Reflective Bible Study

As we near the end of our year moving through the gospels looking at Jesus’ parables, we come to the last parable that is found in Mark’s gospel. This parable echoes a similar parable we looked at very early on in our year of podcasting through Jesus’ parables, and it is probable that Jesus repeated it for the disciples during the week leading up to the cross as He teaches them about staying prepared and ready for His return.

However, as I read this parable and passage in preparation for this episode, several verses in the surrounding context for this parable stood out to me more than the short parable itself. Jesus’ illustration is really only one verse long, but the verses leading up into this illustration, and the emphasis Jesus places on a key idea after the illustration are both incredibly powerful.

Let’s read what Jesus shared with the disciples and discover what Jesus wanted to emphasize for His followers. Our parable and passage are found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 13, and for this episode, let’s read out of the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 32, Jesus tells His disciples and those present:

³² No one knows the day or the time. The angels in heaven don’t know, and the Son himself doesn’t know. Only the Father knows. ³³ So watch out and be ready! You don’t know when the time will come. ³⁴ It is like what happens when a man goes away for a while and places his servants in charge of everything. He tells each of them what to do, and he orders the guard to keep alert. ³⁵ So be alert! You don’t know when the master of the house will come back. It could be in the evening or at midnight or before dawn or in the morning. ³⁶ But if he comes suddenly, don’t let him find you asleep. ³⁷ I tell everyone just what I have told you. Be alert!

In this passage, the parable-illustration is really not the main focus of Jesus’ teaching. This passage has two big ideas: The first is that we should watch, be ready, and stay alert; and the second is that we don’t know the date or time of Jesus’ return.

When we read Jesus’ words clearly and directly, we should not presume to discover what Jesus Himself does not know. Jesus clearly tells His disciples in verse 32: “No one knows the day or the time. The angels in heaven don’t know, and the Son himself doesn’t know. Only the Father knows.”

If no one knows except the Father, it does not make sense for us to try to set dates or to make predictions of this sort. While this doesn’t stop people from doing so, I’m certain there are no less than one hundred predictions in the last two hundred and fifty years that failed to simply get the year correct, much less the day or even the time.

All these failed predictions could turn a person into being cynical about Jesus’ promise to return, but the fault is not on Jesus’ delay, but on our desire for a certain date – specifically a date that Jesus Himself told us that He did not know. Jesus might still not know the date of His return. While Jesus could simply ask the Father for this information and then He would know, it’s more likely that Jesus trusts the Father completely with this information and that He is working diligently in heaven on our behalf until the Father announces that the time has come for His return.

If Jesus told us that He did not know the date of His return, it is crazy to think that we could discover this date before Jesus.

Does this mean that all date-setting is misplaced effort on our part and that we should avoid it at all costs?

In my own mind, the answer is almost. As I have looked at date-setting enthusiasts in recent years, I see behind it a noble drive to bring people to Jesus before it is too late. With a date set, even if Jesus doesn’t return at that date, the date functions as a deadline that helps motivate people to give their lives to God. In this regard, date-setting acts as a positive force, challenging people regarding where their lives are headed and motivating them to turn to Jesus.

However, after this artificial deadline motivator, most all date-setting is misplaced effort. If those who return to God do so only because it is what they believe to be their last minute conversion, and the date doesn’t turn out to be correct, are they going to stay following Jesus? If so, then this failed date was a tool that God used to draw people to Him.

In contrast, if the date setting effort takes the focus off of Jesus, and/or those who come to “Jesus” because of the date-setting leave Him after the date failed, then this date-setting effort was not from God. Also, if setting a date for Jesus’ return prompts other people to ridicule you and to question their faith, then this date-setting is not from God.

The unpopular remedy for date-setting is what we see Jesus describe for us in this passage. In this passage, Jesus uses phrases like, “Watch out and be ready!” “Keep alert.” “Don’t let him find you asleep.” And “Be alert!” In this passage, we see the challenge for all of God’s people to stay alert and ready for His return whenever it happens.

While this challenge is unpopular, tiring, and perhaps even unrealistic on one or more levels, we only need to look back at some of our recent podcast themes to conclude that when Jesus returns, we would want Him to catch us doing exactly what He has called, commissioned, and challenged us to do. Jesus has called us to watch, to be ready, to share the good news, to bring people to Him, but most importantly to stay connected to Him and to the Holy Spirit.

When we are alert, we see the signs of His soon return all around us. When we are alert, we are aware of things that we might miss if we were asleep. However, with the signs leading up to His return happening all around us, we should remember that these signs don’t point to the date of His return. Instead these signs are given so we can stay awake, alert, and focused on what He has challenged and commissioned us to do!

In heaven, we won’t have the opportunity of sharing Jesus with those present because everyone will know Him already. This means that while we are alive on earth today, this becomes one of our highest callings, because according to Jesus, only through knowing Jesus can we find eternal life!

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, keep seeking God first in your life. Choose to stay alert and look for the signs signaling Jesus’ return around us. While it might seem like the signs Jesus gives are a little generic at times, know that this is because He wants us to be alert and ready for His return when it does happen. When Jesus returns, don’t let Him catch you sleeping or having abandoned the commission He has given to all His followers!

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God each and every day. Choose to trust God and let Him lead in your life. Choose also to ask God for help staying alert and ask God to show you what He wants you to learn both from the Bible and from what is happening in the world today.

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!

We have come to the place in the gospel of John where Jesus is hanging on the cross, and He has just given His last breath. As our passage opens, Jesus has died, but His corpse has not yet been taken down from the cross.

However, before John tells us about what happens to Jesus’ body after it has been removed from the cross, two more prophecies need to be fulfilled during the time Jesus is hanging on the cross. John draws our attention to these two connected prophecies immediately following Jesus giving up His Spirit.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 19, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 31, John tells us:

³¹ Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. ³² So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; ³³ but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴ But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵ And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶ For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” ³⁷ And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

Over the past few episodes, we’ve seen how John’s gospel described prophecies that Jesus fulfilled at His death. However, the two prophecies in this passage are powerful when we stop to look at them a little closer.

Hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth, the prophet Zechariah wrote God’s message: “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” This prophecy is found in Zechariah, chapter 12, verse 10.

In this verse, it is amazing that not only do we have the reference to Jesus being pierced, but we also have God promising the Spirit of grace coming to God’s people because of the death of God’s Son. We have in this prophetic verse a picture of the sorrow and mourning that would take place on the weekend Jesus would die. And all this was predicted and written hundreds of years before the events took place.

However, the reference to Jesus being pierced isn’t the only prophecy that was fulfilled in our passage. Our passage also included a reference to a prophecy about Jesus’ bones not being broken. This prophecy is found in the Psalms of David. We will read it from Psalm 34, and while the prophecy is in verse 20, we’ll start reading in verse 19 to give it context:

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
      But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
²⁰ He keeps all his bones,
      Not one of them is broken.
²¹ Evil shall slay the wicked,
      And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
²² The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
      And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

Tucked within David’s reminder that God will be with those who take refuge in Him, we have a reference to the Lord, the Messiah, keeping all His bones, without any being broken. This is amazing to think about, because this was written several hundred years before Jesus walked the earth.

This is also incredible, because both of these prophecies are fulfilled against the orders of those in command. Our passage opened with the religious leaders asking Pilate to break the legs of those hanging on the cross so they would die faster and be taken down from the cross before the Sabbath had begun. I suspect that Pilate agreed and we read in verses 32 to 34 that “the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”

In this passage, the soldiers have orders to break the legs of all the men, but with Jesus, they don’t break His legs, but instead they pierce His side. These Roman soldiers defied their orders to break the legs of the men, and while they understood the reason for this was to speed up the death of these men, they don’t need to speed Jesus’ death up. Piercing Jesus’ side, which would have punctured His heart for blood and water to have come out, proves Jesus’ death. From what I know, one cannot fake the separation of blood and water, or survive with a hole in their heart after experiencing critical blood loss.

All evidence points to Jesus’ execution being successful by all the measures of success.

However, is there another reason why Jesus’ bones were not broken?

I believe there is. In both Exodus and Numbers, we have a description of the Passover sacrifice. The Passover event marked the night when the angel of death went through Egypt killing the first born in every home. The only protection given was to kill a lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts.

The Passover is significant, because not only does this finally break the Pharaoh and cause him to release the Israelite slaves, this event is also a reminder for all that in order for us to be saved, Someone else must take the punishment. In the context of Passover, the “someone else” is an innocent lamb. In the context of Christianity, Jesus stood in our place and became our “Someone else”.

While the lamb’s blood was used to mark the doorposts of the home, giving the house protection, Exodus, chapter 12, verse 46 describes how the Lamb should be prepared to be eaten. Moses told the people: “It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.”

In order for Jesus to stand in as our Passover Lamb, which Christians all over the world today believe He did, none of His bones could be broken. Through the symbolic Passover meal, which Christians celebrate as the Last Supper, we also remember what Jesus told His first followers, specifically that the bread represents His body, and the juice represented His blood.

While Satan tried to break this prophecy and symbolism through the religious leaders requesting for the legs of all those on crosses that day to be broken, we discover that Satan could not overturn God’s plan, God’s prophecy, and Jesus’ successful completion of the work of salvation – which required Jesus’ bones to remain whole!

Jesus’ sacrifice was successful, and His sacrifice was accepted. Because of what Jesus did for us, we have the invitation available to us to take Jesus’ death and let it stand in our place. Jesus is our Passover Lamb when we exchange our life for His, and when we look to Jesus as the “Someone Else” who paid for our sins, we are promised eternal life and resurrection just as Jesus was resurrected from the tomb!

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, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose today to place your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief in Jesus and in His sacrifice to cover your sins. Choose today to live each day moving forward with God and leaving your past sinful lives in the grave with Jesus’ sacrifice. Starting today, you can live a new life with God, and when you live your life moving forward with Jesus, your life will extend beyond this life and into eternity!

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to personally grow closer to God each and every day. While other people have ideas to think about, always filter what you hear, read, and see through the truth contained in the Bible. The Bible is God’s story for the world, God’s story of Jesus, and through the Jesus that we discover in the Bible, God has made the way available for us to be saved!

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!