Heavenly Portals

Biblegems #87

Question: Are those who have passed away and gone to heaven able to see EVERYTHING we do on earth?

In the opening verses of Isaiah God calls upon the whole created universe to witness how Israel has rebelled against Him:

Is. 1:2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 

Although this is a figure of speech, it is also part of a rich biblical concept where the created universe is presented as consciously witnessing with intense interest the great spiritual battle waged on planet earth. This concept of God’s created order beyond planet earth witnessing what takes place here is picked up frequently in Scripture:

         Deut. 4:26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.

In Psalm 50, when God calls upon “the heavens above” to bear witness as He is about to judge His people, we discover that “the heavens”—meaning the angels—“proclaim his righteousness.”

         Ps. 50:4-6 He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people: “Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge.

In the New Testament, the apostles Paul and Peter also call upon heaven and earth to bear witness to God’s dealings with mankind. As Paul writes in Ephesians, those who belong to Christ are already in His presence in the heavenly realms, even while still physically here on earth:

         Eph. 2:6-7 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

         The flip side of this is necessarily also true, that the inhabitants of “heavenly realms” where Jesus now dwells are quite aware of our actions in their midst, even as the creatures of the sea are very aware of the actions of humans who are swimming in their realm.

In fact, the apostle Peter tells us that those in heaven now are cheering us on to finish our earthly race, waiting at the finish line to welcome us in:

2Pet. 1:10-11 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The impression one gets in reviewing these passages is that all creation is watching the unfolding of God’s plan of salvation on earth in much the same way as spectators watch a baseball game or tennis match from stadium seats.

         Heb. 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

When Does "I am" Mean "Yahweh"?

Bible Gems #86

Question: When Jesus uses the phrase “I am,” how can we tell when He is intentionally referring to Himself as God?

The most famous use of “I Am” by Jesus as a reference to Himself as God comes from John 8:58: “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Jesus made this claim to the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees while in the temple courts (Jn. 8:2-3). In using the phrase “I Am” this way, Jesus was calling their attention back to the account of the burning bush in Exodus where God identified Himself as “I Am”:

         Ex. 3:13-15  Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

         God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

The Jewish leaders understood Jesus correctly when He applied one of God’s titles to Himself, and…

         …they picked up stones to stone him… (John 8:59).

But there are, of course, many other times, especially in the Gospel of John, when Jesus uses the phrase “I am.” The question is, when is He intentionally referring to His own deity?

The tool for discovering that is Context. For example, when the High Priest asks Jesus if He is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One, Jesus answers:

         Mark 14:62  “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Not only does He use the phrase emphatically, but He connects it to a reference in Daniel’s prophecy of the Messiah, the Son of Man, entering God’s presence (Dan. 7:13).

Context also strongly suggests that Jesus was very intentional when He used “I am” as the “bread of life” (Jn. 6:35), the “light of the world” (Jn. 8:12), as well as many other references (Jn. 8:18, 24, 28; 9:5; 13:19; 15:5, etc). These verses identify Jesus with God the Father, with His home and His eternal nature.

Although Jesus used the phrase in common, everyday speech without any special connotation of His Divine nature (Jn. 13:18; Matt 26:18; Lk. 9:44), there is no mistaking His meaning when He says:

         John 14:6  I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

         And:        

John 14:10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me…

Jesus is Yahweh, the great “I Am!”

To Sin Or Not To Sin…

Biblegems #85

Question: How would you reconcile 1 John 3:6, 8, 9 and 1 John 1:8? According to 1 John 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (KJV). In other words, everybody—including Christians—sins. Yet, according to 1 John 3:6, 8, 9, those who abide in Jesus do not sin (6, 9), and those who do sin are of the devil (8). How does all this make sense?

Let’s begin with 1 John 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

The wording in this verse, both in English and in the original Greek, is straightforward. There is no fancy parsing of verbs, no unique translation of unusual Greek words. In fact, this teaching in First John is an answer to false teachers who were claiming that spiritually “enlightened” Christians are above sin and that, even if actions others would consider sinful are committed, they are not sinful for truly “enlightened” believers. This is the kind of self-deception John was fighting against in the early church.

John is spelling out an axiom—a spiritual truth: We all sin at times, and to claim otherwise is self-deceptive and reveals that a person is deviating from the Truth of God’s Word.

        

When we get to John chapter three we encounter examples of how sin enters the Christian’s everyday experience. To describe this, John leaves behind the straightforward language of a spiritual principle and uses more active and descriptive language. This gets a little technical, but hang in there—it’s worth it!

When John says, “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him,” the word translated “abideth” is a present active participle, meaning ‘who ever is presently, actively abiding’ in Jesus does not commit sin.’ In fact, the phrases “sinneth not” and “sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him,” translate the perfect active indicative tense, meaning ‘does not continue to see Jesus or perceive Him.’

In simple English, John is saying that you cannot be engaged in a sinful action and, at the same moment, be in close communion with Jesus. Nor can a genuine born again follower of Jesus live in a state of perpetual sin. The two are mutually exclusive. Modern translations convey this better to the modern ear than the KJV can:

         1 John 3:6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him (NIV).

1 John 3:8-9 continues this line of reasoning. Verse 8 literally reads, “He who is doing sin is of the devil.” John is saying, either you are doing the Lord’s work or the devil’s work, and Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work—so choose whom you want to serve! If you truly love Jesus you cannot continue serving in the devil’s camp!

        

This is one of those passages in Scripture where the finer points of Greek grammar do not translate smoothly into English, and where the differences in English usage between 1611 (KJV) and today complicate matters further. But, in the end, it is only a complication, not a contradiction, and God’s Word once again shows itself to be not only true but—

         …living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb. 4:12 NIV).

Healthy And Unhealthy Pride

Biblegems #84

Question:  Are we sinning when we are proud of our kids', grandkids' accomplishments?   Is it "pride" when I appreciate a compliment?

It is true that the Bible has little to say about pride that is positive. There are exceptions, however; and those exceptions can be instructive. For example:

         Prov. 17:6  Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children (NIV).

In this verse, “crown” and “pride” are descriptive ways of saying the same thing—that it is right and proper for grandparents to feel a sense of “pride” in their grandchildren, and visa versa. The word we translate into English as “pride” literally means “glory” in the Hebrew, and is translated that way in the KJV. The truth is, as the moon reflects the light (the glory) of the sun, children are a reflection (the glory) of their parents.

Here is another example of healthy pride, this time from the New Testament:

2 Cor. 7:4 I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.

Here, “pride”  in the NIV literally translates the Greek term for “pride” or “boasting;” while the KJV goes with the non-literal translation: “glorying.” But either way, the idea is the same. The apostle Paul, who established the Corinthian church, is unashamed to feel great confidence, joy and pride in them! He gladly boasts about them! Why? Because they are a reflection of Jesus—no matter how imperfect—and a reflection of Paul’s tireless work of bringing people to Jesus.

As with so many other words, the word “pride” can mean different things, depending on its context. This is just as true in Hebrew and Greek as it is in English. Those to whom God has entrusted the daunting task of translating the Scriptures into other languages have the responsibility to accurately convey the idea behind the original language, using words that we all understand and in a way that we commonly speak.

More often than not, “pride” in the Bible means the opposite of humble (2 Ki. 19:22) and is typically associated with a wicked heart (Ps. 10:4) and stubborn heart (Lev. 26:19). Such pride is self-centered, self-destructive, and does not give God the glory (2 Chr. 26:16).

Yet there are times when taking pride in our own actions is appropriate, because those actions reflect a choice to reflect our Savior rather than elevate ourselves above others:

         Gal. 6:4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else…

Pride is like a mirror; it reflects an image that we want others to see.

James 1:9-10 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.

If that desired image is all about us, then pride is self-serving and destructive. Pride in its healthiest form always points back to Jesus, so that our lives become an opportunity for others to see Christ in us.

Who NamedThe Bible?

Biblegems #83

The English word “Bible” comes from the Greek word “biblia,” which is the plural form of “biblos,” meaning “book” or, more specifically, “papyrus.” Papyrus (from which we get the English word “paper”) is a large, broad-leafed plant that was used in ancient times for making paper, and then the paper was used for making scrolls, books and other written records. In ancient times, papyrus was shipped from Egypt, where it grew in abundance along the Nile, to the Phoenician port city of Byblus.

As applied to the Scriptures, the Greek term is first used by the prophet Daniel:

         Dan. 9:2 …in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures (Gk. Biblois), according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

The historical record of 1 Maccabees (2^nd Century B.C.) also uses the term at least three times in referring to the Scriptures (1 Macc. 1:56; 3:48; 12:9). In both Daniel and 1 Maccabees the plural Greek word means “the books” of the Old Testament.

Because the Bible in its completed form is a collection of 66 books, Daniel’s term gradually became a popular way to refer to the Scriptures as a whole. The earliest written record we have so far of “ta biblia” (“the Books”) as a term for the Scriptures used by Christians is by Clement of Alexandria, about 150 A.D. (2 Clem. 14:2). The more common terms in the early church were “the Scriptures”:

         Matt. 21:42  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures (“tais graphais”): “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

         Or “the Writings”:

         2 Tim. 3:15 …and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures (“ta hierra grammata,” i.e., "the holy writings"), which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

By the 5^th century A.D., “Biblia,” as a plural noun (i.e., “Books), was used regularly by the early Church leaders as a common name for the Scriptures. The term then moved into Latin as the Church moved westward throughout Europe, changing from plural to singular in the process. The “Books” became the “Book” (Latin: Biblia) in Latin speaking churches or, as we say in English, “the Bible.”

The beauty of the word “Bible” as it has come down to us through the ages is that it accurately reflects the truth that the 66 books that make up the entirety of the Scriptures are indeed one book, God’s complete revelation in the written word, and the revelation of His Son, Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh to take away the sins of the world.

Sources:

* Greek New Testament—T

* LXX 1

* The New Bible Dictionary, Eerdmans, Douglas, 1962

* The New International Dictionary Of The Bible, Douglas, Merrill, Tenney, Zondervan, 1987

Did Adam And Eve Go To Hell?

Biblegems #82

People often have fuzzy ideas about hell. Popular mythology portrays hell as part of Satan’s domain. In part, this comes from a poor translation of Isaiah 14:15. The Lord says to Lucifer (Satan), “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (KJV). The Hebrew word translated “hell”, however, is “sheol,” and means the realm of the dead. Its counterpart in the Greek New Testament is Hades.

“Hell” refers to the eternal lake of fire reserved for Satan, the antichrist and those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life at the Great White Throne Judgment. At that time, Sheol (Hades) will give up the dead who are there:

          Rev. 20:10-15 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The above passage tells us is that there is no one in hell (the lake of fire) right now. Hell is the last place Satan will be and the last place Satan wants to be! So Adam and Eve are not in hell—at least not yet. But will they be sent to hell from Sheol at the Great White Throne judgment?

Genesis 3:21 Tells us:

“the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”

This means that innocent animals died for Adam and Eve to be clothed with hides. God exercised grace toward Adam and Eve, covering their sin and shame at the cost of innocent lives. This sacrifice for sin was provided solely by God. By wearing the clothing God provided, they accepted God’s provision, trusting that the penalty for their sin had been met:

         Eph. 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”

God’s act of saving grace toward Adam and Eve looked forward to the cross of Jesus Christ, whose atonement for sin stretches backward through time as well as forward:

         1 Pet. 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

Murder And Self Defense

Biblegems #81

Question: Does the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” (KJV) include situations where someone is being robbed, raped or targeted for murder? And, if self-defense at the cost of someone else’s life is permissible in God’s eyes, does killing someone in that situation still require forgiveness?

The question comes from Exodus 20:13, the sixth commandment. The Hebrew word translated “kill” in the KJV is “ratsakh” (or “rasah”), and refers to taking the life of another human being as a premeditated act. It does not apply to war or to self-defense, including rape and other situations where protection of ones’ self or others is involved. For this reason, nearly every modern translation translates “ratsakh” as “murder,” instead of the more general term “kill.” The commandment, therefore, is “You shall not murder.”

The evidence from Scripture confirms this translation. For example, Genesis 9:3 grants humanity permission to take the life of animals for food:

         “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”

Also, if a person breaking into someone’s home is killed by the homeowner, the homeowner is not considered guilty of murder:

         Ex. 22:2  “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed…”

Even an accidental killing is not considered an act of murder according to Scripture:

         Deut. 19:5 For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life.

The application of the death penalty for the crime of murder by the state is likewise not considered murder, but a responsibility of the government for the benefit of the society:

         Rom. 13:3-4 “For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”

On the other hand, anyone who is an accomplice to murder is also guilty of murder:

         2 Sam. 12:9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Human life is precious to God. Consequently, the repercussions of willfully taking someone’s life are very high:

         Gen. 9:6  “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”

While the use of lethal force, if necessary, is justifiable and not a sin, it should still be cause for grief. Death exists as a constant reminder of how broken and sin-sick our world is. So while it is not necessary to seek forgiveness where no sin has been committed, it is entirely appropriate to ask God’s forgiveness for the person who committed the crime that resulted in his or her death.