Reflective Bible Study

Continuing moving through Luke’s gospel detailing Jesus’ life and miracles, we arrive at an event that only Luke included. However, far from being insignificant, this event and miracle might be one of the most significant miracles Jesus did prior to raising Lazarus from the dead and prior to His own resurrection. If Jesus had simply been a good healer in people’s minds before, this miracle would be enough to elevate their thinking.

Let’s read our passage and discover what happened. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 11, Luke tells us that:

¹¹ Some time later, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd went along with him. ¹² He approached the town gate. Just then, a dead person was being carried out. He was the only son of his mother. She was a widow. A large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her. So he said, “Don’t cry.”

¹⁴ Then he went up and touched the coffin. Those carrying it stood still. Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶ The people were all filled with wonder and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” ¹⁷ This news about Jesus spread all through Judea and the whole country.

In all the gospels, this event might be one of the most amazing miracles Jesus ever did. When reading this event, in my mind, it is worth looking for the faith behind this miracle and the reason Jesus chose to do it.

From the many miracles Jesus did healing people, in most cases we see a clear picture of where the faith came from. In many cases, the faith was from the one who was healed, and on several occasions, the faith necessary wasn’t from the one healed, but from those who brought the person to be healed.

However, in this event, we don’t find any evidence of faith present from any of the disciples or any in the funeral procession. Prior to this miracle, Jesus had not resurrected someone from the dead before, so there was no precedent.

Instead, the key phrase is found in verse 13, where Luke tells us, “When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her.” This statement not only shows us a glimpse of Jesus’ heart, it also directs us to this being a miracle Jesus did because He wanted to help someone who was hurting. If faith is necessary for a miracle, then the faith needed for this miracle came from Jesus Himself!

I cannot imagine a more special reunion than between the widow and her only son.

Looking at the details surrounding this miracle, I cannot escape a similarity between those present in this circumstance, and God. While God the Father is not a widow in any way this word is used, this event mirrors the emotion that would likely be present in heaven when Jesus, the Son, died on the cross. Even knowing that resurrection would happen less than 48 hours later wouldn’t change the feelings one would have if they were 100% focused on the present moment.

God knew the pain this widow was facing, and while they all could look forward to the future resurrection when Jesus returns, God’s heart reaches out to this widow who is facing emotional pain greater than most people know. However, God understands this widow’s pain and Jesus wants to turn her pain into joy! Jesus resurrects this child in advance of the resurrection that would happen when He returns because He wants this woman to experience joy and to know that God had not forgotten or turned His back on her.

I believe turning this sadness into joy is one of the big reasons Jesus did this miracle. In a subtle way, this miracle foreshadows Jesus’ own resurrection as a Son who dies before their parent who is ultimately resurrected. God wants to turn sadness into joy.

Another reason Jesus likely did this miracle was because the response He knew those present would give. In this passage, Jesus does not get the glory for this miracle. Instead, Jesus has the awkward role of stopping a funeral procession, telling a mourning widow not to cry, and then talking to a dead boy. Following the miracle, Luke tells us in verse 16 that, “The people were all filled with wonder and praised God.”

Jesus did not get the credit for this miracle, at least not initially. Instead, this miracle prompted people to praise God. When reading the gospels, miracles that prompt people to praise God are easy to find. It is as though this is one other big reason Jesus did miracles.

Sometimes I wonder if Jesus did these God-praising miracles because He wanted the people to realize that God was not like the religious leaders present in the first century. While the religious leaders should have been a group of people working together to represent God to their broader culture and community, the picture they were painting of God was far from loving. Jesus came to show us what God is like, and helping people praise the Father likely brought joy to Jesus’ heart!

This idea is summarized in the response those present give at the end of verse 16. Luke tells us that these people exclaim that, “God has come to help his people.” The implication is that, prior to this miracle, these people were feeling forgotten by God. While it is easy to fall into the trap believing that God has forgotten us here on this planet, nothing could be further from the truth.

Instead, if we don’t see God actively working in the world today, this means not that God has abandoned us, but that He is instead working behind the scenes directing history to its ultimate conclusion, which could be summarized as Jesus’ return, the end of sin, and the recreation of earth.

Satan would love for humanity to forget God and to openly reject anything that would suggest His existence. However, when we open our eyes to the world around us, there are too many pieces of evidence to reject a Creator, and more than enough evidence that points towards God being our Creator, and Jesus’ mission to earth was a mission to redeem us from a sin-tainted, sin-filled world.

Everything Jesus predicted would happen in His ministry happened exactly like He said it would, including His death and resurrection. This gives us the assurance that even if Jesus’ return feels like it has been delayed, a postponed trip is not a cancelled trip. We can know and be assured that just like Jesus’ predictions of His earthly ministry took place exactly like He predicted, Jesus’ return will happen at the exact moment in time that it needs to for us to be assured that sin will never reappear in the newly recreated universe!

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, continue intentionally seeking God first in your life and choose to trust in Jesus’ working in the world today, even if we cannot see it clearly. Trust that when God appears absent, He is instead working behind the scenes drawing history towards its conclusion.

While we wait for Jesus to return, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn what God is really like and to open your heart to Jesus. Through the pages of the Bible, discover just how much God was willing to give and how far Jesus was willing to go to open the way for you and I to be redeemed and saved from sin! Discover in the pages of the Bible what God means when He is described as being love!

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 forward in our year focusing in on prophecies that point towards Jesus, we arrive at a prophecy that Jesus fulfilled in an almost impossible to believe way. This particular prophecy, when we look closely at the details, seems impossible to fulfill on the surface. However, when we look at the details of Jesus’ life, we discover that He actually did fulfill it, in spite of this impossibility.

Let’s read the prophecy and then unpack how the framing of this prophecy appears on the surface to contradict itself.

Our passage and prophecy is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 11, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Isaiah writes:

¹ Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³ And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;
⁴ But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
⁵ Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins,
And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

Let me pause reading briefly, simply to say that this would be a very tempting spot to stop reading. However, what comes next is powerful. Continuing in verse 6, Isaiah writes:

⁶ And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little boy will lead them.
⁷ Also the cow and the bear will graze,
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
⁹ They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰ Then in that day
The nations will resort to the root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.

While it would have been tempting to jump out of this passage earlier, verse 10, which was the verse we finished off reading is powerful. While I believe the context for the last portion of this passage relates to the future New Heaven and New Earth Jesus promises God’s people, I find it fascinating that this passage frames the Messiah, or at the very least, the Spirit of the Messiah, as being both a descendant of Jesse, and also as an ancestor of Jesse.

This framing is clearly found at the start of our passage in verse 1, which tells us that “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” This verse draws our attention onto the Messiah being a descendent of Jesse, who happened to be the Father of David. This passage frames Jesse being a root that grows a shoot or a fruit that is the Messiah. Since this was written decades, if not a century or two after king David lived, we can conclude that this verse points forward to a Messianic descendant that was still being looked forward to, rather than a direct descendant who would have died long before these words had been written.

However, to contrast this initial framing, in verse 10, Isaiah writes that “Then in that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples…”

Verse 10 frames the one who stands as a signal for God’s people as an ancestor of Jesse, or in other words, a root that ultimately grows out towards Jesse.

While some might claim that verse 1 focuses on a different person than verse 10, when looking at the big themes of the Bible, it would be difficult to reconcile that difference. The Bible, especially the New Testament, focuses our attention onto Jesus being the fulfillment of this prophecy.

However, how can Jesus be both an ancestor and a descendant of Jesse?

While we hinted at this in earlier episodes, and while we will circle back around later this year to look at this theme, let’s look at two passages from the New Testament that help frame this seemingly impossible scenario.

The first New Testament passage is the first words in the New Testament, which are found in Matthew, chapter 1. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹ The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

² Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. ³ Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. ⁴ Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. ⁵ Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. ⁶ Jesse was the father of David the king.

While we could continue reading to make our way down the family tree to reach Jesus, let’s stop here. Matthew opens his gospel by describing how Jesus was the Son of Jesse, because Jesus was the Son of David. This genealogy, as well as Luke’s version of Jesus’ genealogy, draws our attention onto Jesus being a clear descendant of Jesse. This seems pretty easy to follow.

However, what about Jesus being Jesse’s ancestor?

A couple chapters later in Matthew’s gospel, we find an answer to this problem. In Matthew, chapter 3, starting in verse 13, we read about Jesus’ baptism:

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.”

God calls Jesus His Son, and because of this, we can conclude that Jesus would also have to be an ancestor of Jesse.

From the details given in these two verses, we arrive at the conclusion that Jesus could be both a descendent and an ancestor of Jesse. Remembering what we focused on a few episodes ago, understanding Jesus’ extraordinary birth also helps us see how Jesus could be both a descendant and an ancestor to reconcile this dilemma.

However, where does this leave us?

When looking at the details of the prophecy, we get the clear picture that God’s Messiah is the ideal judge. By coming to this earth as a human, Jesus gained the personal experience necessary to allow Him to become the ideal judge for humanity. We don’t have a judge who doesn’t understand where we come from. Instead, we have a judge who understands who we are and the challenges that humanity faces.

From Jesus’ triumph, we are given the invitation to rest on His success when facing the judgment for sin. While our past is filled with mistake after mistake, Jesus invites us to accept His victory in place of our failure.

We have a Messiah and a judge who is sympathetic to our struggle, and who wants to redeem us out of the trap of sin, pain, and death. Jesus came to redeem us, and to carry us forward into the New Heaven and New Earth.

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 in one way or another, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to accept the invitation Jesus has offered to you and place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through regular prayer and Bible study, discover just how much God loves you and just how much He wants to redeem you out of sin!

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!