The Crisis of Faith of John the Baptist

In a talk I heard recently someone mentioned the "crisis of faith" of John the Baptist.  They were referring to the time when John the Baptist was in prison, apparently not too long after he had the marvelous experience of baptizing the Master.  After telling of his preaching and baptizing, Luke recorded, "Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison" (Luke 3:19-20).  John had declared of the Savior, "He must increase, but I must decrease," but he may not have understood that this would mean such suffering on his part in prison.  Elder Talmage wrote, "His forerunner, the God-fearing, valiant John, had lain a prisoner in the dungeons of Machærus, one of the strongest of Herod’s citadels," and he suggested that John even endured torture while being confined.  Surely after having such a marvelous spiritual experience with the Savior, only to then be imprisoned and abused, would have taken its toll on John, perhaps even to the point of causing his faith to suffer.  

The event that signals that such a crisis of faith may have existed for John was the question that he sent to the Master.  Luke recorded this question after telling us John was in prison, so I believe we can assume that the question came to Jesus from prison.  We read, "John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?" (Luke 7:19-20)  John was thus asking the Savior if He was really the Messiah, if he really had gotten it right, if the testimony he had gained was really true.  This came after John had baptized Jesus and heard the voice from heaven declaring, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).  It is possible that the purpose of the question was really to help his disciples gain a witness of the Savior, but he may have also had doubts or questions about his own worth as he sat alone in a cell in terrible conditions.  Elder Talmage commented, "Left in prison, he may have become despondent, and may have permitted himself to wonder whether that Mightier One had forgotten him. He knew that were Jesus to speak the word of command the prison of Machærus could no longer hold him; nevertheless Jesus seemed to have abandoned him to his fate."   

What is sobering to me is that though the Savior did receive the messengers from John and help confirm their faith, He did not see fit to deliver John.  The Savior's response was this: "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me" (Luke 7:22-23).  This seems to have been a reference to Isaiah, who wrote, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing" (Isaiah 35:5-6).  That the Savior would quote Isaiah to respond may have been of comfort to John whose own mission had also been described by Isaiah: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3).  I believe that last phrase from the Savior, though, was especially for His beloved forerunner: "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."  Christ seems to have been saying to John, "Hold on—don't be offended by your terrible circumstances.  Don't be offended that you are confined in prison and I have not helped free you.  It is going to work out according to my plan.  You will be blessed if you don't become offended by me."  Though we don't know the response of John to his servants when they returned with the Master's words, surely he did remain faithful to the Master, though he was subsequently beheaded by Herod.  Ultimately he triumphed through the Savior, and we know that he lives today as a glorified, resurrected being, for it was he whom Christ called upon to come back in the name of the Messiah and bestow the Aaronic Priesthood in our day.