Pastor Doug Batchelor: Hello friends, this is Doug Batchelor. How about an amazing fact, when you were growing up, did you ever hear your parents ask, "Well if your friends told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?" Evidently some do, on March 11th 2011, a California high school student visiting the Golden Gate Bridge during a class field trip surprised everyone when he climbed over the railing and jumped, evidently after being dared by classmates. Miraculously, the teenager survived the 220 foot plunge into the San Francisco Bay that kills dozens of people every year. Landing on water after 220 foot fall feels like landing on concrete after 100 foot drop, 98% of those who jump die instantly or soon after from massive internal injuries and broken bones while others are drown from the cold water and strong currents. But amazingly, the 17 year old lived.
In a statement from his school it says he suffered no severe injury beyond bruising and tenderness, he was rescued by a surfer who paddle over and towed him a shore. California Highway Patrolman, Chris Reardon said, "It is a miracle in itself, the majority of folks don't survive this type of fall." The Windsor Unified School District Superintendent Bill McDermott said he didn't think the teen was trying to commit suicide but instead he jumped after other students from the high school dared him. Suddenly, his shocked classmates saw the teen going over the railing. The Bible tells us the devil once dared the savior to jump from a high precipice, but Jesus didn't fall for that temptation. Stay with us friends we're going to learn more as amazing facts brings you this edition of 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 or 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 the 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-God-Says, that's 800-463-7297. Now here's your host, Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Doug: Welcome listening friends to Bible Answers Live and if you have a Bible question, now is the time to pick up your phone, the number is 800-God-Says, that's 800-463-7297. I'm looking and boy the phone lines are wide open, if you give us a call right now, good chance you're going get your program on tonight's broadcast. 800-God-Says, 800-463-7297 and I'm Doug Bachelor, Pastor John Rossi is returning from some evangelism training in New Zealand and so myself with the help of our engineers and our call screeners are going to be doing this, we invite you to join us as we pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this beautiful opportunity and this wonderful medium to be able to talk to friends of both around the country and around the planet, we pray that you bless this broadcast Lord and that it will remain truth that as we turn to your word hearts will be changed and so we thank you and pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.
Friends, it is amazing that a young person could jump from the Golden Gate Bridge and survive especially if they're doing it just as a prank or to impress their friends. I was reading earlier today that the Golden Gate Bridge is the number one most popular suicide location in North America, number two in the world, I guess there's a bridge in China, where more people commit suicide than even the Golden Gate Bridge. Recently those who helped manage the bridge did finally vote after years of appeals to put some protective net under the bridge because some years like in 2013 as many as 45 people have committed suicide, just a little less than one a week. But it reminds you of the story in the Bible that after Jesus was baptized it says he went into the wilderness to pray and he was tempted there by the devil, three great temptations.
He said, "If you're the son of God turn these stones into bread." Jesus met the temptation with, "Thus sayeth the Lord." and he said, "If you'll fall down and worship me you don't have to die for the world I'll give you the world." Jesus said, "Get behind thee Satan, we're to worship the Lord only." Then another temptation, it says he took him to the pinnacle of the temple and he said, "If you're the son of God, you can cast yourself down. Because it says-" and he was quoting Psalm 91, or I should say the devil was partially quoting the Psalm, "-that the angels will bear thee up in thy hands lest you dash your foot against this stone." and Jesus would not fall for that.
He said, quoting again from Deuteronomy, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." All three temptations Jesus met with the Word. Friends, if you're normal you're tempted every day, if you are trying to do God's will and you're swimming against the current you're going to meet with temptation, do not be discouraged. If you can look to Jesus and what he did, he met every temptation with the Word of God and he was victorious, you can have that victory too, don't fall for it. So to speak. If you'd like to know more about some biblical tips to resisting temptation, we'd like to send you a free book that I will make available and if you read it we hope you'll then share with a friend, it's called Tips For Resisting Temptation and all you have to do is call our resource line and we'll send you free copy, 800-835-6747, that's for the free offer, 800-835-6747.
If you want to ask a Bible question then you just pick up the phone and call 800-God-Says, 800-463-7297, as I said we've got a lot of lines open tonight it's just sometimes how the stars line up, if you would like to call in with your Bible question one more time, 800-God-Says, that's 800-463-7297 with your Bible question. We're going to go at this time then to the phone and talk to David who is calling from right here in Sacramento, California. Hi David, welcome to the program.
David: Hi, how you doing Pastor Doug?
Pastor Doug: Doing well, thank you for calling and your question.
David: I have a question, how do I prove that the Sabbath is the bible Sabbath from the bible and not Sunday or any other day?
Pastor Doug: All right, question is, how can we prove from the Bible that what the Bible calls the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week instead of the first day of the week? Well, if you look for instance right in Genesis it says three times the seventh day, the seventh day, the seventh day. If you want to know what day that is you can look at the story of the crucifixion, in the New Testament it tells us that the Sabbath drew on the day that Jesus was crucified, he died on the cross actually before the Sabbath, he rose Sunday morning they call it the first day of the week in the Bible and nobody contests that, they call Friday Good Friday because that's the day he died on the cross and then they say Easter Sunday, first day the week is when he rose. Almost nobody contests those things and so there's no question about what day of the week is the seventh day. You can look at a normal calendar and you'll see Sunday is the first day of the week, Saturday's the seventh day, if you look in the dictionary Sunday is the first day of the week, Saturday seventh day.
If you look at the nation of Jews who have been keeping the Sabbath since antiquity, seventh day from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, they celebrate their Sabbath. What happened was about 300 years after Christ, the Jews had become very unpopular in the Roman empire and the Festival of The Sun was the most popular pagan day of worship in Rome, after the conversion of Constantine, Sunday was actually established as a day of feasting and they said that the seventh day or Sabbath was a day of fasting, gradually the Christians started to say, well we can reach more of the pagans in Rome by having us keep the first day as the Sabbath and it didn't spread universally all at once but gradually that practice began to spread through Christendom.
The seventh day Sabbath was abandoned in preference for the first day but biblically and God says, "Remember the Sabbath, keep it holy", six days you should work, labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath. I am someone who keeps the Sabbath on the seventh day. I appreciate your question David, by the way anybody if you want more information on this there's a very popular website if you even just go to Google and type in the word Sabbath, it'll take you to the website called Sabbath Truth, it'll give you the history, it's something that most Bible scholars understand and they agree with, just go to Sabbathtruth.com. Thank you for your question and with that we're going to talk to Jamie who's calling from Jasper, Florida. Jamie you're on the air with the Bible Answers Live.
Jamie: Yes, how you doing Pastor Batchelor?
Pastor Doug: Fine.
Jamie: My question is first thousand years, where is wicked going to be before they come back for [unintelligible 00:09:52]?
Pastor Doug: Are you talking about the Millennium that you find in Revelation 20?
Jamie: Yes sir.
Pastor Doug: Yes, he refers to it as a thousand years. The word Millennium is a word we use and that's simply a composite of two Latin words milli which means thousand, ennuim which means years. The period of 1,000 years it is spoken of in Revelation 20 when Satan is bound, begins with the second coming of Jesus it says, "The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout the voice of the archangel or the trump of God." That's 1 Thessalonians chapter four, "-the dead in Christ rise-" Thessalonians also tells us the wicked are destroyed by the brightness of his coming, they call for the rocks in the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of him who sits on the throne. The righteous they go up, Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself." When were caught up, we meet the Lord in the air, we live in reign with Christ for a thousand years in these heavenly mansions he's prepared within the New Jerusalem. At the end of 1,000 years, the New Jerusalem comes down, all the wicked who were destroyed by the second coming and all the wicked who've ever lived, they come forth in the second resurrection, you can notice it says in Revelation 20, Jamie that the, "The dead in Christ come out in the first resurrection." Paul says, "The dead in Christ rise first." That means that there is a second resurrection, and in the second resurrection the wicked come forth then they seek to take the City of God by force because they realize they're excluded, the devil's loose from his prison because he's now got this army to tempt and tries to rally them against the City of God. Then it tells us fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. That's kind of a long answer but I have a whole lesson on this I'll send you a free copy Jamie, if you'd like that. Are you there?
Jamie: Yes, I am.
Pastor Doug: We have a lesson, it's called A Thousand Years of Peace, we'll send you a free copy, all you've got to do is call the resource number, and that's 800-835-6747 of course a free phone call. 800-835-6747, ask for A Thousand Years of Peace. Anybody out there, if you really want to understand the Millennium all the scriptures are given in a very clear understandable way, and we'll send you a free copy, we only ask that if you get it take a look at it, then share it with somebody. Appreciate your call Jamie, that opens up another line. If you have a Bible question we do have lines open 800-463-7297. 800-463-7297. Going to be talking next to Anise is who's calling from Jersey City, New Jersey. Anise you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Anise: Hi, good evening and God bless you.
Pastor Doug: Evening.
Anise: I was just wondering which parts of the Bible were originally written in Hebrew and which were originally written in Greek?
Pastor Doug: Well, you're correct, the principle languages in which the Bible is written is Hebrew and Greek, there are some passages in Daniel that are written in Aramaic which is just a popular symmetric form of Hebrew, it's really the language that Jesus spoke.
Anise: Wow.
Pastor Doug: The Old Testament is in written in Hebrew, from Genesis to Malachi, we have records of that all in Hebrew, the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation was written in Greek because Alexander the Great had conquered much of the world, at least the world where Israel was, and he basically brought the Greek culture studies, learning, language writing, it became the universal languages. In the world today, English is recognized as the language of business.
I've been to Korea and China and all different countries of the world, and when it comes to business they teach all their business students English, it's become an international language because the English navy sailed all over the world, they had colonized so much it was well known. Even though, England does not rule the world any more, the language sticks. Alexander the Great died young but because he had spread his influence so far Greek became the language of learning, while the Apostle spoke to each other in Hebrew or Aramaic, they probably understood Greek, we know Paul wrote Greek and a lot of Latin too because the Romans were there.
Above the head of Jesus when he was crucified, Anise, they had this statement, "This is the king of the Jews" written in the Greek, Hebrew and Latin because those were some of the principal languages of course used in Israel. Does that help answer your question?
Anise: Yes. That's very informative, thank you.
Pastor Doug: All right, appreciate-
Anise: Because I've always been confused about that.
Pastor Doug: I tell you what, we'll send you a free lesson that deals with the history of the Bible and all you have to do is make a phone call, don't need to worry no one's going to knock on your door, bother you, there's no gimmicks you won't get any junk mail. But if you would like this free-- people sometimes get scared but if you'd like this free lesson we're just going to send it to you and the number is 800-835-6747, the lesson you're going to be asking for is, Is There Anything Left You Can Trust, and it's a lesson about the Bible. Can you trust the Bible? We'll send that to you. All right, thank you very much Anise as for your question, with that we're going to be talking next to David who's calling in Auburn, California. David, you're on the air with the Bible Answers Live.
David: Evening.
Pastor Doug: Evening.
David: I was wondering, back in Genesis, where it talks about Adam and Eve eating this fruit, I was wondering if anybody knows what fruit it is and if we still have that fruit today?
Pastor Doug: Well, it calls it the fruit-- there's two fruits, you've got to cross the Tree of Life which God took that tree out of the world, and then it talks about the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. We don't know exactly what it looked-- of course or smell like or tasted like, but it tells us in the Bible it was attractive to the eyes, it was very alluring, tree was-- of course this was before sin it was probably a beautifully symmetrical tree that was a glittering, maybe even the fragrance of its flowers and fruit were very appealing, and when Eve saw the serpent in the tree, looked the serpent maybe had been eating the fruit, and suddenly the serpent can talk.
What exactly that fruit looked like, you look at all this concept and I've seen it look like everything from a pear to a pineapple, the Bible just doesn't say what it looked like so we'd just be speculating. Probably a big beautiful tree, but it was a real fruit, and there was something in that fruit that it gave them exposure to evil. The main thing was when they ate the fruit they disobeyed God and their protective robes of light went out, they saw each other's nakedness, and they had shame, and they had fear because they disobeyed. I thank you very much David, we appreciate your call and your question. All right with that we're going to be talking next to Jeff who's calling. Jeff, you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Jeff: Hi Pastor, I have a question about the topic of atonement, I've heard people talk about how there's an atonement going on in heaven right now and then others might say that Jesus paid the full price on the cross, how did those two ideas reconcile?
Pastor Doug: Yes, it may sound like they're at odds with each other but they're not. The full price was for sin was of course paid by Jesus on the cross but then an elementary question you would ask after that is all right then why are we still here? If everything is over with and why isn't it over yet? Why are we still struggling? Why do you still see this battle between good and evil? Well obviously something isn't over. We know that Jesus is in heaven the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter eight, and other places, he's our High Priest. He's there making intercession for us except he's not offering the blood of lambs he's presenting and pleading his own blood to the Father for the redemption of man.
Just like in the earthly sanctuary, there were different phases of the priest's ministry through the year, Christ as our High Priest is going through this cycle of ministry to complete the atonement. The price has been paid, the sacrifice is fully been made, there's no question about that but the final part of the Atonement is not done in that he's still there interceding. Just to give our friends a real quick overview, there was a final phase of the priest judgment that we call it today Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement, when for 10 days before this special day usually falls in what we would call October. Jewish calendar was a lunar calendar so their months were different but 10 days before the Day of Atonement, the people would begin to humble themselves, and pray and all the sins that had symbolically been stored in the temple through the priest sprinkling the blood through the year, the high priest went through this final ceremony of cleansing. Many believe, as I do, that Jesus is going through that final phase of his heavenly intercession, and when he's done he's going to stand up and cease to intercede those that are clean will be clean still, those that are holy are holy still, those that are filthy are filthy still, by the way you'll find that Revelation 22 and the seven last plagues will come and Christ will come, the seventh plague is Jesus coming so that's a quick overview of a big study but there's really no conflict between the idea that Christ paid everything when he sacrificed his life but that he is still continuing as our High Priest right now, so the final Atonement is not complete in that the temple in heaven is still open for business. Anyway I appreciate that, we do have a lesson that talks about the Day of Atonement and what's involved in that and if you'd like a copy of that then you can just go ask for our lesson on the judgment and we'll send that to you. It's called-- Well, let me see yes, we want to give you the lesson called Right On Time. Thank you very much for your call Jeff and with that we're going to be going next to Leone is that right? Calling from Toronto, Canada. Did I say your name right, is that Leone?
Leone: Yes, Leone, good evening.
Pastor Doug: Evening, how are you?
Leone: I'm good, I've listened to you a couple of times if I'm home, I've enjoyed-- I'm being educated in a better understanding-
Pastor Doug: Well, I'm glad you called in.
[crosstalk]
Leone: Tonight because you were on the Sabbath I've always had this question in my head, I wanted to know why does the church not keep the Sabbath? I go to church on Sundays and I've always been known to go to church on Sundays, if it’s command why is the churches not doing that?
Pastor Doug: Well, that is a great question and it is a big question that many Christians are grappling with today and even entire denominations and congregations, When I first accepted the Lord, even though my mother was Jewish I became a Christian I accepted the Lord and I went to church on Sunday like everybody else. But I was asking questions and going no it says here in the Ten Commandments the seventh day, I knew Sunday was the first day because everyone said we're celebrating the resurrection, the Bible is very clear Jesus rose the first day. As I would ask different pastors and church leaders why are we going on the first day if the Bible says remember in the Commandments the seventh day? I got all these different answers, one pastor would say, "Well Jesus rose on the first day so it's the Christian Sabbath", I said, "Well, that's wonderful but where's the scripture?" Well, there was no scripture that said it's a Christian Sabbath.
Then I talk to another pastor he says well, "We don't have to keep the Ten Commandments anymore we're not under the law." I says, "Is it okay to break the other nine?" and they said, "Well, of course not. You can't steal, you can't lie, you can't kill." I said, "Then why would it be okay to break the one commandment or forget about the one commandment that begins with the word remember?" I talked to another pastor he said, "In the days of Joshua, the sun stood still and Saturday turned into Sunday." and I just heard all these really strange answers and they all conflicted, so I studied it out for myself and I could see very clearly through history that the early Christian church all kept the seventh day Sabbath up until about 300 years after Christ.
It gradually began to change and eventually for a while they kept both days and eventually the Christians, not wanting to look like Jews, they gave up the seventh day Sabbath and began to keep the first day and there's really no biblical grounds for it. Most commentators I've got quotes from leading commentators in many different denominations know that it's a command, you can't find a command in the Bible that says remember to keep the first day as the Sabbath, there's nothing even remotely like that. I always challenge people show me that command, it isn’t there.
Leone: I'm so tired of this question and it's upsetting me because I'm saying well, if I could go to a church on a Saturday just like my church which is lively I would go but I don't know of any churches or-.
Pastor Doug: Now, you're in there you're in Toronto, Canada?
Leone: Yes, they [unintelligible 00:24:03]-
Pastor Doug: I bet you-
Leone: -they sound so secretive, it's like you don't know where they are, so-
Pastor Doug: Well, they-
Leone: -why are they different?
Pastor Doug: If you go online you'll find plenty. By the way, if you want some more information on this Leone, then we'll be happy to send you a lesson called The Lost Day of History, called The Lost Day of History, send it to you for free and just ask for it. With that though we're going to have to take another call or two before we get to our half time break and appreciate if you want to call in with your Bible question that frees up another line, 800-God-Says with your Bible questions on any bible subject, we don't talk about finance and romance, but if you've got a Bible question we'll do our best and we've got a lot of Bibles at our fingertips. 800-463-7297. Going to talk next with Rick calling from Sacramento, hi Rick you're on the air with Bible Answers Live. Rick are you there?
Rick: Pastor Doug, how are you?
Pastor Doug: Doing well, thanks for calling.
Rick: Great, now I realize that you probably don't get a question like this every day, it's probably a little unorthodox but thanks for hearing me out and humoring me. The question has to do with dead relatives that know the Lord. Now, can you like if somebody that you know knows the Lord and has recently passed, can you talk to them out loud, can they hear you, can they see what you're doing? Like I said I know that that's probably not a question that you [laughs] hear all the time.
Pastor Doug: That's actually a good question Rick because-
Rick: Oh, good.
Pastor Doug: What does the Bible say about that? People want to know that we have loved ones, I do, that they passed away-
Rick: That’s something else. I know that you don't want to shout where the Bible is silent.
Pastor Doug: Right, well the Bible actually does address this and it's a question of consciousness and death or can we communicate with the dead? You do find examples in the Bible where king Saul tried to talk to Samuel the prophet after Samuel died and he went to a witch to try to talk to Samuel and the Bible says that he consulted an evil spirit later. It's very clear that we are not to be involved in trying to communicate with the dead, when we love people and they die I've lost all of my immediate family brother, mother, father and even a son and you love them and you have memories and you think about them and sometimes you'll sense their presence and but the Bible's clear they are sleeping until the resurrection. Jesus said our friend Lazarus sleeps, a friend of Jesus who was a believer died, Jesus said he's asleep. He was dead four days and when Jesus spoke to him he came back to life but up until then he knew nothing.
You have examples in the Bible where there are 12 resurrections in the Bible approximately of those twelve resurrections in not one case do any of the deceased people actually comment. We believe that the Bible is true that they are sleeping a dreamless peaceful sleep, now what about that verse that says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, when a believer dies even though 100 years, thousand years may go by there's no time for them, the next conscious thought they have is the presence of the Lord in the resurrection but it hasn't happened yet because the judgment hasn't happened it's in the future. The second coming hasn't happened and that's all upon us now. Friends, you can hear the music we're going to take a quick break but don't go anywhere stay by your phone. In fact, call all your friends and enemies tell them to tune in. Bible Answers Live coming back with more questions in just a few moments.
Voice-over 2: Bible Answers Live, will return in 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 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 Bachelor. If you have a Bible related question call us now to receive clear honest answers directly from Scripture. We have a few lines open, so please give us a call. The phone number to the studio is 800-God-Says. That's 800-463-7297.
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Pastor Doug: We are back listening friends with Bible Answers Live. In just a moment, we're going to go to the phones. Want to remind you that ,we do have a couple lines open that number one more time 800-God-Says, 800-463-7297. Also, just one of the amazing facts websites that many people are not aware of that is a great resource, if you're ever studying Bible history I had a question on that tonight, you want to know when did people live in relation to each other? At one point in history? What were the dates? There is a beautiful website called biblehistory.com. It's a Bible timeline. You can click your mouse and slide Bible history back and forth. Click on the segments of Bible history and expand them, see how the lives overlap. Click on a name and it'll give you a brief history of that person. It's just a really simple neat website on the history of the Bible, Bible timeline. It's called biblehistory.com, biblehistory.com. With that going to go to the phones, see some of you've been waiting patiently and we're going to talk next with Henry. Calling from Bronx, New York listening on WMCA. Henry, you're on the air.
Henry: Yes, how are you?
Pastor Doug: Doing well. Thank you for calling.
Henry: My question is after God created Adam and Eve, if they didn't do what they did would we be here now? We wouldn't have to wear any clothes and we'd be seeing our bodies, would we be here?
Pastor Doug: Yes. Let's just say hypothetically if Adam and Eve had never sinned, God told them to be fruitful and to fill the earth and we would've been living in this paradise that God had originally designed but obviously, things went wrong. Now, would we be streaking around? See, Adam and Eve, people when it says in the Bible they had no clothes, they were naked and not ashamed people think that the first pages of Genesis were X-rated. Adam and Eve probably had a robes of light. After they sinned the light went out and the reason I say that is whenever Moses talk to God his face glowed. When Adam and Eve were in open communion with God and Holy Angels just like some of that luminescent substance when it's exposed to light it just glows.
I think Adam and Eve just had this shimmering robes of light like the Angels and not made out of wool or polyester or anything. After they sinned, the light faded and they became painfully aware of their nakedness but had they not sinned they would have continued to live eternally, the earth would have been populated at some point, [unintelligible 00:32:13] or we'll be overpopulated and this would have been a paradise. But it's fun to think about that you can be part of that new earth Henry because Jesus said that he's going to create a new heaven and a new earth and the meek will inherit the earth. It'll be populated with the redeemed. Okay, we're going to be talking next with Steven who has been waiting from Milwaukee, Wisconsin listening on satellite radio. Steven, you're on the air.
Steven: Hey, Mr. Batchelor, thank you very much for taking my call.
Pastor Doug: Privilege.
Steven: My question is it's hard for me to put it but when Pastors learn their Doctrine it seems to me like they stick to what's [unintelligible 00:33:00] the end of their Bereans, call basically ends there. Why do they stick so hard to something that may not be a Doctrine that's biblically best?
Pastor Doug: Well, that's a good question. You know in the Bible it talks about the Berean believers when Paul presented the truth about Jesus, t`hey were willing to be open minded and find out from the scriptures if what Paul said was true. You would hope that every minister would have an open mind so they can learn new things. I've certainly learned many things that were new and sometimes that's meant I've had to say, "Hey, I was wrong about that."
As you continue to dig a little deeper I've had friends who have heard me preached and they've taken me to task and said, "Well, you said something but what about the scripture?" I've had to write him back and say, "You know, I misspoke. I was wrong." The only one who is all-knowing is God. If men are not willing to learn and to grow now at some point Jesus wants us to teach and preach with authority and confidence and so you want to make sure you got your fundamentals right but-
Steven: Can I ask you a quick follow-up, real quick?
Pastor Doug: Sure.
Steven: Do you believe that Daniel's sealed follow-up book is being opened today [unintelligible 00:34:19] ?
Pastor Doug: Yes, you mean the prophecies of Daniel?
Steven: The book that was to be sealed.
Pastor Doug: Yes, I do. I think that the Lord is revealing those things right now. There's been more interest-- and not only that but I think what's happening is that the events that are in the prophecies of Daniel are transpiring before us and so absolutely. But-
Steven: Thank you and I'd love to email you [unintelligible 00:34:52] get a hold of you.
Pastor Doug: Yes, you can email me. People they sometimes think I'm in the witness protection program and inaccessible but all you've got to do is go to the Amazing Facts website, it's got a little button there that says, "Contact Us," and you say attention Pastor Doug. Give us a week or so we'll try and get back to everybody that sends a question. Appreciate your call. That frees up another line. Thank you for your question, Henry. We're going actually to talk to- who's next now? Jerry, on line eight. Jerry, you're listening to Bible Answers Live.
Jerry: Yes, Pastor Doug. I'm looking at Revelation 20:3 and it talks about Satan being thrown into the abyss and during this period of time he's not deceiving the nation until the thousand years had ended. Of course, I've heard you many times mention that the world is desolate during this period of time.Why are they referring to nations being in existence?
Pastor Doug: That's just talking about the people and for our friends who are listening, let me read this, in Revelation 20:3, "Satan is bound a thousand years and threw him into the pit and sealed it so that he might not deceive the nations anymore." Well, think about this now if when Jesus comes all the people on the planet that are saved go up. All the people that are alive that are lost are destroyed. There are no nations for Satan to deceive so he deceives the nations no more until the thousand years are ended. After the thousand years, all the wicked are resurrected and so he will have an army again to deceive. Does that make sense?
Jerry: I suppose but it seems like a very strange way of saying that he was kept from deceiving the nation.
Pastor Doug: Well, let's just connect that verse with another verse earlier in Revelation. If you look in Revelation 12, it says, "That serpent, the devil, and the dragon who deceives the whole world." Deceiving the nations is just another way of saying he's the arch deceiver in the world but when the saints go up and all the wicked are destroyed, the planet is depopulated, he has no nations to deceive. That's why it says in Revelation that all the cities were broken down and there was no man-- I'm sorry in Jeremiah 4:23, there's no man, no one's alive on the planet.
It says that, "The slain of the Lord will cover the Earth from one end to another and there's no one to lament or mourn or bury them." and it's because everyone has been destroyed by the brightness of His coming who is not saved and they are raised and judged at the end of the 1,000 years. That's why it says in the same chapter, "Satan is released," in verse three, "He's released for a little season," and you look in verse five, "the rest of the dead, the dead in Christ rise-" so the rest of the dead are the wicked, "-the rest of the dead do not come to life until the thousand years are finished." That means they do come to life at the end of the thousand years. Satan now has another nation to deceive.
Jerry, please do me a favor. I really hope you will do it is ask for the lesson on A Thousand Years of Peace. You can also go to the Amazing Facts website and you can read it for free and we'll send it to you for free. I even have a video where I teach for about 45-minute presentation with slides on the Millenium and you can just probably type in at Youtube, Doug Batchelor Millenium or A Thousand Years of Peace and you'll see the presentation there. I can go into a lot more depth in a one hour Youtube than I can in a three or four-minute Bible question on the air but we do appreciate your call Jerry and hope you'll avail yourself of those resources. All right, listening friend we're going to go next to Anthony who's calling from Willits, California. Hello, Anthony, welcome to the program.
Anthony: Hello, thank you for taking my call. My question might be a little speculative but I'll see what you think about it. In Exodus, the Jewish people are told to collect manna a double portion on Friday because on the following Sabbath they weren't to collect any because there would be nothing there. It just occurred to me, I was reading Matthew 12, the first part of it I think verse one through five or something like that and Jesus was out with his disciples on a Sabbath and they're in the field and they're essentially collecting their food on the Sabbath. I know Jesus doesn't directly have any commentary on it about the manna but it just seems strange that doing what they're doing is a kind of work, and I'm just wondering what you think about it. Is Jesus telling us something there or something more going on or nothing at all?
I'm just curious to what you had to say.
Pastor Doug: Yes. Well, that's true. You find that in Exodus chapter 16, where the people got hungry, they cried to the Lord. The Lord said, "Look, I'm going to work a miracle for you. I will reign manna down from heaven." The whole time in they're in the wilderness, he does this for them. It's interesting, it's a weekly miracle. Meaning six days a week the manna's there, none comes down on the seventh day of the week. He says, "Gather twice as much on Friday, so you have extra to eat through the Sabbath." He repeats this miracle, reinforcing the Sabbath truth for 40 years. But when Jesus is teaching with the disciples, and their walking through a grain field, obviously, in the harvest season, they just pluck off some grain and rub it in their hands and eat it. Well, that's not like going out and harvesting. Also the priests were allowed to eat food, and they had not collected anything miraculously the day before and so they had to take what was available. The disciples were doing the work of-- they're especially called Ministers of Christ. Jesus said that the priests profane the Sabbath and are blameless. For a couple of reason there's nothing wrong with them doing that. There's not much labor involved, it's no more laborious than if anyone out there listening has ever picked a piece of raw corn out of the field and eaten it. I have. You just pick it of, you husk it, you eat it. They're just rubbing the chaff blowing in their way, and eating the grains, like picking peanuts. It was pretty mild labor, and yet the Scribes and Pharisees were offended by that.
Anthony: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Good question. I'd never thought of it in that context, that it was the only day in the week God normally did not rain manna. You might say the Lord provided the miracle for the disciples by growing the grain, that was the other miracle. Thank you for your question, Anthony. Don't forget friends we do have a great website. We get a lot of questions on the Sabbath subject because the number of people are discovering that and it's simply called Sabbath Truth, sabbathtruth.com. You'll find lots of resources there. Okay, talking next to Bill, from Yakima, Washington. Bill, you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Bill: Can you hear me?
Pastor Doug: I do, loud and clear.
Bill: Okay. Not real sure how to ask this question. I work with two or three different denominational people, and married to a different denominational person. I know in the 1800's, we seem to have had a lot of religion- [crosstalk]
Pastor Doug: Lot of churches springing up.
Bill: It seems that they prophesized a lot, and they said they had dreams. In eremiah 23, somewhere in there talks about where they said, they've had visions and dreams, and they're not from me. Then in other places in the Bible where it talks about that if a prophet is once wrong, they should be stoned. I'm in a thing where I got so many different denominations coming at me that I just read my Bible and get what I get out of it, and I don't want- [crosstalk]
Pastor Doug: Yes. You're reading Jeremiah 23:16, is I think the verse you're about. Where it says, "Thus, says the Lord of hosts. Do not listen to what the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord". As a matter of fact, several places in this chapter it talks about false prophets.
Bill: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Now that doesn't mean there are no real prophets. I've got to be careful to say that because you find both in Joel, Peter quotes this in Acts chapter 2, that in the last days, "I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy" and "The old men will dream dreams and see visions." There are true prophets, Christ said there's also false prophets, and we need to be on our guard. How do you know the difference? Well, you measure it by scripture, so comparing scripture with scripture. The pendulum swings both ways, Bill. Back in the 1800's, people were putting so much stake in visions, and dreams, and prophecy that all these people cropped up and said they had visions and dreams from the Lord, and angels were appearing to them. Then you're going through this phase now where people are so cynical about people who have messages from God, and dreams and visions. They don't believe anybody. There's two extremes. Jesus does tell us that one of the gifts of the spirit is prophecy. Peter said, he quoted Joel. "Dream dreams, see visions." You can see from Genesis when God was giving dreams and visions to everyone, from Abraham and Joseph, to the birth of Christ, when dreams and visions were coming to both the apostles like Peter and Joseph, the father of Jesus had dreams. That we got to be careful not to discount it completely. How do you know a true from a false prophet? Their lives will be in harmony with the Bible. Their prophecies will be accurate. You're going to see that there's a consistency, that it matches the Scriptures. You got to apply those biblical tests. By the way, we do have a lesson, Henry. I'll be happy to send your free lessons, it's a Bible lesson. We're not going to be giving a lesson saying Pastor Doug had a dream. My dreams don't amount to much. But there's a Bible lesson called Does God Inspire Astrologers and Prophets?. It's about how do you tell a true prophet from a counterfeit. If you send for our free lesson, we'll be happy to share that with you. Thank you very much, Bill, for your call. It's a good question. With that, let me see, we're going to go-- Cynthia's been waiting patiently. You didn't even know you were on line three, did you Cynthia? From Queens, New York.
Cynthia: Yes, I am.
Pastor Doug: Hi. How are you doing?
Cynthia: I have actually two questions for you. I just wanted to know which day is really the Sabbath?
Pastor Doug: Okay. Well, we actually had several questions on that earlier, you may not have heard. There's no question, if you're talking about what day is the Sabbath. God says in the Ten Commandments, the seventh day is the Sabbath. If you look in Genesis chapter 2, the 2nd chapter of the Bible. "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And God rest the seventh day and he blessed the seventh day." It's really clear, the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath. No other day is ever called the weekly Sabbath.
Cynthia: Okay. Thank you and- [crosstalk]
Pastor Doug: By the way, the seventh day for us today is what we call Saturday. That's why the Jewish people still keep it today.
Cynthia: That's for the Christians.
Pastor Doug: Yes. Well, do you find a Scripture anywhere that says there's a different Christian Sabbath?
Cynthia: No.
Pastor Doug: No, there isn't. There's only one Sabbath, given that's in the Ten Commandments. God doesn't have one set of Ten Commandments for Jews and a different set of Ten Commandments for Gentiles and Christians. The moral law [crosstalk] that he wrote with his fingers eternal. Sorry, go ahead.
Cynthia: Because you havepeople that are worshiping on Sundays. [crosstalk]
Pastor Doug: That's a good question. I think we should worship God seven days a week. But God doesn't tell us, worship me one day a week. He said, "A rest from your work.". Now, it is a day of a holy convocation we're to keep it holy. But I go to church sometimes on Tuesday night, I might go to church on Friday night. You could have church many days, but there's only one day biblically that's called, that we're commanded to rest from our work. That's the Sabbath, that is the seventh day of the week. You're right. Yes. The better part of Christians do that, there's a lot of things that happen in Christianity at large that are not biblical, and many of them are traditions. Jesus said, "Why do you put aside the commandment of God to observe your tradition?". They had that problem back in his day. Yes, you're on the right track, Cynthia. I would hope you also look at that website that we mentioned tonight called Sabbath Truth. Anybody out there, all this information is available in history. But you'll find it all combined at that website, sabbathtruth.com. We appreciate your question. Let me see here, we're going to talk next to Joe, calling from Long Island. Joe, you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Joe: Yes. Hello, Doug. How are you doing?
Pastor Doug: Doing good.
Joe: My question would be two Scriptures I was just thinking of, one is Timothy where it says, "First of all, I want prayers, thanksgivings for Kings and authority, and for all men." and I was thinking of that, 'first of all' hit me as a priority, really. The second one, that ties in would be the Scripture from Paul, [unintelligible 00:49:03],where it says, "Draw near to the Lord, and he will draw near to you or draw a close". I was thinking, is it a priority to get that closeness first, and then see what derives from that?
Pastor Doug: Well, you know, Paul is in harmony with what Jesus said in Matthew where he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." That goes along with Jeremiah 29:13. When I sign a book, I usually put that verse in there, where Jeremiah said, "You'll search for me and you'll find me when you search for me with all of your heart.". When Jesus said "Seek first the kingdom", and Paul talks about seeking after God that priority. If you have Christ within, then you've got everything. If you lose your money, and you lose your health, and you lose all your friends, if you've got Christ, Jesus, He [unintelligible 00:50:03] His life. That's the priority. Then God goes on, He says, seek first the kingdom and all the other things will be added. Don't worry about what I'm going to eat and drink. That doesn't mean you never think about those things but don't be anxious about that stuff. Be anxious about the relationship with the Lord first and foremost.
Joe: Right, right. That's number one, just first of all. Seek ye first, it's a reiteration, basically.
Pastor Doug: Yes. I think you're on the right track there. That's my desire.
Joe: Any other Old Testament scriptures that would tie in-
Pastor Doug: Yes. Deuteronomy chapter six, I think it's verse four where it says, "Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul and strength." That's the great Shema, love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. That's what it means to seek first the kingdom. You know what else it makes me think of is when God asked Solomon, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Solomon could have asked for all kinds of things and he said, "First Lord, I'm going to seek for your wisdom, your spirit." He was seeking first the kingdom of God, and because he made that a priority God blessed him with wealth and long life and prosperity, because he sought first the kingdom. A number of scriptures deal with that principle. You'll find more in Proverbs too. I appreciate your question on that, Joe.
With that, we're going to go next and talk to Sonia who's listening on Sirius Satellite Pennsylvania. Sonia, you're on the air with Bible Answers Live.
Sandra: Yes, it's Sandra.
Pastor Doug: I'm sorry.
Sandra: That's okay.
Pastor Doug: That's just how the screeners typed it and they maybe misheard.
Sandra: No problem. I was driving and when I heard the Exodus question about manna, I had a thought. When the Israelites left Egypt, did they leave with livestock?
Pastor Doug: Lots of it.
Sandra: Then, what was the necessity for manna? Why weren't they permitted to do what they normally would do would be to kill some livestock, eat it? Why was the manna necessary?
Pastor Doug: Okay, good question. I'm sure that they did do some of that but if the-- poor shepherds, they didn't have great flocks and herds like Abraham and Jacob. They did have, between all of them, a lot. If they had begun to slaughter and eat their animals, they were using the animals for milk and you can shear sheep without killing them, and for garments. If you gobble up your livestock, it's just a matter of time you're out of everything.
They needed a long-term answer. They needed a daily bread. Bread is the staff of life. I'm sure they did, along the way, eat some livestock because they were sacrificing animals in the sanctuary in the wilderness. But yes, it's a good question. God knew that they were running out of food. They didn't plan on slaughtering all their animals. They spent 40 years in the wilderness, they would have run out pretty quick.
Good question, Sonia, Sandra. Sorry. [laughs] Thank you very much for that. All right, let's see if I got time maybe for one more. Eugene has been waiting on line eight. Eugene, we've got a couple minutes left for a question, you have a quick one?
Eugene: Yes. I was going to ask and make a comment about the Sabbath. It's a big topic today and I called before on it.
Pastor Doug: First, name your question because we only got two minutes.
Eugene: Okay. In 39 extra rules and laws the Pharisees made about the Sabbath, the Bible says they said Jesus broke the Sabbath. What they meant was, well I think if I'm correct, that He broke theirs-
Pastor Doug: He broke their rules, yes. He didn't break the Sabbath. You know why we know that is it says in John chapter 15, Jesus said, "I've kept my Father's commandments." Certainly, one of the commandments was the Ten Commandments and so Jesus did not break the Sabbath. Matter of fact, all things that were made were made by Christ. That would mean that includes the Ten Commandments and the law so He wouldn't break His own law.
There's nothing in the Sabbath command that said you can't heal, you can't feed, you can't do good on the Sabbath. Jesus said it is better to do good. You're correct, Eugene, Jesus had many conflicts with the Pharisees and the Scribes regarding the subject of the Sabbath. Never did He say don't keep it. He always talked to them about how to keep it. That was the big question. Once again, we had several questions tonight on this subject.
If you do have some questions and it didn't get covered, go to the website called Sabbath Truth, sabbathtruth.com and there's just a lot of information there. Wow, this is one of the fastest hours in the week. Friends, before you sign off I want to remind you, Amazing Facts carries on even after this program goes off the air. Go to the website, lots of resources there, amazingfacts.org, amazingfacts.org.
Keep us on the air, you can donate right there online. God bless, we'll talk again next week.
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