Reflective Bible Study

Following Jesus being seated at the right hand of God that we focused our last episode on, it makes perfect sense for us to start this episode by looking at one of the first things Jesus does after stepping, or sitting, in this position – especially since what Jesus does is clearly foreshadowed and prophesied about.

To start this episode off, let’s look at the Old Testament prophecy that Jesus then references. Our Old Testament passage is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 44, and let’s read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Isaiah writes:

¹ “But now listen, O Jacob, My servant,
And Israel, whom I have chosen:
² Thus says the Lord who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you,
‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant;
And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
³ ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants;
⁴ And they will spring up among the grass
Like poplars by streams of water.’
⁵ “This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
And that one will call on the name of Jacob;
And another will write on his hand, ‘Belonging to the Lord,’
And will name Israel’s name with honor.

Part way through these first few verses describing God’s people at some point in the future, Isaiah draws attention to God pouring out His Spirit on a later generation of His people. God promises to give His Spirit and His blessing on His people.

While the context for this prophecy could refer to the time of Jesus’ disciples, or much, much later, I won’t speculate exactly when this prophecy was or will be fulfilled. However, because of the ambiguity present, as well as a pretty generic sounding way this prophecy could be understood, I wouldn’t be surprised if this prophecy could be fulfilled multiple times in multiple generations.

However, how does this prophecy relate specifically to Jesus’ ministry?

Let’s jump into the New Testament, and into the gospels to find out. Part way through the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, John’s gospel dedicates a significant portion of space to the message Jesus shared with the disciples as they were finishing up their supper, and walking to the Garden of Gethsemane.

In John, chapter 16, starting in verse 1, Jesus tells His disciples:

¹ “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. ² They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. ³ These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. ⁴ But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

⁵ “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; ¹¹ and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹² “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Let’s stop reading here. In this passage, Jesus reemphasizes the prophecy given in Isaiah about a later group of God’s people receiving the Holy Spirit. Jesus even takes the prophecy, and applies it to Himself, saying that He, referring to Himself, would send the Holy Spirit after He had arrived in Heaven.

However, Jesus also shares the sobering truth that the only way for the Holy Spirit to be poured out in the way that Isaiah prophesied, was if He left and returned to Heaven.

This is a powerful idea. If Jesus had not returned to Heaven, He would not have been able to be seated at God’s right hand, and prior to Him sitting in that position, He would be unable to send the Holy Spirit. While a little oversimplified, this is one understanding of the details as they are laid out.

Looking within the first few chapters of the book of Acts, we discover that not long after Jesus returned to heaven, somewhere in the range of 10 days, the disciples received the Holy Spirit as promised in an amazing and significant way.

However, does this then mean that the Holy Spirit was not present prior to that point, or that we don’t have access to the Holy Spirit in our own lives if we have not experienced a clear and special event like the disciples have?

I suspect that the answer is no to both of those possibilities. I believe the Holy Spirit has been present and working throughout all of history, from the very beginning, moving forward through Jesus’ life and ministry, and also in every generation following Jesus’ return to Heaven. I believe that every passage that ultimately made it into the Bible, as well as messages for specific people at specific times that were not included in the Bible, are examples of the Holy Spirit’s presence and guidance during the times leading up to Jesus. In my mind, every prophecy that came to pass was directly because the Holy Spirit prompted a prophet or messenger to write it down, and then also crafted history to move in that specific way.

The big reason for this is to draw attention to Jesus!

When we look at how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit’s role, one big role He has is pointing people to Jesus. In the Old Testament times, much of what the Holy Spirit did was working through prophets and prophecy to help the people return to God and pay attention to the signs that would take place in the early part of the first century. As our year focusing on prophecy has shown us, there are no shortage of connection points between Jesus’ life and ministry and the Old Testament writers and prophets.

However, what about the point in history we are living right now? What is the Holy Spirit’s role for the span of time following the Old and New Testament generations? In my own mind, the Holy Spirit, which was clearly given to the disciples shortly after Jesus ascended into Heaven, is actively working in the world today. In my mind, from reading Jesus’ description of the Holy Spirit’s role, I get the picture that the Holy Spirit is actively pointing people to pay attention to the Jesus described in the Bible, while also reminding people of Jesus’ soon return. We are challenged to read and study what the Bible teaches so we will be able to recognize Jesus when He appears, because there will be no shortage of imposters as time nears the end. The best way for us to be able to recognize any fake Jesus is to be very familiar with the genuine Jesus who came in the first century.

Jesus stepped into history at the moment prophecy specified, and His life and ministry fulfilled an amazing amount of prophecies. When we let the Holy Spirit lead and guide our focus, we will be led to grow closer to Jesus both today, and every day moving forward into eternity!

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 in one way or another, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to accept the Holy Spirit into your heart and mind and let the Holy Spirit lead and guide you to pay attention to Jesus.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, keep praying and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. While other people have plenty of ideas about God, Jesus, and the Bible, only when you study the Bible for yourself will you know personally what it teaches. Don’t let eternity rest on the opinions of someone else!

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 abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Following the meal Jesus eats with His disciples, the eleven remaining disciples have a little bit of time alone with Jesus while Judas Iscariot is off getting the soldiers and mob to arrest Jesus. While John’s gospel describes in detail what Jesus shares with the disciples during their trip to the garden, the remaining gospels focus on what Jesus does after they have arrived at Gethsemane.

Let’s read our passage and discover what we can learn from what Luke tells us happened. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 22, and we will read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 39, Luke tells us that:

³⁹ Jesus left the city and went, as he usually did, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples went with him. ⁴⁰ When he arrived at the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

⁴¹ Then he went off from them about the distance of a stone’s throw and knelt down and prayed. ⁴² “Father,” he said, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ In great anguish he prayed even more fervently; his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁴⁵ Rising from his prayer, he went back to the disciples and found them asleep, worn out by their grief. ⁴⁶ He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

As we read this passage from Luke, several things jumped out at me. The first thing is how passionately and fervently Jesus prayed. Verse 44 describes Jesus’ sweat was “like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Some people point to this detail and say Jesus was literally sweating blood or that blood was mixing with His sweat. While this sounds crazy, this is actually something that is possible and has been documented on a number of occasions. I don’t remember what this is called, but if I did, I doubt I’d be able to pronounce the word correctly.

Another way I can understand this description of Jesus’ sweat that only Luke includes is that Jesus was sweating so profusely that it was dripping off Him like blood might drip out of a wound.

However, whichever way we want to view this small detail that sounds crazy, this detail isn’t very significant in the big picture of this passage.

Another big detail that I see in this passage reflects a big theme we looked at last week about persisting within God’s will. Looking closely at Jesus’ prayer reveals the powerful truth that Jesus was willing to follow God’s will even through what is likely the worst abuse and death imaginable. Jesus prayed in verse 42, “Father, if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.”

Jesus’ prayer to God reflects how we are challenged to pray. When we come before God in prayer, it is worthwhile to bring our requests to Him. However, we also are challenged to frame our requests as being less important or significant that His will. While we might try to push forward in our own strength what we believe to be God’s will, our timing and our perception doesn’t always mirror God’s.

Jesus prayed a prayer with a request for help, but He also prayed that He would remain firmly within God’s will for His life – even if that meant that He would face the cross the following day. Jesus’ prayer here in the garden is a powerful example for us when we decide to go before God in prayer. Jesus’ prayer teaches us how to bring our requests to God while also praying that we stay within God’s will for our own lives.

Speaking of prayer, this leads us to what might be the biggest truth and challenge I see tucked within this event. In verse 40, prior to Jesus walking away from the group to be alone to pray, He tells the group of disciples to “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

This is powerful when we look closely at it. Of all the nights these disciples would face, and of all the nights in the history of the world, this night was likely one of the darkest. While the following night would appear to be a victory for Satan with Jesus in the tomb, the night before the cross was filled with more temptation directed towards Jesus and all those closest to Him than we likely could imagine.

Leading into this night filled with temptation, Jesus challenges His closest disciples to pray for strength to avoid temptation. While it is difficult to know whether all His followers heeded His words or not, we do know that the two big predictions Jesus made about that night came true. Peter ultimately denied Jesus even though he strongly denied Jesus’ suggestion about what would happen. Also, all the disciples scatter and leave Jesus to be arrested as the scripture predicted would happen.

Aside from these two fulfilled predictions, I suspect that these disciples did ultimately pray for strength to avoid temptation and they received help as an answer to their prayers. None of the disciples aside from Judas Iscariot the betrayer was ultimately lost from this group, and Judas Iscariot was only truly lost because he took his own life. I suspect that Judas Iscariot could have been forgiven if he had first forgiven himself, humbly repented before God in prayer, and not taken such drastic measures as he did. Suicide is sometimes referred to as the permanent solution to a temporary problem, and if given enough time, the problem faced is always less than the solution suicide provides.

In this event, we discover that at the darkest points in history, our prayers should be for help to avoid temptation. At the darkest parts of our lives, we are the most prone to falling into temptation and we should focus more intently on prayer for God’s help and guidance. I believe that when we come before God asking for help to stay away from sin and for help withstanding temptation, He is more than happy to double, triple, or in some other way multiply our own power to resist temptation.

I doubt God puts forth much effort to help us resist sin if we are only half-hearted in our request. However, if we are sincerely committed to resisting sin, I believe God is more than happy to step in and help when we ask Him for help and to fill in any gaps in our strength that might exist. With God’s help, we can have a willpower that is stronger than we might expect or realize!

When our lives are hard and when times are dark, lean into God and ask Him for help resisting temptation! I know that when we claim this prayer, God is more than happy to step in and walk with us along the path He has called us to walk!

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

As I always challenge you to do, continue to seek God first in your heart, in your mind, and in your life. When things get tough and times are challenging, lean into God asking for strength to keep moving forward with Him!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow a strong personal foundation. While praying and studying with others is beneficial, don’t neglect your personal prayer and study life. Through personal prayer and study, discover God’s truth for your life and open your heart to Him!

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!