Reflective Bible Study

Before Jesus stepped into the spotlight during His life on earth, God had arranged for Jesus to have a front-runner in ministry. The goal of this individual’s life would be to tell everyone who would listen that God was about to do something. In essence, this individual was to announce the Messiah’s arrival.

The gospel of John tells us about Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, who also happened to be named John. To keep these two John’s separate for our episode, I’ll refer to one as John the disciple, who authored the gospel that bears his name, and the other John as John the Baptist, who was the forerunner and the focus of our passage in this episode.

Let’s read what John the disciple has to say about John the Baptist. This can be found in the gospel of John, chapter 1 and we’ll be reading from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 19, we learn that:

¹⁹ This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹ They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²² Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

²⁴ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” ²⁶ John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. ²⁷ It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” ²⁸ These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Let’s pause reading here to draw our attention onto what John the disciple says about John the Baptist. In this gospel, we learn that John the Baptist had been asked directly about who he was, and what role he was filling. John the Baptist openly denies that he is the Messiah, or Christ, and he also openly denies that he is Elijah, who was foreshadowed to come before the Messiah. John the Baptist also chose not to claim the role of the Prophet either, and he was asked this because the Jews were also expecting someone who fit the description of prophet as well.

Instead, John the Baptist points them to a potentially ignored portion of prophecy where Isaiah describes one who is a voice crying in the wilderness.

When challenged about choosing to baptize people with water, John the Baptist simply redirects their question with an answer pointing forward to the coming Messiah, who is Someone they do not yet recognize.

Continuing our reading in verse 29, John the disciple tells us that:

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ³¹ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” ³² John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

What stands out as amazing to me in this declaration is that John the Baptist knows exactly who Jesus is at this point. Prior to this meeting, Jesus had come to the place where John the Baptist was preaching, and Jesus had asked to be baptized. However, immediately following His baptism, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to fast and to be tempted.

This encounter with John the Baptist that John the disciple shares in his gospel likely happened as Jesus was coming back from being tempted and fasting. During the forty days Jesus had spent in the wilderness following His baptism, John the Baptist likely shifted his message from “the Messiah coming soon” to “the Messiah is here right now”. John the Baptist probably didn’t know that Jesus had left to fast and be tempted in the wilderness following His baptism, but here in our passage for this episode, we see a clear proclamation from John the Baptist that Jesus is “the Son of God”.

If we look closely at this passage, John the Baptist’s call to baptize people was partly to give those he baptized a public way to show that they were returning to God and leaving a life of sin. However, it also gave God and the Holy Spirit the perfect opening and way to show John the Baptist exactly who the Messiah was. Reading from the other gospels about Jesus’ baptism event, it seems likely that John knew beforehand that Jesus was the One, however what happened during Jesus’ baptism simply confirmed it.

In the lives of both John the Baptist and John the disciple, I see a call for each of us. This call is to be pointing people to Jesus. John the Baptist was able to point people forward to Jesus, and he was able to clearly identify God’s Messiah for those present. In contrast, we can’t point people to a physical person who happens to be walking by and identify that individual as Jesus. However, we can model our lives after Jesus, and choose to be like Him, love like Him, and care for those around us like He did. Jesus came to love those who were hurting and challenge those who were self-righteous. We can do the same in our lives today.

John the disciple was able to spend one-on-one time with Jesus and then after Jesus had returned to heaven, John was able to point people back to what Jesus had done. John the disciple even wrote about His experiences with Jesus first-hand and His gospel has helped people ever since grow closer to Jesus even if they lived after Jesus had returned to heaven. While we don’t have the ability to sit down with Jesus face-to-face like John the disciple did, we are able to spend time in prayer and through honest, heartfelt prayer, the Holy Spirit lifts us into God’s presence, where we are able to spend time with Jesus, and share life with Him.

These two Johns challenge me to live a life that is within God’s will and that includes living like Jesus both in public and in private. Perhaps these two Johns are challenging you to do the same.

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally choose to focus your life on God above everything else. Intentionally seek Him, spend time with Him, and learn from Him – instead of taking someone else’s word for it.

The best way to do this is through heartfelt, prayer-filled Bible study, and specifically personal Bible study. By praying and studying the Bible for yourself, you are able to learn firsthand from God and the Holy Spirit, and He is able to change your heart and life in ways that no other method of hearing the gospel can. While a podcast or a preacher can inspire change from the outside, Bible study with the Holy Spirit inspires change from the inside.

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!

Early on during the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, we read about an interesting and somewhat strange event within the gospels that might not make a lot of sense on the surface. In many ways, this event is one time where Jesus might appear to be irrational.

Both Matthew and Mark include this event, and for our time together, let’s read what happened from Mark’s gospel. Our passage is found in Mark, chapter 11, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 11, Mark tells us that:

¹² The next day as Jesus was leaving Bethany, he became hungry. ¹³ Seeing a fig tree in leaf from far away, he went to see if it had any figs on it. But he found no figs, only leaves, because it was not the right season for figs. ¹⁴ So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And Jesus’ followers heard him say this.

Pausing reading here, I am amazed at this event because we have no context for Jesus becoming hungry, and we find Jesus cursing a fig tree because it didn’t have figs while it wasn’t the right season for figs. It’s possible that there was something unique about this tree that meant it should have had figs on it, but nothing in our passage suggests this except that this tree was filled with leaves.

If it weren’t for what happened the following morning, it’s likely that Mark wouldn’t have included this event in his gospel.

Jumping down to verse 20, we continue reading to discover that:

²⁰ The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his followers, they saw the fig tree dry and dead, even to the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed is dry and dead!”

²² Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. ²³ I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. ²⁴ So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you. ²⁵ When you are praying, if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. [²⁶ But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.]”

When reading about what Jesus tells His disciples the following morning, I’m inclined to believe that this whole event was orchestrated to teach the disciples about the power of faith in God. When the disciples see the withered up fig tree, they initially are amazed at how powerful Jesus is.

But this event didn’t happen to get the disciples to look up to Jesus even more. This event happened to teach the disciples that faith in God without reservations or doubts can accomplish even greater things than this.

In this event, we are challenged and instructed on how to pray. While most people look to one of the two times Jesus officially taught on prayer by giving example prayers, our passage here in Mark might be more powerful to remember.

When we pray, the first and most important thing for us to have is faith in God. Faith is simply trust multiplied exponentially. When we trust God with everything from our past, through our present, and into our future, we have faith in Him. Faith does not mean we must understand what is happening while also having all of our questions answered. On the other hand, faith also does not mean that if we understand or have answers to our questions that our faith is somehow diminished.

Contrary to popular opinion, faith does not need unanswered questions – even if there will always be unanswered questions. What faith needs is for us to remember how God has led us in the past so we are confident moving into the future with Him. Faith is built with and on a foundation of trust in God. In order to have a powerful prayer experience, we must have faith in God.

After telling the disciples that faith in God is key, Jesus also tells them that we should push away all doubts that God won’t do what we are asking Him to do. This is probably the hardest part of prayer for me personally. It is all too easy to let a little bit of doubt in that suggests that what I am praying for is not part of God’s will, or that God knows better than I do regarding whatever request I may have, and when I let doubt in, I unknowingly sabotage my prayers.

In this whole passage, the only things we find that are necessary foundations for answered prayer are faith in God, which we have already talked about, and forgiveness towards others. If we have these two foundations in place, then there should be no room for doubt in our minds. Our passage challenges us against it.

However, why might forgiveness be so important for us in our prayer life? While I cannot answer this for you, I will say that when I have been angry with someone, the anger clouds my mind and my attitude. When my mind is focused on anger, my prayers are not the same. From my own experience, anger affects my prayers and my attitude when coming before God with my requests. About the only help I can expect to receive when praying while angry is help to forgive the person I am angry with.

But with all this said, you might be asking me what about all the times you have prayed, with heartfelt faith in God, while you were not angry or doubtful, but your prayer does not appear to be answered. Aren’t those times reasons for doubt?

I have faced situations like this, and because of this, I would have to answer perhaps. However, I don’t believe that there are any truly unanswered prayers when we pray with faith, forgiveness, and no doubt.

Instead, I believe our prayers are answered the exact moment that they have left our lips. God answers prayer in four ways, and its possible we don’t see His answer because we aren’t expecting the response He gives.

The first possible response is the easy answer of “Yes”. When God answers yes, we understand that He clearly and directly was involved.

However, God can also answer our prayers with the answer of “No”. God’s answer of no might appear to be a rejection of our request, but it might be Him simply telling you that your request is not in your best interests.

While it might be easy to think that “yes” and “no” are the only possible responses, God has two other responses, and in my own life, these other responses are much more common.

The first other response God can give is the response of “Yes, but now isn’t the best time.” We might consider this response as God asking us to wait. Perhaps what we are asking is within God’s will, but we are truly not ready to receive what we are asking for. God’s goal is our salvation and us being with Him in Heaven, and I believe He will not answer a prayer in a way where our salvation is placed in jeopardy. This might be one of the hardest answers to receive, but our faith in God leads us to trust Him even when we don’t understand why at this point in our lives we are being told to wait.

The last response God can give is the response of “No, but here is something better instead”. If we are too focused on receiving only the answers we request, we might be oblivious to all the other blessings God is giving us in place of our original request. Similar to the response of “wait”, I believe God will not directly answer our requests knowing that it will place our salvation in jeopardy. Instead, God wants us with Him in Heaven forever, and that should be our ultimate goal as well.

We are called to pray with faith in God; with forgiveness in our hearts; with certainty that God loves us, that He wants to answer our prayers, and that He wants the best for us; and with the trust that He answers our prayers the moment they leave our mouth. After we pray, we should eagerly look for answers He has given and expect to see them show up in our lives when the time is right.

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

Seek God first and build a faith foundation of trust in Him. Be sure to pray with faith in God, without doubt, and with forgiveness in your heart, expecting to see the answers He promises to give us when we pray.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself. Grow your personal relationship with Jesus because the closer we are to Him, the more our will will be aligned with His will and when our lives are aligned with God, nothing will stop our prayers from being answered in powerful ways.

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!

The gospel of Luke is the only gospel to touch on an event in Jesus’ childhood between His birth story, which Matthew also includes, and the beginning of His ministry when He was fully-grown. This event happened when Jesus was twelve years old and part of me wonders why Luke chose to include it.

Perhaps this event was the only time in Jesus’ whole childhood that He “rebelled”, for lack of a better word, and ran away. Well, as we will soon see, Jesus didn’t run away, but in Mary and Joseph’s minds, it might have appeared to be that way.

Let’s read about what happened, from the gospel of Luke, chapter 2, using the New International Version. Starting in verse 41, Luke tells us that:

⁴¹ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁵¹ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

In many ways, this event shines a negative light on Jesus’ parents, because after all, how could you get a whole day’s journey away from Jerusalem before realizing Jesus was not with your group of travelers. This also shines a little bit of a negative light onto Jesus as well, because if He wanted to stay behind in Jerusalem and test the leaders’ receptivity to His upcoming ministry, it is likely that Mary and Joseph would have given him a day or two.

Perhaps this was one big misunderstanding, with Jesus believing He had given them the message, but the message not being understood.

However, one big thing I see in this event is with the reaction those present in the temple had towards Jesus. Luke tells us in verse 47 that at twelve years old, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” This verse emphasizes how much Jesus had learned being taught by Mary at home, and it also hints at Jesus’ bigger understanding of His mission and the path for His life.

While getting the right answers to the rabbi’s questions would be satisfactory, it would seem that Jesus understood the scriptures in a unique way from the religious leaders in order to actually amaze them with His understanding and challenging counter questions.

But as I read this, I still wonder what Jesus wanted to accomplish during this extended stay at the temple. I wonder, as I alluded to earlier, if Jesus was testing the waters regarding how receptive the leaders were to God’s self-sacrificing Messiah that Jesus would become, or if they were closed-minded to anyone other than the military leader they were hoping for.

Part of me also wonders if Jesus was testing the waters with how the religious leaders formed their arguments, questions, and challenges, and this would be a valuable set of skills to have later in life when other Pharisees and religious leaders would be challenging Him throughout His ministry.

Maybe Jesus’ time in the temple wasn’t as much for the teachers themselves, but an attempt to plant seeds in the minds of the other students that were likely present. A number of these students would likely have been leaders during the time of Jesus’ ministry, and it would be fascinating to learn that a young Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea were with Jesus those days in the temple. Equally fascinating in my mind would be if Jesus’ strongest opponents would also be there in the temple learning from the teachers and leaders in the older generation.

In Jesus’ response that He gives His parents, we see a powerful picture of how Jesus saw Himself. Whether Mary had taught Him this while growing up, or if Jesus had internalized this truth another way, when Jesus responds with the somewhat rhetorical question in the last part of verse 49 by saying, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” it appears to us looking back on this event that Jesus was well aware of God the Father being His Father, even if Joseph was filling the role of “dad” on earth.

We circle back around to where we began by asking ourselves why Luke might have chosen to include this event in His gospel. Not only is this question relevant to a discussion on Luke’s gospel, but equally insightful would be asking the question of how Luke learned about this event. While I’ve shared some ideas regarding the first question, Luke hints at his source for all of Jesus’ birth and childhood in the last phrase of verse 51, where Luke tells us that Jesus’ “mother treasured all these things in her heart”.

The only way for anyone to know this brief piece of information is from the source itself. It would appear that Luke the gospel writer had the chance to interview Mary personally, or at the very least, someone really close to Mary, to have learned some of the events that she treasured in her heart.

While we can only speculate as to why Jesus stayed behind, and why this event prompted Mary to treasure it, we can learn that even at this early age, Jesus understood that God was His Father, and that His life was to be lived according to God’s bigger plan.

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

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally place God first in your life. While Jesus can claim God as His Father, we can stand on this truth as well because when we are with Jesus, God has adopted us into His family.

With this truth in mind, study the Bible for yourself to learn what it means to be a member of God’s family, both the benefits as well as the responsibilities. While we can learn about these things from others, it is when we study them out for ourselves, personally, that we grow our personal relationship with God and His truths are better internalized into our lives.

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!

Early on during the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, John includes in his gospel record an event that the other three gospel writers don’t include. In this event, not only does Jesus look forward to His upcoming death on the cross, but God the Father speaks from Heaven one additional time.

While our passage is a little longer than what we typically cover in our episodes, I’m having a difficult time determining what to cut out. So let’s dive in and start reading what John describes happened one of the days Jesus was in the temple teaching leading up to His crucifixion, and we’ll see how far we get in our time together.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will be reading from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 20, John tells us that:

²⁰ There were some Greeks among the people who went up to worship during the feast. ²¹ They came to ask Philip for a favor. Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive glory. ²⁴ What I’m about to tell you is true. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it. But anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it and have eternal life. ²⁶ Anyone who serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

At this point, I must pause briefly, because what Jesus has just said here is incredibly powerful. Jesus challenges all of His followers to love Him more than they love their own lives, and while that is a huge challenge for His followers at every stage of history, Jesus follows it by promising His followers that God the Father will honor those who serve Him and who have placed Jesus ahead of their own lives.

When saying this, Jesus knows that this is challenging, and it might be difficult for us to fathom, but He never asked us to do anything He was unwilling to do. Picking back up in verse 27, Jesus continues by saying:

²⁷ “My soul is troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, keep me from having to go through with this’? No. This is the very reason I have come to this point in my life. ²⁸ Father, bring glory to your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven. It said, “I have brought glory to my name. I will bring glory to it again.” ²⁹ The crowd there heard the voice. Some said it was thunder. Others said an angel had spoken to Jesus.

³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now it is time for the world to be judged. Now the prince of this world will be thrown out. ³² And I am going to be lifted up from the earth. When I am, I will bring all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show them how he was going to die.

³⁴ The crowd spoke up. “The Law tells us that the Messiah will remain forever,” they said. “So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light. Do this before darkness catches up with you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in it. Then you can become children of light.” When Jesus had finished speaking, he left and hid from them.

Let’s pause briefly again here, because this brief discussion draws our attention onto the war that the first century culture had in their minds over Jesus. On one hand, Jesus clearly had God’s support and His favor. Otherwise, He could not have performed the miracles He did. However, on the other hand, Jesus kept telling the people that He was going to die, which did not fit with what they understood in the Law and Old Testament that describes the Messiah as lasting forever.

While Jesus could have simply told them that His death wouldn’t last long and that it would end in a resurrection, He instead focused His attention on subtly challenging the people to pay attention to Him and His ministry.

However, part of me wonders if these people were more interested in finding excuses and reasons not to believe in Jesus than to find reasons to believe. Picking back up in verse 37, John tells us that:

³⁷ Jesus had performed so many signs in front of them. But they still would not believe in him. ³⁸ This happened as Isaiah the prophet had said it would. He had said,

“Lord, who has believed what we’ve been saying?
    Who has seen the Lord’s saving power?”

³⁹ For this reason, they could not believe. As Isaiah says in another place,

⁴⁰ “The Lord has blinded their eyes.
    He has closed their minds.
So they can’t see with their eyes.
    They can’t understand with their minds.
    They can’t turn to the Lord. If they could, he would heal them.”

⁴¹ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

⁴² At the same time that Jesus did those signs, many of the Jewish leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they would not openly admit they believed. They were afraid they would be thrown out of the synagogue. ⁴³ They loved praise from people more than praise from God.

Pausing yet again, I want to point out how powerful this phrase is. John tells us that these “leaders” were more interested in getting praise from people rather than focusing on getting praise from God. Jesus lived His life entirely seeking praise from God. Jesus would not accept praise from people, and I believe this is a challenge Jesus has for His followers as well. We should seek praise from God over praise or fame from this world.

To wrap up our passage, let’s pick back up in verse 44:

⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only. They also believe in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵ The one who looks at me sees the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come into the world to be its light. So no one who believes in me will stay in darkness.

⁴⁷ “I don’t judge a person who hears my words but does not obey them. I didn’t come to judge the world. I came to save the world. ⁴⁸ But there is a judge for anyone who does not accept me and my words. These words I have spoken will judge them on the last day. ⁴⁹ I did not speak on my own. The Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have said. ⁵⁰ I know that his command leads to eternal life. So everything I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

In this passage, Jesus tells us that His words will be the judge on the last day. This is important for us to pay attention to because Jesus’ words are recorded for us to know. Not only do we have recorded the words Jesus spoke in the first century while He walked on the earth, but there have been times God spoke directly in the Old Testament. In these instances, we can conclude since Jesus is One with God, that the words and messages God spoke in the Old Testament will also be included as part of the words that judge humanity on the last day.

Everything Jesus spoke came from God the Father, and everything Jesus did while here on earth was to bring glory to God the Father. God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit love humanity, and that is why Jesus came into this world to give His life for us.

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

Be sure to place God first in your life and to seek His praise. While it might seem crazy to think about, Jesus has challenged each of us to love God more than our own lives. He has called us to follow Him above everything else. Jesus tells us that God the Father will honor those who have placed Jesus ahead of themselves.

Also, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with Jesus further. Never let a speaker, author, pastor, or podcaster stand between you and God. God wants a personal relationship with you, and your relationship begins when you pray and personally study the Bible for yourself.

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