I teach Old Testament to 7th graders and love relying on the Lord to guide and direct me on how to creatively teach his precious, holy, powerful, true, and relevant Word to middle schoolers in an academic setting. I want his Word to come alive to my students. I want them to see how Christ is the fulfillment of every OT story God has given us. I want them to understand how to read God’s Word and apply it to their daily lives. I want them to see that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was relevant then and is relevant now.
My students’ questions help me realize where I need to stop and slow down. I can anticipate some questions as a Bible teacher of middle school students, but not all of them because, like all of us, they are at different points in their walk with the Lord. I recently had a 7th grade student ask why God doesn’t speak to us now like he did to his people in the Old Testament. The student followed his initial question with another one. “Why doesn’t God speak to me through my dresser like he spoke to Moses through a burning bush?” I replied, “He does still speak to his people now, and
it’s better than a dresser or a burning bush
because we have access to his voice anytime through his Word. To hear his voice, though, we have to practice listening to him through his Word.”
I read Isaiah 55 the other day, and something struck me. Isaiah 55:10-11 says,
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
In these verses, the prophet Isaiah teaches us about God’s word. We learn that God’s word – comes down from heaven, waters, causing growth and flourishing, that it nourishes, is from him, does not return to him empty, and it accomplished what God desires it to accomplish.
What struck me was how Isaiah 55:10-11 is true of Jesus as well. John teaches us that Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh (John 1:1-14). Jesus fulfills all Scripture because he is the Word in the flesh. He not only proclaimed the message of the gospel. He is the message! So, if you take Isaiah 55:10-11 about the Word of God and apply it to Jesus (which we can do according to Scripture), then we know that –
Jesus came down from heaven like rain and snow (and one glorious day, he’s coming down again!)
Jesus waters us, makes us grow and flourish.
Jesus nourishes us.
Jesus is God and came from God.
Jesus went out of heaven from the mouth of God. He did not return to the Lord empty. He accomplished his purpose. Jesus achieved what God sent him to achieve – salvation for mankind.
And, this God who came to the earth to accomplish salvation speaks to us today, and it’s even better than speaking to Moses through a burning bush (Exodus 3) or cutting a covenant with Abraham as a smoking fire pot (Genesis 15:17) or speaking through prophets because now, since the coming of Christ, God speaks to us directly through Jesus, his Word (Hebrews 1:1-2). Do you hear him? Open his Word. Hear what he has to say. It’s not easy, but it’s better than him speaking through a dresser. God is constantly speaking through his Word. All we have to do is listen.