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The Importance of Isaiah’s Servant Songs

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J. Nicholas Reid presents a compelling devotional of Isaiah’s Servant Songs, where he first zooms in to observe each of the four songs before zooming out to consider their impact on the New Testament.

Some of the most memorable questions in the New Testament are answered in relation to the Servant Songs. Whether it is the eunuch asking Phillip if the fourth song is about Isaiah or someone else (Acts 8), or John the Baptist sending his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:20), the significance of these songs cannot be overstated. “Phillip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).

Here is much worth considering. Check it out!

OT Narratives: Pointers to Christ or Moral Examples?

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There is an ages-old debate among interpreters of Old Testament narratives: Were these stories written to point us to the coming Messiah, or to provide moral examples to imitate or avoid?

Early in my ministry, I was a strong proponent of the “Christ-centered” approach to interpretation. And though I haven’t lost my fervor for seeing Jesus in every Bible passage, I’ve come to realize that such an approach really doesn’t need to be set in conflict with seeing OT characters as exemplars of what to do or not do. I don’t think we can read Hebrews 11 or 1 Corinthians 10 and conclude otherwise.

So we don’t have to pick one of the two approaches. We should expect both to be true. A Christ-focus without moral examples will fail to connect to people’s lives. An exemplar focus without Jesus will ultimately produce legalism or moralism. But both together provide a robust biblical view of the Christian faith and life. Let’s only first seek to understand the passage’s main point for its original audience, then connect it to Christ, and then apply it specifically to our lives.

And here is a great article, where Jim Savastio makes this very point for preachers. Any serious student of the Bible, not only preachers, will benefit from his thoughtful argument.

Check it out!

Examples of Jesus in the Old Testament

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Jesse Johnson did us a great favor by giving 6 thoughtful examples of how to preach Jesus from Old Testament texts, where “the coming Messiah” is not the main point. Even when a text doesn’t directly predict the coming of Christ, we ought to make sure we see it climax in the good news about Jesus’ death and resurrection, and/or the message of forgiveness being preached to all nations.

Johnson’s examples are good models of first determining the author’s main point for his original audience, and second connecting that main point to the good news about Jesus. This prevents forced or tenuous gospel connections that fail to land with transformative power. See my post on this topic for further explanation.

Johnson’s examples are:

  • Leviticus 13 (leprosy)
  • Judges 19 (dismembered concubine)
  • Genesis 11 (Babel)
  • 1 Kings 18 (showdown on Mt. Carmel)
  • 1 Samuel 14 (Jonathan eating honey)
  • Proverbs 5 (sexual immorality)

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Snapshots of Jesus in Every Old Testament Book

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Garrett Kell writes of “The Most Epic Bible Study of All Time,” where Jesus explained to two disciples on the road to Emmaus all the things contained in the Scriptures concerning himself (Luke 24:27).

Kell walks through every Old Testament book, summarizing what Jesus may have had to say concerning himself in each one. He concludes:

Reading the Old Testament to find Jesus isn’t meant to be like playing “Where’s Waldo?”—looking behind every tree for a cross or every chair for a throne. We do, however, find both explicit teachings and also implicit themes that push us to know that something, or someone, greater must come to fulfill them. Jesus proved this true that day following his resurrection.

This is worth a few moments of your time. Check it out!

4 Ways the Old Testament Points to Jesus

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Bryan Chapell briefly describes four ways the Old Testament points to Jesus.

  1. Some passages predict who Christ is and what he will do.
  2. Some passage prepare God’s people to understand redeeming grace.
  3. Some passages reflect God’s provision of or our need for grace.
  4. Some passages describe the lifestyle that results from God’s work of grace.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a great start to consider when figuring out how to see Jesus in any Bible passage.

Check it out!

Context Matters: This is the Day the Lord has Made

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Perhaps you’ve heard that this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps 118:24)! But what makes today any more joyful than another day? And has God not made all the other days?

Context matters. When we learn to read the Bible properly—and not simply as fodder for tired slogans—we’ll find that some of our most familiar verses have a surprising power to change our lives.

State Library of South Australia, Creative Commons

Analysis of the Psalm

I’ve written before on Psalm 118, where I analyzed the poem’s structure and flow of thought. I won’t repeat that material here, but will assume it and move directly to the verse in question.

Processional

Psalm 118:19 begins the victory parade for the returning, victorious king. He starts at the gates of Jerusalem (Ps 118:19), gathers a crowd (Ps 119:20), moves up toward the temple (Ps 118:26), and ends up inside the temple complex at the altar for burnt offering (Ps 118:27b).

It is during this homecoming parade—right where the celebration moves from the lips of the king (the singular “I” and “my” in Ps 118:19-21) to the responsive cries of the people (the plural “us” and “our” in Ps 118:23-27)—that the people proclaim God’s great joke. Their king, who had been rejected by the warring nations surrounding him (Ps 118:10-13), now takes his rightful place as the cornerstone of God’s world-building project.

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is Yahweh’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps 118:22-23)

It is at this moment that they beg God to save them (Ps 118:25) and offer a sacrifice to take their place (Ps 118:27).

This day—the day of salvation, the day of praise and thanksgiving for rescuing them through their rejected king, the day of lavish feasting—is the day Yahweh made (Ps 118:24). They have much reason to rejoice and be glad, for their God has had the last laugh against their enemies.

Another Such Day Comes

Yet another such day would come. The Jews sang Psalm 118 annually at the feast of the Passover, which explains why it was on their minds when Jesus rode through the gates of Jerusalem like a returning king (Matt 21:9). This also explains why this psalm was on Jesus’ mind when he went to inspect the temple (Mark 11:10-12).

There was a feast on, but these people couldn’t even recognize the one they were supposedly celebrating (Mark 14:1-2).

King Jesus rides through the gates and up to the temple, but he receives no blessing. He never binds the festal sacrifice to the horns of the altar (Ps 118:27); instead he reinterprets the sacrifice around himself and what he’s about to do (Luke 22:14-20). Then he becomes the sacrifice himself.

And this king is not rejected by the surrounding nations. He is rejected by his own people (Matt 26:63-66, John 1:11). And in this way salvation comes to the world (John 3:17, Rom 11:11-12).

“Save us, we pray, O Yahweh! O Yahweh, we pray, give us success!” (Ps 118:25).

Now this is something worth celebrating. This is the day the Lord has made. This is a day that can change your life. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Context matters.

Thanks to Elizabeth H for the idea for this post.

For more examples of why context matters, click here.

Context Matters: Two Tries to Heal the Blind

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Perhaps you’ve come across the intriguing little story where it takes Jesus two tries to heal a blind man. After Jesus spits and lays hands on the blind man, the man can see, but people look like walking trees (Mark 8:23-24). Jesus tries a second time, and the man can finally see everything clearly (Mark 8:25). Did Jesus struggle with this one? Did he require more practice to get it right? Or could this be an example of an oral tradition slipping past editors, who otherwise had worked hard to portray a fictional Jesus to fit their preconceived notions regarding his character and claims to divinity?

Context matters. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not as a random assortment of disconnected episodes—we’ll discover that some of the trickiest passages make a lot more sense than we thought.

Andy Barnham (2010), Creative Commons

The Blind Man

We find the passage in question in Mark 8:22-26, which has no parallel in the other gospels. People in Bethsaida bring their blind friend to Jesus. Jesus leads him by the hand outside the village. He spits on the eyes and asks whether the man sees anything. He touches him a second time, “and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly” (Mark 8:25). Jesus then sends him home, prohibiting him from re-entering the village.

We don’t need to speculate in a think tank about why it took Jesus two tries, as the context likely provides the clues we need. I have two theories for your consideration. If we zoom out to catch the flow of Mark’s argument, we’ll find help both before this passage and after it.

What Came Before

This story, along with the following one (Mark 8:27-30), concludes a major section of Mark’s gospel. Our structural hint comes from the bookends (known also as an inclusio) of guesses about Jesus’ true identity.

When Herod hears of the disciples preaching two by two across the countryside, he hears some people saying John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. Others think he is Elijah, while yet others consider him a prophet, like one of the prophets of old (Mark 6:14-15). And the 12 disciples have apparently heard exactly the same three guesses: “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets” (Mark 8:28). This repetition provides us with bookends to help us see that Mark is making a coherent argument through these chapters.

So what is that argument?

Jesus has big ministry plans for these 12 men. He sends them out with his own authority to preach, heal, and exorcise unclean spirits (Mark 6:7-13). Yet at the height of their effectiveness, we’re reminded through flashback of what happened the last time a man of God got the attention of important people (Mark 6:14-29). This does not bode well for the disciples.

When they return to Jesus, he embarks with them on a rigorous curriculum of training.

  1. They participate in helping him feed a multitude – Mark 6:30-44
  2. They cross the sea – Mark 6:45-56
  3. They watch Jesus answer a question from the Pharisees and scribes – Mark 7:1-23
  4. They watch him speak to a Gentile woman about the children’s bread – Mark 7:24-30
  5. They see Jesus use his own spit and hands to heal a man with malfunctioning sense perception – Mark 7:31-37

Through this section, many people begin to understand who Jesus is. The Gentile woman understands his bread metaphor and submits herself to his will (Mark 7:28). Sick people touch only the fringe of his garment and are made well (Mark 6:56). From astonishment, many claim that he has done all things well (Mark 7:37).

But the disciples? They see all this, yet “they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:52).

So Jesus takes them through his training course a second time:

  1. They help him feed a multitude – Mark 8:1-9
  2. They cross the sea – Mark 8:10
  3. They see him answer a request from the Pharisees – Mark 8:11-13
  4. They have their own discussion with him about bread – Mark 8:14-21
  5. They see Jesus use his own spit and hands to heal a man with malfunctioning sense perception—but this time it takes two tries – Mark 8:22-26

This time, however, we don’t have anyone who begins to understand who Jesus is. Not even the twelve disciples. They can’t imagine where they’ll get enough bread to feed these people (Mark 8:4). They completely misinterpret Jesus’ bread metaphor (Mark 8:16). And Mark makes explicit the fact that they can neither see nor hear (Mark 8:18). In other words, they do not yet understand who he is (Mark 8:21).

But Jesus can heal the deaf (Mark 7:31-37). And he can heal the blind (Mark 8:22-26). Perhaps his two attempts to train the disciples will pay off and enable them to see clearly.

After the blindness is healed… “Who do you say that I am?”

“You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29).

So the first theory about why it took Jesus two tries to heal the blind man is to provide a picture, a living parable, of his two tries to heal the disciples’ spiritual blindness. Their sight of Jesus is fuzzy for a while. But after two complete training cycles, they see clearly in declaring him to be the Christ.

What Comes After

The passage immediately following the healing of the blind man shows Peter declaring Jesus’ identity as the Christ, or Messiah. He sees something important about Jesus, that Mark wanted us to see from the first sentence (see Mark 1:1).

But Mark also wants us to know that Peter’s sight remains fuzzy. He sees a Messiah, but not exactly the kind of Messiah that God wants him to see. When Jesus begins describing his coming suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection, he does so plainly (Mark 8:31-32). No more parables or confusing metaphors. And Peter promptly rebukes him (Mark 8:32).

Jesus then spends the next 2 chapters helping them to see more clearly what kind of Messiah he must be. Not the conqueror they expect, but the servant who suffers and dies. Not a tree of life walking around, but a Son of Man coming to serve and give his life (Mark 10:45). Jesus must explain these things 3 times (Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34) and illustrate them vividly through word and deed (raising a demon-possessed boy who fell as one dead, welcoming the typically unwelcome children, turning aside the one who refuses to sell his possessions, etc.).

So the second theory about why it took Jesus two tries to heal the blind man is to provide a picture, a living parable, of the two stages of sight the disciples must go through to understand who Jesus is. Yes, he is the Lord’s Messiah. But you must also see clearly that he is a suffering and dying Messiah.

It is no accident that this section of the gospel ends with another healing of another blind man, who immediately recovers his sight and the follows Jesus “on the way” (Mark 10:52), having lost his “life” by throwing off his cloak (Mark 10:50) so he might gain true life with Jesus.

Conclusion

I’m not sure which theory is the best one. Both do justice to the surrounding material and to the flow of Mark’s argument. And perhaps we don’t have to pick only one theory. Couldn’t it be possible that Mark had both ideas in mind as he wove together his glorious account of our Messiah?

Context matters.

For more examples of why context matters, such as the widow’s mite, the love chapter, and all  things work together for good, click here.

What it Means for the Word to Dwell Among Us

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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

John saw fit to introduce his portrait of Jesus in this way, and you might be among those blessed for believing it, without having personally seen it (John 20:29). But do you know what this means? Do you? It means you are ceremonially pure and holy, without trace of defilement from your past choices. It means you were not irrevocably disqualified by the abuse you suffered. It means God remembers you daily and singles you out for particular affection. It means you shine with his glory, your nakedness has been adequately clothed, and your life is never really in question.

But how can this be so?

John’s Introduction of Moses’ Tabernacle

In the prologue to his Gospel, John clearly has two things in mind: the creation of the world and the tabernacle of Moses. I’ll come back to the creation in a bit, but let me list the evidence for my latter claim:

  • He mentions the giving of the law through Moses in John 1:17. And though Moses was given the Book of the Covenant (Ex 20-23) with its ethical instruction (Ex 24:7), the longer work of “law” he was handed on Mt. Sinai was the blueprint for the tabernacle (Ex 25-31, especially Ex 31:18).
  • “We have seen his glory” (John 1:14). Moses asked to see God’s glory (Ex 33:18), in between the tabernacle instructions (Ex 25-31) and the tabernacle construction (Ex 35-39).
  • “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). “Grace and truth” summarizes the “name” God revealed to Moses on that mountain (Ex 34:6), again between the tabernacle instruction and construction.
  • “We have seen his glory” (John 1:14). “Glory” is what was visible on top of the mountain (Ex 24:17) and came to dwell within the tabernacle (Ex 40:34-35).
  • Greek scholars regularly note that the word for “dwelt” (John 1:14) is the verb form of the word for “tabernacle.” Some go as far as to translate John 1:14 as “and tabernacled among us.”

So John clearly has Moses’ tabernacle in mind from the start, at least in the paragraph of John 1:14-18.

John’s Development of Moses’ Tabernacle

John doesn’t stop alluding to the tabernacle after that intro paragraph. Not only does he make explicit reference to Jesus’ body as a new temple (John 2:19-21), but he also develops many themes from the tabernacle description in Exodus. I’ve been working through the book of Exodus with some sample Bible studies. Now that I’ve gotten to the end of the tabernacle instructions, it’s a good time to reflect on how John uses this material for his purposes.

Many have taken note of the seven “I am” statements throughout John’s Gospel. But have you ever noticed their connection to Moses’ tabernacle, at least for the first few?

  • I am the bread of life (John 6:35), like the bread of the Presence set on God’s tables regularly (Ex 25:30).
  • I am the light of the world (John 8:12), like the lamps that cast their light on the holy space (Ex 25:37) and must burn every evening (Ex 27:20-21).
  • I am the door (John 10:9), like the only entrance to the courtyard (Ex 27:16) or to the tent itself (Ex 26:36-37).
  • I am the good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11), a composite image showing Jesus to be both priest (Ex 28:31-35, 42-43) and sacrificial substitute (Ex 29:10-14).

Eric Golub (2012), Creative Commons

I confess the connection is either absent or much less clear with “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25-26), “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) and “the true vine” (John 15:1). But the Exodus/tabernacle imagery never really goes away in the narrative.

  • Jesus speaks with an authority greater than that of Moses, speaking of God’s commandment, which is eternal life (John 12:49-50).
  • His presence with them leads him to give a new commandment (John 13:33-35).
  • Jesus prepares a place in his Father’s house, where there are many rooms (John 14:1).
  • Jesus acts like a high priest when he prays for his people (John 17).
  • Like Yahweh in the burning bush, Jesus terrifies people by speaking his name, “I AM” (John 18:5-6).
  • Jesus times the very hour of his conviction to the timing of the Passover festival (John 19:14).

And then, at the story’s climax, John paints a picture of a new Holy of Holies, with a new mercy seat—the place where Jesus’ body had lain—all decked out with two angels, one on one side, and one on the other (John 20:12). Don’t miss the allusion to the ark of the covenant! Full access has now been granted to God’s people. Not to a high priest on a high holy day, but to a woman who loved her lord (and to the rest of us who likewise love him). We have now truly seen his glory, full of grace and truth.

The Tabernacle and the Creation of the World

I write these things not to amaze you with elusive mysteries or secret knowledge. I do it simply because we’re usually not familiar enough with the tabernacle narratives to catch the allusions.

And let me take it one more step. Through my study of Exodus, I’ve been arguing that the tabernacle is pictured as a re-creation of the world, a starting over of God’s people in relationship with their Father. If we were already familiar with this idea from Exodus, we would quickly see John trace out the same connection.

John is concerned from chapter 1 with not only the tabernacle but also the creation.

  • He starts right where Genesis 1 starts: “In the beginning” (Gen 1:1, John 1:1).
  • He calls Jesus the Word, just as God “spoke” creation into existence (Gen 1:3, John 1:1).
  • He identifies Jesus as the Creator God (John 1:3).
  • Just as the creation in Genesis begins with light (Gen 1:3), leading to life (Gen 1:20, 21, 24, 25, 30, etc.), so also Jesus brings light and life in John (John 1:4-5).
  • In Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). In John Jesus comes from heaven to earth to reveal God (John 1:9, 3:31, 6:41, etc.).
  • Just as God creates the world in seven days (Gen 1:1-2:3), John now shows Jesus beginning his work over the course of seven days (John 1:28, 29, 35, 43; 2:1).

So when we reach the story’s climax, we have not only a new Holy of Holies (John 20:12), but also a new Man and a new Woman in a Garden, drawing near to God and preparing to rule and subdue the earth (John 20:15-18).

So What?

Please let these things motivate you when you hit the hard parts of the Bible, such as the tabernacle instructions. They’re here for a reason, and, if you have eyes to see, they will explain marvelous things about the person and work of Christ. When you read that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, make sure to step back and get a clear handle on what it really means.

When Being “Christ-Centered” Goes Too Far

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Writing for Logos Bible software, Mark Ward summarizes an article from a recent theological journal, explaining the unhelpful extreme side of “Christ-centeredness.”

I think the swing [away from Christ-less moralizing] has done great good: American Christianity has indeed suffered under man-centered readings of the Bible which offer all law and no gospel, all duty and no delight, all rules and no relationship. And yet the ease with which I just tossed off those three slogans points to the pendulum problem: any time a movement reaches the slogan-generating stage, people will go trampling over necessary nuances to grab their party’s banners and wave them at their enemies. Pretty soon the pendulum picks up so much speed that it whooshes way past plumb.

Ward then summarizes a theological journal article which analyzes Psalm 15 and shows us how to read it in its original context. There ought to be a category in our thinking for “meaningful if imperfect obedience,” as we see on the part of Noah, Simeon, and others. Being Christ-centered does not mean we speak only of our sins and failures.

Check it out!