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!

As we continue moving into our first chronological year moving through the gospels, we come to a powerful event that marked the official start to Jesus’ ministry on earth. While I’m sure Jesus had helped people during His time with Mary and Joseph while growing up, following Jesus’ baptism, we discover in the gospels how His ministry drew peoples’ attention like nothing He had done before.

Our passage for this episode focuses specifically on Jesus’ baptism. Baptism, as done by John the baptizer in this passage, is an interesting event. If one takes all the spiritual significance out of the picture, it would have little use. The physical act of baptism is simply submerging, or being submerged in water. Without any soap or time to get yourself clean, it is more similar to taking a swim, but only getting in the water once, and for only enough time to get your head wet.

If we bring spiritual significance back into the picture, baptism has a lot of significance. Baptism is a life metaphor, symbolizing laying to rest our past, sinful self, and lifting up a new life with Jesus moving forward. We could also use the church-speak and say that we “die to sins”, and “resurrect into the life Jesus wants for us”.

I have experienced baptism twice in my life, and at each point, there was significance attached.

The first time I was baptized, it was on my 13th birthday, and this event symbolized my wanting to dedicate my life to God from that point forward.

The second time I was baptized was in November of 2011. This time, the significance was both rededicating my life as an adult, and dedicating my life’s work and ministry to God as well. Oh, and I should add for those of you who are curious, I was 29 this second time.

But here’s where things get interesting, especially when we look at Jesus’ life and parallel it to the baptism symbolism: Jesus didn’t need to “die to a sinful nature”. Instead, in Jesus’ case, His baptism would foreshadow when He would “die for humanity’s sinful nature.”

Let’s read Matthew’s version of this event, since it has the most detail of the three gospels that include this event. We’ll be reading Matthew 3:13-17 out of the New American Standard Bible translation:

¹³ Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him. ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

It would seem that John the baptizer also caught the seemingly backwards nature of Jesus’ request.

John baptize Jesus? No, this really should be the other way around. Jesus had no sin that needed to be repented and turned away from. John knew that he himself did have sins and that would have made more sense to have Jesus baptize him.

However, in this act we read an interesting phrase in Jesus’ response: “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

In this response, Jesus is sharing a side mission to His life. Jesus’ primary mission was to show humanity what God the Father is like. This mission culminated in Jesus’ death on a cross – for humanity, when almost all of humanity had rejected Him. This was His primary mission.

In addition to Jesus’ baptism foreshadowing His death and resurrection, it also shows us His side mission. Jesus wants to show us how to live a life that is pleasing to God. Baptism is a symbol or metaphor for us putting our selfish “self-focused” desires behind us, and placing our trust in God as our number one goal: Death to self and raised with Jesus.

But in this baptism event, another significant metaphor is at work. It is a subtle metaphor; something that rests below the surface in most people’s minds. This metaphor is humility.

In order to be baptized, one must submit their lives into the hands of someone else. While I don’t know of any pastor doing so, and I’m sure there would be plenty of consequences if this was done, one could be held under the water in baptism so long that they would literally drown. While this has never happened to my knowledge, and it is unthinkable, the very nature of this option being a slight possibility, or perhaps even a fear some people might have, emphasizes this metaphor that in order to be baptized, we must submit ourselves and our lives into the hands of someone else.

However, in the case of Jesus’ baptism, we find this metaphor amplified to a much greater degree.

As I shared before, Jesus’ primary mission was to show humanity what the Father is like. In His baptism, Jesus takes the road of humbling Himself, submitting to John, who was a sinner like all of us, and He placed His life in John’s hands. Jesus humbled Himself and He placed His life in the hands of sinners, and this is a powerful truth to keep in mind!

I suspect that this is one more way that Jesus demonstrated the Father’s character. Through Jesus in this event, we see the truth that God the Father is not a dictator-god, but a selflessly loving God. God placed us ahead of Himself.

If we doubt this truth is present here at Jesus’ baptism, we can easily see this at Jesus’ crucifixion. When Jesus died for us, it was at the hands of sinners. Here at the start of Jesus’ ministry, we discover a powerful foreshadowing of this humility and God the Father’s character, through the very act of being baptized.

Jesus loves each and every one of us because the Father loves each and every one of us. Jesus’ baptism, which probably seemed very awkward to John at the time, becomes one of the most significant demonstrations of God the Father’s character at the start of Jesus’ ministry, and it frames Jesus’ entire ministry as one that places humanity ahead of Himself.

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, intentionally seek God first in your life. Remember to thank God and Jesus for putting you and I ahead of Himself. If you haven’t already done so today, decide today that you will recommit your heart and your life to Him.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue growing your relationship with God intentionally studying the Bible for yourself, and by keeping your eyes open to how He demonstrates His love for us both in your life each day and 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 walk 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!

As we continue moving forward in this first year chronologically moving through the gospels, I am amazed by something that jumped out at me while preparing for this episode that I’d never noticed before. While I probably have read these words before, the way I saw this passage while prepping for this episode is amazing and I have not seen this event in this way before.

Our passage for this episode covers Jesus’ dedication in the temple, and Simeon, who was an elderly man who God had promised would not die until seeing the Messiah. This event can be found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 2, and we will read it from the Good News translation. Starting in verse 21, Luke tells us that:

²¹ A week later, when the time came for the baby to be circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

²² The time came for Joseph and Mary to perform the ceremony of purification, as the Law of Moses commanded. So they took the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, ²³ as it is written in the law of the Lord: “Every first-born male is to be dedicated to the Lord.” ²⁴ They also went to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the law of the Lord.

²⁵ At that time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. He was a good, God-fearing man and was waiting for Israel to be saved. The Holy Spirit was with him ²⁶ and had assured him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s promised Messiah. ²⁷ Led by the Spirit, Simeon went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus into the Temple to do for him what the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took the child in his arms and gave thanks to God:

²⁹ “Now, Lord, you have kept your promise,
    and you may let your servant go in peace.
³⁰ With my own eyes I have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples:
³² A light to reveal your will to the Gentiles
    and bring glory to your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother were amazed at the things Simeon said about him. ³⁴ Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, “This child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against ³⁵ and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.”

Let’s stop reading here.

While preparing for this episode, I don’t believe I had ever noticed that Simeon was just a regular guy, a “good, God-fearing man”. I don’t know why, but I envisioned him to have been the priest who dedicated Jesus, but there is nothing in this passage to support this thought. Instead, he was a regular guy who “the Spirit led” to the temple to see Jesus at the perfect time. A priest would have already been at the temple, and therefore would not have needed to be “led” there.

The passage says that the Holy Spirit was with Simeon, and if Simeon was the regular “God-fearing” guy that this passage says, it tells me that you and I, when we are God-fearing and following God’s will, can have the Holy Spirit be with us as well. God may not promise you the same thing He promised Simeon, but He can assure you of salvation and a new life with Him – which is a much better promise when we look logically at it.

Simeon was old at Jesus’ birth and dedication, and he had likely passed away long before we find Jesus hanging out with the religious leaders in the temple at 12 year of age. Being promised eternal life – something we can have when we put our trust and faith in Jesus, is a much better promise than physically seeing a baby, even if it is “The Baby” everyone has been waiting for – for four thousand or so years.

Another new thing I saw in this passage as I read it in preparation for this episode is that Simeon accurately points Jesus as coming for “all people”, for both the people in Israel and the “Gentiles”. Simeon specifically calls the Gentiles by name in verse 32 when he says, “A light to reveal your will to the Gentiles and bring glory to your people Israel.”

This is very significant because the broad thinking of the time was that the Jewish Messiah would come for the Jews only, to overthrow the Romans, and to reestablish Israel back to what it was in its prime.

Most Jews did not consider that their Messiah had a bigger role than the political aspirations of their nation. According to traditional Jewish framing of prophecy at that time, Jesus completely missed the mark. His purpose was bigger than just one nation. As Simeon accurately says, Jesus will be for “all people” and “a light” for the Gentiles. Simeon gets it – when most others (including Jesus’ own disciples) missed this truth.

In addition to what we’ve already talked about, while preparing for this episode, Simeon’s message to Mary is like a mini-prophecy for Mary. After speaking about Jesus, Simeon turns to Mary, and in his message to Jesus’ mother, he includes the phrase in verse 34 that Jesus is “chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel.”

This is huge too because Simeon rightfully understands that ethnicity is not an identifying mark of future salvation. Up until that point in history, the Jews believed that their biological ethnicity meant their salvation. They believed they were chosen because of their ancestors, and that the bloodline was what made the difference.

But Simeon points out that Jesus will come more like a sword that divides people rather than a table that brings people together. Biology had (and still has) little to do with the true people of God. Led by the Spirit, Simeon gets this too.

Jesus came to polarize people. He gathered those who were looking for a Savior, and He challenged those who believed they were their own savior. When the religious leaders spoke against Him, they were revealing their true motives.

Jesus still polarizes people today. If you bring up Jesus in conversation, you will find that there are those who embrace talking about Him, and those who marginalize Him as “some guy who lived a long time ago who had a few good things to say.”

What is sad is that too often, those who marginalize Jesus have successfully silenced those who have put their hope, faith, and trust in Him as their personal Savior.

I can relate. I’ve been intimidated into avoiding talking about Jesus. It’s not a pleasant thing to admit, but it’s the truth.

However, Simeon challenges me in this passage. Simeon spoke, and he prophesied, about Jesus in a way that was counter-cultural at the time. He said things that were radical and unpopular about Jesus – but they were 100% the truth!

God has called us as His people to share the counter-cultural message about Jesus being the Messiah God sent into the world. While there are those who don’t want this message spread, this message is the biggest truth that will survive for eternity!

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 place Jesus first in your life. Never let anyone intimidate you into staying silent when you are inspired to speak about your faith and your Savior.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow a personal relationship with God. A personal relationship can start today, and when we have a personal relationship with God, our story with God will extend into eternity.

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!