Pure Faith: A Bible Discussion Podcast
Pure Faith: A Bible Discussion Podcast
Matthew 5:1-10...Part 5 - A Comprehensive Look at Faith: Grief, Freedom and Symbolism
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Ever found yourself pondering the intricate connection between our emotional and intellectual response to faith? That's exactly what we're unpacking in our latest chat. Clustered around the proverbial kitchen table, we send out warm wishes to Caitlin and Remington, soon to tie the knot, and tumble down memory lane, reliving those childhood summers spent cherry picking. We also share some snippets from our week, including Daniel's intriguing conversation, Zeke's podcast endeavors, and a particularly gripping debate over two-color cheese.
We then transition to the meatier part of our dialogue, dissecting the concept of mourning in relation to the poor in spirit. How does this tie into the emotional and intellectual aspects of faith? We turn to John 20:29 and Isaiah 61:1-3 for an insightful peek into the biblical definition of faith and the liberating sensation of freeing those poor in spirit from the shackles of sin. The journey doesn't stop there. We delve deeper, exploring the symbolic layers hidden in Isaiah's ashes, which represent the ancient posture of mourning and the inner turmoil of grief.
As we approach the end, we contemplate the beautiful transformation from ashes to a headdress, oil of gladness, and a garment of praise. This change symbolizes joy, happiness, and thankfulness, hallmarks of the freedom and liberty offered through Christ. It's a stunning culmination that ties the intellectual and emotional aspects of faith together, providing a comprehensive definition of religion. As we wrap up, we express our sincere gratitude to you, our listeners, and invite you to join us in this meaningful discourse. Shoot us your thoughts, questions, or feedback, and remember to keep the faith. Have a blessed day!
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Pure Faith Podcast, a podcast where we discuss all things Bible. I'm your host, michelle Waymeyer, and this is my brother and co-host, mitchell Highcamp. Oh, should we ask that you like this video? Subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification icon to be notified when new releases, new episodes, are released.
Speaker 2There it is.
Speaker 1There it is Yay, yay. So, first and foremost, i think we need to send out a congratulations, okay.
Speaker 2Are we talking about for the wedding?
Speaker 1Yeah. Would there be any other reason I should?
Speaker 2be congratulating.
Speaker 1I don't know, not you. No, we've got a church family wedding. So congratulations to Caitlin and to Remington. They are getting married this coming Saturday, which will be a week from this podcast release, right, it's like a week later. They'll be already married when you Yeah, that's how many of you see this in my video? But no, we're very excited about celebrating with them and them joining together as husband and wife. So congratulations to them, congratulations, yay, and we'll be patiently waiting for babies.
Speaker 2I have no preference, or died.
Speaker 1Oh, you don't care at all. No, oh, no.
Speaker 2You do your thing.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's not even their plan, it's God's plan, right? So whatever happens happens. But our nephew, caleb is in the wedding, so we're very excited about him, and Remington have become very close the last couple of years, so it's exciting to see him in this wedding as well. So, yeah, congratulations everyone. What else is going on? Nothing.
Speaker 2Not really Just work.
Speaker 1Just work.
Speaker 2They're just picking cherries tonight.
Speaker 1Is she? Yeah, she's gonna make some cherry pies. Where's she picking cherries at?
Speaker 2At a cherry tree sis.
Speaker 1I didn't know. They had a cherry tree, two of them Two. Remember when we used to pick cherries at Ralph and Diane's. Did you ever pick cherries there?
Speaker 2Uh-uh.
Speaker 1OK, so Grandma Conk would take us over to Ralph and Diane's. They had cherry trees there And we would pick buckets and buckets of cherries And then we would freeze them. We'd put them in the deep freeze outside in our garage And then in the summertime Missy loved them she would go out and because we would put I guess we would put like water in with them. I don't know It's making them like an icy.
Speaker 2Remember the peaches.
Speaker 1Yeah, we did it with cherries all the time.
Speaker 2So you don't remember the cherries.
Speaker 1Yeah, so we would freeze them. Missy loved them. She would just get them right out of the deep freeze and eat them, you know, just for a summertime snack, so but we used to do that. I mean, i just remember a handful of times that we went over there and had to get the ladders out and pick the cherries. So yeah, fun memories For me. I don't have any memories of that. Yeah, grandma would, actually she would can peaches, she would freeze peaches, cherries.
Speaker 2Yeah, dad always loved the frozen peaches.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Remember that. Yeah, actually like them too, do you Just not something I normally do?
Speaker 1No, and I think that AJ Dylan's wife, i think that she gets peaches and I think she does that, and I'm wondering if they do cherries. I vaguely remember Dylan telling me that he remembered frozen cherries, and I thought he said that he did that as well, but I can't remember now. So, but I don't have any cherries and I don't use cherries for much of anything.
Speaker 2So yeah, yeah, i mean either.
Speaker 1Yeah, they're kind of tart.
Speaker 2They are.
Speaker 1Yeah, daniel, i like to try some, though I don't know, we'll see. Okay, yeah, i always pick the cherry off my Sunday. Oh wait, i don't need ice cream.
Speaker 2Oh I do?
Speaker 1Do you pick the cherry off your ice cream?
Speaker 2And I don't get ice cream with cherries in it Gotcha Should have known. Just chocolate and sometimes bean weather.
Speaker 1You know what I really like, though Cherry cheesecake. That's good, i like cheesecake. This is What are we talking? about food, I know, Because I again have not had dinner. I eat after the podcast.
Speaker 2I haven't had dinner either, i just had ice cream.
Speaker 1But you've had ice cream?
Speaker 2I haven't had You're at first, why won't you?
Speaker 1I eat lunch about two o'clock, so I had some lunch at two and then I waited to eat when I get home. So anyhow, so yeah, so interesting enough. I find this interesting. Daniel had messaged me over the weekend and said that one of his friends was asking the name of our podcast, so two things came to light there. A he's talking to girls.
Speaker 2That's not a surprise.
Speaker 1If you know Daniel, you know he's talking to girls, but it was the fact that they actually talked about it, isn't that interesting. I didn't ask him how the conversation came up, but he just he sent me a message while he was with a group of friends and said mom, what's the name of the podcast that you do again? And so I told him and he's like, oh, thanks, so-and-so, was asking me, and I was like that's very interesting that you guys are talking about podcasts and my mom does a Bible study podcast And she wants to check it out.
Speaker 2Pretty sure Zeke doesn't know what a podcast is.
Speaker 1Zeke.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Well, he's only four, you should know, I mean, oh, ps, i've got Mitchell's boys this Saturday, yeah.
Speaker 2Wish me luck. Well, by the time I see this, it will already be over.
Speaker 1I know right. I hope I'm back next week. I need to go get-.
Speaker 2You'll do fine.
Speaker 1I need to go get. I need to go get two-color cheese.
Speaker 2That's true.
Speaker 1So I'm planning to do that tomorrow morning, because I heard about this two-color cheese I'm supposed to have at my house.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1And we got to feed the toad.
Speaker 2Oh, they're probably excited about that.
Speaker 1Oh yes, Mitchell and Zeke found a toad. He was so excited about this toad. So we have this toad and we've been feeding it and taking care of it. So when they come over on Saturday, I'm sure it's going to be a hunt for bugs to feed the toad. We'll leave that with Uncle Don. Aunt Shell doesn't do that type of stuff.
Speaker 2Oh good, I'm just glad that.
Speaker 1So our toad passed away about a month ago. I guess now We had it for about 23 years and it was a very sad day when toadie passed away And Zeke and well more Zeke than Eli would help Uncle Don feed the toad when they were at our house.
Speaker 2So when you came across it, Zeke goes toadie didn't die, He just came out here. Like you're right, Zeke, We better catch him so we can go back home.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh, that's so funny.
Speaker 2So that we got.
Speaker 1Yep, and now he is living at our house, yay.
Speaker 2Don't act like you're not happy.
Speaker 1I am happy for all the people who love the toad. Okay, yeah, all right, so are we going to do Bible study today?
Speaker 2I don't know. Do we have to?
Speaker 1I know right, It's just one of those days, isn't it It?
Speaker 2is I'm tired.
Speaker 1Oh, you work hard, i work. Well, that's good, something I could do.
Speaker 2I go there.
Speaker 1And then you leave there and you come here and you're filthy.
Speaker 2I am pretty dirty.
Speaker 1Yeah, i don't think the camera can catch all that. No, actually You smell like, like, like, yeah, oil and shop, and I can honestly tell you that That's not getting ready. Right now At least, it's not terrible. But yeah, that's, that's the. I think it's actually giving my dibs a bit of a glean. Oh it is. You're so crazy.
Speaker 2I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1Oh it is, You're so crazy. Oh my goodness. All right All right, let's get into it. I did set my alarm, so you're looking at 24 minutes to get into Matthew one. Wait, where are we?
Speaker 2Matthew four, matthew, five, four, matthew five, four, yeah, so we are on blaster Those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Speaker 2And that's just a little bit. We started to get into this on our last episode And the biggest thing that we started looking at was the fact that this concept of mourning, it isn't necessarily the fact that you're mourning over the fact that you lost a one or something like that. It's more of the mourning in the, in the realm of you have a broken relationship with the Lord and you are mourning over that broken relationship where you're mourning over the fact that you want to get into this. You're mourning over the fact that you want a closer and deeper relationship. So it's, i mean, the whole idea of mourning over loved ones, over pain and suffering. Yes, that is included too, but it's more than just that. Like most of these, it's not just your, your typical top. you know the first thought. it's deeper than that. There's always more to it than what you just see on the surface.
Speaker 1And rightfully so. I never thought of it being other than the way I look at mourning. So when, when I see this, i'm like, oh my gosh this. This is why we do a Bible study.
Speaker 2So yeah, so we're going to pick up where we left off last week.
Speaker 1And we talked about all that.
Speaker 2Are we starting like?
Speaker 1BC or on C. Okay, I was going to say because we've already done most of that.
Speaker 2So this idea of mourning it kind of goes hand in hand with what we talked about, I think, in the last two episodes about the porn spirit.
Speaker 1Yeah, porn spirit.
Speaker 2So about verse three, so this idea of mourning and being porn spirit, they both go hand in hand. And verse three, when we're talking about the porn spirit, that has to do with more of the mindset. So it's your mindset of accepting Christ as the Son of God and choosing to live your life in a way that is focused on God. So it's more of an intellectual aspect of that, where here, in verse four, this is more about the feeling aspect of it. It's that feeling of mourning, you know, that feeling of desire to have that relationship with the Lord, so it's more of an emotional aspect of it. So it's these two aspects, it's this, verse three being the intellectual aspect of faith and now verse four being the emotional aspect of faith. And to take that even a step further, you know what is faith?
Speaker 1What is the?
Speaker 2biblical definition of faith. Well, we get that from John 20, 29. And the biblical definition of faith is believing with us seeing, because in John 20, that is the story of doubting Thomas.
Speaker 1Okay, where.
Speaker 2Jesus went to go visit the disciples, but Thomas wasn't with them. And so the disciples told Thomas like, hey, you know, jesus is risen. He came to visit us And Thomas was like, unless I can put my fingers in the nail holes in his hands and the nail hole or the hole in the side, i'm not going to believe you guys. Well, jesus came to visit them again. Thomas was there And Jesus was like Thomas, put your fingers in the holes in my hands and put your fingers in the hole in my side. And you know, thomas' response was my Lord, my God. And Jesus says you have seen, so you believe.
Speaker 2Blessed are those who believe without seeing. So that is where we get this idea of faith. So verse three is this intellectual aspect of faith. So it's this whole idea of like we talked about multiple times now. It's about living your life focused on God and then having that faith, so believing in God without seeing. And so now verse four this idea of mourning is the emotional aspect of that believing without seeing. So we can see this, and I kind of hinted at this last episode a couple of weeks ago, but that we can see this whole relationship a little bit clearer in Isaiah 61, 1-3.
Speaker 2So I'm going to read this And then we're going to kind of do a breakdown there. So this reads The Spirit of the Lord, god is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our Lord, of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. The oil of gladness instead of excuse me, the oil of gladness instead of mourning. The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified.
Speaker 2So if we break this down, then here we see, isaiah says that he is bringing good news to the poor. Well, in most cases, biblically speaking, poor whenever it talks about poor, that means the poor in spirit, because Isaiah isn't saying that he's taking this good news to just everybody who has a small bank account. So this is about those who don't have, who are poor in spirit. We've discussed that over and over again, so I won't go any deeper into that. But this is who this poor is. Is that poor in spirit? And then he also says that he's going to bind up the broken hearted.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2Well, what does that mean? So to bind up? that is just another way of saying gather. So if you want to bind something together, you're gathering it together to bind it up. But then brokenhearted Well, what's another way of saying brokenhearted is somebody who is in mourning, So he is gathering up those who are in mourning. So that's what this is saying. But then it says that he is going to bring liberty and release captives. So who is Isaiah speaking about here?
Speaker 1That's a great question.
Speaker 2So it goes back to what we were just talking about. He's talking about those that are poor in spirit.
Speaker 1Okay. They're captive in it.
Speaker 2Because they are captive, because it is those that are bound up in that prison of mourning.
Speaker 1Right, okay.
Speaker 2So, when we kind of talked about this last week or in our last episode, what causes mourning?
Speaker 1It's a separation from God, yeah, from you and God.
Speaker 2And then what causes that separation Sin?
Speaker 2Typically It could be other things, but typically sin. So therefore, this is referring to the poor in spirit. Again, this is that intellectual aspect of faith, so living your life in a way that is focused on God and choosing to do that, so these poor in spirit are being released from the prison of sin, which causes our mourning, and then that idea of our mourning is that whole emotional aspect of it. So, after Isaiah kind of talks about this, so he's going to bring good news to those that are poor in spirit, and then that good news is that he is going to release them from that prison of sin Well, then he goes on to say that, basically, what's going to happen after you accept this? Okay, okay, like after I give you this good news and you choose to accept it, then he kind of goes through three different things that are going to change in their lives, basically Okay. So the first one is that he is he said that he is going to give them a beautiful head dress, that of ashes- I see this.
Speaker 2So all three of these, they're kind of like I mean kind of weird Like, because we don't talk like this.
Speaker 1No no.
Speaker 2Like we don't wear head.
Speaker 1No, no, we do not.
Symbolic Meanings in Isaiah's Ashes
Speaker 2We don't. If we're doing anything with ashes, we're throwing them out, cleaning up the fireplace or whatever. At least we do that. We have to do a little bit of burners. We have to take the ashes out.
Speaker 1We used to do that when we were young.
Speaker 2We did. Yeah, it was kind of like you had to shake her, shake down all the ashes and then take it out.
Speaker 1Yeah, we need to clean it out, anyways, okay.
Speaker 2So yeah, we don't do anything with ashes, really.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 2We don't do anything with ashes, but so we're going to get through and I'm going to explain this. Okay, so the ancient posture of mourning So by that I'm saying back in the ancient Israelite days, whenever they would be in a state of mourning and this is like a state of mourning because they lost a loved one, okay, okay, or they're in grief of some sort, okay And they would typically tear their clothes and then they would put ashes on their head, and this was a way of publicly displaying the fact that they are in mourning.
Speaker 1Okay, okay.
Speaker 2So they had a lot of public display of things which we don't do that.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 2But yes, they did So, and this was one of the things is the whole idea of ashes, the reason they're taking the ashes away. The ashes were a symbol of mourning, And so he is saying that. And to see an example of this I didn't actually write it down, but if you want to look this up yourself, 2nd Samuel 1319 is an example of this whole idea of ashes and tearing your clothes and stuff like that. So Isaiah is saying that the ashes will be removed because there will no longer be a reason for mourning.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2Instead, they will be given a headdress Right. Well, a headdress pack in those days, in that timeframe, it was an again an outward symbol. They're all about outward symbols Right right. Well, that was an outward symbol to represent a time of joy.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2So it was meant to symbolize that you were in a joyous state or you're just having a joyous festivity of some sort, some sort of party, maybe a wedding of some sort. Then they would wear a headdress. So this whole idea of joyous feast or festivities, that carries on into the next one, which is the oil of gladness instead of mourning. So this oil was a perfumed oil or ointment, okay, okay.
Speaker 2That during joyous feast or festivities or whatever, would be poured out onto the guest. So basically, you didn't have to wear perfume because it would be poured on you whenever you get to the party. Come on, take it.
Speaker 1I don't know I was taking it.
Speaker 2But so, yes, that's what this whole idea of the oil is. Again, it is something that is an outward symbol of joy and happiness and festivity and good times And that is replacing mourning. Okay, so again, it's just another symbol of happiness.
Speaker 1Happiness, yes.
Speaker 2And then the third one was a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. So this idea of a garment of praise again is referring to a bright colored garment that people would wear as an outward symbol to indicate thankfulness. So again it is a another positive outward symbol.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2Where a lot of a lot of them. they had a lot of stuff going on back then, Yeah.
Speaker 1A lot of things to draw attention, yeah.
Speaker 2But then obviously oils headdresses. Yeah, but obviously faint spirit, that's just somebody who is. That's another way of saying mourning.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2You're just. You know, normally we say, if you're in good mood, high in spirit or whatever well, a faint spirit means right you're not in high spirits right Low spirits.
Speaker 1But it could change. So that's why it says faint?
Speaker 2because it can always change right, because whenever it's talking about mourning, it is the emotional part of it And that can change. So, to summarize this whole thing, isaiah is going to the porn spirit And that's people who are those who are porn spirit. It is an intellectual aspect of faith. He's going to gather them up, all those that are mourning, and be like you have freedom and and liberty through now. Looking at it from where we're sitting at today, through Christ.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2Now, isaiah, that was all foreshadowing, or not really foreshadowing, a prophecy, so.
Speaker 2but now, where we're at today, we can look back at this and be like okay, so it's talking about Jesus, so Yeah, so it's a combination of the intellectual and emotional aspects that he's really focusing on here, and it's actually those combinations of those two. The reason why I keep hitting this so hard, this whole intellectual and emotional aspects of faith, is because that is where we get our biblical definition of religion. So religion is the combination of that core and spirit, that intellectual aspect, choosing mentally again, this is an inward type decision of accepting Jesus Christ, for who he is and choosing to live your life in a way that is focused on God.
Speaker 2Not granted when you are baptized you need to have a public proclamation of faith, but to be born spirit that is inward, that is choosing to live that life and choosing that Jesus is who he says he is, and then pair that with the emotional aspect, so having that desire to have a better, deeper, closer relationship with God and whenever you do slip up and sin that breaks your heart, you have that desire to live better and do better.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2So that is the emotional aspect. So if somebody comes up to you and says hmm, i'm not really religious, i'm just spiritual, you know.
Speaker 1I've heard people say this before.
Speaker 2So now you can be like oh, you're not religious, you're spiritual. So is it because you choose not to believe that Christ is who he says he is, or is it because you just don't feel like following Christ? And then they'll be like huh, and then you can explain it to them and basically tell them they're full of it. Because chances are they don't realize what they're saying.
Speaker 1No, they really don't.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1So I'm a free spirit.
Speaker 2Sure.
Speaker 1Yeah, five minutes.
Speaker 2For they shall be comforted.
Speaker 1For they shall be comforted.
Speaker 2Yes, again, this is future tense. Well, i guess not again, because this is actually the first one that we've had. That is future tense. This is one. Verse four Obviously, we're not very far into this yet. No, So, yes, this is future tense. And again, if we look at Isaiah 61, 1-3, if we look at those three that we're talking about So the headdress of the headdress instead of ashes, the oil, gladness instead of morning, and the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, those also are future tense. I don't know if you picked up on that, but those are also future tense. So, but if you actually read those, you go back and listen to me read them again. Well, it's time to do it again. But if you would read those again, they're just talking about a future promise For those. Again, it was prophetic for Jesus. So, basically, with Jesus, those who accept Jesus, they would have that headdress, they would have that oil, they would have that garment. But that's future, but it's also implying that it's going to happen in their lives.
Speaker 1Gotcha.
Speaker 2Now this whole concept, for they shall be comforted. This statement is kind of the same aspect, i mean it follows the same thing. Yes, it is talking about a future fulfillment, but we can believe and we can trust that this will be fulfilled in our lifetime. Now, we may not have full fulfillment until we get to heaven, but there will at least be a partial fulfillment while we are still on this earth. Because, yes, this may be future tense, this may be talking about the future, but guess what? What tomorrow is the future tomorrow is the future.
Speaker 2So who knows Yeah?
Speaker 1absolutely.
Speaker 2So I guess from there we're going to verse five, but we probably don't have enough time.
Speaker 1We got like three minutes and I set my time for like a little bit longer than we usually do, So we'll have to you.
Speaker 2Yeah, we'll just go ahead and cut it off a little early.
Speaker 1All right, all right.
Speaker 2Well, that's all you.
Speaker 1Now it's all me, okay. So we thank you for joining us. Please leave a comment on the video or go to the contact page on Purefaithlivingcom to send us a message And, as always, if you like what you hear, then we ask that you show this. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2You can show it to whoever does it.
Speaker 1If you like what you hear, then we ask that you share this show with others so that we can all work together and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Don't forget to subscribe and we will talk to you again next time.
Speaker 2Have a blessed day everybody.