Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me. (Matthew 11:6 ESV)
The Word of God does take
account of the possibility of our being offended with Him. It does not say
anywhere that that possibility should never arise and will never arise. The
Lord has no where said that we shall never have any occasion for being
offended with Him. He HAS indicated that there will be PLENTY of opportunity
for so stumbling at Him, falling over Him, coming down because of Him – if you
like: crashing because of Him. There will be plenty of occasion or opportunity
for doing so. He has never said that it will never be so. It is as well for us
to recognize that.
The Lord sent no
word of rebuke to poor John the Baptist in the prison when he was perilously
near to being offended with the Lord because of his situation. The Lord was
not hard on John because of his question. He might, had He been another, have
said, “But John, did you not point Me out as the Lamb of God? Did you not
proclaim Me as the One, the Messiah? Haven’t you preached about Me to
multitudes? Have you not made the strongest declarations and affirmations as
to what you believed about Me? And here you’re asking a fundamental question
about Me. John, what’s gone wrong with you?” No, nothing like that. The Lord
knows our frame, that we are dust. And the Lord, I’m saying, takes account of
this ever present possibility, in our weakness, of being offended with Him.
But He does attach to this matter a particular blessedness if we don’t crash
over the Stumbling Block of His ways with us, “AND blessed is he
whosoever shall not be offended in Me.”