The Veil of Unbelief

When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.) “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children” (Luke 7:24–35).[1]

In our passage today, John is in jail, locked up indefinitely. Culturally-speaking, he’d said the wrong thing about the wrong topic to the wrong person. The king was happily living in adultery with his brother’s wife, and he wasn’t happy with John’s judgment. And so, Herod put John away, where he could neither call king nor country to repentance, or baptize, or even enjoy the delicacy of locusts and wild honey. Awaiting justice that would never come, John finally sends messengers, to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:19).

Prison gives a man time to wonder what went wrong. Why would a man called by God before he was conceived, a man who fulfilled the prophecies of Messiah’s forerunner, a man empowered with the spirit of Elijah, a man to whom the masses came to hear, a man who called sinners to repentance and baptism, a man who confronted the hypocrisy of the religious right and challenged the morality of the man in authority, the man who baptized the sinless Son of God, why would he be imprisoned, rendering him useless for the cause of the kingdom of God? Surely, he is discouraged by his difficult circumstances and confused by the incongruity of his messianic expectations and Jesus of Nazareth. But Jesus points John away from himself and his circumstances, as he does for you and me, and to the living testimony of the Word of God. “Go and tell John,” Jesus says, “what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Luke 7:22-23). Although John could not see it from where he sat, all was unfolding according to God’s sovereign plan of redemption.

The Revelation of God

The writer of Hebrews begins his epistle explaining that Christ’s coming served as a transition point in the revelation of God. He writes, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1-2a). Prior to Christ’s coming, God spoke in a variety of ways “by the prophets,” an expression inclusive of the entire Old Testament canon. But “in these last days,” that is, every day since Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, God has spoken through Christ, to us through Scripture. Considering this transition in the revelation of God, John the Baptist, as the last of the Old Testament prophets, served, as one commentator puts it, as “the ‘hinge’ of redemptive history right between the old age and the new.”[2] Consider that thought: “the ‘hinge’ of redemptive history.”

After John’s disciples departed, carrying their message of what they had seen and heard, Jesus then turns to the crowd to explain the man, John the Baptist. Who is John? Jesus asks. Well, here’s what he isn’t: He isn’t a “reed shaken by the wind,” a man blown to and fro by the winds of public opinion; nor is he a well-dressed sophisticate but instead a low-means, low-maintenance man who strapped on rough-hewn camel’s hair with leather. Who then is John the Baptist? He is a prophet of God, but that’s not all. Jesus says, he is “more than a prophet.”

What does Jesus mean by “more than a prophet”? He means that he is the prophet of whom Malachi prophesied, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you” (7:26-27). He is the prophet who would come as the great prophet Elijah, in his spirit and power (Mal. 4:5). He is the prophet for whom Israel had waited four hundred years. He is the prophet who would serve as the forerunner of Christ, as the angel Gabriel foretold, “to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Luke 1:17). He is the prophet of whom Jesus says, “among those born of women none is greater than John.” It’s quite a statement by the Son of God.

Having made this statement of human greatness, Jesus immediately adds, “Yet, the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (7:28). It’s seemingly a contradiction, as if to say, “no one is greater than John except those who are greater than John!”[3] But Jesus’ turn of phrase is intentionally emphasizing a change taking place, centered not on John the Baptist but Christ the King. Consider, for example, the phrase Paul uses in Galatians, “the fullness of time,” which describes God’s providential orchestration of the course of human events to prepare for the incarnation of his Son and through him our redemption (Gal. 4:4-5). In this “fullness of time” sense, then John is the “hinge” of redemptive history concluding the Old Covenant era. John died before Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, never knowing what we know and enjoy in Christ: the assurance of his finished work, the complete revelation of the gospel and its broadcast to the world, the fullness of the Holy Spirit and his gifts, an assembled and worshiping church beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem, a complete canon of Scripture, and the list goes on. In these last days God has spoken to us by his Son, indeed! May our thanksgiving to God be even greater than this great privilege we enjoy.                                            

The Veil of Unbelief

When Jesus confirms John’s ministry and his essential place in redemptive history coupled with the necessity and privilege of inclusion in the kingdom of God, there are two responses: “the people ... and the tax collectors too ... declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him” (7:29-30). In summary: The gospel is either believer or rejected. There is no other option.

John the Baptist called sinners to repentance (even tax collectors!), requiring the outward and public acknowledgement of a baptism of repentance. Repentance declares God just. It is the humble admission that God is right about my sin and guilt, requiring my confession, faith, and evidenced in my obedience.

The alternative response, that of the religious elite, is, as Luke describes it, a rejection of “the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by [John].” Based on their heritage and merit, they believe they have done nothing requiring repentance. Their obedience to God’s law and their written rules and regulations is good enough. While God’s sovereign purpose includes his patience, “that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9), their evil, unbelieving hearts lead them away from the living God.[4]

Given the powerful ministry of John the Baptist and the signs and wonders of Jesus, it is hard to believe that everyone doesn’t rush to repent and believe. But they don’t. Why? The apostle Paul describes it as “a veil” over the heart, a veil of unbelief (2 Cor. 3:15). It doesn’t matter that John is a prophet from God or that Jesus is the Son of God. It doesn’t matter what is said or done, because the gospel of grace is no help to the one who doesn’t need it.

The Gospel of Grace

Those who see no need to repent of sin have no need of a Savior. They will not believe no matter what God sends their way. Jesus says they are like those who play wedding songs, expecting everyone to dance; they are like those who play funeral songs, expecting everyone to mourn. And if you do not dance or mourn according to their tune, you are not meeting their terms and conditions. Jesus says to them, “John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (7:33-34). Both the forerunner and Christ are rejected. “John is too weird, Jesus is too wild,” as Ralph Davis puts it. “No matter how God speaks to this people, unbelief is not satisfied. Contrary to what we often assume, unbelief is not thoughtful and rational but twisted and perverse.”[5] The problem isn’t John or his baptism nor Jesus’ words or deeds; it’s the unbelieving heart.

“Yet wisdom,” Jesus says, “is justified by all her children.” While the veil of unbelief covers all saving clarity, leaving the unbeliever in a cloud of folly, the gospel of grace makes us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). Paul says, “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” (2 Cor. 3:16). When the veil is removed, we then see our sin, our need to repent, and believe on the Savior, through whom we are granted access to the kingdom of heaven as children of God. And then we see clearly that our God is indeed the “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26).

It is not your heritage, your family, your works, or your best intentions that will make you right with God. We are saved only by God’s grace alone through faith alone. According to his sovereign election, he first brings us to life by the power of his Holy Spirit. Then leads us to repentance and gives us the faith to believe. And it is by faith alone that we become children of God, adopted heirs of the kingdom, to the glory of God alone.

[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).

[2] Dale Ralph Davis, Luke: The Year of the Lord’s Favor (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications, 2021), 127.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Heb. 3:12

[5] Dale Ralph Davis, Luke: The Year of the Lord’s Favor (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications, 2021), 128.