Question #1: I have been reading my Bible quite a lot lately, and I find that the more I read it, the more I find questions I can't answer. Jesus said that we are to receive the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child. Does that mean to trust Him to get us there? If that is so, why does He say that many will say to Him, "Lord, Lord...", and that He will reply, "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." (Matthew 7:22-23) Are the people He is talking about ones who trusted Him to get them there and they still fell short in some way? If iniquity is violation of the law, even in ignorance (according to my Bible concordance), how am I to trust Him? There are several issues of which I am not completely sure, so could He say, "Depart from me..." because I guessed wrong?
Response#1: Please don't be discouraged because
you are finding things in the Bible that cause questions without
immediate answers. This is a universal experience for all who are
seeking God. In order to grow closer to Him, we need to build our faith,
and one of the ways this critical faith of ours is built is by standing
fast with what we know to be true, and building on that base of faith
day by day through what we learn from scripture. This is life-long
process - it never ends, but it always gets better. We have to learn to
trust Him that He is and is going to continue to answer our questions,
solve our problems, and bring us closer to Him to the point where we can
begin to help others through the gifts we have been given. The Bible is
at once very simple and very complicated. Certain major truths come out
clear as a bell on every page (the love of God, the mercy of God, the
justice of God, the wisdom of God), while specific interpretations and
fine points of detail about individual scriptures are often not possible
to discern without expert help. But we are all called upon to drink in
the truth of the Word, and approaching it in a diligent, daily way as you
are obviously doing is the only approach that is safe, sound, and
secure.
We have to approach this like little children, as Jesus told us. When we
were very young, we didn't always know where our parents were taking us
when they led us by the hand - but we trusted them, because we knew
instinctively that they loved us and were there to care for us. We
usually obeyed them too. And when we listened to their words, we did so
with a very simple and genuine lack of subtlety, not imagining or
pretending that we knew better. As we grew older, we tended to be more
disobedient, tended to doubt they knew what they were talking about,
tended to think that we knew better what was right for us. As we reached
a more mature adulthood, however, we reflected and considered that they
had done all right after all, and that we had been head-strong and
suffering from the arrogance of youth in many of these adolescent
assumptions.
Now everyone's experience is different, and no human parents are perfect
either, but as we look through the human family generally and through
time, these are pretty typical trends and experiences. Our heavenly
Father, of course, is perfect, and knows perfectly well what is good for
us - in fact He is working out everything in our lives for the good,
especially for those of us who truly do love Him and Jesus beyond
everything else in life, and want to do so more and more day by day
(Rom.8:28). For every question, He will provide an answer, and for every
problem, a solution. It may not be the one we want, or the one we
expected, or come at the time we anticipated it, but we have to learn to
trust Him like a child trusting His loving parents when it is yet
impossible for him to understand completely what is going on.
Now the one other thing about this comparison our Lord makes that we
should keep firmly in mind is that while a small child really has no
choice but to follow his/her parents' lead, we do have a choice. Instead
of banishing doubt, embracing faith, trusting God, and joyfully waiting
for what He has for us, whatever that may be, we can, in arrogant
adolescent style, doubt His ability, His mercy, His care, His attention,
His timing, His knowledge. In the human analogy, this turned out to be
foolish on our parts as teenagers - how much more is it not folly now
when the One with whom we have to do is the all-powerful Creator and
Sustainer of the universe, the One who loved us so much that He sent His
own beloved Son to die for us in our place, a death on the cross at
that!
As far as iniquity is concerned, we are called as Christians to be holy,
to be sanctified, to be perfect. Let me tell you, that is the truth. But
it is also the truth that apart from our Lord, no believer has ever
perfectly fulfilled that mandate. It is good to read 1st John whenever
one is concerned about this issue, for the very book that describes
believers as essentially sinless (1Jn.3:9-10), is also the clearest in
its description of how we should deal with the personal sins we do
commit (1Jn.1:5-10; cf. 1Jn.2:1). We have passed from death to life in
Jesus Christ, and have been crucified to this world. The life we now
live, we live for the One who bought us. This means that all our
failures are of this earth, and that we are to turn away from them and
pursue instead the upward calling to which we have been called of growth
and production for our Master Jesus Christ. It is true indeed that if we
turn away from Him completely, no good will come of it. In fact, if we
are so head-strong in our resistance and our rebellion that we get to
the point that we put our faith to death (see
“Apostasy and the Sin unto Death”), then the end will be worse than
the beginning. But we should remember Paul's words to the Hebrews, who
were in bad spiritual shape, but not yet in apostasy:
Remember the days gone by, when you first saw the light, when you persevered through that terrible trial of abuse. For you were publicly exposed to humiliation and persecution, and shared the lot of others who experienced the same. You supported those in prison, and accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew you possessed a more valuable estate, and a more lasting one. So don't throw away this conviction of yours - it leads to a great reward. You need to keep persevering so that you may carry off in victory what has been promised - after you have accomplished God's will. For yet a little while, how short, how [short the wait], and He who is coming shall come, nor will He delay. "Then shall my righteous one live by his faith, but if he shrinks back, My heart takes no pleasure in him." Now we are not possessed of cowardly apostasy which leads to destruction, but we have faith which leads to [eternal] life.
Hebrews 10:32-39
If we are walking forward in faith,
building faith, and acting in faith, we can be confident that God will
honor this child-like faith of ours and lead us into all truth.
Hang in there - if you are hacking your way forward, you are certainly
not going backward. If you are concerned, you most likely don't really
need to be. It is those who are not concerned that are usually the ones
in true jeopardy. And my Lord and Savior will continue to lead you and
me like little children around every blind corner - all we have to do is
keep holding His hand.
Please see also the following links:
In our loving and merciful Lord Jesus Christ, who gave up His life to
save us from destruction.
Bob L.
Question #2:
Please explain the differences in the two passages below:
Take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
Matthew 10:10These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff–no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.”
Mark 6:8-9
The reason I'm asking this question because I have a friend from
another religion who noticed these differences and made statement that
Bible is full of mistakes.
Thank you and God Bless your ministry.
Response#2:
Jesus in both passages is commanding the twelve not to take anything
extra on the journey, and for a very important reason. They were by
their need and necessity to demonstrate clearly who among those they
came to were truly responding to this mission of heralding the arrival
of Israel's Messiah. Since the twelve had no extras, they were totally
dependent upon the support of those they came to, and if they did not
get any support from those to whom they were announcing the "good news"
or "gospel", this would thus be obvious to all concerned - it was the
responsibility of those ministered to to provide for those doing this
important ministry.
That said, the key here is the first passage, Matthew 10:10, where in
the Greek (and in the English too, although in the English it may seem
ambiguous), the idea is that everything on this list of what not to take
is an extra. Let me expand the translation to illustrate:
. . .take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or [extra]
sandals or a[n extra] staff . . .
This is like the case in English where I give a list of things and only
use the modifying adjective with the first element: e.g., "fresh eggs,
celery, and tomatoes" - no one who heard this would assume that the eggs
were fresh, but the celery and tomatoes were not. They would understand
that I had only used the word "fresh" once to avoid appearing redundant.
That is what is going on in Matthew - Mark just says the exact same
thing in a slightly different way (as indeed any two people telling the
same story always do, even when they agree 100% in their facts).
Jesus is most certainly not telling His disciples to undertake this long
and arduous journey throughout Israel without anything at all on their
feet (or without a staff to help in the walking). What He is saying is
that they are not to be providing for their own extra needs - that will
be the job of those to whom they come so as to show to all the world who
is worthy and who is not (cf. the v.14 command to "shake off even the
dust" as a witness against those who do not carry out the responsibility
of support).
In our Lord Jesus.
Bob L.
Question #3:
I just found your site today and I really am enjoying what I have found there. One question though: have you given any thought to the theories that the Revived Roman Empire might be an Islamic confederation? The Roman Empire also consisted of many currently Islamic nations. I found some very fascinating facts about Islam and their view of Jesus. For example, it is a common teaching in Sunni and Sufi Islam that Jesus Christ is coming back. They teach that 'he' will be the Herald for the Imam Madhi. Harunyaha.com is a very scary place indeed, but I found it to be very enlightening. They also aren't the only Muslim sects that advocate these views. Shia Islam also teaches these things, but the Sunni and Sufis, being more mystical in their understanding of these teachings on Christ, tend to discuss them more openly. Again, I really am enjoying your site. I'm adding it on to my 'favorites'.
Response#3:
I very much appreciate your e-mail and your encouraging words. You make some good points. On your question about revived Rome specifically, yes I do indeed believe that scripture teaches that the ten kingdom empire will, at its height, include a good portion of the Muslim world. This is why the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation make a distinction between ten and seven “horns” and “heads”, as, for example, in Daniel 7:24:
Then I wished to know the details about the fourth beast (i.e., Rome/revived Rome) which was different from all the others. It had iron teeth which were exceedingly terrible, and claws made of bronze. It devoured [all the others], crushing [them] to bits and trampling under foot whatever was left. And [I also desired to know the details] about the ten horns on its head, and the other one (i.e., antichrist) which came up later, and before which three of the former ones fell (i.e., the southern alliance) . . . . .
Daniel 7:19-20a
And as to the ten horns, from that kingdom (i.e., Rome, the fourth beast) ten kings will arise, and another one (i.e., antichrist) will arise after them. And he will be different from the former ones, and he will cast down three kingdoms.
Daniel 7:24
As indicated in the phrases highlighted above, three of power-centers
of Revived Rome will initially be opposed to the rest of that
confederacy, and it is my view that this is because they will represent
an Islamic alliance defeated by antichrist. I also think it very likely
that the belief in a coming "Madhi" will be instrumental in the creation
of that alliance which will do battle with the beast during the
Tribulation's first half. All this is set out in some detail in the
posting:
Coming Tribulation Part 3B: Antichrist and his Kingdom.
Glad you are enjoying the site.
Yours in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Bob Luginbill
Question #4:
I have the following question about
who was with God in the "Beginning." Would you mind sharing your
thoughts on this?
Genesis 1:26 states that God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our
likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of
the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the
creatures that move along the ground.”
Genesis 3:22 states the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one
of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his
hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Genesis 11:6-7 states the Lord God said, “If as one people speaking the
same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do
will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their
language so they will not understand each other.”
Isaiah 6:8 states, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom
shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send
me!'”
My question relates to the use of “us” and “our.” Who was with God when
he created all things and later confused the language of men? Who
comprises the “us”? Was God not alone in the beginning?
Response#4:
The short answer is that God was with God. In all these cases, God is
speaking in His three Persons, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jewish
scholars often take these passages to mean that God is speaking in
company with his angels. But all of these passages you provide show God
acting from His sovereignty: creating man on the re-created earth;
expelling man from the garden; dividing the nations; evangelizing Judah.
These are decisions and actions which God alone can take, and are not in
the sphere of angels who, after all, are all "ministering spirits" (cf.
Heb.1:14). God holds court with the angels (and now with saved, departed
human beings as well), but it is He who is enthroned above, with His Son
at His right hand, and with the "seven spirits" (i.e., the
Holy Spirit) blazing before the
throne (Rev.4-5), who is Sovereign and who acts as Sovereign of the
universe.
Genesis 1:1 starts out bereshith bar`a `elohiym, which means
"first God created" - that is, not "in the beginning". God existed
before any beginning, and existed in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. The universe, the creation of this world, its destruction,
recreation, the current 7,000 year span of human history, the future
destruction and new heavens and earth that follow - all this is "outside
of God" in a way, and certainly not necessary for God. What He has done
for us in creating us and a place for us (i.e., the universe) is truly
blessed and amazing.
The Hebrew word for God, `elohiym is technically a plural form,
while the Hebrew word for LORD, yhvh, is singular. God is one in
essence, but three in Person. As such He is never alone, but He is also
never conflicted, since the unity of the three Persons is closer than
anything we can imagine, but He does not for that reason fail to be a
true Trinity of three truly distinct Persons (please see the link:
“The Trinity” in Bible Basics #1: Theology).
Incidentally, it is almost certainly the case that the angels heard all
four of these pronouncements you include here, including the one in
Genesis 1:26, for they had been created long before (see
part 2 of the Satanic
Rebellion series: "The Genesis Gap").
In our Lord.
Bob L.