Reflective Bible Study

As we continue through Luke’s gospel and look at some of the amazing events Luke chose to include, we come to a place where Luke records a very powerful, very challenging message Jesus shares to a group of Pharisees and religious teachers. However, leading up to this challenge, we have a fascinating teaching Jesus shares about light. In this teaching, a phrase always stands out in my mind because of the seemingly impossible contrast Jesus makes.

Without any further introduction, let’s read what Luke tells us Jesus taught. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 33, Luke tells us Jesus taught saying:

³³ “No one lights a lamp and hides it. No one puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put a lamp on its stand. Then those who come in can see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is like a lamp for your body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body also is full of light. But suppose your eyes can’t see well. Then your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ So make sure that the light inside you is not darkness. ³⁶ Suppose your whole body is full of light. And suppose no part of it is dark. Then your body will be full of light. It will be just as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Let’s pause here because Jesus has just finished speaking this big thought and Luke is about to shift focus onto the challenging statements Jesus makes to a group of Pharisees and religious leaders.

In Jesus’ teaching about light and our eyes being lamps for our bodies, He makes a fascinating statement in verse 35: “Make sure that the light inside you is not darkness”.

The immediate context for this statement is contrasting someone who has great eyesight with someone who has poor eyesight. The person with great eyesight would logically have lots of actual light inside of them, while the person with poor eyesight would not have as much light.

However, Jesus isn’t speaking only in a literal sense. While there is a literal application to Jesus’ statements, light inside us is not literally darkness because light and dark are opposites. Where there is light, there is not darkness, and where light is not present, there is darkness. This means Jesus’ statement about light and dark must have a spiritual application as well.

I suspect that Jesus is challenging people throughout history to be conscious of what they believe and internalize because many things that people are considering as light or new light is really darkness. While literal light and literal darkness are not true opposites, in a spiritual sense, light and dark are polar opposites. When we believe and internalize ideas we come in contact with, we should intentionally be filtering out darkness from light. We can best do this by holding up the truth in question to the filter of the Bible.

The Bible is a lens that doesn’t explain everything, but it does explain everything we need to understand in the spiritual dimension of life and it does explain a great number of other things that many people might be surprised to discover.

However, Luke may have finished sharing this portion of Jesus’ message, but he continues by sharing a powerful event that may have been one catalyst towards getting the hostility of the religious leaders turned in Jesus’ direction.

Continuing in verse 37, Luke tells us:

³⁷ Jesus finished speaking. Then a Pharisee invited him to eat with him. So Jesus went in and took his place at the table. ³⁸ But the Pharisee was surprised. He noticed that Jesus did not wash before the meal.

³⁹ Then the Lord spoke to him. “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish,” he said. “But inside you are full of greed and evil. ⁴⁰ You foolish people! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ Give freely to poor people to show what is inside you. Then everything will be clean for you.

⁴² “How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of your garden plants, such as mint and rue. But you have forgotten to be fair and to love God. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first.

⁴³ “How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the most important seats in the synagogues. You love having people greet you with respect in the market.

⁴⁴ “How terrible for you! You are like graves that are not marked. People walk over them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ An authority on the law spoke to Jesus. He said, “Teacher, when you say things like that, you say bad things about us too.”

⁴⁶ Jesus replied, “How terrible for you authorities on the law! You put such heavy loads on people that they can hardly carry them. But you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

⁴⁷ “How terrible for you! You build tombs for the prophets. It was your people of long ago who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you show that you agree with what your people did long ago. They killed the prophets, and now you build the prophets’ tombs. ⁴⁹ So God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them. They will kill some. And they will try to hurt others.’ ⁵⁰ So the people of today will be punished. They will pay for all the prophets’ blood spilled since the world began. ⁵¹ I mean from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah. He was killed between the altar and the temple. Yes, I tell you, the people of today will be punished for all these things.

⁵² “How terrible for you authorities on the law! You have taken away the key to the door of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered. And you have stood in the way of those who were entering.”

⁵³ When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law strongly opposed him. They threw a lot of questions at him. ⁵⁴ They set traps for him. They wanted to catch him in something he might say.

In this last set of verses to conclude this event, I am wholly not surprised that when Jesus left, the Pharisees and religious leaders strongly opposed Him.

While there are many things we could pull out and focus on for the remainder of this podcast episode, one phrase stood out to me that I want to emphasize. In verse 41, Jesus tells the Pharisee, “Give freely to poor people to show what is inside you.”

In this statement, Jesus hints at generosity being a function of the heart. Generosity, or a lack of generosity, shows others what is in our hearts. When we look at almost all of Jesus’ challenges to these religious leaders, two big themes Jesus challenged them on were a self-centered attitude that pushed people away and an arrogant attitude that looked down on others. The religious leaders judged first and only when proven wrong would consider changing their judgment.

Jesus’ challenge regarding generosity stands in strong contrast to the attitude these religious leaders had. When we are generous, we have other people in focus, and we step into a serving role to help the other people. While I’m sure it is possible to serve others and be generous with a self-centered attitude, these two actions are not easily blended.

The religious leaders are accused of standing in the way of people coming to know God and Jesus. This is a challenge with people at every point in history. God wants a personal relationship with us. Any leader, teacher, guide, or mentor who wants to get in the way of you growing closer to God has more in common with these religious leaders Jesus speaks against than people God sends into our lives.

If you face opposition from someone when you are trying to grow your relationship with Jesus, chances are that God did not bring this person into your life, or if He did, they are not acting within God’s will. The religious leaders God wants to have present in all His churches and spiritual communities are leaders who help others, leaders who open the door to knowledge, and leaders who help sinners understand that they are truly forgiven because of what Jesus accomplished for humanity on the cross!

God is looking for leaders to help people grow close to Him, and these leaders will always point people back to the Bible and help them focus on applying the truths found in the Bible into their daily lives!

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and don’t let anyone get in the way of you and your relationship with God. Filter the “truth” that is presented to you through the lens of the Bible in order to determine what is really true and worth applying into your life.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. I hope and pray that what I share each week helps your personal relationship with God grow stronger, but I also hope and pray that with everything I share, you will take and study it out for yourself so it becomes truth that you know from the Bible and not simply truth that I shared. While pastors, authors, speakers, or podcasters can give great ideas, always study what you hear and read to determine if it is truth worth applying in your life.

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 give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As a follow-up to the prophecy we focused on in our last episode, the passage and prophecy for this week also draws our attention onto Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. However, unlike the prophecy we looked at last week, the passage and prophecy for this episode draws our attention to the specific point in time when Jesus enters Jerusalem. However, the context of this prophecy is different enough for me to suspect the entrance Jesus makes into Jerusalem might be something that happens after Jesus’ return. It is also possible that the Jerusalem this prophecy describes is not the earthly city of Jerusalem, but the heavenly city of Jerusalem that shares the same name. The heavenly Jerusalem we could understand to be God’s city and the place Jesus promised His disciples where He would prepare places for them following His return to Heaven.

With that said, let’s read our prophecy, and then unpack some things we can learn from what the prophet wrote. Our passage and prophecy are found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 62, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1 and being guided by the Holy Spirit, Isaiah writes:

¹ For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,
Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness,
And her salvation like a torch that is burning.
² The nations will see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory;
And you will be called by a new name
Which the mouth of the Lord will designate.
³ You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
⁴ It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,”
Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”;
But you will be called, “My delight is in her,”
And your land, “Married”;
For the Lord delights in you,
And to Him your land will be married.
⁵ For as a young man marries a virgin,
So your sons will marry you;
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So your God will rejoice over you.

⁶ On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen;
All day and all night they will never keep silent.
You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves;
⁷ And give Him no rest until He establishes
And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
⁸ The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm,
“I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies;
Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.”
⁹ But those who garner it will eat it and praise the Lord;
And those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary.

¹⁰ Go through, go through the gates,
Clear the way for the people;
Build up, build up the highway,
Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.
¹¹ Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth,
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Lo, your salvation comes;
Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”
¹² And they will call them, “The holy people,
The redeemed of the Lord”;
And you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken.”

In this amazing passage and prophecy, we get a glimpse of what heaven will be like, and we get a hint at just how eager God is to redeem His people.

However, from the context of the event that Isaiah describes, I see what is being described as blessings, promises, and restoration that happens to heaven and earth following the end of pain, disease, death, and even sin. After the fingerprints of Satan have been removed from the universe, God promises to actively bless the world that had formerly been cursed.

Within this imagery is God entering Jerusalem, and in a slightly paradoxical twist, what we find in the New Testament triumphal entry actually foreshadows the grand entrance Jesus will make into the city of God’s people at the end of this age and the start of the next one.

To draw our attention onto this amazing event, let’s look at Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey that is found in Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew chapter 21, starting in verse 6, we read:

⁶ The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, ⁷ and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. ⁸ Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. ⁹ The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰ When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

With this triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus foreshadows His entrance into the city of God at the end of the age. Not only does this entrance into Jerusalem point forward to this great point in the future of God’s people, this entrance into Jerusalem marks the start of the week that culminates in Jesus being glorified on the cross.

As we look forward to the day Jesus returns and this Old Testament prophecy is fulfilled in the New Heaven and New Earth, are there any promises we can claim from the words Isaiah was inspired to write?

In my own mind, the imagery present in Isaiah’s prophecy about the bride and bridegroom and how God rejoices over us as His bride is an amazing framing about God’s love for us. With few exceptions, those moving towards marriage are eagerly looking forward to their wedding day. Some engaged couples might even pick a date to marry that other people would consider to be too quick simply because they cannot imagine waiting any longer.

I see God’s attitude and love for us this way. In the spiritual wedding between Jesus the Redeemer and God’s people who He redeems, I suspect we have no idea just how excited and expectant God is for the wedding between His Son and His people. Whether we frame being welcomed into God’s family using the metaphor of being adopted or being married in, God wants us included in His family.

Another promise worth drawing our attention to in this prophecy is the protection that God promises to give His city. While the earthly city of Jerusalem has had its share of challenges over the past centuries, and as those living within this city have not always been supporters of God, our attention is drawn towards the New Jerusalem and how this heavenly city moves into eternity with God’s protection. While it is strange to imagine God having enemies to protect His people against after the end of sin and Satan being destroyed, part of the reason why Jesus hasn’t returned could be because God is actively working on this protection as we speak.

While it is a challenging thought to hold onto, the best way for God to protect the universe from sin in the future is by letting sin reveal itself in the present. While some people might be quick to judge God harshly for letting evil thrive in our world and culture today, the most logical reason I have for why He would do this is to actually let evil reveal itself in an already sin-stained world.

By letting evil show how bad it is today, while there is pain, sickness, disease, and death, those who are redeemed in the future will have evidence, experience, and the motivation to keep them from ever wanting anything even remotely like sin to reappear after it has been done away with.

But what of all the pain, disease, cruelty, and death? How could God allow any of this to happen?

While there are several angles that people could use to answer these questions, let me suggest that the perspective of the Life-giver is different our own. Someone who has the power to give life, and the power to restore a life that was lost, is able to see from a different perspective than what we might initially think. I won’t claim to know what God’s perspective on humanity is currently like, but I will say that when those in humanity want to judge God, few, if any, have ever actually stopped to think through what His perspective is actually like. Without considering God’s perspective, it’s easy to judge Him, but any judgment given in this way is flawed at best, because it only allows for half a perspective, or perhaps even less than half a perspective.

I guess I ended up going on a little tangent there. I hope it was helpful to you, but even if it wasn’t, let’s together remember from Isaiah’s prophecy that God seeks after and redeems His people, and that He has promised to redeem and protect them moving forward into eternity.

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

As I always open by challenging you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and lean on Him for the strength, wisdom, and guidance to face life in this sinful world. When bad things happen all around us, keep your perspective focused forward, looking towards the end of sin and the recreation of the universe. With Jesus, we will outlast pain, disease, sin, and even death. Even if death affects our life prior to Jesus’ return, we can know that He is the Life-Giver, and restoring life is something well within His ability to do.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, we open our hearts to God and we invite Him into our lives.