Doug Batchelor: Hello friends this is Doug Batchelor, how about an amazing fact! During World War II a bomber carrying a chaplain ran out of gas over the Pacific and was forced to land on a Japanese held island. Without fuel to get away, the crew knew they would soon be captured and resigned themselves to this looming fate, but the chaplain did not. A firm believer, he prayed to God for deliverance. The crew respected his faith but did not share his optimistic hope, but the next day, they changed their minds. Early that morning, just before dawn, one of the crew was awakened suddenly with - as he explained, a strong feeling that he should go down and walk on the beach! He did!
And there he found bobbing on the incoming waves, a huge drum of aviation gasoline! With a shout the astonished airman awakened the rest of the amazed crew, who rushed down to the water, pulled the big drum ashore and transferred the miraculous gift of gas to the stranded plane. Soon they were off the Island, airborne safely to their not too distant base. Later the facts concerning the miraculous gasoline came to light. The drum had been part of a cargo of fuel that had been ejected from its barge following a Japanese attack. All of the oil drums had been lost, but this one had managed to float nearly 1000 miles past twenty-five other islands to finally wash up at the very feet of the men who desperately needed that gasoline to save their lives!
Friends in case you have any doubt, let me tell you, prayer still works! Stay with us friends and we are going to learn more as Amazing Facts brings you this edition of Bible Answers Live.
[PROGRAM INTRODUCTION]
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Welcome listening friends, I want to thank you for joining in another fresh edition of Bible Answers Live! And if you have not tuned in before, let me tell you this is the best possible use for talk radio. It is a live international interactive Bible study where you can call in and ask any Bible related question and we will do our best to search the Bible resources at our fingertips and let us find the answers together. The promise is if we will seek we will find.
If you have a phone, call! We have got several lines open right now. Pick up your phone and call in your Bible question, it is free. That number is (800) GOD-SAYS, (800) 463-7297 and my name is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Ross: My name is Jëan Ross, good evening Pastor Doug, listening friends let us start with a word of prayer. Dear Father once more as we open up Your Word, we ask for Your Holy Spirit to be with us, we recognize that in order to rightfully understand the Bible, we need the Holy Spirit’s guidance. So thank you for being with us, be with those listening and those who call in, be with us here in the studio. For this we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Amen.
Pastor Ross: The Amazing Fact that opened the program was an incredible answer to prayer. At the last minute there was this barrel of gasoline that was needed to get them safely from that island to their army base.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yes, how can somebody deny the existence of God when there are so many miraculous providential things that happen immediately after prayer. The chances of that are just so remote, that… and I have seen these things happen so many times in my life, that you just know that there is a God, that He does hear and answer prayer. Jesus said the problem is not that God does not want to answer prayer, we are more reluctant to pray than He is to answer. If we pray in faith, all things are possible. In fact Jesus tells in Mathew 17:20, “If you’ve got faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain be removed and go hence to yonder place, hence it will be removed and nothing is impossible unto you. ”
You know Pastor Ross when I first read that verse, I’m embarrassed to tell people, but it is true, I thought, if I have got enough faith I can say to this mountain be moved and this hill would be moved, and I lived up in the hills at that time and so I thought I will try this. I actually looked at the mountain and thought oh pray, have faith and I tried to master faith and said ‘MOVE’ and then I opened my eyes and of course the mountain was still there. But I later read in the Bible where, it says, when we have faith and we ask God, He will take our sins and cast them into the depths of the sea.
What we just read here is that if you have got faith of a mountain, it would be plucked up and cast into the sea. Well, it is the mountain of sin that we need to worry about, moving prayer is not for moving dirt. And God doesn’t expect us to say “Lord I’ve got to dig a hole I’m praying that the dirt will settle and come out for the hole. ” The prayers to deal with the biggest mountain we all face which is the mountain of guilt and sin, and through faith in Christ that mountain can be cast into the sea.
The Bible says “He casts our sins into the depths of the sea. ” And maybe there some of our friends who are listening tonight and you have been battling with your faith, maybe you are battling under the pressure of that mountain of sin and guilt, and you want to find relief . Or maybe there is some crisis in your life and you need a miracle. If you would like to know more about the miraculous power of prayer, maybe there is something that you need to do, there is a science to prayer. Some people think you just pray and God is this big cracker jack’s box in the sky or Santa Claus, and He will reach into His bag, but there is a process to prayer. There are something’s that are appropriate. Jesus gives us a pattern and we have a book that is, it will provide a key to help you unlock the store house, the treasure of heaven, and understanding how to pray and what the Bible promises about prayer. We will send this key to anyone who wants it you just have to call and ask.
Pastor Ross: It’s a booklet that is written by Pastor Doug himself entitled Teach us to pray. If you would like to receive this free booklet call the resource number (800) 835-6747 and ask for the book Teach us to pray. There is another number that it would be good for you to remember or write down, and that is the number here to our studio, its 1(800) GOD-SAYS, 1(800) 463-7297 and if you have a Bible related question that’s the number to call.
Pastor Doug we’d like to take a few questions that came in through email. The first one: why in Genesis 3:24 where God places these cherubim’s with flaming swords at the east end of the Garden. Why is it that the antediluvian world seeing these angels, still did not believe Noah about sending a flood?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: For our listening friends if you, a lot of people of course who are driving in their cars and it says in Genesis 3:24, so He drove the man out and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim’s and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. This flaming sword some have argued was like the Shekinah glory, some glorious sword of light. And man was forbidden to eat from the tree of life after he sinned and the question is, if here you have got this miraculous evidence of supernatural power right there at the garden, how could they disbelieve Noah? That was an age where there was lots of miraculous evidence in the world.
I mean even the way that the animals were brought by the Lord to the ark was a miraculous thing. But the scientists of the day, they were probably just as clever as they are today in trying to dismiss with practical explanations supernatural events. I mean, think about it, even in our day and age, how miraculous is it that a seed could be buried for a thousand years in some pyramid, you take it out and the essence of life is still in it, they have no explanation for that. Even the conception of human life how these two eggs, the sperm and egg come together and it forms a new being is a miracle. Science can manipulate that miracle but they can’t make the miracle. There are so many things that are supernatural that are mysteries, and so people deny the existence of God in the presence of all this evidence.
Pastor Ross: That’s right.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: So they did it back then. They probably had some say … well it’s the magnetism of the earth that’s what gives that appearance of the flaming presence in those angels. I mean who knows what they said.
Pastor Ross: Well not only do you have the angel by the Garden but then later on in the story where Noah builds the Ark and then just before the flood comes there’s the animals that come out of the forest, brought by angels somehow into the ark, although Noah wasn’t leading the animals.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: He guided them in but God… I mean Noah wasn’t snatching these birds out of the sky. So obviously the Lord did something supernaturally to help them.
Pastor Ross: But they refused to see the evidence and accept that as coming from God. You still have people today doing the same thing.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: That’s right.
Pastor Ross: Alright, the next question is, I understand the Old Covenant is the Ten Commandments written on stone and the New Covenant is the Ten Commandments written in the heart. The question is why did God allow the children of Israel then, to enter into this Old Covenant since the only way to keep the Ten Commandments is when they are written in the heart?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well there is a misconception I have often heard repeated that in the Old Testament people were saved by works, by doing the external law, in the New Testament they are saved by grace. In reality everybody is saved by grace. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, the Lord says I am the Lord I change not. The means by which anyone is saved is the blood of Christ. People in the Old Testament were not saved by works, no one is saved by works. Paul makes that clear in Ephesians.
Everyone is saved by the blood of the Lamb. People in the Old Testament were not saved by the blood of goats even in the Old Testament it says you do not desire these sacrifices, what you desire is a con-straight heart. And the first time you really hear about the New Covenant is in the Old Testament. Of course not only is it in Jeremiah chapter 21 where he talks about… you find this also in Hebrews chapter 8, Jeremiah 31:31, “A new covenant I will make says the Lord with the house of Israel, I will write My law in their hearts.”
Well that is first found in the Old Testament. Matter of fact, Moses, who is, and everyone points to Moses as the essence of the Old Covenant, he said “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts.” It was to be a heart transformation that led to salvation. The Old Covenant was the Law of God written on stone, and many of the people tried to keep it externally but only those who kept it in the heart were saved.
So nobody is saved by the idea of keeping the law externally for everybody it needed to get in their hearts. As a matter of fact in Deuteronomy 6:4 after the Ten Commandments were given, then Moses comments, he says these words I command you this day shall be in your heart. So even when the Old Covenant was given he said it must be in the heart.
Pastor Ross: And you know after the Ten Commandments was given the people said ‘everything you have said we will do’ [??]
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Deuteronomy chapter 5 that’s [??]
Pastor Ross: Okay let's go to the phone lines Renee is calling from Alberta, Canada listening on the internet. Renee welcome to the program.
Renee: How are you doing Pastor? I have a quick question here, I was sitting down with a group of team leaders today, and I have always been brought up that… for the thousand years we will go up to heaven, and we will live with God and after those thousand years we will come back and then the people that did not believe in Jesus would see. But they brought up the idea that Jesus would come down here too, for a thousand years and reign and I was wondering what Bible verse can help me to answer their questions.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well that’s a good question. And this for our listening friends, virtually all Christians agree with, some spiritualize it, but most Christians that take the Bible as the Word of God believe there is a thousand year period spoken of in Revelation 20 where we live and reign with Christ. The dividing line between Christians is typically many Christians, mostly those who are embracing that kind of a left behind theology, they believe that the thousand years are spent here on earth. Where the more traditional, I should say the old fashioned Christians were the Christians of the reformation, only that we live and reign with God in glory during that time and here is the reason.
Christ said “I go to prepare a place for you,” John 14, and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that’s when we are caught up right, to meet Him in the air. That where I am ye may be, we will be where He is, He takes us away to where He is and where He has prepared a place for us. Revelation 20 you get the thousand years where we are living and reigning with Christ in glory. Revelation 21 the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven with the saints. We come back at the end of the thousand years.
Whereas the left behind scenario has the righteous and Jesus reigning over the wicked. Now here is my question, who would want, I mean here you’ve got the righteous in the world, they have got eternal life and glorified bodies reigning over the wicked, who have immortal bodies. What righteous person would call that heaven?
Renee: Correct yeah.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: So just the whole scenario is just really [??] in that you have got Jesus and the righteous and the holy angels living in the world and reigning over the wicked and the wicked angels where they say the wicked aren’t wicked because Satan’s bound. Well how can the wicked not be wicked if Satan is bound, it just becomes very confusing. So some of the Scriptures I give of course 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air when He comes back. We go up when Jesus comes again.
And when does the millennium begin? It begins at the resurrection. So if 1st Thessalonian 4 tell us we go up when Jesus comes back and if Revelation 20 says that the thousand years begins with the resurrection of the just … Pastor Ross just reminded me that we’ve got a whole lesson on this we should send you because it’s got a lot of Scriptures and I hope you will ask for this and share it with you friends Renee. Also anyone listening if you get questions on the millennium and the Biblical sequence of the millennium we hope you will ask for these lessons.
Pastor Ross: It is a broad subject with a lot of Scriptures but the study guide that we have is a great one, A Thousand Years of Peace and it talks about this one thousand year period. To receive this study guide just call the resource number it’s 1-800-835-6747 and ask for the study guide A Thousand Years of Peace.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: You will enjoy it Renee, it’s an exciting study … one of my favorite evangelistic subjects to preach on.
Renee: I will, thank you, just one more thing. Your program Amazing Facts has been a life changing thing and I have been a Christian like since I was born and up to these last two years it has been really life changing.
Pastor Ross: Praise God, we are delighted to hear that Renee.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: And I was going to also mention that at the Amazing Facts website which is simply amazingfacts.com, there you could click on the media link and I have got a sermon that goes along with the Thousand Years of Peace that you can watch so you will get the visuals along with the Scriptures.
Renee: Okay. Is there, do you know, would you happen to know the seminar or should I just look through?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well to tell you the truth I have done about six different seminars on the millennium and they all have different names so one of them is just like a lesson it’s called The Thousand Years of Peace. I think one of them is called The Devil Gets a Vacation. (Laughs) you know every series I do I kind of fool around with the titles a little bit but, it’s the subject of the millennium and if you type in A Thousand Years of Peace you will find it.
Renee: Okay.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: God bless Renee.
Pastor Ross: Our next caller is Shawn, listening on 3ABN radio from southern Illinois. Shawn welcome to the program.
Shawn: Thank you, I have been in the faith for a couple of years now and I have been attending this church in the next town over and I have a goatee I am shaving it but now it just recently grew it back and a brother in the faith came up to me last week and told me to shave it off and I didn’t ask him why but I just want to know, is God against facial hair and if it’s in the Bible but then again Christ had a beard and I am just very confused about this right now.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Oh that is a good question and believe it or not I once did a Bible study on beards because I ran into some Christians, since we have the exact opposite view of what you are hearing, they said that for a man to shave its effeminate and for man to go to heaven he’s got to have a beard. I mean, really he was a doctor in this church and so I wasn’t part of this church. I ran into some people that were getting mixed up in this cult and so I did a Bible study on beards, let me tell you what I found.
The word beard of course does not even appear on the New Testament. It’s only in the Old Testament. Joseph shaved before he came before the Pharaoh but the children of Israel grew beards. The Egyptians would pluck out almost every hair on their face while the Hebrews grew beards and they would grow them long. The Romans and the Greeks shaved and yet in spite of the fact that the Jews had long beards and the Romans and the Greeks shaved it must not have been a big issue.
Paul talks about a lot of the different challenges between the Gentiles and the Jews, he never mention his beard as being a challenge. Now, as with fingernails and many areas you know whether you are going to grow a beard or not it should be manicured and trimmed and I have a Scripture believe it or not, 2 Samuel 19:20-24 it tell us in (??), this is when David was attacked by Absalom he says since you fled the kingdom I have not even trimmed my beard or his moustache and if you look into a couple of different versions and it translates that sometimes as beard and sometimes as moustache so you find verses on both sides but no verse in the Bible is mentioned against men having beards having said that, styles and trends change.
I am actually thankful it’s becoming in style now for men to shave their hair why I am almost bald anyway so for me I say this is great it’s coming back in style. I used to pastor a church of Navajo Indians, they don’t grow very much facial hair and then some people live by five o’clock, they have to trim their beard and so I don’t think I’d make a doctrine. I think Christians want to be neat and clean and try not to make a spectacle depending on what the styles are so that they fit in and they are able to witness without being distracting. I don’t see any mandate in the Bible that says that a beard is anything morally wrong. I gave you probably more than the answer that you needed.
Shawn: So what do you think I should do, do you think I should. . .
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well I don’t know what you look like, how do you look with the beard?
Shawn: I don’t have a beard, it’s just a goatee.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: I have got some friends, that to tell them they have to grow a moustache it will make them look prestigious and then I have got other friends, they can’t grow full beard they say you have to shave that thing off you don’t even look … you are just dirty (laughs). It depends on everybody and some people look better. So are you married?
Shawn: No.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: I was going to say ask your wife (laughs). She has to live with you, but I can’t tell you it’s just ... Let me just tell you this if there are several people in your church and they are telling you that, there is a place in the Bible that says in the multitude of counselors there is safety. You may not look so good with the beard I don’t know. But it’s not a moral question okay?
Shawn: Yea I came back with. . . I came back and I told him I said and he always doesn’t have much time for this but I told him that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart you know.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yea that’s right the Lord does look at the heart and . . . well you know it’s just there are some companies that they actually have a mandate that says that they won’t hire people with beards but it’s often an issue of public service or even cooking and so I can’t tell you there is a Scripture that forbids it so you'll just have to pray and have the Holy Spirit guide you on this one okay?
Shawn: Right, thank you very much.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright Shawn thanks for the question.
Pastor Ross: Stanley is calling from Harrington New Jersey, Stanley welcome to the program.
Stanley: Hey Pastor Ross and Pastor Doug, how are you guys doing today?
Pastor Ross: We are well how can we help you tonight?
Stanley: Yes I have some two questions that I am confused with. I have been studying and I need you guys to help me out. The first one is pertaining to 1 Timothy 1:8-10, and verse 8 states that “we know that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully” and in verse 9 and 10, ‘Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient’ … and then it started listing down a whole bunch of sinners.
Now this is the confusion, I know the Ten Commandments, you know, I have been studying the Ten Commandments in the covenant I know that the Ten Commandments was there before sin but yet, I know the mosaic laws applied after sin. Now, over years this has confused me, verse 8 it says we know the Law is good and if a man use it lawfully, it seems to me that that’s talking of the Ten Commandments but when I go to verse 9 it says it is not meant for the righteous but for the sinners. It doesn’t talk of the mosaic. Which one is it talking about?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well even the Ten Commandments have always existed and they were written in the heart but as man began to break the law of God he was cut off andd let me give you an example. There is a law that says you are not supposed to kill your children, most parents don’t even think about that because they love their children and they would not even dream of it I mean even animals would lay down their lives to protect their young, most animals. So this is a natural law and the more laws a government has it usually indicates the more lawless its citizens are, did you hear that?
The more laws any government has. People start making laws because someone breaks it. Very rarely will you hear legislatures say hey we are running short of laws let’s bring up some new laws. The laws end up in the books because someone thought up some new way to break the law or do something immoral and so they say we need to make a law that explains you are not supposed to do this.
You know they have got a law in one state, I forgot which state is, that you cannot put a skunk in your boss’s desk (laughs). I mean they have got all these really bizarre laws they have got … I think I did an amazing fact on it one day and it’s because someone obviously did that so the Ten Commandments have always been in existence but who are the Ten Commandments for? James tells us that it is a mirror that we look into that helps us identify our sins if you don’t have any sin you won’t see anything in the mirror. Does that make sense?
Shawn: So you are saying, in 1Timothy its talking about the Ten Commandments so therefore. . .
Pastor Doug Batchelor: All of the moral laws are there to be a restraint for the disobedient and to bring the disobedient into repentance but if nobody is disobeying the law then the law becomes a moot point.
Shawn: Yes, that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense and quickly the second question is pertaining to 1 Corinthians 14 dealing with the speaking in tongues. I have read your book on Understanding Tongues and that explained everything perfect because I came from a charismatic church and I believe that when I read your book it answers everything but there was one Scripture you didn’t address and I just need you to help me out with this one…
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Which verse?
Shawn: Verses 14 and 15
Pastor Doug Batchelor: All right, let me read that. This is verse 14 for our friends. ‘For if I pray in unknown tongue my spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful and what shall I say then, I would pray with the Spirit I will pray with understanding, I sing with the Spirit I sing with the understanding.’ Paul is talking about people who are in a multilingual church where somebody is praying in a language that others present do not understand. They might be praying a prayer in the Spirit but their understanding is unfruitful to those present.
That make sense? In other words, let me reword this because when you go from Greek to English things sometimes from one language to the next the wording can be cumbersome. Paul is saying, now if I am praying in a language that is unknown to you, I can be praying in my spirit but my understanding what I know … I am praying is unfruitful to you. So in some languages it doesn’t always repeat the subject or the person, so Paul is talking about a group experience here and I’ll open in 1 Corinthians 14, and he says I can be praying in the spirit but what I am praying you don’t understand, its non-productive to you.
Pastor Ross: You know, another thing to remember there is in verse14 in the King James it speaks about an unknown tongue, the word unknown is added. In other words, it is not in the original Greek. So in other words he is praying in a language that he knows, but those who are listening can’t understand what he is saying, it’s not benefiting them.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Stanley, I tell you what there are a lot of people who have also been listening and I want to tell them about a book Captured by Tongues, Captured by Tongues. Friends if you get questions about this phenomenon we believe in all the gifts of the Spirit but this is a very misunderstood subject. And if you would like a copy of the booklet Captured by Tongues just call our resource number we would send that to you.
Pastor Ross: Its 1-800-835-6747 and the book is Captured by Tongues. I think it’s time for us to take a short break. We have some important announcements. If you don’t have some tools to write with nearby we hope that you will go and hunt for one. We want to give you some of our website addresses and phone numbers for the free resources. Just check out amazingfacts.org or amazingfacts.com and we have got a few announcements. We will be right back.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Welcome back listening friends and we know we have some who have joined us during our journey, and you are listening to Bible Answers Live. it’s a live international interactive Bible study where all you need to do is pick up the phone and call in with our Bible question and we will do our best. it is broadcasting across the country and around the world. in North America I think 250 stations now we are adding all the time. If you would like to know more about how to get Bible Answers Live in your community call our office and we will work with you on that project. My name is Doug Batchelor.
Pastor Ross: My name is Jëan Ross. Pastor Doug we’d like to mention to our listening friends about some of the additional resources that are available at the Amazing Facts website and also some of the new websites that are dealing with some important Bible truths. Questions that people have they go onto these websites a few of them we have just mentioned some of them now one is helltruth.org. I believe that deals with the whole subject of hell, what happens to the wicked, can God still be a loving God and punish the wicked? It deals will all of those a lot of Scripture in there …
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Actually its helltruth.com and the prophecycode.com. They had a program on the history channel this week talking about the Bible code and then they get all these different Davinci code people might want to understand why does God speak in symbols in prophesy? We have a presentation of seminars called the Prophecy Code and they can go to the website and listen to those presentations for free and that is simply prophecycode.com. We would be happy to also link you to a number of other websites.
Pastor Ross: I think it’s on that same website prophecycode.com where they can access a list of numbers and their significance in the Bible as well as symbols. Also reading through Revelation and Daniel.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: People out there are fascinated by numbers and why do these special numbers 12, 7, 3, and 40 keep reappearing in the Bible and what does it mean that a whole list of Bible numbers and what some of their meanings are in Bible symbols. Especially in prophecy they want to know what is this dragon, what is this beast, what is this lamb, and there is a page very simple page with the Scripture supporting interpretations. You understand these symbols and you can unlock the prophecies. So I would go to prophecycode.com.
Pastor Ross: And then of course we have sabbathtruth.com which is another great website. Just some good resources that amazingfacts.com is where there is a lot of other. . .
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Flagship
Pastor Ross: That’s right. All right Max is listening on the internet from Brooklyn, New York. Welcome to the program Max.
Max: Hi PastorDoug.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Thank you for your patience, and your question.
Max: Yes my question come from Genesis 3:21, my question was this skin that God used was it from sacrifice of an animal which painted the picture of something great to come, the shedding of blood would be a necessity for covering sin.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: You know most scholars, you are on the right track, most scholars believe that God established the sacrificial system there in the Garden of Eden. Obviously He did not cover them with some artificial material. It was skin and in order to be covered with skin an animal needs to sacrifice its life and we believe that right there in the garden before any creature had died God established a sacrificial system pointing forward to when His Son Jesus the Lamb of God would come. And it was probably lamb skin that covered their nakedness. That’s why when John the Baptist points to Jesus at the Jordan River he said behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. In other words all of these other sacrifices were talking about Christ who laid down His life to cover our nakedness, our sin.
Max: Okay, that would add up with Hebrew 9:22 as well, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood ... right?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yes, that’s part of the sacrificial system and of course it’s the blood of Christ and not the blood of an animal now that all that was pointed to.
Pastor Ross: You know there is an interesting feature that is also introduced here in Genesis and not only does God cover Adam and Eve with coats of skin but remember that they made coverings of fig leaves to try and account for their sin ... man’s self-righteousness but it didn’t work. So God provides clothes of skin and then you trace those two themes throughout Scripture, the clothes provided by God… plus man’s attempt to cover his own shame and guilt by works. You have Jesus cursing the fig tree because it had leaves but it did not have the fruit of righteousness. So an interesting parallel that is setup right at the very beginning and goes through the whole Bible.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yah, Good point. I appreciate that, I hope that, that helps a little Max.
Max: Hello.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah can you hear me?
Max: Yeah, I was just going to say would that (??) be a breaking of the second commandment. With like a grave image?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well it was really, more thought of as salvation by works. The idea of trying to manufacture their own righteousness and it’s interesting that Jesus cursed the fig tree in Jerusalem symbolizing the righteousness of the Pharisees. It was sort of a man-made righteousness but you are on the right track it sounds like you are getting into the middle of the Word. I appreciate that Max.
Pastor Ross: All right, Eveda is listening on WMCA from Brooklyn New York. Eveda welcome to the program.
Eveda: Hi good night.
Pastor Ross: Hi how are you doing?
Eveda: I am fine.
Pastor Ross: Your question?
Eveda: My question is, there are different feasts like the feast of the tabernacle. I want to know if the Passover . . . if it is mandatory that you must keep the Passover.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good question for, and I am assuming you mean for a Bible, New Testament Christian is it necessary for us to keep the Passover?
Eveda: Yes.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, my answer is yes and no. When Jesus established the last supper, the Lord’s supper communion, that was a Passover dinner. That night he was eating a Passover dinner. During the Passover, they used to sacrifice a lamb. We don’t sacrifice lambs anymore, Jesus is our lamb. But whenever we celebrate the Lord’s supper it’s not required that it’s on any certain date.
Jesus say that as often as you do this and He implies that whenever you want to commemorate the sacrifice, He never attaches it to a date as Moses did with the Passover. So whenever we celebrate the Lord’s supper, it’s a fulfillment of the Passover dinner. So when I do communion in our church, we are going to do it this weekend because Easter is approaching I always like to go back to the Passover experience because of the blood of the Lamb the angel of death passes over and it is because of the blood of Jesus that the angel of judgment and death passes from us.
We pass from death to life so we must apply His blood to the door of our hearts. There are a lot of parallels in the Passover and communion service.
Eveda: Can you please let me know where He had the last supper on that Friday?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah, in all the four gospels you go to John 13, Pastor Ross is going to take his nimble fingers through the computer here and he will find some of the other references for you but in Matthew 26 its referred to in 1 Corrithians 11 and John 13. That’s when He washes the disciples feet after supper was ended. Mark 14:22 you have the same story. And then again in John, You can read about it in John 18 speaks about the last supper. It begins in Chapter 13 and then it goes all the way. But in Luke specifically it mentions Jesus Christ had longing to eat this Passover with you. So it was a Passover meal. I appreciate that Eveda and I think that is a good question. I think a lot of people are wondering about that.
Pastor Ross: Gabriel is listening on 570 AM from New Jersey,okay welcome to the program.
Gabriel: Good day pastor, my question is does this peace plan in Israel have anything to do with Bible prophecy?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: You know, and I want to be careful how I answer this. First of all before I answer it let me tell you that there is a book I will send you for free Gabriel. And it’s called Spiritual Israel. Many of the prophecies about Israel also include the New Testament church. For instance, In the New Testament, the Bible tells us if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham's seed. Paul says he is not a Jew which is one outwardly but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and the temple now is the church.
Christ and Paul say, don’t you know that you are the temple of God? Jesus says destroy This Temple made with hands I will make one without hands. So there is another whole spiritual temple that is spoken of in Bible prophecy. But now you are asking specifically about the little nation of Israel. There is that prophecy, I thinks it’s in Luke21 where it says that Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Some of my associates have wondered if this is a prophecy talking about when Israel would get back the land of . . . the holy land as a nation. I am really interested in what is happening in the Middle East right now the focus actually is more on Mesopotamia meaning Iraq and Iran than Israel, Israel is sort of like the . . . Israel is the [??] of hatred for many of these extreme Islamic. . .
Pastor Ross: Luke 21:24 says "and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and they shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles until the times of the gentiles shall be fulfilled.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Jerusalem was occupied by non-Jews for 1900 years until 1948 and many of have seen that as a real miracle.
Gabriel: Can I just ask one last question, I will make it as quick as possible. Is it mandatory for one who is baptized to be born again?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: That’s a whole different subject , but the new birth happens without baptism. In other words the new birth needs to happen before baptism, but Jesus says unless you are born of the water and the Spirit, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Meaning God offers us Spiritual baptism when we accept Him. But water baptism is a public marriage to Christ that every Christian is told to participate in, Matthew 28:19. There would be many people in heaven who did not have the benefit of baptism because they could not. You know the thief on the cross and many other people but we got two lessons for you. One I offered you was on Spiritual Israel if you call the number and ask for that, and Pastor Ross is holding our lessons on baptism.
Pastor Ross: This study guide entitled Purity and Power deals with the subject of baptism that we need. How you should be baptized, etc. To get this call our resource number1-800-835-6747 and these two things one is Purity and Power, that’s the study guide and the other one is. . . dealing with baptism and then Spiritual Israel. Did you write that book?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: I did with Steve Wohlberg.
Pastor Ross: Okay, so if you would like that, call the resource number 1-800-835-6747. Our next caller is Shawn. He is listening from New Jersey on WMCA. Shawn welcome to the program.
Shawn: Alright Pastor Doug.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Good evening, your question?
Shawn: My question is regarding Acts 2:37 and its regarding the previous caller in regards to baptism and conversion and when I look at Acts 2:38 it required everyone to be baptized if they wanted to hear the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I look all through at the book of Acts and the people who got converted like some of the Ethiopian and Libya and Paul and Timothy when they were in jail with the jailer, these were the people who heard the gospel and then they were baptized as part of conversion. In Romans, I hear a lot of people say if you just confess with your mouth and believe in your heart and believe Jesus is Lord you will be saved but from my understanding the book of Romans was written to the church in Rome and therefore these people were already saved. So how then can you confess Jesus as Christ and then you will be saved all over again. Do you follow me?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well I'm going to back-up and try to answer what I see is really as two questions. Everybody who, people are convicted by the preaching of the Word before baptism. Acts 2 Peter’s preaching, they are convicted, the Holy Spirit works in their hearts. John the Baptist said, repent and be baptized so the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of repentance.
When we have made a commitment to surrender our lives to the Lord, that’s a conversion that happens in the heart. Baptism signifies, it’s the outward sign of an inward change. In other words baptism is for the Christian what a wedding is for a marriage. Someone does not get married to fall in love. The love needs to be there, the marriage is the ceremony of commitment that demonstrates that love.
Shawn: I understand.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: So yeah, hope that helps and you would also I think appreciate this study guide that we just offered our previous caller, dealing with the subject of baptism. Again it’s called Purity and Power, deals with the subject of baptism. To get it call the resource number 1 (800) 835-6747. Our next caller is Julie and she is listening on KPRZ from Portland Oregon. Julie welcome to the program.
Julie: Hey thank you guys.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Thank you.
Julie: I was wondering if you could answer a question for me about Noah’s flood.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Okay.
Julie: Over the years I have heard many preachers and teachers say that it took Noah 120 years to build the ark, yet I just cannot come to find the Scripture that would substantiate that and I wonder if you could help me out.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well if you look in Genesis 6:3, and God said “My Spirit will not always strive with men,” meaning mankind, ‘but that he is also flesh, yet his days would be 120 years’. So God makes this statement that because you read in verses one and two, those who believed in God, the sons of God, the descendants of Seth were intermarrying with the daughters of Cain.
God did not want the believers, the children of Seth to intermarry with the unbelievers the daughters of Cain. When they did that you will notice it says that “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth.” Man lost his distinctness, he gave himself to evil. The thoughts of his heart were all evil continually. So God says I’m giving mankind 120 years. And in the same chapter it says, “But Noah found grace.” Verse 6, I’m sorry verse 8 of chapter 6. So from the time God said man has 120 years, he calls Noah. Man’s got 120 years until the flood comes. That’s where most preachers and scholars get that and I’m inclined to agree.
Julie: Oh good well that’s very, very helpful. Thank you so much.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright thank you, another happy customer, appreciate that.
Pastor Ross: Okay Greg is listening on the internet calling from Pennsylvania, and Greg welcome to the program.
Greg: Hello.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: And your question tonight?
Greg: I was wondering, what is going to happen with the Scriptures, once we are in heaven? Will we still be studying them?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well, as a matter of fact you can also ask what’s going to happen to prayer. Because the Bible says before you call I will answer. I know I used to sing this song, well I still sing it, Sweet Hour of Prayer. And the last verse says farewell, farewell Sweet Hour of Prayer. Because why would you kneel down to talk to God when you can talk to Him face to face? I mean why would you flip through the musty pages of a Bible when you can look at the living word in Jesus?
Greg: Okay.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: And He can talk to you with His own mouth, so you see what I'm saying?
Greg: But like is He going to like show us, like look back on the Bible, and show when this happened, I was talking about here and show us like… when you try and explain stuff to us?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Yeah well, it’s an interesting question you are asking because I do think when we are in heaven especially during the millennium, I’m going to have lots of questions that I wouldn’t mind having the Bible in my hand or at least a photographic memory. Now this verse, and this verse, and this prophecy, and what did this mean, and I’m going to have lots of questions, maybe a thousand years’ worth.
But so… I’m sure there's going to be some evidence or some method that God will have to have the Bible or the Word of God at, that we can access. Whether it will all be memorized in our minds at that time, or whether they’ll have it engraved somewhere, I don’t know. That’s a good question. But I don’t think we are going to need to read the Bible to find the truth as we go through eternity because we’ll be able to talk to God face to face.
Greg: Right.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: See the Bible says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We handled Him. Well we are going to be there in the presence of everything that is truth. And so right now the Bible is a map to help us find our way to glory, when you are in glory you don’t need the map anymore.
Greg: Okay.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright?
Greg: All right thank you.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Thank you good question.
Pastor Ross: Julie is listening on WG, or GGLN from Serenity Springs Michigan, welcome to the program.
Julie: Thank you. Pastor Doug I watch you and listen to you on radio and TV and I really enjoy your answers and especially when you are [Inaudible 0:49:56] and this may be my call for some speculation.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Okay.
Julie: I'm wondering about the Holy Spirit. In the beginning God created the animals, male and female. And then He goes on to create man. And then He said well, man saw that he was alone so he created woman. Now I don’t believe that God noticed he was alone, I think God planned all along to create woman. So then God says, “Let Us create man in Our image.” And so I was wondering, the Holy Spirit has all the attributes of a feminine person caring and nurturing and teaching. And so what is your opinion on the Holy Spirit, of being a feminine person?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright good question. Now of course my speculation is worth about a nickel. The Word of God is worth real value. Just so everyone understands, I am not a feminist; I want folks to know that. But I need to tell you Biblically, that there are feminine attributes that God identifies with in His Word.
An example would be, the Lord says, “Can a nursing woman forget her child? They might forget but I won’t forget you”. In other words I love you with more than the love of a mother. And Jesus says, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you under my wing as a hen does her chicks’. The hen is feminine.
Julie: Right.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Again He uses a mother’s love. And one of the titles for God in the Old Testament is that El Shaddai. And the way I understand the Hebrew there, it’s the many breasted one. Now that is speaking of a mother’s provision for a baby in the ability to nurse. In the Ten Commandments when it says honor your father and your mother, it doesn’t just say honor your father.
Julie: Right.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: But where we get confused is God is not like us. In other words we try to figure out what kind of plumbing does God have, does He plumb like a man does He plumb like a woman? And Jesus answered this in Mathew 22 when He said, “For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are they given in marriage but they are like the angels of God.” And the angels are usually referred to in the masculine sense, but angels don’t… there is different plumbing between men and women, and women have different genes and temperaments because together we are complete.
Julie: Right.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: But in heaven, the genders, the way we think of them here is not going to be the same.
Julie: Well I think one…
Pastor Doug Batchelor: We are all ultimately going to be married in the Lord.
Julie: I think once, one of your programs, somebody had a question about the birthday of… if you’ve seen Jesus you’ve seen God and you explained it like a father and son, somebody says if you see my father he’s just the spitting image of the father. I consider the whole of the Trinity is like a family, a father and mother and son, complete.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Well in one sense when you typically think of a father, we often in the old sense think of the father as the protector, the provider, the mother is the nurturer. The Holy Spirit certainly has all those attributes. The Holy Spirit has the best… father and a mother, a man and a woman. But, like I said, I’m always reluctant to try to attach genders, some people have ruined the Bible so that its gender neutral.
Julie: But anytime I discuss this with anybody, they always say, well the Bible calls the Holy Spirit a He, but the Bible also refers to mankind, that everybody is mankind, refers to man, woman, and children.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: We shouldn’t put too much, I wouldn’t put too much stock in that because, yeah it’s somewhat often in the Bible it refers to everything in the he sense because it was a patriarchal culture. And that was just normal. Often it says he, and it meant man and woman. So…
Julie: As a woman I really appreciate your answer.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Alright well thank you very much I appreciate that, it’s been of some benefit.
Pastor Ross: Alright next caller is Danny, he’s listening on the internet from Lebanon Pennsylvania. Danny welcome to the program.
Danny: Correct, hello. I've got two quick things to say. First in the parable of the prodigal son, there's a sober sense where he says to the older brother, the father says, “You are always with me, everything I have is yours.” Now remember that the younger brother spent everything he had in the wrong way. So it implies there's an implication that even though he came back and was welcomed back, there were still consequences to be paid. There were still the…
Pastor Doug Batchelor: There was still a loss yes.
Danny: But moving on to my second thing, I consider the fact that of course we know the Bible didn’t drop down out of the sky as it is now, that it was compiled over centuries. And I consider the fact that the church had decided what books were in the cannon, all 72 books. And all of Christianity to me generally agreed on this for roughly, oh my.
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Danny I’m afraid we are going to run out of time if we don’t formulate the question pretty quickly there's two minutes left.
Danny: Well here it is, why is it that some denominations don’t recognize some of those books today?
Pastor Doug Batchelor: Okay now that is a good question. Speaking of, now for the Protestants their Bible generally contains the 66 books, 27 in the New Testament 39 in the old. But some of the orthodox churches, Roman Catholic church they’ve got a number of apocryphal books. But, by the time the apostle John had died, he lived and Adam Clark says this in his commentary, “To help the existing church then, identify which books were to be included initially in the New Testament cannon.” The Old Testament cannon, even the Jews, I’m half Jewish, they accept pretty much the same arrangement of Scriptures that we have in the Christian Bible.
We’ve got a study guide called, Is There Anything Left You Can Trust Danny.” And it talks about, oh you know we got a new book, we got a new book called The Ultimate Resource on the Bible. There's some information for you there, you can read that by going to our website Danny, for free or you can request one by calling (800) 835-6747 ask for The Ultimate Resource. And in addition, there's another book called The Faithful Witness, it gets more into the history of the Bible.
Listen to me friends, if we didn’t get to your question tonight I apologize, hopefully you will give us a chance again next week, as we bring you live Bible answers. We are a faith ministry. We would love to hear from you. If this program has been a blessing we don’t want it to be a one way relationship where you just have to listen, we want to get to know you. Write us a letter. You can write us on the internet, by going to amazingfacts.org. Until we talk again, remember that Jesus is the truth that will set you free.
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