Reflective Bible Study

As we are nearing the end of our year focusing in on prophecies and connections between the Old Testament and Jesus’ life and ministry, I hope this year has been a blessing for you as it has for me. In our last episode, we looked at Jesus keeping His promise to send the Holy Spirit following His ascension to Heaven. For this episode, let’s look at one big thing the Holy Spirit will be working to accomplish through God’s people moving forward from the time of the disciples.

To set the stage for this discussion, let’s look at a prophecy found near the beginning of the Old Testament book of Isaiah, which appears to describe an idealized or future picture of God’s people.

In Isaiah, chapter 2, starting in verse 1, and reading from the New American Standard Bible translation, Isaiah writes:

¹ The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

² Now it will come about that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be established as the chief of the mountains,
And will be raised above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.
³ And many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us concerning His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go forth from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴ And He will judge between the nations,
And will render decisions for many peoples;
And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.

In these first few verses of Isaiah, chapter 2, we discover a picture that seems to blend what life would be like in heaven with that of earth. In heaven, at the point that is being described, there will be no wars, conflicts, or hostility, and where people of every background come together to the place where God lives to listen and learn from Him. However, the hints at life on earth are present because those who are present within this scene are taking their weapons and turning them into tools. My understanding of heaven, or even looking beyond that to the new earth is that there wouldn’t be any hint of the former sinful world, leading me to speculate there wouldn’t be any swords or spears to turn into tools.

I wonder if the context of this passage instead speaks to what God envisioned His people to be while they were a nation wholly dedicated to Him, while something different happened. Another way of saying this idea is that this was God’s picture of plan A, while what actually happened in history was plan B, C, D, or even E.

While I don’t know where this prophecy fits well into the grand picture of history, one set of phrases and ideas from it are significant for this point in history. In our Isaiah passage, in the last part of verse 3, Isaiah writes, “For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

This set of phrases is significant because of something we read near the end of Luke’s gospel. As Jesus is talking with some of His disciples following His resurrection, He makes a fascinating statement that points back to this idea from Isaiah’s writing. In Luke, chapter 24, starting with verse 44, which is a few verses before this statement to give it context, Luke writes:

⁴⁴ Now He [referring to Jesus] said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

In this brief summary statement of what Jesus shared with these disciples, He promises them that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem. This is powerful because it echoes what Isaiah wrote about prophetically. Isaiah wrote “For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

While some might be quick to point out that Isaiah’s emphasis is on the Law of God while Jesus’ emphasis is on the forgiveness of sins, what we are looking at could be pictured as two sides of the same coin. Without the law, forgiveness becomes irrelevant and non-existent. This is because without a law being broken, there is nothing to be forgiven from. In contrast, the law without forgiveness is a death sentence, and nothing worth proclaiming or celebrating.

Instead, when we blend the law with forgiveness, we get an amazing picture of God’s love, His grace, and our need for a Savior who was provided through Jesus. Isaiah says that the law goes forth from Zion, which, if I’m not mistaken, is the name of the mountain and city of God. God proclaims His law for all to hear. However, Isaiah also says that the word of the Lord goes forth from Jerusalem, and part of me wonders if this “word” is the message of forgiveness that Jesus commissions His disciples to share.

With this framing of Isaiah’s prophecy and Jesus’ commission to His disciples, we step into a fascinating understanding of the mission of God’s people living in the period of time following the first century. With this framing, God’s people are called to emphasize God’s law, Jesus’ love, and the great news of forgiveness through what Jesus accomplished for us. Forgiveness never means that we are free to persist in sin. Instead, forgiveness is made available for those of us who turn away from our sins, which is what it means to repent, and for those who turn their lives, minds, hearts, and focus towards God.

However, the task Jesus gives His followers sounds impossible to do. On one hand, it sounds easy, since it is simply sharing the message of Jesus, but on the other hand, it is impossible, because, according to Jesus, only God can draw people towards Himself.

I suspect this is one reason why Jesus challenges His followers to stay in Jerusalem until they had received God’s power, also known as the Holy Spirit, which we focused on in our last episode. With the Holy Spirit’s power and guidance, Jesus’ followers would be fully equipped to share God’s message of forgiveness with the world.

As followers of Jesus, this is our call and our challenge for today. While some might look at history and how those in various Christian groups failed to reflect Jesus’ love, message, and forgiveness to others, we cannot change what happened. We cannot change how they failed. We also cannot even change how we failed.

Instead, we are challenged to lean on the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance and move forward sharing the great news of God’s law, Jesus’ love, and the forgiveness God wants to give everyone who accepts Jesus’ sacrifice for their sins. This is the great news of the gospel, and I suspect that this message is one big part of the “word of the Lord” that unites people from every background.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open by challenging you, continue to seek God first in your life and accept Jesus’ sacrifice on your behalf. Don’t minimize the law in your life because that also subtly minimizes Jesus’ sacrifice. Instead, lift up the law and while lifting it up, continually thank Jesus in your heart, mind, and life as you move forward living in a way that says you are thankful for what He gave for us.

Also, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow closer to Jesus. Through prayer and studying the Bible, invite the Holy Spirit into your heart and life and let Him reflect God’s love in the world around you.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Moving from the night of Jesus’ arrest and to the morning Jesus was ultimately crucified, we arrive at Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders. In order to condemn Jesus to death, the religious leaders needed to find something Jesus was guilty of.

While many of the gospels share different details about what happened during the twelve hours between the garden and the cross, the way Luke’s gospel frames Jesus’ trial is fascinating. Let’s read what happened.

Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 22, and we will read from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 66, Luke tells us:

⁶⁶ At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, ⁶⁷ and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”

But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. ⁶⁸ And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”

⁷⁰ They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”

And he replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹ “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

In Luke’s version of Jesus’ trial, I am amazed at what the religious leaders actually latch on to as a condemnation of Jesus. While other gospel writers share this event differently, if we were to take and focus on Luke’s gospel alone, nothing in Jesus’ response sounds worthy of death in my mind.

Oddly enough, according to what we just read in Luke’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t really even claim to be the Son of God.

In case this didn’t stand out for you, let me read this passage again and pay close attention. Reading again from verse 66:

⁶⁶ At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, ⁶⁷ and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”

But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. ⁶⁸ And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”

⁷⁰ They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”

And he replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹ “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

In this passage, all that these religious leaders actually hear is Jesus predicting that God would honor Him, which might not be acceptable in their minds, but it certainly isn’t worthy of death in my mind.

The only other thing Jesus says is that the religious leaders themselves are pressing the specific title onto Him. Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man, while the religious leaders are claiming Jesus’ title is the Son of God.

However, is there something happening behind the scenes in this passage that the religious leaders understand but we might not fully grasp living in a different culture and thousands of years removed from the first century world?

I suspect the answer is a yes.

While the conclusion of this trial was a clear setup according to Luke, because Jesus never really says what they claim to “hear” Him say, perhaps there is something lost in translation, or perhaps this was really the only sliver of an opening these leaders had to condemn Jesus.

The something I suspect that gets lost on us living so far removed from this event is that it appears as though Jesus references back to the unanswerable question He asked the Pharisees just a few days earlier. In Luke, chapter 20, verses 42 and 43, Jesus quotes David from the Old Testament who said: “The Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

While this passage also doesn’t sound that significant, it is believed that David was quoting this conversation as being from God the Father to God the Son. With God the Son being the one to be honored at God’s right hand, we now have a solid context for why these religious leaders were upset with Jesus’ claim.

David has predicted that God’s Son would be the one to sit at God’s right hand, and Jesus has just stepped into claiming that position for Himself from that point forward.

When reading this passage, I am continually amazed at the religious leaders. I am very confident that these leaders understood Jesus’ reference to the position He would be given as equal to Jesus claiming to be God’s Son – even if nothing Jesus directly says claims this title. The religious leaders were smart enough to connect the dots when they wanted to find Jesus guilty of something.

However, the religious leaders were not smart enough to keep connecting the dots to realize that the Messiah God was sending to them would be rejected and killed by them. They didn’t realize that they would ultimately reject the Messiah that they were desperately longing would arrive.

It is the same with us today. Too often, we get so focused on one way of thinking that we stop being able to think there are other options, or other ways of interpreting the facts. Like these religious leaders, we know lots of information, but we have overlaid this information with a thick layer of bias that we cannot begin to see that the same information could really be telling other stories. It is this way when two people with different worldviews look at the same fossil record, or when two different people who are both very opinionated on opposite sides of the political spectrum describe the same political event.

The lenses we have on our eyes called our biases filter our lives through our beliefs. These biases lead to the religious leaders in the first century ultimately killing the Messiah God sent to them because Jesus didn’t fit their biased picture of who the Messiah would be.

Our biases today can just as easily cause us to miss out on signs God is sending or on amazing things He is doing in the world around us. Because our biases and beliefs filter the world around us, we must be extra diligent about what we use to form our biases and our beliefs. If left unchecked, our biases will stop us from truly learning anything new, and these same biases will trap us into missing out on seeing God.

The best way to combat bias in your life is to open up the Bible and read it for yourself. The amazing thing about the Bible is that it challenges every single bias we might have. The Bible challenges every area of science, every angle of politics, every angle of service, every angle of business, and every area of human interaction. The only thing the Bible doesn’t really cover is technology. The only way for you to know whether what I just said is actually true or not is to pick up the Bible and read it for yourself.

With that said, let’s wrap up this podcast with some direct challenges related to this big truth:

As I always begin by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus. Ask God to help remove any unhealthy biases from your life and ask Him to help you better reflect His love and His character to the world around you!

Also, always pray and study the Bible for yourself. Everyone has an opinion of the Bible, and it can be easy to simply take someone else’s opinion about what the Bible says and agree with it. However, with eternity on the line, accepting someone else’s opinion about the Bible is the worst thing you could do. It is like having a beautifully wrapped present in front of you and a stranger telling you it is just an empty box. If you believe the stranger and never open the gift, you will never truly know what was inside the box!

It’s the same way with the Bible. Don’t let someone else trick you out of discovering God’s gift to you through the pages of His Word.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!