WILLING TO RECEIVE

MATTHEW 11:14-15 NKJ 
14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear! 

OBSERVATION:

Jesus was talking with His disciples about John the Baptist. 

John had been stuck in prison and had become discouraged and offended at Jesus. Jesus kindly reminded the men John had sent that He, Jesus, was still the Messiah. That Jesus was exactly who John knew in his heart to be, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.   

When John's representatives departed, Jesus revealed who John was. Jesus quoted the prophet Malachi who spoke of the messenger that would come before Jesus. Then Jesus revealed a truth that caught them off guard.  

John the Baptist is the Elijah that everyone was looking for. But He prefaced that statement with if you are willing to receive it.   

The prophet Malachi, hundreds of years before Jesus, spoke of Elijah coming. (Malachi 4:5-6) What threw the scribes and teachers of Jewish law was that they were looking for the actual Elijah. In essence, Elijah would come back from the dead.   

But that was not how God did it. When the angel appeared to John the Baptist's father, Zacharius, he said that John would operate in the spirit and power of Elijah. (Luke 1:17) 

So, God did it differently than what the consensus thought. That is why Jesus said if you are willing to receive it. And followed that with he who has ears to hear let him hear. 

APPLICATION: 

This is more than a phrase. It is a principle that relates to our relationship with God.   

We must be willing to receive what He says regardless of our ability to understand. We must have ears to hear what He is saying because it will often not make sense to our rational thinking. 

We have to be willing to receive the truth that we are His children, and He loves us. Willing to receive that we are new creations and more than conquerors in Christ. Willing to receive the spiritual truth that we are ambassadors for Christ and empowered by the very Spirit of the living God. 

It all started with us willing to receive the very existence of God and that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die on a cross. And that He was raised from the dead. That's how it starts, and that's how we continue.   

PRAYER: 

Dear Lord, I am willing to receive your word. I believe that I do have ears to hear!