[0:00] Q&A time, so things are a little bit different. These are the nights that Braden usually asks me, Dad, are you preaching tonight? And I said, well, what do you mean? Are you going to sit up and go blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah?
[0:11] And I said, well, no, not tonight. We'll let everybody else go. So you get your opportunity to talk. I'll get my opportunity to probably be stumped by your questions, and then we can try to answer those questions with one another.
[0:23] We tend to do them on Sunday evenings because this is the only service that we do not live stream. So the questions you ask or as you're asking them, they are recording them.
[0:34] Usually they'll go up on, if I'm not mistaken, they go on our website, the audio version does. So you can go back and listen to prior Q&As. I can't necessarily hear you guys as much because you're not standing behind a microphone.
[0:50] But it's not going on YouTube or Facebook, so nobody's watching what we're doing tonight. Okay? So we're not live streaming that. I have been a part of Q&As that were live streamed.
[1:01] The last event that Carrie and I went to, Pastors and Leaders event, they did Q&A times that they were also live streaming. And that's a little unnerving because they hand you a mic if you get ready to stand up and ask a question and they point cameras at you.
[1:14] But we're not doing that here. So we're just here being a church, being a family, and trying to grow together. So we always say that we're open to all things scripture, all things biblical.
[1:26] Any question you may have, we will attempt to answer it together. I don't have the answer to all of them for sure, but we will attempt to answer it together.
[1:39] I'll start us off. I've already been asked a couple of questions tonight. I was asked questions in the deacon's meeting, which I answered in there, and then had some kind of pose to me as I walked through. And these are good ones to start off with.
[1:52] So I'll ask you and I'll see if we can work it out together. Many of us are reading through same Bible reading plan. For those of you that are not reading through a intentional Bible reading plan, near the end of December, near the end of the year, actually as we get into the month of December, we will put new copies of those out.
[2:17] You don't have to follow the plan that I personally follow. You can follow a different type of plan. But we will put a number of those Bible reading plans out so they'll be available for people to start the next year because I really think getting into the Word of God every day is of utmost importance.
[2:35] It's one of the most critical things we can do in our walk. It's one of the most reaffirming things we can do in our growth. So many of us following the same plan and we're currently reading through or we've just finished 1 and 2 Kings so into 1 Chronicles today.
[2:53] And you know those great books of 1 and 2 Kings. First of all, I mentioned it this morning. The Hebrew Old Testament, let's kind of do this, lay this foundation so we can kind of grow.
[3:05] So our Old Testament, so your Old Testament ends with the book of Malachi, right? Yes. Unless you're carrying the Hebrew Bible, the last book in your Old Testament is the book of Malachi or some call it Malachi.
[3:21] M-A-L-I-C-H-I. Malachi. Okay. Malachi is one of those minor prophets that's in that group of minor prophets. In the Hebrew Bible, the prophets follow the Pentateuch.
[3:32] So you have the law and the prophets. Remember how Jesus always talks of the law and the prophets, the law and the prophets, the law and the prophets. So the Hebrew Bible, you have the first seven books of the Bible are the same as ours.
[3:48] That's considered the law. And then it goes into, well, hello there, Miss Mellie. You have a question. So you consider judges is kind of encompassed in the prophets' books, the book of prophecies.
[4:02] So you start going into Isaiah, Jeremiah, and you have all the prophets, and then you have the history books, right? So we have 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles all together in our Bibles.
[4:15] It's the way the English Bible is put together. In the Hebrew Bible, 1 and 2 Chronicles are at the end of the Old Testament. That's the last two books.
[4:27] You read them together. We're reading them together. You say, well, they tell the same story. Why are we reading it the same, just reading the same thing we've already read? They don't tell the same story.
[4:38] 1 and 2 Kings is the historical record of the kingdoms of Israel leading up to the fall of Jerusalem. Okay? Last thing you read in 2 Kings is Jerusalem fell.
[4:54] 536 B.C. I think that was historically. It's one of the last things you read. It's the lineage of the kings leading up to the fall. 1 and 2 Chronicles was written after Babylonian captivity.
[5:09] Some people think by Ezra or Ezra and Nehemiah. The author wrote Ezra and Nehemiah so that the nation of Israel wouldn't forget their history.
[5:21] That's why it's a little bit different. It's looking back on the past and writing after the Babylonian captivity so that they would be reminded how they got to where they're at.
[5:34] Okay? Now the Spirit of God moved men of God to write the Word of God but we always need to be mindful of when it was written. Okay? So that's the difference.
[5:44] That's why it was at the end. Anyway. So when you're reading through 1 and 2 Kings and you're introduced to all these kings and this king did what was right in the sight of the Lord and he reigned X amount of years and this king did what was wicked in the sight of the Lord and he reigned this amount of years the questions we have is why does it seem like the guys who did wicked in the sight of the Lord lived longer?
[6:05] This man did what was wicked in the sight of the Lord and he reigned 40 years in the nation of Israel. This man did what was right in the sight of the Lord and he may have reigned 18 years or 10 years or 12 years.
[6:17] Why does it appear in Scripture that those that are wicked live longest? And that's honestly that's the question is why do the wicked seem to always prosper?
[6:34] The psalmist answered that and I wish I could remember the psalm. I think it was David and I can't remember the actual psalm. The psalmist cried out and said when I consider the ways of the wicked I see their prosperity and their growth and their riches.
[6:46] When I consider the way of the wicked and I look at myself in despair and say all seems to go well with them until I consider their end.
[6:58] Until I consider their end. and then I see that when the wicked perishes he has no hope but with the righteous there's the promise of everlasting God. So this is the same question is why does it seem like the wicked always prosper but yet the righteous seem to suffer?
[7:14] and the easy answer to that is this world is their only hope and the wicked typically do really well to things of this world. And to excel in this world you don't necessarily have to be pleasing to God.
[7:30] You just have to be wise in how you work in this life. Now is God in control? Absolutely he's in control. But another reason and part of that well you just tell me about it girl.
[7:43] another reason that we see that and I think that the individual who posed this question kind of answered it themselves God is also raising his case for the coming judgment.
[7:56] He's raising his case. He is giving them time after time after time after time after time and it seems that though they reign so long they still do so they reign for such an extended amount of time they still do wrong.
[8:10] and when God's judgment namely the Babylonian captivity comes man is without excuse because they've had opportunity yet their opportunities have failed because time and time again we see there are more wicked kings than there are righteous kings.
[8:26] So hopefully that answers the question. Can I have a question? Okay. Does that mean he allows the wicked king to live longer because he wants to cast out his will?
[8:41] I don't think I think it goes back to as we see in the book of Judges when God is giving them their way.
[8:53] So does he allow the wicked king to live longer as a disciplinary in action to the nation of Israel? Possibly because it's not just the king who's doing wicked in the sight of the Lord.
[9:06] It's everybody in the nation. It's the kings who call them back. The righteous kings Josiah and Hezekiah there's just some of them that call them back to righteousness.
[9:19] Right? And so God is giving them over like we see in the book of Judges to their desires to their ways. and these kings might have looked good to the nation of Israel.
[9:31] They may have been good political leaders. And when you read the history of Israel they were excelling historically but they just didn't do what was right in the sight of the Lord.
[9:43] You know there's a big difference there. Yeah. Okay. Next question. Now I'll turn it over to you guys. Any questions? Somebody start us out.
[9:57] Yes ma'am. I have one. Okay. And this is a very simple question. Oh. What is the difference between the tabernacle and the temple in both houses of God back then and why did they change what they called them?
[10:17] Okay. Tabernacle and temple. This is a good one. It's an easy one. But we get really deep into it really quick. Okay. Tabernacle and temple.
[10:29] The tabernacle was a temporary dwelling where God demonstrated and manifested his presence among his people. It was made out of animal skins, out of hides. It was put up with poles and bars.
[10:41] And the tabernacle now stay with me in this. The tabernacle was something that was ordained and commanded by God. God commanded his people to construct a tabernacle.
[10:53] We see that in the book of Exodus, right? And even and then we see the fulfillment in the book of Numbers that God commands his people to erect a tabernacle and here's the furnishings that should go in there and these are the animal skins you should have and these are the colors that it should be in.
[11:06] and the tabernacle was to live among the people. Remember as they were sojourning in the wilderness how they camped mattered. The presence of God was represented by the tabernacle this huge tent and this tent was always in the middle of the nation.
[11:22] When they stopped and camped there's 12 tribes there'll be three here three here three here three here and in the middle of this camp was God's presence and that was a demonstration that God was among his people.
[11:34] He was in the middle of his people. David had the idea that God didn't need to live in a tent because David was living in a house so David decided to build a temple for God.
[11:47] Now we know David had these grand plans and David called in his prophet and the prophet said whatever you want to do do it and that prophet came back later and said David no God says you're not going to be the man to build his temple because you're a man of bloodshed.
[12:00] Now stay with me on this. I know this is where some people are going to kind of you know I may or may not get in trouble here. Okay. If you remember there and it's in 2 Samuel the prophet tells him that the son of David the word there is the seed of David would be the one that would construct the temple of God and that this son would be righteous in the sight of God and have an everlasting kingdom.
[12:29] Right? That's the prophecy. That the seed of David who would sit on the throne of David forever would build the temple of God.
[12:42] Now God had commanded them to build a tabernacle. A temple is a permanent stone structure historically. So here's the line of thought and I'm putting you a lot of information out there because I'm going to tie it all back together in just a moment.
[12:56] God said I want to manifest my presence among my people by a tabernacle and God's people moved the presence of God from among them and put it in a building called a temple.
[13:12] So they took it from in their midst and decided to confine it in a building in a temple and from the moment they built that temple and they took God's presence from among them to over there in that building they began to fall.
[13:30] They began to go down and down and down and down and down and down. You say well I thought God said that the seed of David would build the temple. Right. But the seed that he spoke of would be a seed with an everlasting kingdom who would be righteous in the sight of God.
[13:47] David assumed that that seed was Solomon. Right? that's the one who built the tabernacle or the temple.
[13:59] Right? Solomon's temple. He's the one that reigned after him. Now we have to ask our question or ask ourselves the question is that really what the prophecy was pointing to?
[14:15] And this is where it starts getting deep and this is where I start to get in trouble. Do I think that Solomon was wrong in constructing the temple? will I do if he is erecting an altar to say well there's God over there.
[14:28] He's no longer in our midst. Now he's in that building. Look at how pretty that building is. Because the true seed, now here's the question, did Solomon reign, is Solomon still on the throne?
[14:39] No, he died. Is Solomon righteous in the sight of God? Well, he was. He started out pretty good and then he fell pretty hard. Right? The only seed, and it was singular, he did not tell David that it would be his seed sprawl.
[14:56] The only seed of David that sets him on the throne eternal is Jesus. And then Peter tells us that Jesus is building a temple of God and that we are living stones united to one another.
[15:11] my personal opinion is that the full fulfillment, and I'm going to find it for you in just a moment, of the prophecy that was given to David was not the construction of Solomon's temple, but rather is the temple that Jesus is building, which we call the church.
[15:33] Because what the nation of Israel did is they moved God's presence from among them and put it in a building, and isolated it to keep it kind of over there.
[15:44] What Jesus is doing in building the church, the temple, is making God's presence manifest among the world. But the difference in tabernacle and temple is temporary place of residence to a permanent place of dwelling.
[16:00] And that's, so tabernacle was the tents and the curtains and all this other and temple is the brick and mortar building where they confined God to one location. And even God says I don't live in temples made with hands but rather I dwell among.
[16:13] So that was kind of the, I know that's a long story, I'm trying to find this. Because David made preparations and got it ready for Solomon to build.
[16:29] Give me just a minute and see. come on. I need to, I need to have these marked so that I can answer them for you.
[16:42] I said it's here but it may not be. Let me move. Okay. Okay. Okay.
[16:55] Okay.
[17:11] I'll have to find it in just a moment. Okay. I'll find it. 1st Chronicles, 28. That's 1st Chronicles, am I right?
[17:27] It's also in 1st Kings but I don't think that's not where he gets the, that's where he commissioned Solomon to do it based upon the prophet's word to him.
[17:39] I'm trying to think when David has a desire to build the temple and then the prophet says oh yes go ahead and build it and comes back the next day and says no don't do it. This is what God says because that's where we find what God has declared about who will build the temple.
[17:54] David assumes that that seed is Solomon. So 1st Chronicles, 28. Is where David is commissioning Solomon to build that.
[18:06] But it's not where he gets the counsel of the prophet where David wants to build it and has a desire to build it and then the prophet says no. don't, he comes back to him the next day and says no you're not going to do that.
[18:20] Look at 28 verse 3. 1 Chronicles 20. See this is why we have to do this together so that we can answer these questions. Yeah.
[18:35] Okay let me. right, right, right.
[18:51] Uh, no, that's not it because that's where God told him not to build it, but I want the one where the prophet actually came in and told him what God said.
[19:08] Uh, it's three, a first Chronicles 22, eight.
[19:34] Okay, here we go. If you go back to the 22nd chapter, first Chronicles 22, first Chronicles 22, this is a retelling of the events. Um, this is not the original one that I wanted, but this is a retelling of first Kings four.
[19:56] First, okay. 22. And I'm still, I know I'm, I'm all over the place, but that's why we take time to do this tonight. Okay. In first Kings 22, uh, verse six, David says, it says, then he, that's David called for his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel.
[20:15] David said to Solomon, my son, I had intended to build a house to the name of the Lord, my God. But the word of the Lord came to me saying, you have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You should not build a house to my name because you have shed so much blood on the earth before me.
[20:28] Behold, a son will be born to you. Now that word son is seed. Singular seed. Okay. A son will be born to you who shall be a man of rest. And I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side for his name shall be Solomon.
[20:42] Now that name Solomon there, pay attention to that because that's a proper name. God declared here that his name would be peaceful. Solomon means peaceful. So that his name would be peace.
[20:54] He would be a man of rest. His name would be peace. And I will give him peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name and he shall be my son. Now listen to this.
[21:04] And he will be and I will be his father and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. So there's some keys there where God says to David, he will be a man of peace, a man of rest.
[21:21] His name shall be peaceful. He will be a son to me. I will be a father to him and I will establish his throne over Israel forever. Solomon doesn't feel that completely.
[21:37] Okay. Solomon's name means peace. That's what it means. I think the full fulfillment of this prophecy is the one that we call the prince of peace, who is a man of rest, who is Jesus.
[21:50] That God is his father and he is a son to God. And he is the one who has his throne over Israel established forever.
[22:02] So, and I know every time I say this because Carrie questions me, she says, so is building the temple wrong? I'm not saying that building the temple is wrong. I'm saying building a shrine to be a picture of all.
[22:15] Well, we've got God over here in this building and look how pretty his building is. They worshiped the temple. And we see this in Jesus. Jesus said today in our message, I leave your house empty.
[22:29] Right? I leave to you your house empty. In the Old Testament, it's called God's temple, God's temple, God's temple. There's a transition in the Inter-Testament time. It's no longer God's temple. Now it's the temple of Israel.
[22:41] There's a big difference there. Even in the Old Testament, it's the Lord's Passover. It's the Lord's Passover. It's the Lord's Passover. In the New Testament, it's the Passover of Israel. They have taken possession of that which was rightfully God's.
[22:53] And when he said, I leave to you your house empty, he said, this isn't God's house. This is your house. Now when he overturned the money changer's tables, he said, you know, my father's house should be called a house of prayer, not a den of robbers.
[23:06] But you made it a den of robbers. I understand that. But I think the final fulfillment of the construction of the temple, the true temple, is Jesus himself, who is.
[23:17] That's why we have Peter saying, he is building us together as spiritual stones into a living temple of the Lord. Because no longer is God confined to a building that we can say we have God over here.
[23:27] Now God is back to where he was in the tabernacle. God is among the people, namely in the church, because when we leave here tonight, we are among the people.
[23:39] Yet we're still the temple of the living God existing among the temple. I mean among the people. I know it's deep. And I know that sometimes, Carrie says, you get a little too deep.
[23:51] I told you, I get excited about this stuff, right? Because I just can't see Solomon. The problem I see is that Solomon dies. He is not a man of peace, right?
[24:06] He's the wisest king they have. But he also broke a lot of God's laws. God said, don't go buy horses from Egypt. He bought horses from Egypt. God said, don't build cities with chariots in it. And Solomon built cities and put chariots in it.
[24:18] And God said, don't build massive, you know, armies. Solomon built a massive army because it made good political sense. Those are all the reasons why they divided later on too as a nation.
[24:30] Because of the things that God told him not to do. Because God said, you need to trust in me more than trust in yourself. So I can't see him being the one that's building the final temple. Or the, we would call it the verified temple.
[24:45] The one that God commanded. Right? Okay. Does that answer? Yes, thank you. Okay. Alright, next question. Yes.
[24:58] Yes. Okay, God did not want the temple for you to be in the temple. So, it goes in anyway. And is that why it became a mock?
[25:12] You don't have a mock? He said, I don't want, I don't want, I'm not even here. He said, I don't want to allow it. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a good question. Because see, the site now.
[25:23] Alright, let's go back to Temple Mount. Temple Mount in Jerusalem. You can go to Temple Mount in Jerusalem right now. You can look it up on Google Earth. And if you look up Temple Mount in Jerusalem, you're going to see the church of the dome, or the dome rock, right?
[25:35] You're going to see this gold roof Muslim mosque that is there on Temple Mount. And Temple Mount is a pretty amazing place historically.
[25:46] The first time we meet Temple Mount in Scripture, this is where Abraham offers Isaac. This is the same location where Abraham offers Isaac. He's going to offer him up on the mountain, and this step is Temple Mount.
[26:01] Do you remember? He called him Jehovah-Jireh on Temple Mount. And the reason he called him Jehovah-Jireh, the name of God there, is the Lord our God will provide. God will provide. That's the name.
[26:12] Because Abraham makes this declaration. In the mount of the Lord, God will provide. Now stay with me. This is good. This is the book of Genesis, right? In Temple Mount. On Temple Mount, Abraham walks up with Isaac, and he makes this declaration to Isaac.
[26:26] God will provide the sacrifice on Temple Mount. He names the name of God, Jehovah-Jireh, for in the mount of the Lord, God will provide. All right? We go forward several hundred years, and you've got David reigning king in Jerusalem.
[26:41] David sins and declares there to be a census. He wants to know how big his army is, how many people he's got in his kingdom. That's prideful. God says, don't do it. David says, we're going to do it anyway. And so, you remember, the prophet comes to him and says, you didn't obey God, so God's going to give you three choices.
[26:56] Do you want to fall to the hands of your enemies? Do you want to suffer famine? Or do you want the pestilence of the Lord to rain upon you three days? And David says, I don't want to fall into anybody's hands, but God, let God do it. So, David sins.
[27:08] God comes and declares judgment upon that sin. And thousands of people are dying. Remember? The angel of the Lord is moving through the nation of Israel, and thousands of people are dying.
[27:20] And God is there, and he's coming towards Jerusalem. And David looks up, and he sees the angel of the Lord with a drawn sword on Temple Mount. On the same mountain that Abraham had offered up Isaac, where Isaac had said, in the mountain of the Lord God will provide.
[27:37] He saw him standing there. There was a guy there who had a wine press at that time. I can't remember his name there. His name is given two different ways in Scripture. So, he saw that man, and he went up to that man's place, and David bought it.
[27:52] The man said, you can have it. Arunah is one of his names. He said, you can have it. I'll give it to you. I'll give you the ox, and I'll give you all of this, just because David was going to make an offering there. And David made this declaration.
[28:03] He said, I will not offer to God something which costs me nothing. So, he bought a wine press. David bought Temple Mount. And he built an altar, and on that altar, he offered a sacrifice which stopped the plague.
[28:19] Okay? Fast forward a little bit longer. So, there they have Temple Mount. Now, David owns it. David's the king. That's where Solomon builds the temple. The first temple is there.
[28:32] It is there that Jesus presents himself. This is where the Bible is so good. It is there where Jesus presents himself as the lamb slain for the sin of man.
[28:48] God made a declaration from Abraham in the book of Genesis that said, in the mount of the Lord, God will provide. Now, does anybody remember when Isaac is on the altar?
[29:01] Isaac's on the altar. Abraham's got the knife raised up. Do you remember what Abraham said to Isaac on the way up? Isaac said, Father? He said, Yes, son. He said, I see the wood. I see the knife. I see the fire.
[29:12] Yes, son. He said, What about the sacrifice? He said, God will provide the lamb. You remember that? God will provide the lamb. Right? And he's up there, and he says, he looks over.
[29:23] Tony Evans says, it's the quietest goat I've ever heard. He looks over, and what does he see? Not a lamb, but a ram goat with his horns caught in a thicket.
[29:36] Abraham said God would provide a lamb. What he saw was a goat. But Abraham had said God would provide a lamb, and he said that God would provide a lamb on the mount of the Lord.
[29:50] Jesus walks into the temple and says, I'm the lamb. And he was standing on Temple Mount when he said it. What Abraham had said in Genesis finds its fulfillment when Jesus walks into the temple and says, I'm the lamb.
[30:05] Because that's the same location. Then when Jesus says, I leave to you your house empty, he walks away from Temple Mount for the last time. Then, historically, we find that being destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.
[30:18] That was probably about A.D. 33. Jesus walked around. He is crucified. A.D. 70. Rome comes in, ransacks it, tears it down. It passes back and forth, passes back and forth between people, fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting.
[30:30] The Muslims come in very early in history, and then the Christians come back, and they take it again. And eventually, the Muslims come back, and they built the Dome of the Rock there on Temple Mount on that place.
[30:42] The lamb's already been provided. What God said he was going to do. See, the Jewish people are looking for Zechariah's temple, which will be reconstructed. They think, read the book of Zechariah, there's another temple coming.
[30:52] The Jewish people are waiting for the Dome of the Rock to come down, and they're going to build a new temple on that site. Christians realize we're not looking for a new temple. We're not looking for bulldozers to come in and knock down the Dome of the Rock.
[31:03] We're looking for a savior to come back on a white horse. Right? The Jewish people's hope is that there will be another temple someday. Our hope is that the king will come back and take us home, and we'll live eternally in his temple. The work that God had promised that would take place on that hill has already been done.
[31:19] The lamb was already provided. That location was never to be a shrine to manifest the presence of God, but rather was to be a place of God's provisions for man's sin.
[31:34] And that's done. That part's done. I don't... Now, Zechariah's temple and the book of Zechariah, the prophecy, it has literal measurements and all this other stuff.
[31:47] I think that's in the new heavens and the new earth when we'll have this new building built and things like that. But we're not looking for that temple to come back. That's what I see. Yeah, those are things that get me excited.
[31:59] Because what Abraham said and what Abraham found are two totally different things. Yes, but Abraham said it and God did it thousands of years later when Jesus walked in.
[32:10] Because that's where he presented himself. See why it's important to know where he was at, why he was there, and who he is? Because now all of a sudden the Bible, it makes sense.
[32:22] Because if not, then Abraham was wrong. God was providing a goat. He wasn't providing a lamb. No, he was providing a lamb. But Isaac needed a goat at that time. All right. Anybody else? I don't know. I'll get a little talk.
[32:32] A little preachy. You want to ask me a question? Where is God? Oh, that's a good question. Man, Sawyer. All right. Here we go. Simple questions, right? I'm sorry.
[32:44] Sawyer's beside this. Huh? If you're not standing side by side of each other, I can't tell. Okay? In the bus, I keep them separated so I know which one's which. Let me give you a really simple answer.
[32:56] Everywhere. There's a big word called omnipresence and omniscience. That means he is everywhere all the time. Okay?
[33:07] I know that just... But that's... It does the same thing to my mind too, buddy. He is everywhere all the time. Okay? Next question?
[33:20] Yeah, I'll make me... All right. Let's go. Okay. My name is Christ. Uh-huh. One time it's spelled the way I spell it.
[33:31] But then another time it's spelled R-E-B-E-C-K-A-H. Now, is that two separate people? Give me their context.
[33:43] Where are they at? Oh, well... I have... Oh, you... Okay. It's with Isaac Fitzgerald.
[33:56] Mm-hmm. It's Rebecca. And she's spelled R-E-B-E-C-K-A-H. Uh-huh. And then somewhere, I think in the New Testament, it's spelled R-E-B-E-C-K-A-H.
[34:13] Probably the same individual. But what you have there is a difference in, okay, Hebrew and then the New Testament written in Greek or Aramaic and then also Greek.
[34:27] But those who wrote the New Testament would not have been... If they're quoting an Old Testament passage. Okay. You ever open up your New Testament and you see like a different font type, which means they're quoting an Old Testament passage.
[34:40] And you go back and you reference that and it doesn't read the same way. It seems to read a little bit different. That's because most of the time they were quoting the Septuagint version of the Old Testament.
[34:50] Now, the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament that would have been read in the days of Christ because most people at that time didn't even read Hebrew. They just read Greek.
[35:00] It was like the English. It was the everyday language. So there are some spelling changes in the Hebrew and the Greek. So when they quote an Old Testament passage in the New Testament, sometimes they spell it the way it was spelled in the Greek Old Testament, not the Hebrew Old Testament.
[35:17] Okay. A lot of times it's referring to the same person. We get this with Jeconiah and Coniah. There's a king, the last king in the nation of Israel, Jeconiah and Coniah. Same guy. Okay.
[35:27] Jeconiah is the last king who rules when Jerusalem falls. He's referred to as Coniah in the lineage of Matthew. Coniah is Jeconiah.
[35:39] Same reason. Same guy. Just difference in Greek and Hebrew. You're welcome. I was listening to Ruby Braygo one night. I can't remember who was preaching.
[35:50] But they said that angels don't sing. You know, we always think about angels singing. But he said nowhere in the Bible does it say that angels sing.
[36:00] Okay. I have heard that as well. And other than the picture we get around them gathered around the throne where it says all the hosts of heaven calls out glory, glory, glory.
[36:16] And I think the angels are included in that along with the people. Worthy is the Lamb. But now the reason I've heard it is, and even in the book of Revelations, most of the singing there is by those who are gathered around.
[36:33] And the question is, well, why not? And I would have to, I can't remember the exact terminology. Miss Lynn can maybe help me with this. Last time I tried to do this illustration was many years ago, and I butchered it so I don't try to use it anymore because I'm not very musically talented.
[36:49] On the piano you have white keys and black keys. Okay. The white keys play one way, black keys play another way, but they all blend together perfectly to create the harmony.
[37:00] And you can do, I don't know the term, you can get on to me later about that. But if you try to play a piano with just the white keys, you miss the music because you don't get the, which would kind of, I don't want to say dark overturn of the black keys.
[37:15] You don't get the sorrow and the sadness part of it. And the great reason is, the reason angels can't offer praise the way we can is because they've never been broken. They don't know mourning and sorrow and pain is because they're constantly in the presence of God and all they know is glory and joy.
[37:34] And the reason most praising and singing in scripture is reserved for mankind is because man can sing from a contrite heart. From those dark moments of our soul, we get the praise and the sorrow.
[37:51] We get the white keys and the black keys. We can play it all together. Angels don't know that. They can say glory, glory, glory. But it's man who says worthy is the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the earth.
[38:05] Worthy is the lamb. And so I can't say, you know, we, angels are declaring his praise and his worth. Singing, I do think, is reserved for man.
[38:17] It's because only man can sing both the high and the low, if you know what I mean there. Angels are one tone. It's all rejoicing because they know no sorrow.
[38:34] Anyone else? Anyone else? All right. Come on, brother. You told me you were going to go get one ready. You have probably given exposure to this in the past, but we missed it.
[38:48] And it comes from Matthew chapter 27, verses 52 and 53. And it has to do with the saints coming out of the graves.
[39:02] Hmm. The crucifixion of our Lord. And I would just like for you to give your thoughts on that. Because it appears there is a verse that's too missing.
[39:14] Right. They just cut it off after they go to the city. And we hear no more about it. Right. You have this declaration in Matthew 27, 52 and 53.
[39:24] And it's after the resurrection or when the death of Christ. So it's when he dies. As the tombs are opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
[39:35] And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection. So they come out of the tombs after his resurrection. They entered the holy city and appeared to many. And then it just goes on from there. It does seem like it stops.
[39:47] And you're right. Because what it declares is that when Christ died. It opened the tombs of the righteous. Right. And many came out of it after the resurrection.
[39:58] That after the resurrection part is important. And this is part of what we have to tie together with. We'll go to Peter. All right. Let me get there.
[40:10] It's another one of those. Okay. We get really deep. And it kind of makes us scratch our head. But it really challenges us. If we want to just kind of take it at its word.
[40:22] So 1 Peter. Okay. Let me. Let me find it. May not be.
[40:40] Nope. Okay. 1 Peter chapter 3. Verse 18.
[40:52] And following. So you take Matthew. When he died. The tombs of the righteous were opened. And after his resurrection. They appeared with him. Right. After Christ's resurrection. 1 Peter 3.
[41:03] Verse 18. For Christ also died for sins. Once for all. The just for the unjust. So that he might bring us to God. Having put to death in the flesh. But made alive in the spirit.
[41:14] And here you go. In which he also. In which also he went. And made proclamation to the spirits. Now in prison. Who once were disobedient.
[41:25] When the patience of God kept waiting. In the days of Noah. During the construction of the ark. In which a few. That is eight persons. Were brought safely through the water. So. It appears that what Peter is saying. Is that Jesus went and preached to the spirits.
[41:37] That are in bondage. Who were disobedient in the days of Noah. So definitely. People who were dead. Or spirits that were held in bondage. Some think spirits there is fallen angels. But.
[41:48] We'll see in just a moment. That it appears that. He's speaking of the souls. Of those who were disobedient. In the days of Noah. So he made proclamation to them. Okay. And corresponded to that.
[41:58] Baptism saves you. So he declares this. That Jesus. What happened in the three days. What did he do. Right. Well one of the things that Peter says. Is he went and made proclamation. To the spirits now in bondage.
[42:10] Who were in bondage. During the days of Noah. Or that were there. For what he did. We also have. If I can find.
[42:22] Trying to get it all squared away. Ah. Come on Billy Joe. I wish I was so much better.
[42:37] At my scripture memory. Than I currently am. And I need to get better. I need to get better at it. And this stuff is what helps me at it. Because I could tell it to you.
[42:49] But I want you to see it. For yourself. I don't know. I don't know. so so so so so so We don't want to go there.
[43:27] Anyway, let's stay here. So we have this that he went and made declarations of spirits in prison, but there was something else because it says that he led captive the host of captives. It says that when he ascended on high, he also led captive the host of captives.
[43:42] And now by that, I think there's this period. We go back to the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The story of the rich man and Lazarus, some see it as a parable.
[43:53] I don't think it's a parable because Jesus uses a real name. Okay, so rich man dies, Lazarus dies, and Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom. And rich man is on the other side.
[44:04] And being in the picture of Abraham's bosom is to be seen as being faithful to God. And the rich man looks across this chasm and sees Lazarus and asks Abraham to send him and to dip his finger into water and cool his tongue.
[44:17] Remember that? So evidently the rich man is in a place of torment. And Abraham makes this declaration that he can't come there because between you and I is a great chasm. Now they can see one another, but there's this great chasm.
[44:28] So now we have, we've got to put all this together. During the days of Christ, Jesus told a story about a righteous man dying and a wicked man dying, rich man Lazarus.
[44:39] Both of them going to one place where they could see one another, though they were separated from one another. Okay, it's not a parable because he uses a name, Lazarus. He never uses a name in a parable.
[44:51] He tells a story, a true account of people dying, righteous and unrighteous, being in one place. Then we have, when he dies, the tomb of the righteous are opened and upon his resurrection they appear with him.
[45:07] Peter tells us that in the intermittent time of three days that he went and made declaration to the spirits now in prison who had rebelled in the days of Noah.
[45:19] So, where the people were dead already. And then we are told elsewhere in scripture that when he ascended on high, he led captive the host of captives. And he took with him.
[45:31] But it says that prior to that, that he who descended from heaven descended to the lower parts of the earth and then ascended on high. And when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives.
[45:44] This is how I see it happening. Those three days when Jesus is dead, he went to that place where the rich man Lazarus was at. He made declaration to the wicked and said, I told you so, for lack of a better way.
[45:59] And then he carried the souls of the righteous with him in the air because no man gets to heaven but through Jesus. So, he raptures the dead, if you will, not the living, but those who had already died believing in him because they didn't go on their own.
[46:14] He is the forerunner. And I think the resurrection that is recorded in Matthew is just a testimony of what he's doing. And their bodies, there were some whose bodies joined them on the way up that had already died, which we will see again being played out later during the last trumpet sound.
[46:32] And it was just a testimonial sign to the reality of what Jesus was doing. At his resurrection, he also raised the spirits of the righteous who had died before him.
[46:43] And he raised them to be in the eternity with him. Because if they had been in heaven prior to that, then they would have made it without him. And we know that's not true because no man gets to the Father but through Christ.
[46:57] So, I know it gets deep, but rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus is righteous, but he's in Abraham's bosom, which is a place of rest. That's not heaven.
[47:08] Upon his death, Jesus went there and raised them up, led captive a host of captives, and ascended on high to the Father. And what we have in Matthew is just a further testimony because even some of the bodies of the saints were raised.
[47:23] But they didn't come out of the grave. Graves woke when he died. They didn't come out until he raised, right, until his resurrection. So, it's almost like they were waiting on him, which is what he was doing there.
[47:34] And then they ascended with him, too. Hopefully, that answers it. Now, I can't tell you, I mean, did they walk around in the city for a couple of days? I don't think so. I think that it was just a raising of the dead, so to say, what we will see being played out later on in the last days to demonstrate that they didn't get to heaven without Christ.
[47:53] He had to be the forerunner, as the book of Hebrews tells us. He goes first. They were in a place of waiting. They call it in the Old Testament, Abaddon, Sheol.
[48:05] That doesn't mean hell. That just means a place of the dead, a place of waiting until Christ dies on the cross. And then he raises them with him. He goes before them.
[48:20] You're welcome. And I can look up the rest of the scriptural references and give it to you. I just don't want to take too much of our time tonight. I know I'm taking a lot of it. Any other, any questions?
[48:36] Come on, anybody else? I have an observation. If we studied more of the Old Testament and the Jewish tradition and their history, there would be hint of who say, well, you feel better to say this.
[48:56] There wouldn't be that question. There wouldn't be that division between the Jewish and the Gentiles. Right. Right. You're exactly right.
[49:07] I think it is probably one of the most beneficial things I've ever done to understand the New Testament was to be intentional in reading the Old Testament. Because there's so many types and fulfillments in the New Testament that we don't see until we see where they were first set forth in the Old Testament.
[49:30] Well, just the phrase that I am the Lamb. If you don't know the Old Testament, if you don't understand what the Jews knew about that, you don't get to submit.
[49:42] Right. Yeah. If you don't understand the book of Exodus, you really don't understand the death of Christ on the cross. And then you figure, why a cross?
[49:54] Well, if you don't know about Moses and the serpents in the wilderness and where he lifted up the staff in the wilderness, then you don't know why the Son of Man had to be lifted up above the earth. And that's why, I mean, he could have died any death, but he had to be raised up because when the serpents came, they were bitten with an uncurable disease.
[50:10] And the only cure was to look by faith on a bronze serpent up on a staff, which we use, it's on the side of every one of our ambulances today. When they looked up in faith, it didn't change the fact that they had been snake-bitten.
[50:21] It just changed the fact that now they weren't going to die from it. Right? So man in his sins has been snake-bitten, and there's no cure for it except for the look by faith of he who is raised above the earth. So there's all these types that we don't see if we don't understand our Old Testament.
[50:38] Really, really important. Yes, ma'am. Do you believe in these out-of-body experiences when people die and they're raised above and they can see their body and they go?
[50:50] NDE, near-death experiences. There are tremendous science behind near-death experiences, and I've read a lot of them. I would dare say Brother Rodney there has probably witnessed several near-death experiences, as most paramedics have, and they can tell you that, and he could probably speak to you a lot more than I could about that.
[51:09] But I do believe that God has given some people glimpses of things that we don't understand. I don't buy into each and every one of them, but if you study near-death experiences, there are core things, especially people who proclaim to be believers, there are about three or four things that are always the same.
[51:30] There's always a bright light. I mean, there's always a great radiance. There's always a sense of peace. Usually there's flowers in the story somewhere, and Jesus is always showing up. And a lot of times they don't want to come back.
[51:42] Right. And, you know, it's a time of peace that they don't want to return from. So you see those things, I mean, across cultures, across societies, you know, across demographics.
[51:56] Those things keep popping up over and over and over again, so much so that even in the science you have to say there's too much there to refute it and say it doesn't happen.
[52:08] And on the other side, I've had paramedics tell me that they've had people that were dying that were pulling their feet up into a ball saying that they could feel the flames of the fire. So there are things that we get glimpses of at the end of our life that unfortunately we don't think much of during the days of our life.
[52:31] Anyone else? Okay. Second Kings.
[52:45] Right.
[53:12] Right. Yeah.
[53:53] Yeah. Right. And more than likely, that goes back to when 2 Kings was written and then Chronicles was written. Two different times in the nation of Israel's history. Could have been a different counting of the days.
[54:06] More than likely, in this, okay. More than likely, it was a scribal error. Okay. And by scribal error, someone hand copying it.
[54:17] And because 20 and 40, very close in, you know, the Hebrew alphabet. This, again, don't, because you say, I believe the word of God is true.
[54:31] I believe the word of God is perfect. It's accurate in all things. I believe it was without error. There are some things that we look at and say, well, scribal might, a scribe might have missed this in the original.
[54:42] Now, when I say I believe the word of God is inerrant, I mean I believe the word of God is inerrant in its original language and original offering. There are some things in our translation processes that we make scribal errors in.
[54:56] But there are no major issues, no major doctrinal truths that are anything that would shake any faith or any foundation of faith that is wrong.
[55:08] Okay. None of that refutes itself. You get, like, small things like this. Was he 22 or 42? More than likely what happened is that a scribe at some time made a mistake or made a smudge and made it appear 42.
[55:21] And because of their stringent responsibility, I'm going to follow it as it is. It only takes one guy at one point in history to make a mistake that from that point on everybody else is going to write 42.
[55:37] Going to write 42. Because the oldest copy they have says 42, so from now on they're writing 42. And they're not looking at 2 Kings when they're writing 2 Chronicles.
[55:47] They may not even have them together. They didn't have them compiled the way we did. They had them in scrolls. So what they have in front of them is, here's 2 Chronicles. I'm writing a new 2 Chronicles. And we don't know how far back that happened.
[56:02] It could have happened after the English translations came out. We don't know. You know. So when people say scribal error, it may not be the Jewish scribes.
[56:14] It could have been error in translation. Okay. Anybody want to throw something at me there after that one? I'll probably get in trouble about that one later.
[56:29] All right. Any other questions? Any other questions? We could spend a whole night on how we got Bible translations and we got there. We got how we got to what we got and this thing.
[56:42] I mean, we could spend a very, very detailed night on that one. But that would take us a little while. Sometime we need to do that.
[56:53] We need to do that. This is really neat.
[57:07] It is really neat. Anyone else? Any questions? I know I'm pressing time and it's a school night. So I'll close this out.
[57:18] No other questions. I only might leave with a question. Any other questions? All right. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for allowing us to gather together.
[57:33] Thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you for the power of it. Lord, I thank you that we come to you with honest questions. Lord, hopefully we can come and grow together through our quest of study.
[57:44] And Lord, I pray you would encourage each one of us to get into the word each and every day. And Lord, that through it we would draw closer to you. Lord, we love you and we adore you. Lord, we thank you for all you do for us.
[57:56] We know that our knowledge is just the very tip of the iceberg of how much you've done for us. So we cannot begin to dream or imagine the love you have for us, the price you paid for our forgiveness.
[58:10] And Lord, we rejoice in that. Lord, we thank you for all that you've done. And we thank you for the way you're going to lead us throughout this week. And we just ask you to keep your hands upon those families who are hurting. Lord, continue to be with those families, with lost loved ones.
[58:23] Lord, those walking through the darkest of valleys. Lord, we pray you would wrap your arms around them. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate your time.
[58:41] Amen. Amen.
[59:41] Amen.