With the coming of the Messiah, He was to have a forerunner. In Matthew 11 Yeshua says that the forerunner was John the immerser. Yet John had a question for Yeshua when he was in prison about whether He/Yeshua was the One they were all waiting for.

Yeshua’s answer is quite interesting.  Much of His answer can be found in Isaiah 35:4-6. There are a couple more things that Yeshua speaks of doing, although from the Isaiah list He does not list the casting out of demons. The two other things that Yeshua lists are the healing of leprosy, specifically that would be what is called tza’arat in the Hebrew, and the raising of the dead.

The healing of the leper in the beginning of Matthew 8 is particularly interesting in witnessing to our Jewish friends. Yeshua tells the leper, after He has cured him, to go to the priests for a testimony to them/the priests that he is cured and needs to be declared clean and go through the ceremony for being cleansed of leprosy. This is important because the Jews understood this to be a sign of the Messiah so the testimony to the priests was that the Messiah was there.

Yeshua wanted John to know that He was the One that they were waiting for. Yeshua was not trying to keep it secret as to who He was, He wanted the highest officials to know, as well as, the prisoner, in this case John.

Then Yeshua ends that statement in Matthew 11:6 with this, “Blessed is the one who does not fall away because of me.” What does He mean by this? He goes on in Matthew 11 (Also see Luke 16) to say that the Torah/Law and the Prophets have prophesied until John. In other words, up until John the Torah and Prophets were all still pointing forward to things yet to be fulfilled, but with the coming of John what was prophesied was beginning to be revealed.

Yeshua was telling those listening that they were living in a time of fulfillment, a time that the prophets had longed to see but were only able to prophesy about. Now the Kingdom of God was being preached, “repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2).

However, it was not going to happen the way some wanted it to. It was going to be the way God had designed it and in its proper order. In order for God’s children to be able to come into His presence their sin had to be dealt with, it had to be atoned for and the true price was higher than the blood of bulls, lambs and goats.

According to Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 12:10 the price would be much higher. The Messiah Himself would have to be sacrificed and only His blood would truly atone for and cover sin. Needless to say, that is not what some wanted. They were ready to force the fulfillment of the Kingdom then and there.  Remember some even tried to make Him King by force (John 6:15).

However, the Kingdom cannot come by us forcing it. It will be fulfilled as the Torah and Prophets have said, in His way and in His time. Again, in its proper order. Sin had to be dealt with, the good news spread and then the Kingdom will be restored.

Do we once again live in a time of fulfillment? I believe so! We are seeing what the Torah and Prophets spoke of happening all around us once again. Can we force it to come? No! But we can be ready and watching and faithful. We can be the people He has called us to be and have our hearts on the Kingdom and not on our own earthly gain. Yes, we must occupy till He comes, but we should also be looking up, for our redemption is drawing nigh.

So, what did He mean when He said, “Blessed is the one who does not fall away because of me.”? It would appear that He was saying that one is blessed if they do not fall away by trying to force things to happen their way, but to wait upon the Father to do things His way and to trust that He knows what He is doing. Yeshua did not want the people to fall away because they did not want a suffering servant, but instead wanted a King who would kick out Rome. Awaiting Messiah Ben David is a good thing, but Yeshua did not want that to make them miss Messiah Ben Joseph.