Reflective Bible Study

As we have been working our way through this year, it seems to me that most of our time has been spent in either the Psalms, or in Isaiah. Well in this episode, it isn’t much of a surprise that we will be touching again within one of these two Old Testament books. This time, as I shared in the introduction, we’ll be looking at a prophecy in the book of Isaiah.

However, the prophecy we will be focusing in on for our time together has a much bigger perspective than simply Jesus’ earthly ministry. As I read it in preparation for this episode, it seems to me that this prophecy, shared with enough verses to give it context, describes an idealized time when God’s people have received the victory after the end of sin.

With this idea in mind, let’s read this Old Testament prophecy, and then unpack it in the context of Jesus’ ministry. Our passage is found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 35, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Isaiah writes:

¹ The wilderness and the desert will be glad,
And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom;
Like the crocus
² It will blossom profusely
And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
The majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the glory of the Lord,
The majesty of our God.
³ Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
⁴ Say to those with anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you.”
⁵ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
⁶ Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.
For waters will break forth in the wilderness
And streams in the Arabah.
⁷ The scorched land will become a pool
And the thirsty ground springs of water;
In the haunt of jackals, its resting place,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
⁸ A highway will be there, a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for him who walks that way,
And fools will not wander on it.
⁹ No lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;
These will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk there,
¹⁰ And the ransomed of the Lord will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting joy upon their heads.
They will find gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

In this prophecy, the overall context concludes with those who have been redeemed traveling on the holy road, and this road leads to a place where there is everlasting joy and gladness. This road is described as being reserved for those who are walking with God, specifically those whom God has redeemed and ransomed out of sin.

However, while these verses make for great symbolic imagery about traveling the road of life, before transitioning to describing this road, Isaiah shares a message for those who are feeling down and depressed. In verses 3 through the first half of verse 6, Isaiah writes:

Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
Say to those with anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

Part of me wonders if the encouragement found within this set of verses is directed at one specific individual. While countless numbers of people living throughout history have felt exhausted, feeble, and anxious, one event found within the gospels seems to point back to this prophecy in a very tangible way.

The gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, opens with a short event about someone who is feeling down sending a message to Jesus. Starting in verse 1, Matthew sets the stage for us by saying:

¹ When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.

² Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” ⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

In this brief event within Jesus’ ministry, we see an interesting parallel to this passage in Isaiah. When John’s disciples come to Jesus asking for confirmation about whether Jesus truly is the One that prophecy pointed towards, Jesus responds by drawing John’s attention onto the healing miracles, and on the gospel that was being preached.

However, Jesus finishes His message with a little twist that John might not have expected. While the prophecy in Isaiah alludes to help coming from God for all of God’s people, Jesus gives a blessing for those who are not offended by Him based on what He chooses to do or not do. I suspect that in a subtle way, Jesus wants to draw John’s attention onto how God supported Jesus in ministry, but also let John know that it was not within God’s will that He be removed from prison.

Looking back on this situation, we can conclude why this is logical. If John was released from prison, then his ministry would draw attention away from Jesus. If Jesus petitioned for John’s release, while Jesus would be glorified in the short term, this decision would have been a political act that was unlike anything else within Jesus’ ministry.

With only very rare exceptions, Jesus avoided being swept into the politics of the day. There is more evidence in the New Testament that point to Jesus actively avoiding taking a stand on political issues than on picking a side to support. If Jesus were living today, there is ample evidence in the New Testament to suggest that He would focus on helping individuals, and that He would shy away from being in the spotlight. In the gospels, if the crowd appeared to get too big, Jesus would challenge the crowd in some way that prompted most, if not all the crowd, to leave. I don’t have any reason to believe this would be different at any other point in history.

However, moving back to Isaiah’s prophecy, within the message Isaiah shares is an amazing promise for you and me. In this prophecy, when we feel down, discouraged, anxious, or feeble, we can hold onto hope and courage knowing that God is still in control. Even if it seems as though everything is hopeless in the world, we can know that in the end, God wins. And in the end, God doesn’t just win by a little bit; in the end, God wins by such a big landslide that sin will never again reappear in the recreated New Heaven and New Earth God invites His people to live with Him in at the end of this age.

I believe that one thing Isaiah’s prophecy points us forward to is looking forward to that day when God puts an end to sin, and all of His people are redeemed out of sin and into eternity through the gift and blessing of what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. Until this happens, let’s stay strong, be courageous, and live our lives for God through whatever Satan throws at us. When we have allied with Jesus, regardless of how bad this life gets, we will outlast sin and we will get to experience 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 and intentionally ally and align your life with God. Choose to live your life for God in this life, because living for God today opens the way for us to experience God’s tomorrow, whether that tomorrow is literally tomorrow, or a spiritually-figurative tomorrow within the New Heaven and New Earth.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself with the goal of growing a closer relationship with God. Through the pages of the Bible, discover a God who loves you more than you can imagine, and a God who is passionate about giving you the opportunity of eternity. Intentionally pray and study the Bible to keep your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus strong through everything Satan tries to throw our way.

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 through Luke’s gospel, two episodes ago, we looked at Jesus sending out the twelve disciples on a short-term evangelistic trip. Then in our last episode, we looked at several of Jesus’ disciples failing to cast one demon out of a child when they had been successful earlier. In this episode, we circle back around and discover Jesus sends the disciples out on another mission trip.

However, while the earlier trip was limited to the small group of twelve disciples, it appears as though this second commission includes a much larger group of people that Jesus sends out. Let’s read what happened, and what Jesus shares to this group of followers as He sends them out.

Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 10, and we will read from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

¹ After this the Lord chose another seventy-two men and sent them out two by two, to go ahead of him to every town and place where he himself was about to go.

Pausing briefly, it is interesting that in this first verse, Luke tells us that these followers were sent in a similar fashion as John the Baptist, who was sent ahead of Jesus’ arrival. These followers are given specific instructions and in many ways, what Jesus tells these followers next is a message to every single person God has called and adopted into His family. While Jesus has already come, He is coming again, and what Jesus describes here could be just as easily applied to us living and looking forward to His grand return!

Continuing in verse 2, Jesus:

 ² [He] said to them, “There is a large harvest, but few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest. ³ Go! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. ⁴ Don’t take a purse or a beggar’s bag or shoes; don’t stop to greet anyone on the road. ⁵ Whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house.’ ⁶ If someone who is peace-loving lives there, let your greeting of peace remain on that person; if not, take back your greeting of peace. ⁷ Stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever they offer you, for workers should be given their pay. Don’t move around from one house to another. ⁸ Whenever you go into a town and are made welcome, eat what is set before you, ⁹ heal the sick in that town, and say to the people there, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you go into a town and are not welcomed, go out in the streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. But remember that the Kingdom of God has come near you!’ ¹² I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to that town!

¹³ “How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago sat down, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins! ¹⁴ God will show more mercy on the Judgment Day to Tyre and Sidon than to you. ¹⁵ And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell!”

¹⁶ Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

With those parting words, the 72 followers are commissioned to go to the towns ahead of Jesus.

However, before reading their report back to Jesus about what they experienced, I want to draw our attention onto two big ideas.

First, included in the challenge to the disciples getting ready to head out is a warning for some of the major towns and cities in Jesus’ day that ultimately rejected Jesus’ message. Jesus draws our attention to Judgment Day and how these towns would be shown less mercy on Judgment day than He would to several notoriously evil cities in history. This frames the big context of this message and mission of these followers as preparing the way for Jesus’ arrival. These 72 followers were tasked with challenging towns, cities, and villages Jesus was planning on visiting and preparing the hearts and minds of those present to receive Jesus.

Like earlier, Jesus tells His followers they would be rejected and to simply leave the town, and not take any part of the town with them. These 72 followers were not tasked with forcing people to believe in Jesus. They were simply commissioned to share about Jesus with those who were willing to listen!

The second big idea I see in Jesus’ commission to these disciples is when He tells them in verse 16, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” This is a powerful statement, and I believe this is just as relevant today as it was in the first century. Just like those living in the first century were awaiting Jesus’ arrival leading up to Judgment Day, we too are awaiting Jesus’ return leading up to Judgment Day. This means that this message may be just as relevant to us as followers of Jesus looking forward to the day He returns.

Jesus tells us that those who listen to His message through us are really listening to Him, and those who reject us aren’t really rejecting us. Instead, when we face rejection, we should realize these people are really rejecting Jesus, and not just Jesus, but God as well.

In this simple statement, Jesus challenges us to not become proud about the words we speak, because we are simply a messenger for Jesus. In the same way, we should not take rejection personally, because those who reject us aren’t rejecting us as much as they are rejecting Jesus and God.

This is a powerful truth to remember, and one that hopefully will encourage you as you walk through life with Jesus!

With this said, what do Jesus’ followers report back to Him when they return?

Picking back up in verse 17, Luke tells us that:

¹⁷ The seventy-two men came back in great joy. “Lord,” they said, “even the demons obeyed us when we gave them a command in your name!”

¹⁸ Jesus answered them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Listen! I have given you authority, so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the Enemy, and nothing will hurt you. ²⁰ But don’t be glad because the evil spirits obey you; rather be glad because your names are written in heaven.”

In this event, we discover that these followers of Jesus are given the same experience that Jesus’ twelve disciples had experienced earlier. These 72 followers are able to cast demons out with Jesus’ name, and heal people. I believe Jesus sent out this second larger group of followers because He wants us to know that amazing miracles and Jesus’ mission are not reserved for only Jesus’ closest followers. Anyone and everyone who follows Jesus can tap into the Holy Spirit’s power as they point people to Jesus.

The mission of God’s people at every point in history has been pointing people back to what God and Jesus have done for us, and pointing us to His arrival and return. The Old Testament prophets pointed people forward to Jesus’ first coming, and all of God’s messengers from the first century forward to today, point us towards Jesus’ return.

However, while this sounds amazing, Jesus wants to focus our attention back onto a big truth. While it may be exciting to have the Holy Spirit with us, we should be even more excited that when we follow God, our names are written in the Book of Life in heaven. In the big picture, it won’t matter what we have done for God. What will matter is whether our names are among those who God is planning on redeeming from sin and bringing with Him into 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 seek God first in your life and choose to trust Him with whatever the future holds. In the big picture, the only thing worth focusing on is making sure that your name is written in the Book of Life in heaven, and that happens when we accept Jesus into our hearts, minds, and lives and let Him transform us into being ambassadors and representatives for Him.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. The most important relationship we can have is a relationship with God, and because of this, don’t let anyone get stuck between you and God. Jesus wants a personal relationship with you because He loves you more than you can possibly imagine!

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!