Reflective Bible Study

In our journey through prophecies from the Old Testament and how they relate to Jesus’ life and ministry, we have covered a lot. However, tucked within the Old Testament book of Job, and reemphasized a number of times during Jesus’ ministry, we have a prophecy that is very connected with Jesus, but one that has yet to take place.

In other words, while some people might like to think of prophecy as being a thing of the past, one of the greatest prophecies in the entire Bible is still to come – and this prophecy is one we can look forward to taking part in.

To discover this prophecy, let’s first look at one of the oldest books from the Old Testament. While not much is known about the exact date the book of Job was written, some people believe this book was recorded prior to Genesis being written.

However, regardless of when Job was written, a set of verses tucked within this narrative are amazing to focus on. In Job, chapter 19, starting in verse 23, and reading from the New American Standard Bible translation, Job tells his friends:

²³ “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ “That with an iron stylus and lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!
²⁵ “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.
²⁶ “Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall see God;
²⁷ Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another.
My heart faints within me!
²⁸ “If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’
And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’
²⁹ “Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves,
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
So that you may know there is judgment.”

In these verses from Job’s speech to his friends, we find an amazing declaration about his belief and trust in God. Also in this speech, Job clearly states that he knows his Redeemer lives. While this could be used as evidence of Jesus’ resurrection and presence throughout eternity, the description Job gives following that line is even more powerful.

The last phrase of verse 25 includes Job saying, “at the last He [referring to the Redeemer] will take His stand on the earth.” This is powerful, because Job looks forward to the end of time and to the point when God, or Jesus, judges the earth.

This is amazing, and to top it off, Job continues in verse 26 by saying, “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God”. This statement speaks to Job looking forward to a physical resurrection. Job draws attention to after the point his skin is destroyed, which one could make the case as representing death. Job finishes the thought by saying “from my flesh I shall see God”. Job clearly states a belief in a physical resurrection that would be his for holding onto God even though God had appeared to turn His back on Job.

From this passage in Job, and specifically from these couple verses, we see foreshadowing of the judgment at the end of time, and of a physical resurrection that would take place.

Jumping forward to Jesus’ life and ministry in the first century, to a passage found in the gospel of John, we find Jesus push the religious leaders early on in His ministry with a powerful claim pointing forward to the end of time.

In John, chapter 5, starting in verse 24, Jesus tells the Pharisees and those present:

²⁴ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

²⁵ Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; ²⁷ and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, ²⁹ and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

In this excerpt from Jesus’ challenge to the religious leaders, Jesus makes the case and claim that everyone has a resurrection to look forward to in their future. Whether the two resurrections Jesus describes are two perspectives of the same event, or if Jesus is describing two completely different events, from the way Jesus frames these two resurrections, it is advisable for everyone to seek to be included in the resurrection of life.

From the way Jesus and John frame this message, we are able to choose which resurrection we will be included in. Those who are included in the resurrection of judgment are described as those who committed evil deeds, while those who are included in the resurrection of life are described as having done good deeds.

Does this then mean that belief doesn’t matter?

No. Belief matters – especially belief in Jesus. A technical understanding of Jesus’ message would condemn all of us because we all have committed evil deeds. Belief in Jesus, and belief in the One who sent Him, as Jesus describes in verse 24, is the way to move from the resurrection of judgment to the resurrection of life. According to Jesus, the resurrection of judgment leads only to death. By believing in Jesus, and in God the Father who sent Him, our names, lives, and records are transferred over from death into life.

From Job’s declaration to his friends in the Old Testament moving forward to Jesus’ challenge to some religious leaders, we see the theme of resurrection for all of God’s people as a clear promise we can look forward to experiencing. While not all of God’s people will experience the death Jesus often described as a sleep, specifically the one that looks forward to resurrection, we can know and trust that if we do fall asleep believing in Jesus, the next voice we hear and the first face we see when we open our eyes will belong to Jesus.

While the resurrection Job looked forward to and the two resurrections Jesus describes are still to come in the future, let’s remember and trust the truth that God’s promises are trustworthy. We have spent almost an entire year’s worth of podcasts showing how prophecy and themes from the Old Testament were fulfilled and expanded by Jesus. Some of these prophecies Jesus willingly stepped into, and other prophecies Jesus would have had zero control over.

However, because Jesus came, lived, died, and was resurrected just like what was predicted and foreshadowed in the Old Testament, we can trust God has a grand conclusion to history planned. In God’s conclusion for history, while it may not be welcome news for some people, He will put an eternal end to sin, while stepping forward with all of His people 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, intentionally seek God first in your life. Trust in God’s promises and in Jesus’ sacrifice to cover your sins and believe that God wants you with Him in heaven. Jesus paid the penalty for sin and He offers you the opportunity to move from judgment to life when we choose to place our faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. Through a personal relationship with God, discover just how much He loves each of us, and the lengths He was willing to go to redeem you and me from sin. Say thank you to Jesus by giving Him your heart, mind, and focus, and choose each day to live your life in a way that shows other people you are grateful for what Jesus did for you.

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!

It is at about this point in our year moving through the gospels where I realize there are more events left in Luke’s gospel than we have adequate time for in the remaining time this year. This happened for the last two gospels, and I was pretty certain this would happen in Luke’s gospel as well, since Luke’s gospel is the longest of the four gospels.

However, while we only have three episodes left and two full chapters of Luke remaining, let’s not focus too hard on what I wasn’t able to include, and instead focus on what we do have time left to focus on from these last chapters in Luke.

With that said, our last podcast episode focused in on Jesus’ trial before the religious leaders. After the religious leaders condemned Jesus as guilty, they still had a problem. Because of Rome’s occupation of their territory, they did not have the right to execute someone, and especially the right to execute someone in a very public, humiliating way. This means that after Jesus was religiously condemned as guilty, He still needed to be condemned worthy of death by the government.

For this dilemma, we then come to another trial Jesus faces, and Luke includes an extra detail that no other gospel includes, which is fascinating in my mind. Let’s read what Luke describes.

Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 23, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:

¹ Then the entire assembly stood up and took him to Pilate.

² They began to accuse Jesus by saying, “We found that he stirs up trouble among our people: He keeps them from paying taxes to the emperor, and he says that he is Christ, a king.”

³ Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Yes, I am,” Jesus answered.

⁴ Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I can’t find this man guilty of any crime.”

Pausing briefly, I am amazed at both Pilate’s response here, and at the way this translation simplified Jesus’ response. Technically Jesus did agree with Pilate, but a more literal reading of Jesus’ response would be that Jesus replied by saying, “It is as you say” or “Those are your words, not mine”.

As I compare various translations, since I don’t know the original Greek language to look back at the source, the translations seem divided along the lines of Jesus agreeing with Pilate verses Jesus telling Pilate that this is not the title He claims.

Either way, I am surprised at how Luke seems to summarize this conversation. According to Luke, after Jesus answered one single question, Pilate declares Him as innocent of any crime.

However, the religious leaders are very unsatisfied with this ruling. Continuing in verse 5, Luke tells us:

⁵ The priests and the crowd became more forceful. They said, “He stirs up the people throughout Judea with his teachings. He started in Galilee and has come here.”

⁶ When Pilate heard that, he asked if the man was from Galilee. ⁷ When Pilate found out that he was, he sent Jesus to Herod. Herod ruled Galilee and was in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸ Herod was very pleased to see Jesus. For a long time he had wanted to see him. He had heard about Jesus and hoped to see him perform some kind of miracle. ⁹ Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus wouldn’t answer him. ¹⁰ Meanwhile, the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings stood there and shouted their accusations against Jesus.

¹¹ Herod and his soldiers treated Jesus with contempt and made fun of him. They put a colorful robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. ¹² So Herod and Pilate became friends that day. They had been enemies before this.

In Luke’s version of Jesus’ public, civil trial, we discover that Pilate tries to hand Jesus off to Herod because Jesus is from Galilee. However, Herod, while being interested in meeting Jesus, is not all that impressed with Jesus. Herod wanted to see a miracle, but He wasn’t interested in Jesus for who He claimed to be.

As I look at these two very different rulers, and their respective impressions of Jesus when meeting Him, I am amazed at one detail that each event uncovers. With both these meetings, Jesus doesn’t visibly step into the role of king. Jesus doesn’t act like a king for either governor, and Jesus doesn’t really even overtly defend Himself against the accusations of the religious leaders.

This shared detail is powerful, because we discover something amazing about both governor’s in their response to Jesus being claimed as a king. Pilate is reserved and intrigued, because Jesus is not like any self-proclaimed messiah that he had dealt with before. In stark contrast, Herod laughs and mocks Jesus because Jesus doesn’t display any characteristics Herod believed a king would have. Pilate’s response to meeting Jesus is one of curiosity, while Herod’s response is one of mockery.

I suspect this is why only one gospel includes Herod’s brief encounter with Jesus. In the big picture of the cross, Jesus being taken to see Herod is an easy event to exclude, since Jesus stands before Pilate both before and after this very uneventful meeting.

Why then might Luke have included this unique detail?

I suspect that Luke included this, not just to be historically accurate, but to illustrate a powerful truth. When we ask questions of God with an open mind, don’t be surprised if or when God answers. However, if we demand things of God, I’m certain we will be answered with silence.

Herod’s encounter with Jesus was entirely self-serving. Herod didn’t care one bit about who Jesus was or what the religious leaders claimed Jesus to be. Herod simply wanted to see a miracle that Jesus had been rumored to do, but Jesus knew that any miracle given in this context would not bring God glory. A miracle in this context might have even derailed Jesus facing the cross, which was His ultimate mission.

Pilate’s encounter with Jesus, which each gospel shares unique details about, is one where Pilate is curious about Jesus and about the claim that the religious leaders make of Jesus. Pilate isn’t fully sold on the accusations of the religious leaders, but he also doesn’t know what to make of Jesus. It is Pilate’s reservation about this entire event and a partially open mind that let’s Jesus speak briefly.

Jesus’ brief conversation with Pilate prompts Pilate to see Jesus in a completely different frame of reference, and while Pilate ultimately bends to the crowd’s demands to crucify Jesus, he ended that morning with a different impression of Jesus than he began his morning with. Pilate also likely ended that morning with a slightly different impression of the religious leaders than he had before.

We can learn from these two encounters. If we want to hear God speak and if we want God to show up in our lives in powerful ways, we must be open to receiving the Holy Spirit into our lives. Demanding God will do something for us is an easy way to receive silence and disappointment. Instead, let’s honor God, give Him the glory, and praise Him for any and every blessing, challenge, and opportunity to grow that He brings into our lives.

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

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to be open to receiving the Holy Spirit. When coming before God, intentionally be humble and repentant when bringing God your request and don’t demand that He helps you. A demanding, arrogant spirit will ultimately get the same response Herod received when he met Jesus, and that response was silence.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn what God wants to teach you and to grow closer to Him. When praying and studying, be sure to ask God for His help to understand what you are studying, and be open to what God wants to teach you through the pages, passages, and events included in the Bible. Don’t let anyone get between you and your relationship with God!

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 try to arrogantly rush into where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him! Remember that even if we don’t understand why, God’s timing is always best!