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Did you know God is calling you to be a witness? Hear how God used two unlikely witnesses to show His power over darkness and death and how He wants to use you to do the same.
Podcast Transcript:
Intro
Hi friend, I’m Brigette Henry. And you’re listening to the One Spiritual Journey podcast where I share stories from my spiritual journey and teach you how to walk closer with God on your spiritual journey. I’m so glad you’re here because that means you want a deeper relationship with God. In Colossians 1:28, Paul says,
“We proclaim Him warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
And that’s my goal for this ministry: to help present you mature in Christ. So, grab your coffee, or your tea if you’re a tea addict like me, and let’s dive into today’s topic.
Spiritual Warfare
I have a word for you today. And I know it is a word, because I feel like I have experienced so much spiritual warfare today it’s not even funny. I woke up with a migraine and I haven’t had a migraine in over a week. I actually thought that I might have been experiencing some sort of miraculous healing. I wasn’t sure. It’s crazy that I haven’t had one in over a week. And then, this morning I woke up with one so that was just really discouraging.
And then I went out and got myself a speeding ticket. First time I’ve been pulled over in 14 years. It was totally an accident. I thought that the speed limit was 10 miles an hour higher than it was and because I was going more than 10 over, the cop didn’t really have a choice. He had to give me a ticket. He was so sweet and so apologetic. And I was like, you’re just doing your job. It’s totally fine! It was actually a really sweet interaction, I felt like. I hope it blessed him that I wasn’t super angry. And I really appreciated that he was really patient with me because I was a little emotional. Although I’m not sure I showed it.
But anyway, I just feel like there’s been a lot of friction as I’ve tried to sit down and record this today. And this was really powerful when I discovered it so I think that God wants me to share this with you. So, here we go!
The Healings of Jesus
I have been studying the healings of Jesus. And part of that is because of my struggles with my migraines. I wanted to read more about Jesus and how He healed. And I was reading through the story of the woman who bled for twelve years and the young girl that died that Jesus brought back to life. Jairus’s daughter. He was a leader in the synagogue.
Anyway, I was reading that story in Luke 8 and I found something similar between the story of the woman who was bleeding and Jairus’s daughter. I want to see if you can figure out what stood out to me. This is Luke 8:40-56:
“When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Just then, a man named Jairus came. He was a leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’s feet and pleaded with him to come to his house, because he had an only daughter about twelve years old, and she was dying.” (vv. 40-42)
The Woman With the Issue Of Blood
“While he was going, the crowds were nearly crushing him. A woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years, who had spent all she had on doctors and yet could not be healed by any, approached from behind and touched the end of his robe. Instantly her bleeding stopped.
‘Who touched me?’ Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you.’
‘Someone did touch me,’ said Jesus. ‘I know that power has gone out from me.‘ When the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling and fell down before him. In the presence of all the people, she declared the reason she had touched him and how she was instantly healed. ‘Daughter,’ he said to her, ‘your faith has saved you. Go in peace.'” (vv. 43-48)
The Young Girl Raised to Life
“While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore.’
When Jesus heard it, he answered him, ‘Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.‘ After he came to the house, he let no one enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother. Everyone was crying and mourning for her. But he said, ‘Stop crying, because she is not dead but asleep.’
They laughed at him, because they knew she was dead. So he took her by the hand and called out, ‘Child, get up!’ Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. Then he gave orders that she be given something to eat. Her parents were astounded, but he instructed them to tell no one what had happened.” (vv. 49-56)
The Number “12”
So, that was Luke 8:40-56. What stuck out to you in that passage? So what stuck out to me in that passage is the number 12.
I’ve been doing the Revelation study by Jen Wilken with a group of women from my church. And there is a lot of symbolism with numbers in Revelation. And so, my eyes have kind of been opened and I’ve been kin of paying attention to how numbers show up through the rest of scripture. Because the Hebrews used this sort of numeric symbolism. So they would use different numbers as symbols. And according to Jen Wilken, “12” is a symbol of a “double measure of human witness.” Now, let me explain what that “double measure of human witness” means because I was a little confused when I first read that.
“6” times “2”
The number “6” is symbolic of a human being. And “2” is the lowest number of witnesses you had to have according to the Law of Moses to convict somebody. So, for example, in Deuteronomy 17:6 it says,
“On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.” (ESV)
So you had to have two witnesses in order to convict somebody of wrongdoing. In a similar way, you have to have two witnesses in order to bear testimony and be believed that something good has happened. And so we take the “6”, which is symbolic of a human being, and we multiply it by “2” and we get “12”. So “12” is symbolic of the fullness of human witness. Essentially, that the witness that is provided is sufficient.
So when the number “12” is used in this passage, remember the young girl was twelve years old and the woman who bled had bled for twelve years? I don’t think that was an accident. God doesn’t do coincidences. And so I don’t think that was an accident. I believe it was intentional and I believe that God is saying that these women and these miracles are sufficient witness for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
God Chose Women
Now, here is the part that really gets me. This is why this is so powerful. According to the Oral Jewish tradition, this is not the law given by God, but the law built by Jewish religious leaders, women did not count as witnesses. They could not bear witness to anything. Their witness could not be counted.
So when God chose two women and strategically places a total of twelve years in each of their stories, He is making a statement. He is saying, I have chosen these two witnesses, and they are sufficient.
I’m getting a little emotional as I say that. As a woman….I don’t want this to become a huge feminist thing. That’s not my intention here. But as a woman, have you ever experienced someone not believing your testimony, or not believing your word, because you were a woman? Like, someone not trusting you because you were a woman? I don’t think I know a woman that has not happened to at some point in their lives. And it is painful and invalidating to have someone not believe you because you are a woman. But God chose women not just here as witnesses but in other places in scripture. Mary was the first to see Jesus after the resurrection (John 20:11-18). It wasn’t one of the disciples. It was a woman. And the woman at the well was the first missionary.
Three Takeaways
There is so much to takeaway from this story and it is so powerful on its own. But I want to dig in a little deeper and pull out three takeaways about God and about Who He is and how He works.
God Chooses Who He Chooses
The first one is that God chooses who He chooses. He could have healed men, but He chose to heal women. The concept of God choosing whomever He chooses makes me think of Moses and Aaron. So at my church, on Sunday mornings, we’ve been going through the beginning of Exodus. And I’ve been studying Exodus a little bit on my own.
It strikes me as interesting that God chose Moses. And this is why. If you’re not familiar with Moses and Aaron at all, look at the beginning, the first few chapters of Exodus, but this is basically what’s going on. God chose Moses to bring the Israelites, His chosen people, out of Egypt. They were slaves in Egypt, and God said, Moses, I’m going to use you to get them out.
And Moses said, I’m not the right person. I can’t speak well. You need to pick somebody else.
Aaron’s Obedience
Moses makes all of these excuses repeatedly. But his brother Aaron does not. There is no documented case of him making an excuse, at least during this period of their story.
So Moses is out in the wilderness, and God comes to Aaron, I believe in a dream. And He says, I need you to go out into the wilderness by this mountain and meet your brother Moses.
Now, a couple of important details here. Aaron was a slave in Egypt. So if he left Egypt without permission, he could die. He could be killed if he was found out. Another important detail is that Aaron had not seen Moses for 40 years. And there were probably quite a few people who thought Moses had wandered into the wilderness and died. So Aaron doesn’t even know if his brother is alive and he could die for obeying God. But he does it anyway. There is no record of him questioning it.
And there’s more than that. Because Moses says, God, I can’t speak, and God says, your brother Aaron will speak, and Aaron speaks. He does not question God. He says what God wants him to say.Even when Aaron is getting a second-hand account. He’s getting it from Moses; He’s not even getting it directly from God, and still, Aaron obeys. Aaron also does the miracles in front of Pharaoh. That, technically speaking, Moses was supposed to do.
But God Chose Moses
And so my question is, God, why would you choose Moses?
Now, some people might say, well there’s the whole golden calf incident, like, 20 chapters later. And that’s true. Maybe it was forethought on God’s part. We don’t know. But at the time, if you were just looking at that part, that piece of their lives, you would ask the same question: Why did God choose Moses and not Aaron? Aaron is obedient, Aaron is present, and Aaron does all the right things. And Moses doesn’t. He just complains and says he can’t do it. And he whines. Why would God choose Moses?
We don’t know why God chooses who He chooses. But He chooses who He chooses. And if God has chosen you, it’s not for you to question why He’s chosen you. It’s just not. We don’t know what God knows. We don’t understand the grander plan, the bigger plan that He has in store. So our best move is to obey Him and follow through.
Our God is a god of Order
The second takeaway I have from this passage is our God is a god of order. The way that the number “12” is included in this passage, the young girl is 12 years old and then the woman has been bleeding for 12 years, it shows a sense of order and intention in how God knit this story together.
The “Chaos” Waters
It reminds me of God pushing back the waters in Genesis 1. So, in Genesis 1, it talks about how God pushed back the waters into their place. And He created space between the waters in the heaven and the waters below. And waters in scripture are often symbolic of “chaos”. And it’s actually really cool. I don’t want to get too deep into it, but I do just want to share this. At the beginning of scripture, we see a description of the world. Even before creation began the description of the world says that God was hovering over the face of the deep, or the face of the waters. Essentially, God is hovering over the chaos.
And then in Revelation 22:1 it says, “the sea was no more.” The “chaos” is no more. That’s what that means. The chaos will be no more. There’s chaos at the beginning, and God orders it. And at the end, He’s going to destroy it. It is so cool to study water in scripture and God uses that as this image of chaos that He is over, that He is in control of.
Order and Intention
Our God is a god of order, and the way that this story is told indicates that God has intention. Even to the point that it’s possible He could have gotten to Jairus’s house in time to heal his daughter if He had not stopped to talk to this woman who had touched His robe. But He did, and Jairus’s daughter died, and Jesus resurrected her. There is intention to every little piece of this story.
God is On His Own Timing
And that brings me to point number three: God is on His own timing. I just talked about how it’s possible He could have made it to Jairus’s house in time. But also, let’s talk about the fact that the woman with the issue of bleeding bled for twelve years. Twelve years. I don’t think we can pretend that that’s not intentional. Because the girl was twelve years old, and this woman bled for twelve years. And if we just wanted to stick to numbers, you know, she could have bled for twelve days. Although I don’t think anybody would have really noticed that. I mean, that is a long time but it would have been over and done with. She would have moved on. It could have been twelve months, but we would have just looked at that as a year. No, it had to be twelve years.
And can you imagine, just for a second think about some of the ways that you are experiencing suffering. Do you think that this woman ever became aware that there might have been a reason why she bled for exactly twelve years? Not ten years, not fourteen years, but twelve years?
His Ways Are Not Our Ways
In Isaiah 55:8, it says,
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” (ESV)
This is such a bizarre thing to find in scripture, I feel like. To realize that these are two stories of two women that collided. And this similarity of the twelve years in both of them. It’s such a bizarre story. And yet, it shows us that God is intentional. That He has His own timing. That He is a God of order and that He chooses to do things the way He chooses.
Our ways are not His ways. His ways are not our ways. We cannot fully understand why God does what He does, but, He has a plan. It’s not mindless. He’s not playing around with humanity. There is intention behind it.
God is Intentional
And here is what I want you to get if you don’t get anything else out of today: God is intentional. And He has a plan and a purpose for your life and every inch of it was designed to bear witness and give testimony to His faithful love and truth. In the moments when you feel unsure know that He is with you and your struggles and challenges are part of a bigger plan.
If you are saved, if you recognize Christ as your Savior, He has chosen you as His witness. He has chosen you to bear witness and bear testimony to Who He is and what He has done for you.
God does not make mistakes. He does not mis-choose His witnesses, His people. It doesn’t work that way. He has chosen you for a reason to be His witness. And there are so many different ways we can do that, but one of the biggest ways we can do that is just by living our life mirroring God.
By being intentional the way God is intentional. By accepting that He is faithful and true and that we are part of a bigger plan. Rather than just thinking about our small part of the world remember that we are part of His bigger plan. Remembering that He is on His own timing and that He is a God of order, not chaos. So when things around us look chaotic we can remember that God is bringing things into order. Even if it doesn’t seem like it.
You have been chosen as His witness. He has chosen you. How can you walk faithfully through that choice today? How can you walk forward as a witness of Jesus Christ and everything He has done in your life today?
Outro
Thanks for joining me today! If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like, follow, and comment so I can help women become mature in Christ. A few things before I go:
First, I would love if you prayed for me, my ministry and the women I impact whenever you get a chance. And if you need some help, I have prayers on my website you can pray over each of those things.
You can find links to the resources I mentioned today in the show notes. If anything is missing, or if you have any questions, please email me at brigette@brigettehenry.com. My name is spelled differently, so you can also find that email link in the show notes.
If we haven’t connected yet, let’s connect! You can follow me on Instagram for encouragement and to see the behind-the-scenes of my spiritual journey. I also have a weekly email newsletter if you would like to get updates on new podcast episodes, access to my freebie library, and more! You can find links to all those things in the show notes.
Lastly, if you are located near Northeast Ohio, I’m working to establish myself as a speaker. If your church has any upcoming women’s events, I would love to be your speaker! You can contact me through the link in the show notes.
Thanks for listening to One Spiritual Journey. I hope to hear from you soon! Bye!
Links:
Things I Mentioned Today:
Revelation Study by Jen Wilken: https://shorturl.at/VSfHz
Connect With Me:
Contact me: brigette@brigettehenry.com
Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/onespiritualjourney
Join my mailing list: https://brigettehenry.com/subscribe
Other Fun Links:
Visit my website: https://brigettehenry.com
Freebie Library: https://brigettehenry.com/freebies
Subscribe for Access to the Freebie Library: https://brigettehenry.com/subscribe
Self-Care Worksheet: https://brigettehenry.com/freebies
The RENEW Study: https://brigettehenry.com/freebies
Notes:
Music by AudioCoffee via Pixabay
All scripture is CSB (Christian Standard Bible) unless otherwise noted. Several passages in today’s podcast were from the ESV (English Standard Version). See the transcript listed below for specifics
All Greek word definitions come from Strong’s Definitions. You can get access to this resource and more at blueletterbible.org.
Find the transcript for this episode at: https://brigettehenry.com/how-to-practice-sabbath-rest
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