelly, stinky, rat-infested dungeon wall.

And now God’s going to have a crisis. And now God’s going to have a crisis. God has been in pain. Probably before He created us, filled up with pain in Egypt, running over with pain. His people in Babylon, watching the thousands and tens of thousands of faithful ones who have looked into His face, in every century, in every generation, in every age, in fact, in every hour, and look up to Him and ask Him to explain, and He is not.

He is also the God of the future. The God who dwells inside this carpenter is the God free of time and space, and He sees the future. And He knows that one day He must face the martyrs who will stand in the Circus Maximus of Rome and die wondering why. He’s going to have to stand beside all of those beheaded and those thrown in other dungeons and other lands at other times. He’s going to have to stand beside mothers standing over cribs and hear them cry out for an explanation and know He can never give it. He dreads those hours, and there’s pain in Him, but it never came as close to home as the day that He was standing out in the street with dozens, hundreds, and thousands of people pressing in from everywhere. And let’s say the little town of Bethany, okay? And they’ve been there since dawn, and it’s now late in the evening, and He’s exhausted, and He can see people far out into the crowd who cannot possibly get to Him tonight, and He knows that tomorrow morning, He must leave early and go to another village.

And Peter comes up beside Him, and Peter’s face is ash and white, and he says, “Lord.” The Lord Jesus looks up, and He sees the dread in Peter’s eyes, and the Lord says, “Peter.” Peter’s reluctant to say a word. He says, “Lord, it’s John. His disciples are here.” And the Lord stands up, and He raises His hands, and He says to everybody, “Go home. I have to talk with someone now.” And there’s a groan from one end of the street in the marketplace to the other. As people gather up their sick and their afflicted and walk away. You can hear crying and tears.

Twelve sober-faced disciples come, and the Lord sits down, and they sit down with Him, and He looks in their faces, and He just doesn’t want to hear what He’s got to hear. Jesus? This is not Lord; this is just Jesus. Jesus, we’ve just come from Herod’s palace. We’ve just come from a dungeon. We’ve just come from your cousin. He asked us to come here. There’s no joy in their words. You can almost detect resentment. There’s a long stare, and finally, John has this message for you. Are you the Messiah, Jesus, or is he, and are we, to look for somewhere else?

And the Lord wants to answer, and He ventures an answer. He is aching to tell His cousin. Let me tell you something, folks. If He’s ever going to break a covenant with Himself and tell and explain, it’s going to be right now. It’s going to be right now. And He says, “Tell John that demons are cast out. Many demons are cast out, and many blind receive sight, and many deaf hear, and many lame walk, and many infirm are healed.” And John’s disciples just sit there and stare at Him blankly. And He knows that they know that John already knows that.

I want you to stop and consider something for a moment. Those of you, especially, who believe in a God who’s really, really neat, who never will let you down, I want you to listen to those words again because there’s a secret message hidden in them. This is the very living God speaking out of the Lord Jesus. He’s got a message for John; He’s got a message for you and for me. Many have demons cast out. Many are healed. Many blind see. Many deaf hear. Many lame walk. Many…but not all. Many, but not all.

That very night, when He dismissed that crowd to talk to those men out of the deep love He had for His cousin John, that night, a young mother bundled up a child with a withered hand and walked 50 miles home in the dark and watched that child go to manhood with that withered hand. And that child grew to be an adult, looked at that hand, and heard the story of when he was a little child. He got within 10 minutes of being healed by the Lord Jesus, when the Lord dismissed the crowd, and the next day He was gone and could not be found. Then his mother came home, and he looked at that hand till the day he died and never understood why he was not healed.

Many healed, but not all. That mother met a God that night who did not live up to her expectations. She got within 10 minutes of her expectations, and He dismissed the crowd to care for His cousin’s needs. And dozens and hundreds went home that night unhealed. A woman was there to plead for a feverish husband about to die. She got home; he was dead. And she raised five children, all the rest of her life, at great sacrifice, and never understood why Jesus Christ had not healed her husband. Many were healed, but not all.