“…upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed” (taken from Isaiah 53). I am currently in Nairobi, teaching Riga Luther Academy students from Europe and Africa at our summer intensive. I flew here from Hamburg via Amsterdam. On my way here, I had several hours to kill at the Dutch airport. Mexican hot dog in hand, I sat down at a free table, across from a young man who asked me where I was headed. He told me that he is the CTO of a software company, on his way to London for a meeting. “Many years ago, I was in the software business too,” I offered. “Really?! Something dramatic must have occurred that you made such a radical career switch. What happened?” he wondered. I explained that in my “former life” I had been an agnostic with a selfish lifestyle and had caused grief for many people around me. But at a certain point in the 1990s, I heard for the first time that Jesus had paid the price for all my sins and even forgives me. “Was there any particular passage in Scripture that guided you in that process?” he wondered. “There were many.” I replied. “But a key one was Isaiah 53, written over 700 years BC. Even though I was not yet a Christian at that point, that whole chapter described the crucifixion. In fact, the Bible itself must be a miracle, I realized, recording prophecies about the Messiah and then fulfilling them centuries later.” “That is remarkable.” he said. “I am Jewish, from Israel. I’ve been reading the Old Testament for years and have always wondered about the connection between the two testaments. Maybe I should start viewing the New Testament in a brand-new light…” He had to catch his flight and got up. I offered him my card and said, “Get in touch with me if you have more questions about Christianity. Oh, by the way. Spoiler alert…” and I lowered my voice to a whisper: “The Messiah in the Old Testament is Jesus Christ.” With a grin, he answered, “I think I’m starting to realize that…”
The Tiews in Germany 