Voice over 1: Welcome to Bible Answers Live where you’ll get honest answers to your Bible questions. Let’s face it. It’s not always easy to understand everything you read in the Bible. With 66 books and more than 700,000 words, the Bible can generate a lot of questions. If you’d like answers to your Bible questions, you’ve come to the right place. Now, here’s your host Pastor Doug Batchelor, President, and Speaker of Amazing Facts.
Doug Batchelor: Hello, friends. How would you like to hear an amazing fact? The human eye might be more awesome than we ever imagined. A new 2016 experiment conducted by the Rockefeller University has shown for the first time that the human eye is so sensitive that under super dark conditions it’s capable of detecting a single photon. That means our eyes are actually able to sense to the very small physical unit of light composed of quantum properties. This is astounding when you consider the most sophisticated man-made instrument from measuring a photon requires a cool temperature control environment.
It’s also remarkable when you consider a photon is interacting with a warm and wet biological system better known as an eyeball, consisting billions of cells. Then that faint impression is separated from background noise and survives a lightning fast trip through optic nerves all the way to the brain and our level of awareness. In other words, our eyes have the potential to be highly sensitive to light, but they're usually so hyper stimulated that we really not been able to test their limits. Today with us friends, we’re going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
Voice over 2: You're listening to Bible Answers Live. Honest answers to your Bible questions. Our phone lines are now open. If you have a Bible related question, call us at 1-800-GOD-SAYS. That’s 1-800-463-7297. Now, let’s join our host Pastor Doug Batchelor and our co-host Pastor Jean Ross.
Doug: Welcome listening friends to Bible Answers Live. If you have a Bible related question we have the phones wide open right now. Pick up the phone. Give us a call with your Bible question. It’s free. Here’s the number, 800-GOD-SAYS. Do you have a Bible question you’ve been wondering about or question about living the Christian life, faith, heaven, or the other place? Then give us a call and we’ll search the word together.
That number again 800-463-7297. One more time 800-463-7297. We’ll bring your question into the studio. A very good chance to your question will be on tonight’s program. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Jean Ross: My name is Jean Ross. Good evening listening friends. And Pastor Doug, it’s always good to be able to make some time to take Bible questions and study together. Before we get to it, let’s start with the word of prayer. Dear Father, we thank you that we have this opportunity once again to just open up the Bible and study together and we ask your blessing upon this program. Be with us listening and lead us Lord into a clear and full understanding of your will for our lives as revealed in the Bible. For we ask this in Jesus Name. Amen.
Doug: Amen.
Ross: Pastor Doug, it seems from your amazing fact that you mentioned at the start of the program we take certain things for granted when it comes to the human eye. Probably [laughs] because we all using eyes looking at different things. When you stop and you do the scientific calculations and measurements that this group did, it’s really remarkable how sensitive the eye actually is even though we don’t always recognize that.
Doug: Now a person might think that I'm a little cookie, but I'm pretty sure when I lived up in the mountains by myself I would sometimes hike from Palms Springs way back in this very dark. They’d be clouds and no moons, no stars. I had excellent vision when I was young. I could see the trail glowing in the dark and it’s almost like when people or creatures walk down the trail it somehow illuminated.
I just thought I really can’t see where to go in the dark and I felt, “Boy, your eyes are so sensitive.” I want to try that again now, but they tested it in the university, Rockefeller University, and there is no smaller unit. Now, 1947 they did a test and they said, “The smallest amount of light that the human eye can see is five or six photons.” But now they retested it and they said that the people they thought they saw the hint of something and they were pressing the button and say, “I think I saw it. I think I saw it.” And they were right.
It was way beyond the chance of probability that it was an accident and they said the human eye is picking up-- There's no computer chip that they make that is that sensitive or camera chip. It made me think of a verse in the Bible where Jesus said and this is in Matthew Chapter 6:22, it’s also in Luke, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good," King James says, "If your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. And therefore, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is.”
Now, Jesus talked about the blind leading the blind they all fall in the ditch and he is the light of the world. If our eyes are focused on Christ who is the light, it just fills our whole bodies with light, our minds and our lives with hope and this is what-- Now, Jesus is using light as a metaphor here for knowing where you're going, for hope and as opposed to darkness. God wants to give us spiritual sight. One of Jesus favorite miracles was restoring the sight of the blind. One man had never seen his entire life. The whole part of the brain that is used to see was atrophied and Jesus gave him back his sight.
Friends, you might be saying, “Lord, help me see. Help me know what your plan is for me. What am I doing here?” You can’t be happy unless you know where you’ve come from, what you're doing here and where you're going and the Bible and Jesus has that answer. Now, we have a special magazine that we’ve never offered before we’re going to make available tonight and study.
Ross: It’s one of a classic magazines that Amazing Facts has, dealing with some very important Bible truth it’s called Hidden Truth and we’ll be sending this to anybody who calls and asks. It’s our free resource this evening. The number to call is 800-835-6747 and you can ask for the Amazing Facts magazine called Hidden Truth. Again, that number is 800-835-6747 and our free offer this evening The Hidden Truth magazine. If you have a Bible question, the phone line here to the studio this evening is 800-463-7297. 800-462-7297. Our first caller this evening is Frank and he’s listening in New York. Frank, welcome to the program.
Frank: Yes. Good evening, Doug. Thank you for taking my phone call this evening.
Doug: Thank you for calling in.
Frank: Yes. I have a question. It’s in regards to how marriage was created or conducted in the time period when Jesus was in our world. The question is, was there any forms of state functioned or legally imposed marriage during the time period after-- Before or during the period that Jesus was here?
Because when Jesus was preaching in his years on earth, I believe that perhaps maybe there was a-- The Roman Empire had a different understanding of how individuals-- In other words, Pastor Doug, is there any historical evidence that there was a form of marriage during the time period when Jesus was on earth?
Doug: Yes, of course. The first miracle of Jesus was at a wedding and it was very common for the Jewish to record marriages. Something like we do at a courthouse now. Because if you look at the genealogy of Jesus going all the way back to-- I think traces it all the way back to Adam, but the Jewish priests were very fastidious about reporting when the person was named. They're usually named at their circumcision. I think if it was a boy at eight days and that may have been 20 days for the girls. I really don’t remember. They were named. Their names were recorded. The marriages were recorded and that’s why you have this chronology of Jesus both in the gospel of Luke and in Matthew.
As far as the Roman government being involved in registering marriages, I think they left that up to the priesthood in the time of Christ. I think there’s some evidence of that even in The Book of Ezra in the chronologist that he gives. It was a good idea to just have a record when people made these covenants and a marriage was a covenant. Is that answering your question, Frank?
Frank: Yes. I wanted to know the exact answer that you gave me is what I was trying to obtain because I have this historical perspective on other races that lived out of the scenario or Israel itself. And they recorded marriage differently. That's why I've asked that question, Doug, because I was only trying to find out what happened in the general area of Galilee and Israel, not what might have happened in unknown lands of Africa or Russia, at that time.
Doug: Yes, the Jewish priests were very particular. They were very careful to record these things and they were good at writing and I think that all of that has been recorded. Of course, you remember, when Jesus was a baby, he was taken to the temple. Semiah, the priest, was there. That's when his name was recorded. They also did this for John, the Baptist. You can see that when they had to pick his name, during his circumcision. Thank you for your call, Frank, and I appreciate that.
Ross: Our next call is Lisa, listening from Sacramento. Lisa, you are on the air.
Lisa: Yes, hi.
Doug: Hi. Thanks for calling.
Lisa: Sure. I was wondering if you could help me with a Scripture that has always puzzled me. It's in John Chapter 20:16 - 17, and then verses 26 and 27.
Doug All right. Let me read this for our friends who are listening. A good part of our audience is driving down the road. This is after the resurrection and this is John 20:16, Jesus said to her "Marry." and she turned and said to him in Aramaic, rhabboni, which is translated " Teacher." And he said," Do not yet cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and to your father, to my God and to your God."
Then you said, go down to verse 26, you've said? "And then he appears in the upper room, that same evening. This is actually eight days later. And disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them, although the doors were locked. And Jesus came and stood among them and said, " Peace be with you." and he said to Thomas, " Put your fingers in here and touch my hands. Put your hand in the place of my side. Don't disbelieve, but believe." Thomas answered and said, " My Lord and my God!" Now, is that answering your question?
Lisa: Yes.
Doug: Is your question, why was Mary told not to touch him, and yet Thomas could touch him?
Lisa: Yes.
Doug: Okay, so the secret, right there, is the word "touch" that you are reading in the King James and maybe in some other versions, is the same as the word "cling". He's basically saying, " Do not lay hold of me." Because she wanted to grab him by the feet to worship him, and he says, " Look, I need to ascend to my father." He had just risen. He had not even ascended to heaven to have his sacrifice and life declared victorious and accepted. He went to heaven between Sunday morning and Sunday night, when he appeared to the disciples. Then again, eight days later, he appears again when Thomas is present.
On the evening of the first day, he also appeared to the other 10 apostles that were there. Thomas was missing. Then he says, " All Hail." and they worshiped him. So, they touched him then, too. There was nothing wrong with Mary touching him. He wasn't saying, " You're a sinner. Don't touch me." He was basically saying, " Don't cling to me, because I've got to go. I have not yet ascended to my father. I don't want you to cling to me because I want you to go and tell the brothers that I am alive." It wasn't a question of touching. It was a question of detaining.
Lisa: Well, so are we to understand that between Mary seeing Jesus and Thomas seeing Jesus, Jesus had ascended to the Father?
Doug: Yes.
Lisa: Oh, okay.
Doug: Christ travels at the speed of thought. In Daniel Chapter 9, Daniel is praying, at the end of Daniel's prayer, Gabriel comes, the angel, and he says, " Daniel, at the beginning of your prayer, God sent me." So, it doesn't take very long for Gabriel to get from God to earth. Jesus goes from earth to wherever heaven is right now-- there in the cosmos, and he comes back Sunday night and says," All hail." At that point, it says they worshiped him.
But he waited. The first person that got to see him after the resurrection was Mary. It's pretty special if you think about it. You know, we have a website that you would probably be pretty interested in, Lisa. It's simply called marytruth. -- Is it .com? I think it's .com and .org. Marytruth and there's a video there that you can watch on the subject. And a book. It's called The Gospel according to Mary. It basically tells the story of Mary Magdalene, that I know you will enjoy. Good question. I hope you will appreciate that.
Ross: Our next listener is Ralph, listening from New York. Ralph, welcome to the program. Ralph? New York?
Ralph: Hello.
Ross: Yes, you're on the air.
Ralph: Explain John 3:3 to me, "You must be born again."
Doug: What does John 3:3 mean? Well, obviously, everybody has been born for the first time. That's a physical birth. Jesus is saying, " If you want to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, you need to be born with a spiritual birth". This is what the new covenant is God says, " I will write my Law in your hearts. I will create within you a new heart." It seems like the things that you once loved, you hate, and the things that you hated you love, and all things are passed away, all things are made new. It's like we become new creatures. I am definitely not the same person I was when I first came to Jesus. I believe I have been born again because I am a completely different person.
Ralph: Okay, so the true faith is being born again. All of the other religions in the world are false.
Doug: Yes, well, I believe that the Bible is true. Of course, there is a lot of other people that I would respect that have different religious beliefs, but if they are not teaching the word of God-- Christ said," Thy word is truth." You can't have conflicting truths.
Ralph: Well, if Jesus says that that is the only way to heaven then that is the only true faith. All of the religions in this world are false, so many souls are going to hell for rejecting the Lord.
Doug: Well, yes. Christ is pretty clear. He said-- Peter said, actually, " There is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. Anyone who is saved is going to be saved through Christ. Now, there are many cases in the Old Testament, where the Lord saved people that weren't Jews. You have Naaman the leper. Elijah stayed with a Syrophoenician woman and we trust that she knew the Lord. She will be saved a Canaanite. God had his people even among some of the other nations.
There will be people, likewise, I think, that the Lord reveals himself to. But anybody that gets to heaven is there by the grace of God, it's because of Jesus. No one is saved without Jesus. I appreciate your call, Ralph, and we may have lost you. By the way, that opens another phone. If some of you still want to call in we still have plenty of lines open. 800-GOD-SAYS. 800-463-7297 and who is lined up next, Pastor Ross?
Ross: We've got Paul listening from Toronto, Canada. Paul, welcome to the program.
Paul: Oh, hi.
Doug: Hi Paul. How can we help you?
Paul: Yes, I have two questions, actually.One question is about is about the serpent seed doctrine?
Doug: About the serpent doctrine?
Paul: The serpent seed doctrine.
Doug: The serpent seed doctrine. Okay, on the screen I wrote" The serpent sea doctrine." I am going, " He must be talking about the Leviathan." So, you're talking about Genesis, Chapter 3:15, where it talks about the seed of the woman. That the dragon, the serpent, would make war on the seed of the woman. The seed of the woman is Christ. You see the fulfillment of that when you get to Revelation Chapter 12. It tells us that there was a war between the dragon and between Michael.
And this dragon wants to devour the man child, which is the seed of the woman. It's Christ. Through the battle--through the Bible, rather, you see this battle between the devil trying to prevent the Messiah's mission. When the devil had all of the baby boys in Egypt killed, trying to keep Moses from coming, he thought he was stopping Jesus from coming. The devil never knew exactly when the Messiah would come. He had all of the children of David slain, except one. One survived, which was Joash.
Then, of course, he had all the Babies in Bethlehem killed. And so there has been this war between the serpent and the seed of the woman. Then in Revelation, it says that the child was caught up to God's throne, Christ descended. The devil can't reach the seed of the woman anymore, so he goes after the woman. That's when the dragon sends his armies to destroy the woman. That's also still in Revelation 12. Now, I know that is a lot, Paul, but we have a lesson that talks about Revelation 12, is that the lesson one the Clothed With Light, Pastor Ross?
Ross: Yes, Revelation, Chapter 12 is Clothed With Light. That's correct, The bride of Christ.
Doug: Yes, it talks about the woman that will go into the prophecies of Revelation 12, and we will send you a free copy, Paul if you would like that. And, you know what? I don't know what I was thinking. I wrote a book called, The Sign of the Serpent. It talks about where Jesus gave that prophecy that you see. It's called The Serpent and the Savior." We will send you a free copy that you can also read it at the Amazing Facts website, right now.
Ross: The number to call is 800-835-7467. You ask for the book called, The Savior and the Serpent. We will be happy to send this to you, Paul, or anybody wanting to learn more about really, the essence of the plan of redemption and prophecy that you read about in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis. Our next caller is Barbara, listening from South Carolina. Barbara, welcome to the program.
Barbara: Hi, how are you?
Doug: Doing well, thanks for calling.
Barbara: My question tonight, we were discussing and pre destination versus having your choice.
Doug: Free will.
Barbara: I believe people do have a choice but I could not think of any other Bible verses other than John 3:17. Where the point says one of the other gentlemen was making is--there were things like many are called but it doesn't state everyone was called, and few are chosen. It sounds more like chosen was pre destination and I know there has to be other scriptures there that would indicate a choice.
Doug: Well, that verse where Jesus says, "Many are called but few are chosen." That's really talking more about many, the number called is the big number. Everybody's invited. It's like the Lord had a feast and he invited many. Everyone's invited to the feast but few respond. The ones who respond are chosen. Jesus told some parables about people who said, "Oh yes, I'm going to go," but they don't go. Now you want some other verses that talk about free will. We've got to be careful. Today I was driving and listened to the entire book of Romans while I was driving.
I listened to those verses where Paul says, "Shall the thing made complain to the maker, why did you make me this way?" We've got to be careful not to take away the fact that God is sovereign. He does create us differently and everybody has different opportunities but we got to be very careful not to make God an accomplice of the devil in people's being lost. The Lord is not willing that any should perish. If God is not willing that any should perish and since many will perish, it's going to be because they were not willing to come.
That's why Joshua says, "Choose you this day who you will serve. As for me in my house." The Bible ends with a great invitation. Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely. We get to choose. Christ says, come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. It's called the great invitation because it's extended to all. I know Pastor Ross may have had some other verses pop into his mind but you just see all through the Bible the evidence of free will.
Ross: While we're talking about the Book of Revelation, you cited a couple of examples. You have one where Jesus is speaking to the church and he says, "If you don't repent, I'll remove your name from the Book of Life." There is a possibility of somebody losing their salvation. Meaning that we have freedom of choice. God is not going to force people to be saved who don't want to be saved. Likewise, he's not going to save those who choose other.
Doug: For me, Barbara the strongest argument is that it's all about love and you can't force love. Love has to be given freely or it stops being love. We do have a book that deals with, Can a saved man be lost? We'll be happy to send you a free copy of that or any other one. If you've got questions about once saved always saved, do we have a free choice? Where does the sovereign will of God fit in? We'll be happy to share that with you.
Ross: The number to call is 800-835-6747. You can ask the book called Can a saved man choose to be lost? Will be happy to send it to anybody who calls and asks. Again 800-835-6747. Ask for the book, Can a saved man choose to be lost? If you have a Bible question the phone line here to the studio again is 800-463-7297. That's 800-GOD-SAYS, 463-7292. We have Rick who is listening from Birmingham, Alabama. Rick, welcome to the program.
Rick: Hello, hello can you hear me okay?
Doug: Loud and clear, thanks for calling.
Rick: All right, buddy. Listen my question is, I've been a Christian for about 23 years. The main question I'm about to ask is, I'm not perfect nor does anybody else. I've got a couple of things that I wish was not in my life. How come I constantly feel guilty? I never enjoy the peace and happiness that comes with being a Christian. A saved Christian. Is it the saved not in me or false guilt or real guilt or is that hard to answer? [chuckles].
Doug: Well, it could be a combination. Rick, you're asking a very important question. There's a lot of people out there that have given their lives to the Lord, they love the Lord and they want to do what's right but they still feel conviction and guilt. How do you find peace? I think it's important to trust the promises of God and remember that the Lord loves you. It says, "He that has begun a good work in you will perform it." Believe that he's continuing to work in your life. Be willing to follow.
It's like a light that gets brighter and brighter. It's called sanctification and there's a growth process. You don't want to get stuck in a rut. You want to grow in your walk with the Lord. Use that peace in the meantime.
Ross: Absolutely and then also spend some time in fellowship with God. There is a peace that the Bible speaks of, that passes all understanding but it comes when we commune with God. Sometimes that sense of an easiness or guilt might be a warning to us that maybe we're neglecting communing with God. As we spend time with Him our confidence grows, our peace grows and our trust grows.
Doug: Yes, he wants you to have-- the Bible tells us that the Christian life is supposed to be good news. It's supposed to be joyful. After being out in the world all mixed up with drugs and just the unhappiness there, once you come to know the Lord it is so much better. You just have so much more peace. Now, Rick, I'd also recommend you just take a look at the promises that God gives in his word. It says if we come to Him, He will not turn us away. You believe the promises, don't you?
Rick: Yes.
Doug: He says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That of course, is in 1 John. Then it tells us that if we believe we have everlasting life. When we come to him, we confess and repent of our sins, he says he will receive us and give us a new heart and a new mind. It can't be based on how you feel. It's got to be based on your faith. Faith in His Word. The very fact that you're calling today, is evidence of Holy Spirit's working in your heart. You want that peace.
Rick: Well, you are correct. I've had it many times over the years and I don't know. I'm over the road truckers, stay out several weeks at the time. Basically, we've got Christian radio to listen to. I read the Bible almost every night but it's normally a chapter or two and it doesn't take very long. I'm wondering if I should read longer or what?
Doug: Well, also, you can listen to inspiring videos, or our tapes when you're driving down the road. We've got to take a break here Rick and stay tuned. We'll talk more about that faith in just a minute. Listening friends, we're coming back with more Bible questions. Lines are open if you do have a Bible question 800-GOD-SAYS.
Voice over 3: Stay tuned Bible Answers Live will return in a moment. Amazing Facts began in 1965 with a God inspired concept.
Joe Cruz: Hello, this is Joe Cruz on the Amazing Facts broadcast. Facts which affect you. Each radio broadcast would begin with an amazing fact from science, nature or history. Followed by a Bible message that touched the hearts of listeners from every walk of life. The program was an instant success, and the ministry soon began expanding to include Bible lessons. In 1986, Amazing Facts added the medium of television to its growing outreach efforts.
Offering soul winning Evangelistic messages for viewers around the world. In 1994, Pastor Doug Batchelor assumed leadership of the ministry. Adding the Bible Answers Live call-in radio program. A new ministry TV programs began airing on multiple networks around the world. For 50 years, the driving vision of Amazing Facts has been the bold proclamation of the everlasting Gospel. With a team of evangelists circling the globe, and thousands of men and women being trained through the Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism program, AFCOE.
The ministry is helping God's church see a rich harvest of souls. Amazing Facts, God's message our mission.
Voice over 3: Every Bible question you have answered moves you one step closer to the fullness of God's will for your life. What are you waiting for? Get the answers you need for a fuller, richer, more confident life. You are listening to Bible Answers Live. We still have a few phone lines open. If you have a Bible related question, call us at 1-800-GOD-SAYS, that's 1-800-463-7297. Now let's join pastors Doug Batchelor and Jean Ross for more Bible Answers Live.
Doug: Welcome back listening friends. If you have just tuned in, you're listening to Bible Answers Live. If you have a Bible question we do have lines open 800-463-7297. Free phone call 800-463-7297 brings your Bible question to the studio. As mentioned, I'm Doug Batchelor.
Ross: My name is Jean Ross and pastorjust before the break we were talking to Rick. Talking about how we can have assurance in our Christian experience. Over the break, we looked at some of the resources and you wrote a book called Assurance: Justification Made Simple. I think this is just the book that Rick would enjoy reading. Any of our other listeners out there wanting to learn more about how we can have assurance and peace in our spiritual life.
Doug: Amen. Perfect.
Ross: All you need to do is just give us a call, ask for a book, it's free. The number is 800-835-6747, 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book called Assurance: Justification Made Simple. We'll be happy to send that to anybody who calls and asks. Our next caller is Jerry listening from Medford, Oregon. Jerry, welcome to the program.
Jerry: Good afternoon pastors Ross and Batchelor. It's always a pleasure talking to you.
Doug: Thank you.
Jerry: In my readings of the Bible, I find numerous references to scriptures which would tend to indicate or support the Trinity and I find numerous scriptures which tend to cast doubt on that concept. I know where you stand on that issue. Let me read the most recent one I found in Proverbs 8:22. Says, "The Lord brought me forth as the first of His work." Between there and verse 30, it talks about many landmarks of creation that he preceded, for example, verse 24, "When there were no oceans I was given birth." Verse 27, "I was there when He set the heavens in place." And so on. Then going down.
Doug: Who is the 'I'-
Jerry: Trinity.
Doug: - that Solomon is talking about?
Jerry: Then it says, "Then I was a craftsman at His side." This certainly sounds like Jesus to me.
Doug: If you go earlier in the chapter he's talking about wisdom. You see, you read, he says in verse 11 for instance, "For wisdom is better than rubies." The theme of this chapter it says, Does not wisdom cry out. Wisdom was with God at the very beginning when He made the world. Let me give you another verse on that. If you look for instance, in Job 28, let me see here. Let's go to Psalm 104 maybe 24. "Lord how manifold are your works. In wisdom, you have made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures." Proverbs 3:19, "For by wisdom He founded the earth by understanding, He established the heavens." Chapter 8, he's just using beautiful metaphors of wisdom and so it's a person but it's not saying that wisdom was created. Are you wondering if Jesus was actually created at some point?
Jerry: Yes. For example, probably the most famous verse in New Testament, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son." Begotten means, if you look it up in the dictionary, means giving birth.
Doug: Yes, there's no question that the only time that God had a son that was brought forth as a human was Jesus. But you also believe in the new testament where it says, "All things that were made, were made by Him." That's talking about Jesus, right?
Jerry: Yes. That's one of those scriptures I can cite in support of the Trinity.
Doug: Do you believe that God is love?
Jerry: Yes.
Doug: If God the Father existed without God the son, could God be love? If no other creature was in existence, how can God be love with no one to love? But if you always got the Trinity, you always have love.
Jerry: I suppose you could argue that point, yes. Getting back to this issue about wisdom, it says in verse 30, "Then I was a craftsman at His side." I've heard Jesus being referred to as the craftsman during the creation many times.
Doug: All through Chapter 8, Solomon is speaking in just eloquent and flowery metaphors about wisdom. Nowhere does it say that this is Jesus. He's talking about that everything God did has been done through the wisdom. When you talk about the seven spirits of God. If you look in Isaiah 11:2, it says, one of the attributes of the Holy Spirit is wisdom. James says, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.
This whole chapter I think if you're going to read it from bow to stern, you're going to see that this is wisdom. The big reason I have a challenge, for me, it would be a challenge, with the idea that Jesus is a creation is, how can you be both a creation and a creator? If the Bible says He is from everlasting to everlasting now our God, then there was a beginning. It says, in the beginning, God made the heaven and the earth. It pegs Jesus with a birth point and it's like God says, I'm going to make another God.
I just find that I've got real problems with that. I see that Jesus is divine. He's eternal. You sound like you may have read the book but we'll be happy to send you a copy if you haven't on The Trinity is it Biblical? Jerry.Pastor Ross. Sorry, go ahead. You're still there, Jerry?
Jerry: Yes, can you hear me?
Doug: Yes. Have you read the little book I've got on the Trinity?
Jerry: No. I haven't but I'll order it.
Doug: You don't need to order, we'll send you a free copy.
Ross: Just give us a call on the resource phone number, it's 800-835-6747 and the book is called The Trinity, is it Biblical? Again 800-835-6747. Ask for the free book called The Trinity, is it Biblical? If you have a Bible question, the phone line here for the studio is 800-463-7297, 800-GOD-SAYS, that's 463-7297. Our next caller is David listening in Sacramento, California. David, welcome to the program.
David: Yes.
Ross: Hi, you're on. How can we help you?
David: Is it okay to cook on the Sabbath and is there any exceptions to it?
Doug: When God established the Sabbath, He said that you should try and get everything done you can ahead of time. One example is when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, keep in mind this is Exodus 16 before He even gives the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20. God rained bread down from heaven, six days a week but He would never send bread on Sabbath, He said don't even go looking for it. He said on Friday, and this is Exodus 16:23, 'Bake what you're going to bake, boil what you're going to boil, lay it up and then you eat what you have the next day.'
It doesn't mean a person needs to eat cold food or insipid food on the Sabbath. The principle is, get all the cooking done ahead of time that you can do, so you don't have all the scouring about and the scrubbing of dishes and things that would happen as you prepare meals. Get that all done so you can rest and it's a day of peace and relaxation. All none necessary labor should be done in advance. That's the principle. Why wouldn't you if the idea of the Sabbath is to rest, why wouldn't you want to get it done early so you could rest more that day?
For sundown, I go through the closet and I think, I don't want to be scrambling around in the morning and lose my blessing. I just look and say, what am I wearing tomorrow? I get my suit hang out, I pick out a tie, I hang a shirt next to it and when I wake up in the morning, I'm very relaxed. I know what I'm wearing, my shoes are polished and I'm good to go. That's part of Sabbath keeping if you can get everything out of the way. It's a day of peace and rest. It's holy time for you and God.
David: Basically, do all your cooking and get it out of the way so when it comes to Sabbath you don't have to do any cooking.
Doug: Yes.
David: Heating up the food was different, it's reheating up what's been cooked.
Doug: Yes. There's nothing wrong with that especially with microwaves, it gets easy. Especially, in Bible times, when they made bread and stuff like that, it was really labor intensive, they're kneading and they're--
Ross: Start a fire. There was a lot of work. Get the wood.
Doug: Just the idea, everything you can do in advance. We get our shopping all the way. I fill my car with gas and so it's just a day of rest. It's wonderful. So, hope that helps a little. We do have a magazine and well, we got a website too that talks about tips in Sabbath keeping. I’ve got a little book I just wrote on how to keep the Sabbath holy. That might be what you’re looking for. The number to call is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the book How to Keep the Sabbath Holy and we’ll be happy to send that to you. It’s a brand new book. Again, 800-835-6747. Again, the book is called How to Keep the Sabbath Holy. Our next caller is Edgar, listening from Hemet, California. Edgar, welcome to the program.
Edgar: Hello.
Doug: Hey Edgar, I know where Hemet is.
Edgar: You are the chosen. [laughs].
Doug: I know. There’s not too many. I used to live not far from there. How can we help you today?
Edgar: I was curious to know your opinion when the church began.
Doug: Well, the New Testament church you could say began during the time of Pentecost. But the word church, talking about the gathering of God’s people -- God even had a church in the Old Testament. Technically, the church is the congregation that are gathering His people. You got a church that He brought out of Egypt. You got Abraham and his family and his tribe. He had hundreds of people in his tribe. They would technically be a church.
When you’re thinking about the New Testament church, the apostles in the upper room were the nucleus for that. When Pentecost happened and the Holy Spirit was poured out, it just began to explode with exponential growth. That would Acts Chapter 2. Some people argue it’s the upper room after the resurrection. Trying to peg a time, there’s no question the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost and Christ told them to wait for that. So, that would be a good starting point if you’re looking for one. Does that make sense, Edgar?
Edgar: Your position was because there are a lot of groups that have their church began about four, five places in the book of Acts. I was just curious where you were.
Doug: If it’s real important to peg a spot, I’d probably say the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts Chapter 2 and they were all empowered in a special way. They were praying up till that point. Christ refers to His church before Acts Chapter 2, during the gospel ministry. There must have been an existence when Christ was on the earth because He was referring to them as a church.
Ross: You know, we have a study guide called The Bride of Christ. It’s all about the church.
Doug: That’s perfect. Yes, we need to send you that.
Ross: Yes. It's a study of Revelation Chapter 12. Great study. We’ll be happy to send it to you, Edgar. Or anybody wanting to learn more about the church and the New Testament church, how do we identify the church. The number to call is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide called The Bride of Christ. Again, that number is 800-835-6747. Ask for the study guide called The Bride of Christ. We have Maria listening in Brooklyn, New York. Maria, welcome to the program.
Maria: Hello.
Doug: Evening, Maria.
Maria: Good evening and how are you, pastors?
Doug: Doing great and your question tonight.
Maria: Okay. Yes, my question concerns to John Chapter 3, when Nicodemus and Jesus Christ was in dialogue about being born again.
Doug: Yes.
Maria: When Nicodemus said unto Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the man be born of water--“ and then hold dialogue, you’re familiar with this.
Doug: Right.
Maria: I’ll jump down to verse 9, Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said, “Are you a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?” My question is, how was Nicodemus supposed to know these things? Was it supposed to be found in the Old Testament or in the law? Where was he supposed to get the answers to all these that Jesus said you should have known? Where could he have found it because I’m must have missed it too?
Doug: No. I think that Nicodemus, as a teacher in Israel -- Of course, had no New Testament then. All they had was the Old Testament. Not a single letter of the New Testament was written yet. The idea of a nation being born, the idea of a person being born again is in the Old Testament. When King David says, “Create in me a new heart oh God.” When the Bible says the Holy Spirit came on King Saul and he became another man, and there are other instances where it talks about a person receiving the spirit.
I believe that Nicodemus could have known that. There are principles that you find in Isaiah, in Psalms, that talk about the new birth. Because Jesus is speaking in spiritual terms, the nation of Israel. God talks about the nation being born when He brought them out of Egypt. When Nicodemus is playing dumb and saying, “How can a man enter his mother’s womb and be born again?” and He said, “You should know these. You know I’m talking not about literal.”
It’s like when Jesus said in John 6:52, “Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life,” and the Jewish said, “What’s He talking about, eating His flesh and drinking His blood?” Well, Jesus obviously wasn’t talking about cannibalism. He was talking about spiritually, my bread is the word of God, my blood I’m going to pour out represents the new covenant. They were symbols. I think that Jesus was chastising Nicodemus for not understanding that He was speaking in symbolic language.
Maria: You’re saying that Nicodemus should have known as what Jesus was saying. He should have known and have an idea of what He means by being born again.
Ross: Well, Nicodemus claimed to be a teacher of Israel. He was to lead the people into a clear understanding of God’s will. Jesus is saying, “You claim to be a teacher in Israel and you are unaware of the elementary aspects of the gospel. Meaning, you have to have a change of heart, you have to be born again.” It was a rebuke to Nicodemus in thinking that somehow, he had everything necessary to be able to instruct others, when really the most important thing, with reference to salvation, was being neglected.
Doug: You can look for instance in Ezekiel 36:25, “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you’ll be cleaned from all your uncleanness,” and in Isaiah 44, “I'll pour water on the thirsty.” That’s a New Testament. I’m looking for some of the other Old Testament verses. Yes, there’s several places where I think the principle is there. Anyway, we got to probably keep moving Maria. Hope that helps a little bit. We do have our lesson that talks about the new birth and salvation and we’ll be happy to send Maria a free copy of that.
Ross: That one’s called Rescue From Above dealing with the new birth experience. The number to call is 800-835-6747. You can ask for the study guide called Rescue From Above and we’ll be happy to send that to you. Our next caller is Ken, listening from Wilmar, California. Ken, welcome to the program.
Ken: Yes, thank you for having me on. It’s a pleasure. I get to the point, Isaiah 65:17, is that literal? The idea of our memories being wiped clean is intensely sad in itself, but I’d like for you to look at that, what it says before and after 17.
Doug: Yes. Well, let me go there with our friends. Isaiah 65, it says, “For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former will not be remembered nor come into mind.” That doesn’t mean that God is going to wipe our memories so that we don’t remember the plan of salvation. When he talks about the former, this present heaven and earth where there’s so much suffering and sin and Satan has claimed dominion, we are not going to have painful memories haunting us and disturbing or troubling us through eternity.
Keep in mind, you’ve heard that time heals all wounds. When we have eternal life and after your first billion years go by, people are not going to be dwelling upon the sad things on earth. As the ceaseless ages roll, Isaiah is talking about the eternity, so the former memories won’t even enter our minds. There’ll be so much joy and hope ahead of us. I don’t think he’s saying that God is going to delete all files from our computers so that we don’t have any recollection of how we’ve been redeemed. Is that your understanding?
Ken: Thought that might have been referring to family members, close friends who weren’t saved. That would be intensely sad that you have that knowledge that they are sent to hell or [unintelligible 00:49:29].
Doug: Well, obviously when the second coming happens, we’re going to know that certain loved ones are not there. There may be somebody that we love and care about or even any of the lost and we see that they're not there. We’ll be aware of that and God says, “God will wipe away all our tears.” Well, in order for him to wipe away tears, there have to be tears. There maybe some in heaven that are going to be sad and God will dry their tears. The fact that God dries their tears, he takes away the sorrow so we don't have to look back with sorrow forever. Like I said, it doesn't mean that it's going to erase the whole memory. It just means the painful memories are not going to haunt us in heaven. That’s the way I understand it.
Ken: I appreciate that and God bless you for doing God’s work.
Doug: Well, thank you, Ken, you keep us in your prayers.
Ken: I sure will. Thank you. Bye bye.
Doug: Bye bye.
Ross: Our next caller is Nancy listening from South Carolina. Nancy, you’re on the air.
Nancy: Hello, Pastor Doug and Pastor Ross. I have a question in Luke 12:52-53, "For from now on, five in one house will be divided, three against two, two against three. Father will be divided against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter in-law against mother in-law, against her daughter in-law, her mother in-law." What does that mean?
Doug: Yes, and he says also in Matthew Chapter 10:35, "For I've come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter in-law against her mother in-law." and he goes on to say, " Among those will be there have his own house." Christ here is just basically saying that when people accept the Gospel, sometimes not everybody in the family accepts the Gospel and those who accept Christ end up becoming the focal point of hostility for those that don't.
You can see cases of that in the Bible. Paul was a Jew and he was killing his fellow church members and the Apostles. There were families where children would turn-in their parents for going to Christian meetings, and a girl might turn-in her mother in-law. Christ said, “I didn’t come to send peace but a sword.” He said that sometimes the gospel will create divisions in a family and it's very sad when that happens but Jesus was warning. He is warning people that it's a personal decision. You can't say well, I'm part of this family through all saved automatically. Every individual in the family had to make a decision for or against the truth as they heard the truth. Does that make sense?
Nancy: Yes, it does. Now I do understand it.
Doug: Jesus said, “Unless you love me more than father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, you're not worthy of me.” Love for Christ needs to be the big factor. I appreciate your question, Nancy.
Nancy: Thank you.
Doug: You're welcome. Got time for one more call you think. Now I got one minute. Yes, that wouldn't be fair, would it?
Ross: We’ll just get the question on the air and we'll have to cut it off.
Doug: Friends, don't go away we've got an amazing fact that we're going to be sharing with you in just a minute. I want to remind you that of course there's calling with fresh questions this coming week, go to the Amazing Facts website. Not only do we want you to go there because you're going to find a virtual digital tree of life, there are videos you can watch that will build your soul. There are Bible studies you can take. There is audio programs that you can tune into and there's a lot of great things you want to link to your friends. You can even go to the Amazing Facts YouTube site and we going to save hundreds of videos there.
Have you seen any of our Amazing Facts of Faith yet? If you go to the Amazing Facts site, you're going to find that interesting. We’ve got Amazing Facts of science, history, nature and then we connect them with spiritual lessons. We’ve actually traveled around the world producing those. You can find that at Amazing Facts of Faith at the You Tube site. Standby got some important announcements.
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Doug: Friends, are you afraid of heights? If so you might want to look away right now. One of the most famous attractions in the San Francisco Bay Area is the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. While this world famous bridge was named as one of the Seven Wonders of the modern world, few people know the story of the brave men who were involved in its construction and also known as “the half way to hell club”.
Designed by a group of visionary engineers at 4200 feet from end to end, the Golden Gate Bridge was at one time the longest suspension bridge in the world. During its construction from 1933 to 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge had one of the best safety construction records of any project during that time. Keep in mind they would factor in and calculate that one man would die for every million dollars that was spent. So, with a budget of 35 million dollars, they knew that loss of life would be unacceptable.
This is why the chief engineer Joseph P. Strauss was absolutely adamant about using the most rigorous safety precautions that it ever been used in bridge building. He had a local manufacturer of safety equipment design special headgear that he insisted be worn on every job. This became the prototype for the modern hard hat worn for the first time ever, but the safety precautions went even further. Strauss provided a special ear and face cream to protect their skin from the cold biting wind and glare free goggles to protect their eyes. In addition, they also ate a special diet to help ward off dizziness when they were working at those epic heights but the most conspicuous safety precaution was a gigantic net that was suspended from end to end under the entire construction area of the Golden Gate Bridge.
In fact, during construction, this net saved the lives of 19 men who later became known as “the halfway to hell club”. Now, you need to keep in mind these were some of the most dangerous construction conditions you can imagine. The wind was constantly blowing, they were walking around on iron that sometimes had ice from the freezing fog in places they were over 700 feet above the icy waters. Yet, the men coming from all walks of life were willing to take these risks because it was during the Great Depression and they would get paid up to 11 dollars a day which was a fortune back then.
One of the other benefits of the net was they discovered that the men were much more courageous even though they were walking high on those slippery surfaces because they knew there was a mechanism to protect them if they should fall. This gave them the confidence and the courage to press on and get the bridge built in record time.
Friends as Christians we have a great work to do. The Bible tells us that we get to participate with Jesus in building a bridge that connects heaven and earth and there are dangers along the way. The devil would like to paralyze us with fear that we might fall or make a mistake but we know that Jesus has provided a safety net for us and we don't have to be afraid. We can press on with confidence because it promises in the book of Jude verse 24, He is able to keep us from falling but sometimes we make mistakes. Still don't be discouraged friends. If you read in 1 John 2:1, the Bible says if we fall, if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ so let's press on together and build that bridge with Christ.
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