Reflective Bible Study

Last week, we began our annual two-part finale and we focused in on some of the biggest insights we covered during the first half of our year focusing on John’s gospel. We ran out of time right after looking at John telling us about a crowd in the temple directly asking Jesus whether He was the Messiah or not, before picking up stones to throw at Him.

Before we pick up where we left off, as I always do during this last episode for our year, I like to give you a brief glimpse of where we’re headed for our next year. If you’ve been listening for a while, you may have remembered that four years ago, we began this journey focusing in on the gospels, taking a year to focus on each of these gospels. Before that, we had been focusing on different topics like the week leading up to the cross, and focusing in on Jesus’ miracles.

While I don’t know if it was because of what we focused on a few weeks ago looking at prophecies Jesus fulfilled throughout the crucifixion, or if it was something else, I thought it would be fascinating to take a year and look at prophecies Jesus fulfilled from the Old Testament. A quick search on Google turned up very long lists, in the range of 300 to 400 prophecies, so I know we cannot cover them all in the span of one year of weekly podcasts. However, I also know that there are some major prophecies that Jesus did fulfill, and it would be fascinating to look at as many as we have time for!

However, before diving into the prophecies, we still need to finish this year off by looking at the insights from the second half of this past year.

Picking back up where we left off, episodes 25, 26, and 27 detailed what happened when one of Jesus’ friends Lazarus died. In episode 25, which focused on what we can learn when Jesus heard the news of Lazarus’ illness, we discovered that sin will not conquer or defeat God’s people. Another way of saying this is that God’s people will outlive and outlast both sin and death. If humanity never sinned, Jesus would not have needed to come and face the cross, and Jesus alludes or suggests that the cross was where He would receive glory.

Episode 26 then focused on what happened when Jesus arrived in Bethany. We learned in this episode that Martha’s declaration about Jesus implies a powerful faith in Jesus, and in Jesus’ resurrecting ability, even if Martha has accepted the possible truth that Lazarus won’t live again during their lifetimes, but will be raised up on the last day. We also saw that with Jesus, God is never too late, and regardless of how long we have been in the grave, when Jesus calls to us at the end of time, we will be resurrected just like Lazarus was. When Jesus calls, those who are dead hear His voice and return to life! For God’s people, death is nothing more than a sleep waiting for the end of sin and the final resurrection into a brand new life with God!

While many people don’t include what happened in this event after Lazarus was raised from the dead, episode 27 focused in on the response and reaction of the religious leaders when they learned about this miracle. In this passage, it was amazing to discover that The highest spiritual authority in the Jewish faith, who also happened to be Jesus’ most high-profile opponent, is led by God to give the most powerful prophecy describing Jesus’ mission and purpose for coming to this world. This led us to conclude that Jesus came to this earth to redeem not just one race, one religion, or one ideology. Jesus came to redeem and unite all of God’s people that were scattered throughout the world.

Jumping forward to episode 30, we looked at Jesus speaking in the temple shortly after arriving in the temple after He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. In this episode, we were challenged with the truth that without Jesus’ death, there would be no harvest, because without Jesus’ gift, the only ones able to pay for our sins are ourselves and the payment is death. God loves us more than we possibly could imagine, and because of this, God made a way for us to be redeemed while also keeping His Law in effect.

This also means that the path where Satan loses and God achieves victory is through God paying the punishment for our sins, because this path proves God is both just and loving, and this was demonstrated through Jesus’ death on the cross.

We serve Jesus the best by proclaiming God’s love and inviting all who are willing to come to Jesus and accept the free gift He offers to us. Through Jesus’ death, we can have a new life with God, and because Jesus gave His life for us, we are guaranteed an eternal life with God when we accept Jesus’ life and His sacrifice on our behalf.

A couple episodes later, specifically in episode number 32, we looked at the special meal known as the Last Supper. In this episode, we are reminded that Jesus intentionally loved the people God sent Him into the world to love, and Jesus intentionally loved them all the way to the end. In other words, Jesus faced the cross because He loves you, me, and all of those who God wants to redeem for eternity!

Nothing about that night caught Jesus by surprise, and Jesus was more aware of everything that would happen than even Judas Iscariot was. Jesus willingly chose the cross, and that He chose it because He loves you and He loves me!

Jumping ahead to verse 36, where Jesus promises His followers the gift of the Holy Spirit, we were amazed to discover that the truth about sin, specifically our past sins, is that they only really matters if we do not believe in Jesus. The truth about righteousness, referring to personal integrity and having a Godly character, is found in Jesus standing in heaven as our advocate. And the truth about the judgment is that it is guaranteed to happen because the prince of this world, referring to Satan, stands as condemned because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross!

This makes for a great transition to jump forward to the episodes where Jesus was hanging on the cross. Episodes 42 through 45 focus on the time when Jesus was hanging on the cross.

In episode 43, Jesus has a brief conversation with one of His disciples and Mary, His mother. In this episode and event, we saw the incredible truth that at the darkest part of history, while Jesus was hanging on the cross, He focused on others. While both criminals hanging on crosses with Jesus focused on themselves, and while the soldiers focused on what they could get or win from the death of these three men, Jesus cleanly focused on others till His last breath. Jesus offered forgiveness, and Jesus kept His mind focused on accomplishing the mission that was set before Him.

The cross demonstrates God’s love for us, and everything Jesus does while on the cross helps show this love. Jesus faced the cross for you and for me, and because Jesus faced the cross, paying a debt He did not owe, we can experience a life we don’t deserve when we accept His gift of His perfect life in exchange for ours.

The next episode, number 44, focused on Jesus giving His last breath and giving up His Spirit. In this episode, we were reminded that Jesus’ big reason for facing death included fulfilling scripture, demonstrating to the universe just how much God loves humanity who had fallen into sin and rebellion, and opening the way for salvation of sinners.

God’s solution for sin is to take the punishment for sin on Himself. Through the death of a member of the Godhead who had not sinned, and who did not deserve the punishment, a way is opened for God to still be just, since a penalty was paid for sin, while also being loving and trustworthy, because someone born into sin with no other options is given a second chance.

God’s character is one that takes the punishment for sin on Himself because God loves us. Jesus died for us in order to make the way possible for a sinner to be saved while also allowing God to remain just. Through Jesus’ death, God’s character is proved as just and also loving because He punishes sin while also demonstrating His love for sinners.

As you may have noticed, many of these episodes focusing on Jesus’ death share the theme of God taking our punishment onto Himself.

Episode 45 was a fascinating one. In it, we focused on a few verses where Jesus is still hanging on the cross, but while He has already died. In this episode, we looked at what was significant behind the religious leaders’ asking for the legs of the men hanging on the cross to be broken, and what happened when the soldiers saw that Jesus was already dead. Through the details John brings out in this event, we were amazed to learn that while Satan tried to break one of God’s prophecies and symbolism, 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!

I know of no better way to wrap up this year focusing on John’s gospel then to remind you of the big theme we looked at just a few weeks ago. In episode 50, where Jesus has a conversation with Peter, we see the powerful truth that even when Peter failed Jesus, this outspoken disciple was not beyond God’s grace or Jesus’ forgiveness! Even though Peter had let Jesus down at the point when Jesus would have needed Peter the most, at least by the world’s standards, Jesus is more than willing to forgive Peter when given the chance.

At the end of Jesus questions for Peter, Jesus offers Peter a second chance to follow. Jesus knows that Peter’s story wasn’t over, and that Peter’s failure was something that He could use to transform Peter into the evangelist He created Peter to be.

In your life, I don’t know what you have gone through, been through, or how many times you have failed God. However, I do know that like Peter, Jesus is willing to invite you back if you are willing to return to Him. John ends his gospel story with the redemption of the disciple who failed Jesus in the most public way, and before history has come to a close, Jesus wants to redeem you out of wherever you are and into a new life with Him!

As we move forward through each day, each month, and each year, let’s remember that Jesus is willing to forgive us like He forgave Peter, and Jesus is willing to offer us a second chance when we fail Him in our own lives!

Before I forget to say it because there is so much else to share, let me wish you a Merry Christmas. As we do at the end of every year to wrap up what we have been focusing in on, we take a couple of episodes to review the year we just finished and look back at some of the biggest and most profound insights during our year of podcasting. This year, we get to look back at the time we spent in Mark’s gospel. While we do this together for these podcasts, I believe the Christmas season is a great time to step back and thank God for everything He has blessed our lives with during our calendar year that is coming to a close.

Whether you are looking forward to the new year because this past one was horrible, or if you are struggling to find something redeemable about the year we are ending, be thankful that God has still given you life and breath and give praise to God even if life has been hard.

As we look back on our year focusing on Mark’s gospel, we’ve learned quite a bit. Starting with our first episode looking at how Mark opened his gospel sharing about Jesus’ baptism, we discovered that when Mark describes Jesus’ baptism, we see an amazing picture that this baptism wasn’t just with water like John’s previous baptisms. Instead, Jesus’ baptism was with both water and with the Holy Spirit at the start of His ministry, and when Jesus received the Holy Spirit at the beginning of His ministry, this sets the stage for Jesus to be able to baptize others with the Spirit.

After Jesus received the Holy Spirit at His baptism, Jesus lets the Holy Spirit take the lead and direct Him where to go from that point forward. When we are letting God’s Holy Spirit lead us, we may be led to places that are not comfortable, and when we are in the places God’s Spirit leads us, we can expect to be tempted.

Jumping ahead to episode number 3, where we looked at Jesus healing Simon’s mother-in-law, we learned that God wants to help us because that is who God is, not because God wants more servants. If God wanted servants, He could have created millions and billions of perfect servant robots who would have no freedom of choice. God gifted His creation with the gift of choice because love requires the freedom of choice for it to mean anything – and this tells us that God loves us more than we can imagine!

Moving forward to episode number 7, where the religious leaders make the claim that Jesus used Satan’s power to cast out demons, we analyzed this argument and concluded that helping Jesus give glory to God would run counter to Satan’s character. Regardless of whether Jesus received Satan’s power or God’s power, either way dooms Satan’s kingdom. Either Satan fights himself and destroys his own kingdom, or Jesus really is more powerful than Satan is, and Satan’s kingdom is doomed because Jesus’ Source of power cannot be matched.

Jumping forward to episodes 11 and 12, where Jesus calmed the storm before casting a legion of demons into a herd of pigs, we learned the parallel themes that the storms Satan causes are no match for Jesus. The best, scariest storm Satan could muster ended the instant Jesus spoke. When deciding who we should align our lives with, the clear choice is Jesus. He has the power to help us face anything Satan wants to throw our way! Also, one command from Jesus sends an army of evil spirits out of a comfortable home in a man and into a herd of pigs. One command from Jesus will always send Satan away. Any confrontation Jesus has with Satan results in Jesus gaining the victory.

In the very next episode, number 13, we looked at how those in Nazareth rejected Jesus. While discussing what happened, we learned that in our own lives, God can use people to share His wisdom and His truth. While we are never called to accept messengers without first looking at the quality of the message, God has a way of using sinners to help spread His message and His truth. Aside from Jesus, everyone has sinned, and this truth challenges us to look past the messengers God sends our way and to focus on the message calling us to return to and believe in Jesus Christ.

Moving forward to episode 14, Mark drew our attention onto Jesus sending the disciples out in pairs. During this episode, we are challenged to remember the times when God has used us in powerful and/or significant ways, and to seek to place ourselves in situations where God can work powerfully in us again. God used these disciples to bless the towns that accepted them, and God is more than willing to use us to bless our communities when we let Him lead our lives as well!

Jumping ahead to episode 18, we looked at one of the most politically incorrect actions Jesus ever did when He insults a Gentile woman who came asking for His help. In this event, we learned that through Jesus’ resistance to this woman and her request, we see a faith that persists regardless of the obstacles present. This woman is an amazing example for us to model! Love at its core is more about what we do and less about what we say. Jesus challenges us to help other people, even if culture tells us that we should be hostile or mean to them instead. As a follower of Jesus, we are called to display Jesus’ love. While this love should also include being kind with our words, it is much more important for us to be kind in our actions. Jesus was clearly kind with what He did in this event, and this was in spite of culture pushing Him to be cruel or mean.

Moving forward to episode 22, we find Peter making an amazing declaration about who Jesus is just a few verses before Jesus rebukes Peter and calls Peter Satan. In this passage, event, and episode, we discovered together that everything culture told the disciples about the Messiah was focused on overthrowing the Romans and on living forever, while everything Jesus told the disciples about the Messiah was focused on a crucifixion, death, and a resurrection. In the minds of more than just Peter, what Jesus was telling them clashed with culture, with logic, and with everything they had previously believed about the Messiah and His kingdom. You can try to keep your life in this world and lose out on eternity, or you give your life in this world to Jesus in order to gain eternity. If we choose to reject Jesus because culture has a louder megaphone, then we will ultimately forfeit the rewards God has promised His people.

In the following episode, number 23, we focused in on the transfiguration. In this episode, we are reminded that nowhere does Jesus promise His people an easy life free of problems here on this earth. Instead, Jesus tells us that we might add to our problems when we choose Him, but that choosing Him is the only way to survive past the problems of this life and past the sin in this world! Jesus subtly reminds these disciples that He would suffer a lot and be treated shamefully, which are both subtle hints foreshadowing Jesus’ path to the cross, and as followers of Jesus, we shouldn’t be surprised if we are treated like Jesus was treated. However, when we side with Jesus, we get to experience Jesus’ resurrection, and accept the promise and gift of a new life with Him!

As our time for this first part of our two-part finale is coming to an end, let’s finish this episode by looking at what we discovered in episode number 24. In this episode, Mark draws our attention onto Jesus predicting His death and the disciples arguing about who would be the greatest among them. In this episode together, we were challenged with the truth that fear and pride in our lives can stop us from asking the questions God wants us to ask because we are afraid of what others might think of us. Many things can stop us from asking the questions God wants us to ask, but we shouldn’t let fear control our journey with God! In order to be great in God’s eyes, we must welcome, help, and serve those who society believes are last.

When we welcome those who society has rejected, Jesus tells us we are not only welcoming Him too, but we are welcoming God, who looks down at this planet and sees all life as special and significant. Regardless of what culture tells you, in God’s eyes, you matter and regardless of what you might believe about yourself, Jesus came to redeem you from the punishment for your sins.

I can’t think of a better challenge to end this first part of our year-end finale with, so as we wrap up this podcast, remember as we move through Christmas together, welcome those that society has rejected and spread the love of Jesus with the people God brings into your life!

It seems like such a long time since we began our year focusing in on John’s gospel, but we have now come to our special, two-part finale. As we take some time here at the end of the year to look back at what we’ve learned from this gospel, let me first wish all of you a Merry Christmas. While John’s gospel doesn’t focus on Jesus’ birth story like Matthew or Luke do, John’s gospel gives us a unique and powerful look into just how significant Jesus is. Because Jesus came, we all have the choice whether we accept His invitation and whether we accept His life and death to cover our sins.

We discovered a lot as we focused in on John’s gospel, and without any further delay, let’s begin diving into some of our biggest and best insights during the first half of our year focusing in on John’s gospel.

Let’s begin by looking at our insights in Episode 1. Episode 1 focused on the opening verses in John’s gospel and how Jesus existed before the world began. As we looked closely at this episode, we learned that Jesus willfully created the reason He would face the cross. John tells us that God’s glory is full of kindness and truth. God’s glory does not judge, put down, or condemn others. God’s glory shines the light of kindness and truth. We all have sinned and fallen short of God’s ideal. The sooner we realize that we are not any better than anyone else, the sooner Jesus can transform our lives with His glory, kindness, and truth!

Moving forward to episode 3, which focused in on Jesus’ first followers, we discover that Jesus’ early followers didn’t try to impress their friends with what Jesus had done, they simply invited them to come and see Jesus for themselves. When we share Jesus with others, the focus is not on us and the conversation isn’t about us. Instead, we focus on Jesus. We share what Jesus has done for us, we invite others to come and see, and when the focus stays on Jesus, God moves in amazing ways.

In the very next episode, number 4, which focused in on Jesus turning the water into wine, we learned that this miracle only happened because the servants had enough faith to obey Jesus’ ridiculous sounding request to serve the host water. The servants’ faith in Jesus, not knowing who Jesus even was, opened the door for this miracle!

This episode also reminded us that often times we don’t see God working in our hearts or our lives, but other people do. Other people are likely to see a greater change in our lives when we come to God or begin moving towards Him than we do. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection solved the sin problem. Jesus supplied His life in exchange for ours. It is now up to us to accept Jesus’ gift and His invitation to substitute His life for ours.

Jumping ahead to episode 6, which focused in on Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, we discovered that those who have not been born spiritually are unable to see the Kingdom of God.

Also, while it isn’t pleasant to think about, we also are reminded that God’s judgment is reserved for those who do not believe in God’s one and only Son, Jesus. The way people reject Jesus is by preferring darkness and evil actions over coming into the light and letting Jesus wash away their sins. Jesus did not come into the world to fulfill the role of judge. Instead, Jesus came to this world to fulfill the role of God’s light, and Jesus’ presence separates those who want to seek God, His light, and His forgiveness, from those who reject God, prefer their sinful lives, and willingly choose to refuse the light God offers.

Whether we face judgment is 100% up to us. While it is unpopular in the world today, choosing Jesus in this life gives us a free pass to avoid the judgment when the world ends, and choosing Jesus in this life is done by leaving our sin-filled past in the past, and actively growing towards Jesus each and every day!

The very next episode, number 7, continued this thought when our passage focused on what John the Baptist preached about Jesus. In this episode, we learned that if we say we believe Jesus, but we are apathetic towards Him, we will forfeit our salvation. Obeying Jesus does not give us eternal life, because when we obey Jesus, the focus can easily turn off of Jesus and onto how well we are obeying Him. Our salvation is not based on anything we can do or have done. We are only saved because of what Jesus accomplished for us.

John the Baptist understood this amazing truth before Jesus had fully stepped into the public spotlight, and his declaration about Jesus, regardless of how popular or unpopular it is, formed the foundation for Jesus’ ministry, Jesus’ life, and Jesus’ death on behalf of you and me!

Moving forward a few episodes to episode 10, which focused on Jesus healing the man by the pool of Bethesda, we discovered the powerful truth that when God is our last hope, it is easy to look to Him. However, when God is not our first hope, we might not experience many miracles in our lives. When this man by this pool gave up hope in reaching the pool, which is something the other people present may not have been ready to do, he was ready to experience the healing Jesus offered him. When we give up hope in the things of this world and focus our faith on Jesus and what He accomplished for us, we are ready to receive miracles in our lives as well!

While we discovered lots of good insights in the next several episodes, what usually happens is that we must jump forward because I don’t want this episode to be too long. Because of this, let’s jumping forward all the way to episode 17, where we focused in on the first portion of Jesus teaching in the temple during a festival part way through His ministry. In this episode, we learned that if we choose to do what God wants, we will know whether Jesus’ teaching is from God or not. If we choose to ignore or reject doing what God wants, we will ultimately discount Jesus, His teaching, and everything about Him. According to Jesus, believing in Him is the clearest way to discover whether His teaching is from God or not. In other words, Jesus invites us to try life His way and when we accept Jesus’ challenge, we will discover personally whether Jesus’ way is best and whether Jesus really was who He claimed to be.

Moving forward to episode 20, our passage focused on a challenge the religious leaders bring Jesus about only being one witness. In this episode, Jesus emphasizes that without faith in Him, specifically faith in Jesus, everyone present, and we could also say everyone at any point in history, will die in their sins. Only through Jesus is a made way for us to trade our sins away. Jesus offers to take the punishment for our sins and in return, He offers us the life that He deserved – a life that can begin today and extend into eternity.

God loves us so much that Jesus came to take our place. Jesus not only became our Redeemer on the cross, Jesus also happens to be our Judge. This means that Satan’s accusations against us can simply be brushed aside by our Judge when we accept the gift of His sacrifice on our behalf, and let His perfect life cover our sins.

In the next episode, which is number 21, we looked at another challenge the religious leaders bring Jesus and an amazing promise Jesus shared about what we will gain when we believe in Him. In this episode, Jesus promises us that everyone who obeys His Words will never taste death. A truth we reject is one that we don’t apply into our lives, while a truth we believe is one that we will obey. By not obeying Jesus’ truth, we reject Him, and we step off of the path of discipleship. When we reject Jesus’ teachings, we lose out on not just discovering God’s truth and the freedom that comes with it, but we also lose out on the promise of never tasting eternal death as well.

To wrap up our first half of this year focusing in on John’s gospel, let’s look at some of our insights from episode 24, which focused on the crowd plainly asking Jesus if He was the Messiah and then wanting to stone Him for His answer. In this episode, which is a great one for us to conclude with, we learned that everything Jesus did was to bring glory to God and to uplift God’s name. Even the crowd acknowledged when they picked up stones to throw at Jesus that it wasn’t for anything He had done, but for one single claim He had made. The simple truth we can remember is that if God the Father did not like the message Jesus was sharing, there would be no way Jesus could have helped people during the time He was teaching, and preaching.

Let’s finish this first part of our year-end finale off with a challenge we learned from this episode: Because Jesus’ word has never failed, we can trust His promises, and even if we are uncertain of some of the more extreme claims Jesus made, we can look to Jesus’ actions as a foundation for our faith in Him.

When we are tempted to doubt, remember that Jesus came to redeem us, and the doubts we are tempted with are really Satan trying to knock us off the path God created for us!

I know you were expecting this week to begin wrapping up our past year of podcasts, however, after recording last week’s episode, I realized that this year has an extra Thursday, or an extra Monday in the case of the flashback episodes. Because of this, instead of taking a week off, which was one possible idea, I thought it might be neat to use these semi-regular extra days to insert a bonus episode every few years when this happens, and to use these bonus episodes to focus on some of the places Jesus shows up that are not specifically in the gospels.

With all that said, welcome to a bonus episode.

When we look for examples of Jesus being present in books other than the gospels, we don’t need to look any further for an example than the first few verses in the book of Acts. In Luke’s introduction to the book of Acts, he begins by sharing some verses about Jesus’ last days on earth to set the stage for what the disciples would do next. In these few verses, we discover some amazing things about Jesus and about His return that are worth us paying attention to.

Let’s read what Luke describes for us in the book of Acts, chapter 1, using the God’s Word Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke writes:

¹ In my first book, Theophilus, I wrote about what Jesus began to do and teach. This included everything from the beginning of his life ² until the day he was taken to heaven. Before he was taken to heaven, he gave instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, whom he had chosen.

³ After his death Jesus showed the apostles a lot of convincing evidence that he was alive. For 40 days he appeared to them and talked with them about God’s kingdom.

⁴ Once, while he was meeting with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for what the Father had promised. Jesus said to them, “I’ve told you what the Father promises: ⁵ John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ So when the apostles came together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you’re going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ Jesus told them, “You don’t need to know about times or periods that the Father has determined by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After he had said this, he was taken to heaven. A cloud hid him so that they could no longer see him.

¹⁰ They were staring into the sky as he departed. Suddenly, two men in white clothes stood near them. ¹¹ They asked, “Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking at the sky? Jesus, who was taken from you to heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives. It is near Jerusalem, about half a mile away.

In this passage, we get to see a little better overview picture of Jesus’ final days on earth before He returned to heaven. From just reading the gospels themselves, it might seem like Jesus was resurrected, popped in a few times to shock and surprise His disciples, before ultimately disappearing into heaven never to be seen from again.

However, from the way Luke introduces us to what Jesus’ post-resurrection days were like, he describes how Jesus regularly met with and spent time with the disciples. This happened for several weeks following the resurrection leading up to the event called the ascension, when Jesus officially returned to heaven.

As we read this passage, two different sections stood out in my mind that I want to draw our attention to.

The first part of our passage that stood out in my mind is when the disciples ask Jesus if this was the time when He would restore the Jewish nation. Jesus responded to their question with two big ideas. First, Jesus says in verse 7 that “You don’t need to know about times or periods that the Father has determined by his own authority.” Next, Jesus tells them in verse 8 that they “will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In this two-verse response, we see a clear indicator where the disciples were placing their focus, and where Jesus challenges them to put their focus instead. In Jesus’ response, He challenges the disciples to not focus on the prophetic future events, but instead to focus on receiving the Holy Spirit and on being witnesses for Jesus throughout the whole world. In many ways, I think this is a challenge for all God’s people throughout the remainder of history. All God’s people should place a greater focus on receiving the Holy Spirit and on being Jesus’ witnesses in the world around us than we should place on figuring out the dates and times that are predicted in prophecy.

This does not mean we shouldn’t focus on prophecy. Instead, the challenge here is to not focus on understanding prophecy more than we focus on being witnesses to our world through the leading, guiding, and power of the Holy Spirit.

The other portion of this passage that stood out to me as we read this passage together is how Jesus leaves, and how the two men in white describe Jesus’ return. Luke describes Jesus’ departure simply by saying in verse 9, “he was taken to heaven. A cloud hid him so that they could no longer see him.”

This event happened on the Mount of Olives, and the men in white, who are understood to be angels that God sent with a message for the disciples, tell them that “Jesus, who was taken from you to heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

Some people understand this to mean that when Jesus returns, He will come in a cloud, and then return to earth, setting His feet first on the Mount of Olives exactly where His feet left. However, this might be reading too much into the text. The only description we have of Jesus’ ascension is that He was hidden by a cloud from their sight. Only in the transition statement at the end of our passage do we discover where this event actually takes place.

The safest understanding of this passage is that Jesus’ return will be concealed with a cloud, before He ultimately becomes visible. Those in the first century did not understand Jesus’ return to be one that ends on earth. Instead, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 that “The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life. Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord.”

When Jesus returns, it will be in the same way that He left. He will be concealed in a cloud before becoming visible, and when He becomes visible, we will be caught up into the clouds to meet Him, both those of us who have died and those of us who are still alive when He returns.

We have no idea when God’s timing for Jesus’ return will actually be, nor should we put a lot of focus on trying to figure this out. Instead, like Jesus challenged His disciples to do, we should focus instead on receiving the Holy Spirit and being witnesses for Jesus!

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

As always, be sure to seek God first and to focus each day on asking the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and be present in your lives, and then live each day as a witness for Jesus. Live your life in a way that brings God glory and praise.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn exactly what God wants you to learn. While other people can give you ideas to think about, always take what you learn and study it out from the Bible with prayer to determine if it is spiritual truth. Through prayer, Bible Study, and living a life that glorifies God, we will be the best witnesses we can be for Him here on this earth.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never let life derail you from living the life God has planned for you to live, and never stop short of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!