Pr. Jean Ross: Hello, friends, how about an amazing fact? Little Tyke, a female African lion born and raised in America, lived her entire life without ever eating meat. In fact, her owners, George and Margaret Westbeau, alarmed at the lion's dislike of meat, went to great lengths to try and coax their unusual pet to develop a taste for it. They even advertised a cash reward for anyone who could devise a meat containing formula that the lioness would eat. The curator of a New York zoo advised the Westbeaus that putting a few drops of blood in the Lion's milk would help.
But the lioness refused to drink the milk even when a single drop of blood had been added. Meanwhile, Little Tyke continued to do extremely well on a daily diet of cooked grains, raw eggs, and milk. By four years of age, she was fully grown and weighed 352 pounds. The lioness not only survived on a vegetarian diet, she thrived. One of America's most able zoo curators apparently said that the lioness was the best of the species he had ever seen. As well as Little Tyke, the Westbeaus had sheep and cattle on their 100 acre ranch.
Visitors to the ranch were often amazed to see a full-grown African lioness wandering peacefully amongst the sheep and the cattle, and even chewing on the succulent tall grass in the field. Friends, did you know that the Bible predicts that one day every lion on earth will be vegetarian? Stay tuned for more. You're listening to Bible Answers Live.
Voice-over: Welcome to Bible answers live with author and evangelist pastor Doug Batchelor. Is understanding God's Word a challenge? Are there passages of scripture that are a mystery to you? Maybe it's difficult to reconcile what you've read in the Bible to what you've always believed. If you have Bible related questions, stay tuned to get honest practical answers straight from the Word of God on Bible Answers Live. Bible Answers Live is a production of Amazing Facts Ministries, dedicated to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world.
Our lines are open, so call us now at 800-GODSAYS. That's 800-463-7297. Now, here's your host, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Pr. Ross: Hello, friends, this is Pastor Jean Ross. Pastor Doug Batchelor is away this evening, but this is a live interactive international bible study. If you have a Bible related question, we would love to hear from you this evening. Our phone lines are now open. This is a good time to pick up your phone and give us a call. The phone number here to the studio is 800-463-7297. Again, that's 800-463-7297 with your Bible question. I opened the program this evening by talking about a vegetarian lion.
Whenever we think of lions, we think of these ferocious meat-eating beasts. But sure enough, there was a lion that, for some reason, refused to eat meat and it did very well on a vegetarian diet. Now, the Bible tells us in Revelation 21:1, John writes, "And I saw a new heavens and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no sea." Then in Isaiah 11:7, the Bible tells us what it's going to be like in that new earth that God is going to create.
The Bible says, speaking of the animals, Isaiah 11:7, "And the cow and the bear shall feed together. The young one shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like an ox." What a day that'll be, when even the Lions will be vegetarian. Nothing to disrupt the peace and the joy and the tranquility of the new world that God is preparing for those that love him. Friends, if you'd like to learn more about this wonderful place that God has in store for those who have chosen him, those who love Him, we have a free offer we'd like to send you today called A Colossal City in Space. It's Amazing Facts' study guide.
We'll send it to you absolutely for free. All you have to do is give us a call on our resource line and ask for the offer Colossal City in Space. The number to call is 800-835-6747, that is our resource line. You can ask for our free offer this evening, A Colossal City in Space. We'll be happy to send that to you if you'd call and ask or you can go to the Amazing Facts website, just amazingfacts.org, and you'll be able to read that study guide for free online. Well, friends, again, if you have a Bible question, let me give you that phone number. Are you ready? 800-463-7297 with your Bible question for the program. 800-463-7297.
Just before we go to the phone lines, let's begin with a word of Prayer. Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity that we have once again to open up the Bible and to study the Word of Life, the word of truth. Father, we ask for the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts, our hearts as we study together, lead us into a clearer understanding of the scriptures. For we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
Okay, friends, well, we're ready to go on to the air to talk about the Bible. Our first caller this evening is Jessica, listening from Lake Placid Florida. Jessica, welcome to the program.
Jessica: Evening, Pastor Ross.
Pr. Ross: Good evening, thank you for calling.
Jessica: How are you?
Pr. Ross: Doing very well, and yourself?
Jessica: As Doug Batchelor always says, better than we deserve. Anyway, my question is in Acts 20:7. What was Paul doing while they are breaking bread? Because I do believe that the 7th day is the Sabbath day, but is there in the Bible that saying, the Lord's day is the first day?
Pr. Ross: Okay. Well, let me read the verse. It's Acts 20:7, it says, "Now, on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they had gathered together." The focus of the story is in the next few verses where there's a young man by the name of Eutychus who fell asleep and he was sitting in the window and he fell out of the window and actually he died. But then Paul prayed for him and he came back to life.
That's the main thrust of the whole story here, but the question is sometimes asked, "Well, what about this gathering together on the first day of the week to break bread?" Well, they're having a special communion service on Sunday because that was their normal day for worship. Well no, the phrase breaking of bread does not necessarily mean having a communion service. It could, but the disciples, we read in acts, from house to house, from one day after another, gathered together to break bread. The phrase breaking bread means to eat together.
Paul is going to leave the next day and he gathered with the believers and they had a special time of fellowship. He had many things he wanted to tell them. It says, "He preached until midnight," and they ate together. Now, they could have had a special communion service, there's nothing wrong with having communion service any day of the week, but that doesn't make the first day of the week the new Sabbath. One other point to notice about this verse, it tells us quite clearly that when they gather together it was in the evening.
Verse eight says, "There were many lamps in the upper room where they had gathered together." Now, in the Bible, a day doesn't begin at midnight. You don't have midnight to midnight being 24 hours for a day. In the Bible, days begin from evening when the sun sets, until evening; that's your 24 hours. The first part of the day would be the night, the second part of the day would be the day or the light part. Here they gather together on the first day of the week and it's evening. Now, that wouldn't be Sunday evening, because Sunday evening after the sun sets would actually be the second day of the week.
Really, what's happening is they had gathered together on Saturday evening. Saturday evening is when the first day of the week begins. Paul was going to leave for his journey on Sunday morning. He had much to say to the believers, so he preached all the way till midnight on Saturday night, and then Paul left the next day. So, we're not even talking about Sunday, we're talking about Saturday evening.
Jessica: That make sense. So, there's no in the Bible says the first day of the week is the Lord's Day?
Pr. Ross: No, you won't find that anywhere in the Bible. The only time you find a reference, in the New Testament specifically, to the Lord's day is in Revelation chapter one, where Paul speaks about being in the spirit on the Lord's Day. He doesn't define which day that is. Now, if you go back into the Bible, it's pretty clear that there is a day that is the Lord's Day and that's the 7th day, Sabbath. The Bible speaks of the Sabbath as being the Lord's Day. He is the creator, it's a memorial of His creative work. The Sabbath is the Lord's Day.
Jessica: Okay. Thank you, Pastor.
Pr. Ross: Well, thank you for your question. We appreciate that, Jessica. We do have a study guide, called The Last Day in History, that goes into this in greater detail. We actually have this very verse in Acts 20:7. If you want to study a little more about it, call and ask for our study guide called The Last Day in History. The number to call is 800-835-6747, then you can ask for that study guide, The Last Day in History. If you have a Bible question, the number to call here to the studio is 800-463-7297. 800-463-7297. Our next caller is Wess, listening in Cheyenne Wyoming. Wess, welcome to the program.
Wess: Thanks for having me.
Pr. Ross: Your question this evening.
Wess: My question is on 1 Corinthians 5:5 where it says, "To deliver one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Is this an example of not being able to lose our salvation once we've had it, or is it referring to something else?
Pr. Ross: No, it’s not talking about once you’re saved that you can never be lost, because we still have freedom to choose and God doesn't take away that freedom to choose. All created beings have that. What Paul is talking about is those who are living in open sin in the church, the church needs to act on that, and at times, might have to put them under discipline or maybe ask that they don't fellowship with the church for a period of time in order for them to recognize the seriousness of their ways.
Hoping then that as a result of doing that, the people will come to realization at the end, or as time progresses, that they are wrong and come to a point of repentance and thus can be saved. He's not talking about an arbitrary decision on God's part where some is going to be saved and some is going to be lost, or we lose our freedom to choose, but the church needs to deal with situations those who are living in open sin.
Actually, the first few verses he gives a whole list of those that would fall into that category, if that's happening in the church the church needs to deal with that and put that person under some type of discipline, with the hope that they would be saved, they'd come to a point of repentance. Does that help?
Wess: Yes, I’ve been listening to quite a few people on it, so I’m still working on it.
Pr. Ross: Still studying it out. We do have a book called Can a Saved Man Choose to be Lost? And we'll be happy to send that to you. You can actually read it for free online at amazingfacts.org. The number to call if you'd like to order that book is 800-835-6747. It is free, just ask for the book Can a Saved Person Choose to be Lost? And we'll be happy to send that to you, Wess, or anybody who calls and asks. Our phone number here to the studio with your Bible question is 800-463-7297. We have Seth who is listening in Hawaii. Seth, welcome to the program.
Seth: Hi?
Pr. Ross: Seth you're on the air.
Seth: Yes, how are you?
Pr. Ross: Very well, and yourself?
Seth: All right. My question is from Exodus chapter 12. The Bible tells us about these Passover and they're supposed to celebrate it on January 14th, but today, actually in the New Testament, the Bible does not tell us exactly the date and the stuff. I want to know, and it's now becoming Easter and all that kind of stuff, I want to know what's the shoot behind it or you know anything about it.
Pr. Ross: Okay. Now, the Passover was celebrated on a specific day within the Jewish calendar. It wasn't limited to a day in the week, so it could move; one year it might be on a Monday, another year it might be on a Tuesday and so on. That was based upon when the children of Israel left Egypt. That was to be the start of their year. So, based upon that, and they counted down the days, if you read in exodus it tells you how many days it was in the month and they would have the unleavened bread and that would lead into the Passover. They celebrated that from year to year.
That fell within the time period of early April for us. Now, sometimes it would shift, because their calendar year was a little different than ours. They based it on the cycles of the moon, so their days sometimes could be a little bit more or sometimes could be a little bit less. Typically, a Hebrew year had 360 days instead of 365 days, and they'd have to make an adjustment for that, and typically, the Hebrew month had 30 days. That's why there is a little variance from year to year on the Passover.
Seth: Okay, all right. That makes sense.
Pr. Ross: All right, good. Well, thanks for your question, we appreciate that. We don't have a book specifically dealing with the Passover, but we do have a study guide that talks about how Christ is our Passover. He is our sacrifice. It's called Rescue From Above. It's talking about salvation and the plan of redemption. We'll be happy to send that to anybody who calls and asks, 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide on salvation called Rescue From Above. We also have a book called Three Steps to Heaven that deals with that same subject. If you have a Bible question, our phone line here to the studio 800-463-7297.
We got to go to Paige in New York. Paige, welcome to the program.
Paige: Thank you, Pastor. My question is Genesis 48:14-16. I want to know why Jacob/Israel, while blessing the lads, crossed his hand and appeared to give the prominent blessing to the younger grandson, Ephraim. If you have any revelation regarding any modern fulfillment of that blessing, you could throw that in too. But initially, I want to know why did Jacob cross his hand and give the prominent blessing to the younger grandson, Ephraim.
Pr. Ross: Okay, very good question. Back in bible times, there's great significance placed upon the blessing. Often, it was on the firstborn who would get the family name and would carry on the father's line. It was also that the oldest would often get a larger inheritance than the younger brothers. But here, you have Jacob, under the inspiration of the holy spirit, Joseph brings his two sons. Jacob is old, he's about ready to die. Joseph wants his father to bless his sons. He brings them before Jacob whose eyes are beginning to fail and instead of placing his right hand on the head of the oldest, the right hand being the side of favor or blessing, he placed it on the younger and his left hand he placed on the older.
Joseph tried to correct his father by moving his father's hands, but under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jacob insisted and he kept it that way. The reason being is, the two sons of Joseph eventually became two of the tribes of Israel, Ephraim and Manasseh, and Joseph had a double inheritance by his two sons. The one tribe did grow to prominence. The younger one did end up being of greater prominence in Israel than the older one, and certain characteristics that came forth in Ephraim tended to be greater than that of Manasseh. So, in the blessing, Jacob was revealing what would happen to the sons and their family over time.
Paige: Why did the younger one get the blessing?
Pr. Ross: Well, the sons of Jacob or Joseph, all the rest, all the sons of Jacob that became Israel, there were certain prominent character traits that were found in each of those tribes. Some of the character traits were not that good. Dan, for example, who was a tribe that had a reputation of being somewhat of a back biter and been in more of a rebellious attitude towards God than the others. So, it's nothing against those two boys, but rather their descendants and the tribes that would come. There would be certain prominent character traits that would come about.
It wasn't an arbitrary choice on Jacob's part choosing who would be the blessed and who wouldn't be, but under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God revealed to him which would become great and which would become less.
Paige: Thank you.
Pr. Ross: All right, thanks for your call, Paige. We appreciate it. Our phone number here to the studio is 800-463-7297 with your Bible question. We have Deborah, listening from Detroit, Michigan. Deborah, welcome to the program.
Deborah: Thank you, Pastor. My question is, what's the difference between a pastor and a minister? That’s what I want to know.
Pr. Ross: All right, what is the difference between a pastor and a minister? Well, a minister can minister to folks in different capacities. If you just look at the actual meaning of the word, in England, they have ministers who function in a government position and they’re called ministers. They minister to others, they help others in different capacities. A pastor is more limited to a religious sphere where somebody is pastoring or nurturing. The idea of pastor comes from the idea of shepherd to-- for a Shepherd to nurture the sheep, to guide the sheep, to feed the sheep.
The work of a pastor is that of nurturing those in his church, encouraging them, guiding them, feeding them on the word. So, it's more of a narrow focus than that of a minister, although a minister also can function in nurturing, helping, and feeding. It's just a clearer definition of what the job entails. In many cases, pastors are referred to as ministers and the word can be used interchangeably, but there’s a little bit of a different focus with each of them.
Deborah: Okay.
Pr. Ross: All right. Well, thanks for your call, Deborah. We appreciate that. If you have a Bible question, the number to call is 800-463-7297. We have Christopher, listening in Roseville, California. Christopher, welcome to the program.
Christopher: Thank you, Pr. Ross. I'm curious; in Deuteronomy 22:21, it talks about stoning a person for outrageous behavior. It says, "You must purge the evil from among you." Is that something that's supposed to be done today or did that stop after Jesus came?
Pr. Ross: We find in the Old Testament, during the time of Israel and after the Exodus when they journeyed up to the Promised Land, especially in the time period before they got a king, Israel functioned under theocracy where the prophet, the priest, would be directly guided by God. Israel was to be a holy nation. It was set apart from the rest of the nations to present to the world God's will, God's law, and to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. So, it was to be a holy nation set apart.
In order for Israel to receive God's blessing and protection, it was very important that open sin was dealt with in Israel. If somebody was caught and was guilty of committing certain sins, as we have described here in Deuteronomy, it was the responsibility of the priest, he would seek God for guidance and God would direct and say, “In this case, this person needs to be put to death.” We don't function under theocracy today, but there are still principals of government in civil law that are valid today and many countries recognize this and follow it to some degree.
Christopher: What are we supposed to do when we have evil in our midst today?
Pr. Ross: I think in the case of the church, now we're not just talking about a nation as a whole but more specifically in the church, if somebody is having open sin and they are unrepentant, the church does have a responsibility to put that person under some type of discipline. Not to punish them, but hopefully, to try and redeem them. That would maybe involve the status as a member of that church or there might be a gathering of the church to discuss how we can best help this person, help them realize.
In the church, we need to be careful. We don't want open sin tolerated in the church. But as a nationwide, we're made up of different religions and different groups. We’re not functioning under theocracy as Israel did.
Christopher: It would be the duty of the Pastor and the Deacons to take care of that, correct?
Pr. Ross: Correct.
Christopher: Okay, thank you very much.
Pr. Ross: All right, thank you for your call. We appreciate it, Christopher. If you have a Bible question, the number to call is 800-463-7297. Again, that's 800-463-7297. We have David, who is listening from New Jersey. David, welcome to the program.
David: How are you doing?
Pr. Ross: Doing well, and yourself?
David: All right. My question is, what effect did the Hellenistic Jewish priests of the 4th century BC at the time of Ptolemy II have on the Septuagint in reference to the canonizing or the non-canonizing of certain books?
Pr. Ross: Especially in the time of Christ, there was a big Greek influence that had permeated many of the Jews. The two leading parties that governed in religious matters with reference to Israel, of course they were still under the jurisdiction of Rome and there were certain limits as to what the Sanhedrin could do, but you had the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees were the most affected by the Hellenistic or the Greek culture or Philosophy. To many ways, they didn't even accept the Old Testament other than the first five books of Moses.
They didn't believe in the resurrection, they didn't really believe in angels, so they had some interesting views strongly influenced by the Greek culture of their time. The Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, included not only the five books of Moses, but it included the rest of the writings that were recognized by the Jews at the time of Christ as being the scriptures. That would be the writings of the prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, you got the book of Job, you've got the Minor Prophets.
There were a number of scribes, 17 all, that actually copied out or translated the Hebrew into the Greek and that was available at the time of Christ. Many of the New Testament writers actually refer to the Septuagint when they are quoting from the Old Testament.
David: Okay, I see. Let me ask you a question. The Hellenistic influence during the time of Ptolemy II, did it cost him to [unintelligible 00:24:47]?
Pr. Ross: No, I don't think so. The way that they-- the scribes in Israel took their work very seriously. Not just translating from Hebrew to Greek, but actually copying the original Hebrew manuscripts. They would do it very very carefully. They would copy it and then somebody else would have to check it and there would be certain ways to-- even if there was a slight mistake or a letter that wasn't clearly written, you had to throw away the whole page and start all over again. They were very particular about making sure that they were accurately copying the original.
Now, when it came to the translation from Hebrew to Greek, there were the 70 scholars that gathered together and they also were very meticulous in trying to convey the thoughts in the Hebrew to Greek. It seemed to be a fairly good translation because now we can compare the Septuagint with also the Hebrew manuscripts, and we see that sure enough, there is a good match. It was a good translation.
David: The 72 priests that got together, weren't they like different priests of different sects? Like you had Yahweh priests, you had Elohim priests, you had Jehovah priests, did they all agree?
Pr. Ross: They probably had some times of disputing different things, but in order for them to actually translate it, they needed to be to-- at least the majority had to agree. Now, there's different stories, and some have said that it was miraculous how they actually came together and agreed on the translation from Hebrew to Greek. They believe that the Holy Spirit was present to help guide their minds, but there was a lot of comparing amongst themselves to make sure that what they were writing was indeed the same as the Hebrew.
David: Okay. But didn't the Essenes come out of that group because they had some disagreement with those priests?
Pr. Ross: Possibly. There were some who weren't too excited to have the original Hebrew translated into Greek. They felt that that was a compromise not so much because of the translation, but more so just because the original was Hebrew and you should be translating it into a different language. There were some groups that broke away, but fundamentally, the Hebrew and the Greek, it was in harmony with each other.
David: Okay. Thank you.
Pr. Ross: All right. Well, thank you for your call, Dave. We appreciate it. Friends, if you have a Bible question, the number to call here to the studio is 800-463-7297. You can hear the music play in the background, this is not the end of the program, we're just coming up on a half-hour break. This is a good time, if you haven't yet, pick up a pen and write down the phone number and give us a call with your Bible question. Again, that number is 800-463-7297. We'll be back in just a few moments to tell you more about Amazing Facts and the resources that we have.
You can also take a look at our website, amazingfacts.org, there's wonderful study resources and materials, also videos that you can watch, you can even hear old archived programs of Bible Answers Live. Again, that's 800-463-7297. Don't go away, we'll be back in just a few moments.
Voice-over: Bible Answers Live returning just a moment. If you're looking for Bible based materials for further study, sign up for Amazing Facts' free correspondence Bible Study Course or check out our sale catalog featuring hundreds of inspiring books and tapes. To order, call our resource line at 800-835-6747. That's 800-835-6747. Amazing Facts is a faith based listener-supported ministry, operating exclusively through the generosity of your prayers and financial gifts. We would love to hear from you. Write to us at P.O. Box 909, Roseville, California 95678 or online at amazingfacts.org.
You're listening to Bible Answers Live with Pastor Doug Batchelor. If you have a Bible related question, call us now to receive clear honest answers directed from Scripture. We have a few lines open, so please give us a call. The phone number to the studio is 800-GODSAYS, that's 800-463-7297.
If you've enjoyed Bible answers live, you’ll love pastor Doug's Book of Bible Answers straight from the broadcast. The very best questions and answers have been compiled as an awesome resource for Bible study and Personal Evangelism. Each answer has been expanded with more Bible verses and insightful commentary. The book of bible answers can be yours today for just $12. Call now 1-800-835-6747 and request offer 257. That’s 1-800-835-6747.
Pr. Ross: Hello, friends, we're back. This is Bible Answers Live. If you have a bible related question, we love to hear from you. The number to call here to the studio is 800-463-7297. Again, that's 800-463-7297. We have about 28 minutes to talk about the Bible, to address any Bible questions that you might have. In addition to this radio program that Amazing Facts does, we have a number of media ministry outlets that broadcast our programming, but we also have some great websites and we’ll be sharing with you some of these websites throughout the program.
I’d just like to let you know about one great resource for Bible study, it’s called bibleuniverse.com. Just www.bibleuniverse.com. You can go that website, Amazing Facts put this together. There are some great study tools available, articles, you can even enroll in our free online Bible school and do an in-depth study, 27 important Bible topics. So, if you’ve never seen bibleuniverse.com, I'd encourage you do take a look. www.bibleuniverse.com. We’re going to the phone lines now.
Our next caller is Dion, listening from Toronto, Canada. Dion, welcome to the program.
Dion: Good evening. Thank you very much and peace be to you. I’m actually just calling because I’m concerned, I thought I heard it before, but I just want to make sure I heard like you said regarding salvation and eternal life. I thought I misunderstood you to say that salvation can be lost? If you can just clarify that--
Pr. Ross: Sure.
Dion: - I may or may not have a question about that.
Pr. Ross: Okay, sure, absolutely. The Bible tells us that in order to be saved, we need to receive Jesus as our personal savior. We confess our sins, we surrender our life to Him, He then gives us His Spirit to guide us in our lives. But our salvation, even though it’s 100% Christ who saves us, we need to have a living relationship with Him. We need to be connected to Him by faith. We always have the freedom to walk away, and God does not remove that freedom that we have. We can choose to not follow Jesus, to disconnect ourselves from Him, and then we are not in a saving relationship with Him. So, we do have freedom.
Dion: So, if I’m understanding you then, are you saying that a person can lose her salvation? Because then that would not be scriptural, because if it is such, if you are indeed saying that based on what you've just said, then you’re saying that the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is not enough, it’s what we add to it. We know that that would be a lie of the enemy, because salvation is based on the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ alone.
When the Lord said, "It is finished," that work that He completed on the cross was done. You’re right, we have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. We need to repent of our sins. The repentance doesn’t come because of our act, repentance comes because God shows us ourselves before Him so that we recognize who He is as our Holy God. That we need to submit to Him, seek Him to save our souls, and as a result, we have a new life. Like it says, "We’re new creatures," right?
Pr. Ross: Correct, absolutely. I think we’re saying the same thing there. The only question is once we do that and we receive Jesus, and yes, we do have salvation because we are saved by His grace, we still have freedom. So, if we choose to turn away from God, He’s not going to save us against our will.
Dion: That’s the point there. That’s the curious point. When you say He’s not going to save us against us, it's not like God keeps saving us over and over and over again. Once saved, always saved, based on the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, it would be based on our good works. Well, we know that the Bible says, "It’s not of works lest any man should boast."
Pr. Ross: Well, it’s not based on works, it’s based on faith. We need to have faith. Faith isn’t just a one-time thing. I don’t just surrender my life to Jesus and have faith in Him and then I go live for the devil. I need to have a faith relationship with Christ continually.
Dion: Why would you live for the devil when your faith is in our Lord? Faith is not something that comes from us. Faith is something that comes from our Lord, right? God gives us the ability to know who He is. As a result, that is why we know that it’s not based on works. That is why we know that it's the precious blood of our Lord that saves us. It’s the covering--
I always when I share the gospel with people, I say-- and I know I only have a very short amount of time but thank you for allowing me to even say this, but when I share the gospel, I try to share it in a simple way using the word of God, but also in a picture where I draw a picture an outline of a form of the body in two ink pens. So, you have two outlines of the body. One I say, “Here’s who we are before we’re saved; we're empty, we're without our Lord.”
I cover the other one in with a red ink and I said, "That red ink is like the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can never lose it. It doesn’t start dissipating as we start doing wrong, because we’re men and we fail, but it’s covered, it’s eternal, and that’s why that promise is from everlasting to everlasting." It's not something that--
Pr. Ross: I agree with you, we are all saved by the blood of Christ, no question about that. But if I am saved and I choose Jesus as my savior, but then I turn away from Him and I rebel against Him and I say, “Lord, I don’t want to be saved. I don’t care about your sacrifice anymore.” Is God still going to save me?
Dion: Well, the interesting thing is that, and I think I heard you say once before in a program which I agreed with at that time, when you said that there are people who may never have truly been saved. So, I would say that a person who is not saved is not saved, a person who is saved is saved, but it’s not an on and off again thing, because then, we would say that His blood was of no effect. That the work of Christ was not sufficient. It was not enough.
Pr. Ross: No, I think the work of Christ is sufficient, because it’s His work that saves us, but we need to have faith. Jesus says-- whenever someone was healed, Jesus would say, “Your faith has saved you.” Jesus said, “He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved." In Revelation, Christ says, “I will not blot your name out of the book of life.” Meaning that to be a Christian requires faith in Christ.
That faith is not just a one-time thing where we choose Jesus and then we go off and we live for the devil. No, we choose Jesus every day and as we see His goodness and His love and His grace, yes, our devotion will grow stronger and stronger and stronger. Why would you want to walk away from Jesus when you’ve tasted His great love and His goodness and His salvation but God doesn’t--
Dion: But that’s what Hebrew say, right?
Pr. Ross: God doesn’t remove--
Dion: That’s what Hebrew says.
Pr. Ross: Yes, but God doesn’t remove from us the freedom to choose and--
Dion: Pardon me?
Pr. Ross: - to do something other than He'd want.
Dion: Pardon me, I missed that last point.
Pr. Ross: God doesn’t remove our freedom. We always have freedom to choose. He can't accept worship that's not freely given.
Dion: But then, again, it’s sounding like you’re going back to that it’s our effort that--
Pr. Ross: No, it’s faith, but faith needs--
Dion: - the only thing that I’m saying--
Pr. Ross: - but faith requires endurance. Renee, we do have a book that I think you might enjoy reading. We don't have time to get into too much of the details, but I think it’ll help explain a lot of this. It’s called Can a Saved Man Choose to be Lost? Again, we’re not saying that we are saved by works, we are saved by faith. But the kind of faith that saves us is an abiding faith. Jesus said, “You must abide in me as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except that abide in the vine.” As Christians, we need to daily abide in Jesus.
If you give us a call on our resource line, we’ll be happy to send you that book. The number to call is 800-835-6747. Again, just ask for the book Can a Saved Man Choose to be Lost? And we’ll be happy to send that to you. Thank you for your call, Renee. We are going to have to keep moving here. We have Elaine, listening in California. Elaine, welcome to the program.
Elaine: Well, thank you so much. I’m in Rancho Cordova, California.
Pr. Ross: Thanks for your call.
Elaine: Yes, I was asked a question by someone who knew that I had given my life to the Lord 50 years ago. If this person had read the Bible completely, which I think I might have missed some, I’m sure, but she was asking me, “Should I give my life to the Lord? How come I didn’t have that inclination?” I didn’t know how to answer. Something made me wait and be still. It’s just this evening and I came up with the answer and that is; while there are many choices and terrible things in life, is there anything with such an ultimate ultimatum? Did you think that was a good answer?
Pr. Ross: Well, yes, it is true. The greatest blessing that we can ever have in life is that of giving ourselves to God and choosing Him. The Bible says, "It’s the goodness of God that leads to repentance." Even repentance is a gift. Now, some people might say, “Well, I don’t feel sorry for my sins, what do I do?” Well, you need to begin by drawing close to God. The Bible says, “If we draw close to Him, He will draw close to us.”
I encourage somebody, if you want to be saved, you might not feel sorry for your sins, but just pick up the word. Start reading. Start reading in the gospel of John. Read about Jesus. Read about the price that He paid for our salvation. Read about the cross. The Bible speaks of the cross as being this great drawing power. Jesus said, “If I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself.” As we look at Jesus, as we read the word, as we begin to pray, there’ll be an awakening within our hearts, a hungering for truth, a hungering for Christ, and there will be repentance. God will give us repentance.
So, we mustn’t wait to feel sorry before we seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and then He will make us feel as though we need forgiveness and repentance. So, you’re absolutely on the right track. There is so much more that God has for us. The greatest blessing that He wants to give us is eternal life with Him. Why would anybody want to walk away from that? That’s really the hope of the Christian. Thanks for your call. Next caller is Shawn, listening in Apple Valley, California. Sean, welcome to the program.
Sean: Hello.
Pr. Ross: Hi, you’re on the air.
Sean: Hello, I’m sorry. It’s kind of weird though is that I got cut off as I’d gone out. I have a question about, I was talking to another teacher on the radio station and I don’t agree with the guy and he drives me nuts, I have to clear all the time. I track drive for a living and I like listening to family talk radio. He was just talking about how if you’re not baptized, your sins can't be forgiven, basically. The only way that you could be forgiven is-- he says it's not just by faithful love, which I know is not true, because he says you have to have faith-- you have to believe, then comes faith, then you have to be obedient and then you’re saved. You have to be baptized then you’re saved.
You’re basically saying you have to work for your salvation. He knows me by now so he always hangs up [unintelligible 00:40:30] because I dispute-- openly rebuke him on the station because of the fact that I don't like people hearing all negativity and believing it and thinking it's okay to believe that [unintelligible 00:40:54].
Pr. Ross: You're right, salvation is a gift and we need to exercise faith in Christ. We receive him as our personal savior, we are forgiven. However, why be baptized then if we are forgiven without being baptized? Baptism doesn't bring forgiveness; baptism is the sign of our dedicating ourselves to Jesus. It is a public recognition that we're choosing Christ. Baptism is rich with symbols. For example, you have the person going under the water. The going under the water, it symbolizes a bearing of the old life of sin. Coming up out of the water is a resurrection to a new life, a new focus a new master, and that master being Christ.
Our baptism doesn't bring forgiveness; baptism is a sign that we have received forgiveness. Of course, forgiveness is a gift that God gives us. Now, what about a person who can't be baptized? Maybe they come to Christ and they're on their deathbed and physically they can't get into the water. Are they going to be lost because they can't get baptized? No, of course not.
Sean: [unintelligible 00:42:03] brought us peace on the cross. This is where I knew I was out of my league because he was like, "Well, that was before Jesus died. So, how can you say--" He brought up the Bible verse of, "You have to believe that Christ was resurrected." Then, one of those bible verse men, how can he believe that Christ was resurrected when he died before Christ was resurrected? I was like, "Oh, I don’t know how to answer this."
Pr. Ross: Right. We need to recognize that the people before the death of Jesus were saved by the blood of Christ just like the people after the resurrection. The only difference is that those before the cross looked forward in faith and had faith in a coming Redeemer who would die for their sins. We look back in faith and say, "Yes, Jesus did come and He did die for our sins." So, those before the cross, those after the cross, they're all saved by the blood of Christ. A sign of that, especially New Testament times, is baptism. It's a recognizing of the gift of salvation and a dedicating of ourselves to Christ.
I guess the other question one would ask is, if somebody knows this is the will of God that we be baptized and the Bible makes it quite clear that if we choose Jesus and we are forgiven and we surrender our life to him, we want to follow the example that Jesus has given us and be baptized. If someone refuses to be baptized, for whatever reason, then maybe we need to ask the question, have you really surrendered your life fully to Christ?
Sean: Now, what would be a way for me to be able to say like-- well, [unintelligible 00:43:46] the bible verse, "We're saved by grace not law." We're not saved by being baptized or doing all these works or doing all this. It's a 50/50 thing like when you were talking to [unintelligible 00:43:59] not too long ago, it's not really 50/50 as per se, we actually do something, but it does require us to take a step just like in the Old Testament with Abraham taking a step sending his servant outand things like that. We have to take a step also.
Pr. Ross: It's the motivation for why we do what we do. If we are trying to do the right thing in order to earn God's favor so that we can be saved, the motivation is wrong. If we are trying to do the right thing because we are saved and we appreciate what Jesus has done for us and it's our desire to be the best example for Christ so that others will see Christ in us, that's the right motivation. We're not trying to do the right thing in order to save ourselves, we're doing the right thing because we are saved and we love Jesus.
So, it really gets to the heart of the matter. What is the motivation for why we do what we do? Why does a person get baptized? It's not because they want to be saved, it's because they are saved and they want to show the world that they are choosing Jesus as their savior. That’s really the emphasis that we have there. Well, Sean, I hope that helps a little bit. We're going to have to move on with our next caller. Thank you, very good question. Our next caller is Nikki, listening from Cedarville, California. Nikki, welcome to the program.
Nikki: Hi, Pr. Ross how are you this evening?
Pr. Ross: Doing well, thank you for your patience.
Nikki: Thank you for taking my call. My question is based out of Revelation 8:7 and it talks about, "A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned out." My question is this, is that literal? Is that symbolic? If it's symbolic, what does that mean?
Pr. Ross: Okay, good question. Let me read the verse, Revelation 8:7. It says, "The first angel sounded and hail and fire followed mingled with blood and they were thrown unto the earth. And a third of the trees were burnt up and all the green grass was burnt up." Now, in the book of Revelation, we have a series of sevens; you got the seven churches, you have the seven seals and you have the seven trumpets. This is part of the seven trumpets. It's the first of the seven trumpets.
Each of these series of sevens- the churches, the seals and the trumpets- cover the same time period. They emphasize different things during that time period, but roughly, they cover the same time period. That time period is the Christian era from the time of Christ all the way through to the second coming of Jesus and even beyond. The seven churches give you seven conditions that the church would go through throughout the Christian era.
The seven seals also give you certain conditions that will affect the church during that time period. There will be a time period of severe persecution, there will be a time period when the gospel will go forth strongly and there will be revival, there will be a time period where corruption or era would come into the church, and that's illustrated in the seals.
The trumpets follow the same time period, but they emphasize issues of judgment. Trumpets in the Old Testament were used to warn people of an impending judgment or war. A number of scholars have identified the first trumpet herein in Revelation 8:7 as symbolizing the judgment that came upon Jerusalem for the role that they played in crucifying Christ. That judgment came in 70 AD when the Romans came and surrounded the city and destroyed it.
You have a number of symbols here, remember revelation is a symbolic book, they aren't literal horses galloping through the sky; they represent something. A hail and blood thrown to the earth is a symbol of upheaval and judgment or destruction. Historians tell us that in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, many of the Jews took refuge in the sanctuary thinking that that would be a place of safety. But when the sanctuary was burning and the Jews were running out of the sanctuary, many of the Roman soldiers just mowed down the Jews and the blood rained down the temple stairs like water. So, there was a great slaughter.
In the bible, green grass and trees sometimes represent people. So, that's really describing this judgment that came. By the way, the second trumpet is a description of judgment that would come upon Rome for the part that they played in crucifying Christ.
Nikki: Okay. So, the trees and the green grass represent people. What's this the third then?
Pr. Ross: The third represents a large portion, but not everything. In the judgment that came upon Jerusalem, there was great slaughter in Jerusalem and the city was destroyed, but there were so many Jews that continued after that event. So, it’s a big portion, but not the majority.
Nikki: I understand. Thank you very much.
Pr. Ross: All right. Well, thank you for your call, Nikki. We appreciate that. If you have a Bible question, the phone line here to the studio is 800-463-7297. 800-463-7297. Our next caller is Henry, listening from the Bronx New York. Henry, welcome to the program.
Henry: Yes, how are you? God bless you.
Pr. Ross: Very well, thank you for calling.
Henry: My question is, when you die and go to heaven, like say, my Grandma, she died at the age of 90, she was saved. When Judgment day comes and she goes to heaven, will she still be that age and will she look like she did when she died?
Pr. Ross: All right, good question. What's it going to be like when Jesus comes and the righteous are resurrected? Do they come out of the grave looking 80, 90 years old? No, the Bible says we will have glorified bodies and our bodies won’t have any decay or sickness. We won't have any wrinkles or our hair won't be gray. We will be healthy. Now, whatever that age is, I don't know. Maybe it's 35, but it's when we’re at the peak of our physical health. That's going to be the experience in the resurrection.
We'll still know each other. There'll be enough resemblance that we'll be able to look at each other and recognize each other, but we're not going to have these same bodies that we have in the resurrection.
Henry: We'll have the [unintelligible 00:50:31].
Pr. Ross: The Bible tells us that we’re going to have a body like Christ's body when he rose from the dead. They could recognize Jesus. He appeared to the disciples. They knew he was -- so we will be able to recognize one another in the resurrection. Boy, what a day of reunion that'll be when Jesus comes.
Henry: The reason I want to find out. One more question, women who are pregnant and Jesus takes them back and they’re saved, will those babies be born in heaven?
Pr. Ross: Okay, will those babies be born in heaven? That's a good question. I don't think I've ever heard somebody ask that question. We know that --
Henry: I asked many ministers about that, they couldn’t answer.
Pr. Ross: The Bible doesn't say, and that's probably-- we can maybe speculate, but the Bible doesn't tell us. What we do know is that there will be children in heaven. You read about the new earth in Isaiah 11, I mentioned that chapter at the beginning, it talks about children in the new earth. It says they will grow up. So, there will be a time when all the children will grow up. It seems as though babies, and maybe even unborn babies at the time maybe they will be-- of course, we're going to receive our glorified bodies, maybe at that point the mother will have her baby in her arms. We don't know. We just-– that’s speculation.
We're going to have to wait to see when Jesus comes. The Bible doesn't specifically tell us, but that is an interesting thought. What will happen to those who are saved who are with child when Jesus comes? Henry, thank you so much for your question. We appreciate it. We're going to try and get a couple more calls in here before the end of the program. We have Tony, listening from Brooklyn, New York. Tony, welcome to the program.
Tony: Hello?
Pr. Ross: Hi, you're on the air.
Tony: Yes, okay. My question is, I've been going to a few different churches in my neighborhood, and some of them have lady preachers. Some of them are pretty good, but I'm trying to find out, is it biblical for them to be preaching in a church?
Pr. Ross: Okay, well, good question. The gift of teaching or preaching we find in the Bible given not only just to man, but it's a gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives gifts according to what He deems best. There's nothing wrong in having a woman preach or a woman teach within the church. There is a distinction, however, with reference to ordination. If you look in the Bible, only the men were ordained and they represented their family. The dad was the head of the home and he was the one that offered the sacrifice, and the priesthood was given just to men. The men would represent the nation of Israel.
When it comes to the ordination for ministry or pastoral ministry, and we look in the Bible, we don't see any example of any woman being ordained in the priesthood or one of the woman being ordained as a church elder or pastor in the New Testament. But we have many examples of where woman would prophesy or speak or preach. There's nothing wrong with that.
Tony: I was just wondering and I said -- because I thought I read someplace in the Bible that women were supposed to be quiet in church and get lessons from their husband when they go home.
Pr. Ross: Paul speaks about that in Corinthians and that's not just referring to every church, but he was addressing a particular problem in that church in Corinth where there were some of the women who were disrupting the service. They were trying to talk to their husbands and Paul says, "Just wait until you go home. Just listen in silence and then you can ask later on when you get home."
Well, friends, you can hear the music playing in the background. Tony, thank you for your call. We've run out of time for this edition of Bible Answers Live. I wanted to remind you of the free offer that we have. Just call and ask for the study guide talking about the new earth called A Colossal City in Space and we'll be happy to send that to you. Our resource line is 800-835-6747. If we didn't get to your call this week, I hope that you'll call in again next week while we again take your Bible questions on the air. Until then, God bless.
Voice-over: This has been a pre-recorded broadcast of Bible Answers Live, a production of Amazing Facts Ministries. If you would like to order the materials mentioned on this broadcast call 800-835-6747 from 8:00 AM to midnight Eastern Standard Time. That's 800-835-6747. If you've missed an episode of Bible Answers Live, you can find it on our website amazingfacts.org. You'll also find our online sale catalog of books, tapes and other materials, as well as numerous free resources on nearly every Bible topic. Putting the answers to your Bible questions right at your fingertips.
If you've been blessed by this program, let us know. Write to us at P.O. Box 909 Rosewood, California, 95678. Be sure to tell others about the program and join us again next time for more Bible Answers Live with Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Testimony: I grew up in a church-going family. We were at every meeting. I sang in four of the choirs there. I directed three. Very involved, very active. It almost seemed like busy work sometimes. I went to Sunday school. I knew about God. I knew about Jesus, but I didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. My senior year in high school, I got the news that my father had been murdered. I played it off well. No one really saw that I was struggling with it. It just really felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. I tried to fill it with drugs, with alcohol, with partying.
After college, I just stopped going to church altogether. One day, on a Sunday, because I didn't feel like going to church with my mom, I thought I should get a little bit of work. She had the satellite system hooked up and I'm flipping through channels and then the logo pops across, "Amazing Facts presents." I've listened to a lot of different ministers, but this was the first time that he's actually saying something where I had to grab my Bible and actually pick it up and, "I've never heard this before. Let me look through and find this."
I went through all the historicals, I went through all the study guides, and I just couldn't get enough. Then the Sabbath came up and he's going through the appeal when I'm just going, "Lord, I hear you. I have to go to a church." So, I show up. It was funny. I didn't feel like I was going to be judged, anything judgmental, anything. I walked in a door and I just felt at home. But there's still a problem. I'm still partying. I was still going out to the bars. At this time, I was selling cocaine to pay my rent.
16 days later, I find myself in a life-or-death situation. I just came back from a liquor store and I grabbed a bottle of vodka. There I am, high off cocaine with my Bible in hand trying to do a Bible study. I heard an audible voice, "Just look at yourself." And I did. I was like, “What am I doing?” I got on my knees I said, “Lord, if you do not take this away from me now. I'm going to kill myself.” I was going to continue this lifestyle and I was going to end up overdosing, having a heart attack, whatever it was. "You have to take this away. All of it."
And that day, he lifted all of it away from me. It was all gone. When God does something in your life, he does it complete.
Voice-over: For more than 45 years, the Ministry of Amazing Facts has been helping people from all walks of life understand their Bibles better than ever before through television, radio and the internet. We impact countless lives each day around the world by sharing Bible truth that transforms lives forever. If you've been blessed by our programs, will you help share in this work with a tax-deductible gift today? When you support Amazing Facts, you give lasting hope and make it possible for others to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and experience his eternal love. To give a gift call 1-800-891-7171. Once again, that’s 1-800-891-7171 or go to donate.amazingfacts.org.