John the Baptist had preached about a fiery judgment on the enemies of God's people and a mighty Messiah who would bring deliverance for God's people. His confusion about Jesus' role as Messiah was natural. Like everyone in Matthew who chooses a one-dimensional view of the Messiah, he will miss Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. Jesus reaches into the prophet Isaiah's promises about the Messiah and identifies himself. The background of the prophet's expectation is both judgment and mercy: defeat for the evil ones and deliverance for God's people. The great reminder to us is that a simple, single-sided view of Jesus as Messiah will be lacking. Our hearts must be open to God's plan for the Messiah and not our own sense of what he should do. As we come to know Jesus as both Lord and Christ, we understand that he fulfills the expectations of the prophets for the Messiah, but he is also Sovereign. We do not write the definition; we follow obediently the one who fulfills all God's promises.