Lesson 4 | Discern the Core Issue
What’s at Stake: The Message of the Text
Gain:
Eyes to see
The ultimate aim of Bible study is to rightly grasp the message of the text so that our lives might be ordered accordingly. Rightly grasping the message—that is what we are after. And it only comes by the Holy Spirit and careful reading of the Bible. Both are necessary. Simeon, the old man waiting in the temple in Luke 2, is a beautiful example of someone who got the message right.
While the Spirit had uniquely revealed to Simeon that he would not see death before he had seen the Messiah, Simeon understood the Messiah’s mission from Scripture itself. The words of his blessing are thoroughly rooted in the themes and thought of the Old Testament prophets, especially the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah painted a full-color portrait of a Servant-Messiah who would redeem Israel from the futility of their sin (Isa 40:1–5; 44:21–23; 53:4–6). And this, not just for the Jews of Israel, but for the sake of the Gentiles as well (Isa 42:6; 49:6; 52:10; 60:3). Simeon rightly grasped Isaiah’s message. And his reward was genuine spiritual insight into the work of God in the world.
Loss:
Spiritual blindness
In complete contrast to Simeon, the Pharisees entirely missed the point—of Isaiah and all the OT. These were the so-called experts in the Law. They could recite it verbatim. The could wax eloquently on every detail. But they did not grasp its message!
The Pharisees suffered from spiritual blindness rooted in faithlessness. Although they were incredibly diligent students of the Scriptures, their study was focused on minutia; their attitude was self-serving; their aim was self-justification. Devoid of the Spirit, they were utterly blind to the message of the Scriptures they so vigorously claimed allegiance to.
Such is the end of all who reject the One to whom the Law and the Prophets point, Jesus Messiah.