S1: Today we're celebrating a new holiday. It's clear the Spindle Day,
S1: also known as empty the inbox day. It's an all
S1: mail bag all the time episode of Open Line. We've
S1: got the questions you've sent us about the Bible, God
S1: and the spiritual life, and we're getting ready to address
S1: them right now. So hang tight. We're going to get
S1: to those in just a moment. Hello, everyone. Welcome to
S1: Open Line with Doctor Michael right. Zelnick Moody Radio's Bible
S1: study Across America. My name is Michael right Melnick and
S1: I'm professor of Jewish studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute.
S1: And I'm here today and every Saturday to do my
S1: best to answer your questions about the scriptures. Normally, the
S1: bulk of this program is taking your phone calls. Not
S1: so today. Today it's all mailbag, all the time. The
S1: best way to be in touch with us is via
S1: our website, Open line radio.org. If you go there, it
S1: has links to anything you might need, whether it's email
S1: or Twitter or Facebook, you can reach us that way.
S1: It also has links to past programs. It has links
S1: to various issues that that you might find helpful. It
S1: has a link to my personal website if you're interested
S1: in that. It's got all sorts of stuff for you,
S1: so take a look at that open line radio.org. Also
S1: joining me today is the person I turn to when
S1: I have a question about the Bible. And that's my
S1: favorite Bible teacher, a colleague on the faculty of Moody
S1: Bible Institute, a fantastic writer. She contributed to the Moody
S1: Bible Commentary, and she is my partner in life, my wife,
S1: my beloved forever. And she's the person I love most
S1: in the world. Eva Redlich. Glad you're here today, Eva.
S2: Hey, it's fun to be here, Michael.
S1: You know, usually you just have to text the answers
S1: into me. So today, you can just jump right in and.
S2: Write them a big piece of paper and hold it.
S1: Up. That's right. It'll make me sound better if you
S1: do it that way. Anyway. Also joining us is the
S1: person who makes everything happen on Open Line, who put
S1: together the the mailbag for today. The person who lets
S1: me know when I'm supposed to be and where I'm
S1: supposed to be and when it's supposed to be, and
S1: all the things that she does that just keeps this
S1: program on target. That's Tricia McMillan, producer of Open Line.
S2: Yay!
S1: Glad you're here, Tricia.
S3: I'm glad to be here.
S1: You have so many questions you've put together here. Uh.
S3: I don't have these questions. Well, you didn't make these up.
S3: I didn't. These are all questions that you, the listener,
S3: have sent us. Okay, so we've got a we've got
S3: a whole lot of them.
S1: We're going to have to get another spindle day soon. Yes. Yeah. Well, anyway,
S1: we're going to do our best to get through these
S1: as best we can. Well, now's the time to go
S1: get your Bible. Hope you have your cup of coffee
S1: and head over to the radio. The radio kitchen table,
S1: as we say. We're going to talk about the scriptures. Okay. So, uh,
S1: let's start what's what's you've ordered them. You ask.
S3: Them. All right. We're going to start in Genesis.
S1: Okay. That's a good place to start.
S3: Sylvia from Glenview, Illinois, listens to WNBA, says our Bible
S3: study is on the Temptations in chapter three of Genesis.
S3: What are the underlying categories of the devil's temptations to Eve?
S3: She's heard that the first one is, in general, the
S3: temptation of appetite. That is, that the tree was good
S3: for food. The second one that the tree was a
S3: delight to look at, is the temptation of the eyes.
S3: And the third one, the tree, was desirable for obtaining
S3: wisdom is the coveting of the knowledge of God. She's
S3: not sure if those are accurate categories, and wanted to
S3: know what you think that the categories represent.
S1: I think the best way to look at the categories
S1: is in first John chapter two, verse 16. Uh, where
S1: I think it's exactly related to Genesis three. It says,
S1: for all that is in the world, the lust of
S1: the flesh, that has to do with desire when we
S1: talk about the lust of the flesh is God has
S1: built us with desires, and those desires get out of whack.
S1: They get distorted. And that's what's called the flesh. The
S1: desire that, I mean, desire is normal. Desire to eat,
S1: for example. Appetite would be normal. But to desire to
S1: eat something we shouldn't eat, like gluttony, that would be
S1: the flesh. And so the lust of the flesh, it
S1: says the lust of the eyes. That's where we see something,
S1: and we want it. The desire of the eyes. Uh,
S1: and then the boastful pride of life, the the fruit
S1: was desirable to make someone wise. I want to be
S1: wise like God. I want to be really wise, is
S1: what the temptation was. And so those are the three categories. Now,
S1: what I think is every temptation we face. And I'm
S1: wondering if Eva wants to add to this, but I
S1: think this is true. Every temptation we face is in
S1: one of those three categories, wouldn't you say?
S2: I think so, too. Yeah. Um, and, you know, sometimes
S2: they you hear on on fortune cookies or whatever. It's
S2: like there's the world, the flesh and the devil.
S1: Yeah. Well, that's the three. That's the that's the three
S1: areas of warfare that we face. But this is the flesh.
S1: The flesh is pride. It's a visual desire and physical desire.
S1: And all three of those things. And of course, Galatians
S1: five talks about the what comes out of that. The
S1: the fruit of the flesh versus the fruit of the spirit.
S1: So great.
S3: Well, thank you for that. Thanks for your question, Sylvia.
S3: Our next question is from Marilyn in Florida. Listen to
S3: this one. She says, why would an all knowing God
S3: bother with a flood when he knew ahead of time
S3: the depravity of mankind would again take hold? Are we
S3: to believe that because Noah was God fearing that his
S3: progeny would be less depraved? Love your program and I
S3: thank you ahead of time for your answer.
S1: Would Noah's progeny be less depraved? Apparently not, because we
S1: see what happens almost immediately, right?
S3: So why even bother with a flood to wipe it out?
S1: Yeah, well, apparently it was getting so bad that he
S1: was going to to judge the world in that way
S1: and start again. Uh. Did it. I don't know why.
S1: God in his sovereignty. Maybe he saw that it was
S1: worse even then, and it was headed for a worse
S1: self-destruction than what happened afterwards and what has continued since
S1: the days of Noah. I don't know, God knows. But
S1: the thing is, it says in Genesis six, I believe
S1: that the Lord regretted that he made man, that he
S1: made humanity. I don't think that God really regrets things.
S1: In numbers 23 it says that God doesn't change his mind.
S1: It says God is not a man, that he would
S1: change his mind. And so it seems to me that
S1: God knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly
S1: what was going to come out of this. And he
S1: uses that phrase of regret for having made man, and
S1: then he's going to destroy the world with a flood.
S1: That means that he's using anthropomorphisms. That's a figure of
S1: speech where it attributes human characteristics to God. And so
S1: God knows everything that's going to happen. Uh, he's judging
S1: the world for that. Uh, and then he's going to rebuild.
S1: And I think what we see is there's something that
S1: experts at narrative in the Bible have pointed out that
S1: there's a literary technique that's called recursion, which is a
S1: big way of saying repetition.
S2: Over and over.
S1: Over and over it recurs. And so what you have
S1: is God plants a garden and he places Adam and
S1: Eve in there. He tells them to be fruitful and multiply.
S1: He gives them everything that they could possibly want, and
S1: it's good. And then what do they do? They rebel
S1: and they sin. And then God rebuilt. You know, he
S1: judges the earth with the. Because it gets so bad.
S1: And you have the flood, the universal flood. And then
S1: he starts again with Noah. And what does Noah do?
S1: He plants a vineyard. He's got a beautiful garden. And
S1: then he takes of the fruit in an inappropriate way.
S1: He gets drunk. And then in the same way, the
S1: behavior with his children, his son, uh, looks upon him inappropriately.
S1: And then, uh, ham descendant Canaan is cursed. And so
S1: it's a deliberate recursion that every time God says, okay,
S1: I'm really fed up with this, I'm going to judge it.
S1: I'm going to start again. And then what happens immediately?
S1: The first generation, they recur the same sin. And I
S1: think that that's one of the things that we see
S1: is that no matter what God does, what do we do?
S1: We go back to our selfish desires.
S2: And don't we also see that at the end of
S2: time in in the book of revelation, in the Millennial Kingdom,
S2: everything is so wonderful. And then there's a.
S1: Last.
S2: Battle, a last battle, a rebellion.
S1: Yeah. That there's even after a perfect thousand years where
S1: the Lord Jesus has reigned on the throne, there will
S1: be people born in that thousand years. And then revelation
S1: chapter 20 talks about that. There's going to be one
S1: more battle. They call it the war of Gog and Magog.
S1: There it says. That's a good point. It's revelation 27.
S1: When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released
S1: from his prison and will go out to deceive the
S1: nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,
S1: to gather them for battle. Their number is like the
S1: sand of the sea. They come up over the surface
S1: of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints,
S1: the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and
S1: consumed them. But even after a perfect setting like the
S1: Millennial Kingdom, where Messiah is reigning directly, there still will
S1: be a rebellion.
S2: At the end. It's returned to Eden in the fact
S2: that he's there.
S1: Mhm. Yeah. So yeah, it just shows us what are
S1: we like apart from God. Rebellious.
S2: Rebellious.
S1: We're always going to do it. So, uh, if there's anything,
S1: I'll tell you what. Let me just say one last
S1: thing about the flood. There's a structure of the way
S1: the Hebrew is written. It's called chiasm, and I won't lie.
S1: Chiasm means, uh, it has a, b, c, d e
S1: and then, uh, d c b a it's sort of
S1: half an x if you want to think of it.
S1: That's how thing. And there's a parallel a pattern a
S1: and and a and b and b. But the thing
S1: in the center is what the writer wants to draw
S1: your attention to. So if you say a, the first
S1: part is the waters coming and the second part is
S1: the waters receding. But at the center of it all,
S1: the thing that that the the author is trying to
S1: draw our attention to is God remembered. Noah. So at
S1: the center of the flood is God's grace and God's mercy.
S1: And that's more though we think of the flood as judgment. Uh, really,
S1: what it's designed to do is show us that even
S1: in the midst of judgment, God is merciful. Isn't that great?
S1: It's the great reminder from the book of Genesis. We
S1: keep sinning. God keeps being merciful. Well, we're going to
S1: be back with more of your questions. Don't call in.
S1: It's just an all mailbag, all the time program. Today.
S1: You're listening to me, Michael Radonich and Tricia McMillan and
S1: Ella Radonich. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Have
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S1: fascinating journey through scriptures from divine inspiration to modern translations.
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S1: go to Open Line radio.org. Welcome back to Open Line
S1: with Doctor Michael Radonich. That's me. And joining me today
S1: is my wife Eva Radonich, who is professor at Moody
S1: Bible Institute. She teaches literature education, some Jewish studies, you
S1: name it, she teaches it. She also wrote in the
S1: Moody Bible Commentary and made sure that I wrote everything
S1: she wanted in my parts to. She was.
S2: A big job, but.
S1: You got to include that, she'd say. Yeah. And also
S1: Trish McMillan, our producer, who has put together this all mailbag,
S1: all the time program. She's got all your questions you've
S1: sent in. Right.
S3: We do. Our next question is from Juliana. So we've
S3: just talked about in our first segment, we talked about
S3: Genesis and the flood. Hers kind of piggybacks on that.
S3: She said her sixth grade son attends a private school
S3: within the Christian tradition. Recently, his religion teacher mentioned to
S3: the students that Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark are
S3: just made up stories to teach lessons. When I called
S3: the head of the school, he also said that they
S3: weren't real, that it's not part of the actual actual
S3: history because they can't they couldn't have been recorded and
S3: they can't be proven, but that the message is real.
S3: I'm just beside myself because I've always believed these stories
S3: to be real, and now I don't know what to believe.
S3: Can you please clarify this for me once and for all?
S1: Well, I'm sure you read in the Bible how it starts.
S1: Once upon a time, God created the heavens and the earth.
S2: Or once upon a time, the heavens and the earth
S2: just kind of happened.
S1: Yeah.
S2: Yeah.
S1: Well, it seems to me that people have a hard
S1: time with the creation story, and so they want to
S1: get around it. And the way they get around it
S1: is by saying, oh, it's it's uh, uh, what do
S1: we call it? Uh, their messages are true. But now
S1: narrative literature in the Bible, which includes the creation narrative
S1: stories of the Bible. They are defined as the representation
S1: of past events for the purpose of instruction. And what
S1: I mean, that's a definition I would give in my class.
S1: The representation of past events for the purpose of instruction. Meaning,
S1: when we have narrative or what are called stories in
S1: the Bible, they are histories, they are true stories, and
S1: they have been designed and written down in a way
S1: so that we can actually learn from them. All things
S1: were written for us so that we can learn from them.
S1: First Corinthians ten says, and so, yes, they're true stories,
S1: but they're designed for instruction. It sounds to me like
S1: what they're saying is like this, this question about is
S1: it Noah's Ark, right.
S3: Noah's Ark and Adam and Eve.
S1: Adam and Eve, that they're just trying to get the
S1: instruction from it without accepting the true history of.
S2: It? I think, you know, part of the confusion comes
S2: with calling the Bible stories. And so we sort of
S2: think of stories like Grimms Fairy Tales or.
S1: Yeah, but now the reason. That's why I started with
S1: my answer. There are literary clues given by authors to
S1: tell us when they're making stuff up. So if I
S1: were to write Once Upon a time, all of you
S1: would think, yeah, he's making that story up. That's a
S1: fairy tale. But the Bible doesn't ever present its material
S1: that way. It states what it states not just as fantasy.
S1: It doesn't do that. It presents it as fact. And
S1: that's why we can get instruction from it. Because it's true.
S1: Now sometimes people say, well, it's hard to believe. Yeah,
S1: I think it's hard to believe that a donkey spoke
S1: in numbers, but it says God opened its mouth. And
S1: I believe in a sovereign God. And there's a reason
S1: why that story is put there, because in the next chapter,
S1: Balaam's going to prophesy. And if God can speak from
S1: the donkey, he can speak through the other donkey, too,
S1: you know, and it's to remind us of that. And
S1: so the point of it is these these stories, even
S1: miraculous ones, even ones that are hard to believe, are
S1: designed by the writers of Scripture to believe them. And
S1: one of the things that I don't think to interpret
S1: the Bible, but Eve is really the master of this.
S1: She always, or I should say the mistress of it,
S1: because I have to get my genders right. But oh please,
S1: the she was in charge of as our kids were
S1: growing up, and they had questions about these things and
S1: they were going to secular school. Of course, they weren't
S1: learning the creation story. Eva was always working with them
S1: on helping them to see the historicity and the truth
S1: of the Bible.
S2: I think one of the interesting parts about this question
S2: about Adam and Eve will start with their, you know,
S2: it's about God being the creator. And if you took
S2: a pencil and you underlined every time God is mentioned
S2: as creator in the whole Bible, you'd have to go
S2: through several pencils by the time you finished reading. It's
S2: not a.
S1: Whole nature.
S2: Part of his whole nature is not an isolated event,
S2: so it's in the beginning. Those verses and it's not
S2: mentioned again, it is the theme that runs through the
S2: scripture of God being our creator.
S1: We were talking before about Annie and her iguana.
S3: Yes, my four year old daughter is in Awana and
S3: and our recent Bible verse was John 1717. Your word
S3: is truth and even the importance of when I'm reading
S3: to her the Bible passage, the importance of picking up
S3: an actual Bible and not just reading it off of
S3: my phone or on a printed out piece of paper,
S3: but that she sees that. And that I'm differentiating between
S3: the Bible is true and other stories that we read
S3: and pick up off of our bookshelf. But how do you?
S3: So as a mom, you're sending your child to this
S3: school where you think they're getting the the Bible teaching
S3: that you want them to get? What do you do
S3: now when when you find out that the teachers are saying, oh,
S3: they're just stories. Even if they say, well, well, God's creator. Yeah,
S3: that kind of just weaves through the whole thing. Um,
S3: which is true. Ha! But but it's more than that.
S3: The whole the whole story is true. Not just that
S3: message that kind of weaves through it. How do you
S3: how do you handle that?
S2: Yeah, I think you need to. It's a good opportunity
S2: to do a little Bible study with your kids and say, okay,
S2: where where else is Adam and Eve mentioned in the Bible?
S2: Are they only mentioned here or are they mentioned other places?
S2: And look at the other places where they're mentioned. And
S2: every time they're mentioned, they're mentioned as historical.
S1: Yeah. And in fact, someone by the name of the
S1: Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah. Mentions them and treats them as historical.
S1: And so basically I would, I would, I would say,
S1: who are we going to listen to the teachers that
S1: say it's not or our Lord? I mean, obviously that's.
S2: And you can do it without being disrespectful, building disrespect
S2: in your kids for their teacher. You know, you know,
S2: you know. Mr. Wilson is a great teacher and he
S2: has so many good things to say. But on this,
S2: I don't think he has a real good understanding of
S2: what the Bible is really talking about here.
S1: The other thing to this is maybe a challenge. I
S1: think that parents maybe that we were sending our kids
S1: to secular school, so we knew that they're going to
S1: be hearing things that were contrary. So we just said, listen,
S1: I really appreciate your teachers. We love them. We think
S1: they're great. But on this stuff, we think that we
S1: differ with them and we think we're right. And so,
S1: you know, don't argue or have big fights with your
S1: teachers in class, but instead, you know, just this is
S1: what what I'll teach you and what I've taught them.
S1: And then so that's one thing you can do that's
S1: an approach you can take. Or the other approach is
S1: you can say, I'm going to find a school that
S1: teaches the Bible as true and maybe shop schools. Shop schools,
S1: you know, that's another possibility.
S3: And those are good life lessons to teach your kids
S3: to that, that the Bible is true and foundations to
S3: build upon in their lives throughout this. Well thank you.
S3: Thanks for that. I hope that's helpful. Juliana. Um, our
S3: next question is from Crawfordsville, Indiana. Um, in Genesis, so
S3: much of our understanding hinges on certain Hebrew words. Moses
S3: was educated in presumably the best Egyptian schools and tutors available.
S3: If Moses wrote the Pentateuch, as we believe, are we
S3: arguing over a Hebrew translation of an Egyptian language? Would
S3: he have written it in Egyptian?
S2: I think we need to remember that he spoke Hebrew.
S2: You know, he was he was the child of Jewish parents,
S2: and I'm sure his of of Hebrew parents. Right. And
S2: remember when he was everybody knows the the, the Bible
S2: story of where he was hidden in the basket and,
S2: and the Egyptian princess said, I would like to find
S2: a nurse for him. And his sister had been sent
S2: to watch to be sure that he wasn't eaten by
S2: the crocodiles or whatever. And she goes, oh, I know
S2: a nurse. And he was taken back to his own
S2: mother to take care of him. So certainly his heart
S2: Language was Hebrew.
S1: Yeah, I'm sure they spoke with him in Hebrew at
S1: home as he was being raised. And also, I'm sure
S1: he learned Egyptian. He was probably bilingual, right? That's not
S1: hard for us. And so I would not presume that
S1: the the Bible was written in Egyptian and then translated
S1: into Hebrew. I would not presume that, but even if
S1: it were, it's really irrelevant. Here's why. When we read in, uh,
S1: second Timothy 316, it says, All Scripture is God breathed.
S1: All Scripture is inspired. Now, what does this mean? This
S1: means that it is the text of Scripture that is inspired,
S1: not the authors of Scripture. We often think of the
S1: writers as being the inspired ones, but it says it's
S1: the the text of Scripture that's God breathed. Now men
S1: were moved by the Holy Spirit. It says in Second
S1: Peter 121 to write what it is that God wanted
S1: them to write. Uh, it wasn't dictation. They did it
S1: with their own personalities. They did it with their own ideas.
S1: But the Holy Spirit was moving them as they did
S1: this sort of working together. Nevertheless, it's the text of
S1: Scripture that's inspired. So even if Moses in his process
S1: wrote it in Egyptian, first had a hieroglyphics Bible, and
S1: then wrote it and translated that into Hebrew, it's really
S1: irrelevant because the scripture we have is in Hebrew. So
S1: it's the final form. What's Hebrew? That's what's inspired. And
S1: so we don't have to and this is not a
S1: new thing. We we hear people who say, well, Jesus
S1: spoke Aramaic in the Gospels.
S2: Which is a Hebrew, like.
S1: It's a, it's a Semitic language like Hebrew. And the
S1: Jewish people picked it up when they were in Babylon,
S1: and they came back, and that's what they were speaking
S1: every day in Hebrew was also a language that they knew.
S1: But Jesus spoke Aramaic. Therefore, what we need to do
S1: is go to the Gospels and see and translate them back,
S1: especially Jesus words, into Aramaic, and understand it that way. No,
S1: it's in Greek, the God breathed word of God. The
S1: scriptures are in Greek, and that's what we read. I
S1: had a woman write to me recently and say, uh,
S1: we know that Jesus heart language was Aramaic, and then
S1: she makes this logical leap. And therefore Adam and Eve
S1: probably spoke Aramaic in the Garden of Eden. Well, that's
S1: a logical leap. And then said, we have to translate
S1: the words in Genesis back into Aramaic when they named
S1: the animals. No we don't. It's the final form. The
S1: final form is in Hebrew. And by the way, I
S1: don't believe it was in Aramaic or anything like that,
S1: or in Egyptian. But even if it were, what do
S1: we have? We have an inspired text of Scripture. We
S1: read it in that way, and then we have accurate
S1: translations and we can read it that way. For those
S1: of us who don't read Hebrew or Greek, we can
S1: still understand the Bible. We don't have to go back
S1: to a language behind the Bible, which is what sometimes
S1: people think that we need to do. That would be a,
S1: I think, a really serious mistake. So that's it's I
S1: always say we're going to interpret the text, not the
S1: events behind the text. We're going to interpret what the
S1: text of Scripture says. And by the time a student
S1: has me for a biblical interpretation, what's called hermeneutics, by
S1: the end of the semester, they're saying, yeah, we know text,
S1: not the events, text, text. We know because I keep
S1: saying it's what we have. That's what we read. That's
S1: what God gave us. That's the inspired Word of God. Well,
S1: you can write to us with your question. Open line
S1: at Moody Edu, you can go to our Facebook page.
S1: You can post your question there. You can tweet your question.
S1: Our handle is at Open Line Radio one, whatever you like,
S1: because we're answering an all mailbag all the time program.
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S1: To the Jew First. We're so glad that Febc partners
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S1: visit febc. Org That's febc.org. We're back. This is Michael
S1: Radonich on Open Line where you can ask any question
S1: about God, the Bible or the spiritual life. Today's an
S1: all mailbag all the time program. And joining me is
S1: producer of Open Line, Tricia McMillan and my fellow faculty
S1: member here at Moody Bible Institute, fellow contributor to the
S1: Moody Bible Commentary. And she happens to be my wife,
S1: Eva Radulovic. And we're talking about your questions that you've
S1: sent in. Trish did a great job putting together all
S1: of these questions. But before we get to the next question,
S1: I want to tell you about a great guide that
S1: can help you answer tough Bible questions that you may
S1: have at home. The Moody Bible Commentary. It can be
S1: used every day as you study the Bible. I had
S1: the privilege of being co-editor with Doctor Michael Vanlandingham, and
S1: it has commentaries written by 30 faculty members of Moody
S1: Bible Institute. Each individual commentary provides an introduction of the
S1: biblical book. Each one also traces the flow of thought
S1: of the biblical book and explains difficult passages. If you'd
S1: like a free digital sample of the Daniel and Romans commentaries,
S1: just go to Moody Bible commentary.com/daniel. Then you'll see the
S1: digital versions of both Daniel and Romans from the commentary. Again,
S1: the website is moody Bible commentary.com/daniel. It's also available in
S1: your local bookstore or through various online booksellers. Now you
S1: can study the Bible with the faculty of Moody Bible
S1: Institute using a commentary you can trust. And you know
S1: Trish every week. You are faithful. When I come into
S1: the studio, as we do Open Line, what have you
S1: done at the table there by the microphones?
S3: I make sure you have the moody Bible commentary on
S3: the table within reach.
S1: Yes. And a.
S3: Cup of.
S1: Coffee. And a cup of coffee. But mostly.
S3: Commentary. Mostly the coffee. Sometimes Delayed.
S1: I always appreciate that because I'm always afraid. So far
S1: it really doesn't happen very often, but I'm afraid I'm
S1: going to go completely like, ah, I better grab the
S1: commentary and see what it says. Yes, and so it's
S1: there and I appreciate you having it there. For me,
S1: it's my security blanket.
S3: And it's here today.
S1: Here it is right now. It's got stuff on it,
S1: but I can pull it over to me in a moment.
S1: That's right. And, you know, I think we're so bad,
S1: Iva and I, I, we both have it on our desk.
S1: Except we at home, we share an office.
S2: It's not a big room.
S1: It's not a big room. And yet we each have
S1: our own. That's right. Sitting on the desk. Because if
S1: I want to look something up, I don't want to
S1: wait for Iva to be done with her moody Bible commentary.
S1: So I need my.
S2: Or. I don't want to get up and walk across
S2: the room. Six feet. Six feet. Yeah.
S3: Well, now you can mark it up yourself. That's right.
S3: Your own things. You could sign each other's.
S4: Yeah. You know.
S1: Well, now you can study if you're listening, or you
S1: can get a gift for someone so they can study
S1: the Bible with the faculty of the Moody Bible Institute.
S1: And feel free to go to our online bookstore or
S1: to your local Christian bookstore and get a copy of
S1: the Moody Bible Commentary.
S4: All right.
S3: Our next question is from Roy in Peotone, Illinois listens
S3: to WMP. His question is out of Exodus 27, verses
S3: 20 and 21. Aaron and his descendants are given a
S3: statute to be observed for ever throughout their generations, to
S3: keep and tend a lamp from evening until morning. So
S3: it's kind of got two questions. Do you think it's
S3: possible that there may be a lamp still being tended
S3: either publicly or in secret? And if not, then why
S3: would God give a statute to forever be observed by
S3: the people of Israel?
S1: Well, first of all, it is not being burned today.
S1: It's called the the Eternal flame. The near Tamid is
S1: what it's called in Judaism, and it was part of
S1: the tabernacle and the temple worship. And it's there is
S1: no temple. There is no tabernacle.
S2: It was in the tabernacle. And then when the temple
S2: was built, that was all transferred to the temple.
S1: But no more. No more. And so we don't have it.
S1: So how can it be?
S2: Can you remind us how come? Because in 70 A.D.,
S2: the temple was destroyed. Yeah.
S1: That's it. So, uh. So that's why since A.D. 70,
S1: this has not been burning the menorah. The the the
S1: eternal flame. But it's it's called. I'm looking here at
S1: Genesis 2721. It's called a perpetual statute in the new
S1: American standard, a permanent statute in the hcsb. But what
S1: I think is interesting, it's it's a statute for forever.
S1: That's how it literally reads in Hebrew. And the word
S1: is olam. Uh, olam means forever, a forever statute. Now,
S1: the word olam is a really interesting word because it
S1: doesn't always mean for all time. It it can mean
S1: for the period of time. For the lifetime, I guess
S1: you could say, for the lifetime of this statute. And
S1: here's what I mean. In Exodus 21, it says that
S1: a slave could decide to stay with his master, doesn't
S1: want to leave. And so he would then bring have
S1: his ear pierced. You know, that famous passage and Exodus
S1: 20 would have his ear pierced, and then he would
S1: stay with with his master La Olam forever. Now, did
S1: that mean for all eternity he was a slave to
S1: his master? No, of course not. It meant for his lifetime.
S1: And so the same thing with these statutes. This is
S1: for the lifetime of the statute and the. The lifetime
S1: of this statute is till to the the temple was
S1: destroyed and then it can't be observed any longer.
S4: Huh? Sorry, I'm making notes.
S2: But the tradition is carried on in Rabbinic Judaism today.
S2: So that synagogues have a light in their in their,
S2: in their building.
S1: But it's not a flame.
S2: And yeah, it's not a flame, but it's but it
S2: is a it's a special lamp that burns. And it's.
S1: A.
S2: Reminder as a reminder of.
S4: This, a symbolic. Yeah. Remind you. Okay. Okay.
S3: Well, great. Thanks for that question, Roy. Our next question
S3: is from Rita in Ravenna, Ohio. Listens to Wtxf in
S3: judges nine. Why does Scripture say Abimelech killed the 70
S3: sons of Gideon when he actually only killed 69 because
S3: Jotham escaped?
S2: I think it's probably a literary rounding up of the number.
S2: I think it's not. It's not a mathematical inaccuracy that
S2: makes you want to say, well, if they say 70
S2: and it was only 69, then let's don't even believe
S2: the Bible anymore. I think it is just a Referee
S2: summary statement that he killed all the 70 sons of Gideon.
S2: But actually Jotham escaped.
S1: Yeah. Jotham escaped. And so this morning I was reading
S1: the questions that you sent a skimming through them, and
S1: I saw that question, and I read it out loud
S1: to Eva, and she said, can you say roundup?
S2: Yeah.
S1: That was her. I thought, well, that's the simplest and
S1: best explanation for this, that it's not sometimes we we
S1: become hyper literal. I think we should be literal. When
S1: we read the Bible, we become hyper literal. We don't
S1: allow for the normal way that we talk and the
S1: normal way that we would summarize, like rounding up to 70.
S1: That's all it is.
S3: Okay. And I know there are a couple other uses
S3: of 70 in there. Like there's 70 pieces of silver
S3: that they gave him. And so there may be I mean, there.
S1: Might be.
S3: There might be some sort of 70 and 70 and.
S1: And rounding it up.
S3: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
S1: Okay. But I think that that what happens is that
S1: we get hyper literal. One of my favorite stories was, uh,
S1: Jesus was Eve was teaching about Jesus healing of a
S1: man to little kids once. And he said, Lord, if
S1: you say the word, my, my servant will be healed.
S1: Do you remember that?
S2: I do.
S1: And the little girl looked at Eve and said.
S2: What's the word?
S1: Because she she was so literal. She thought there was
S1: one special word that he had to say.
S2: Word. Right?
S1: And I think sometimes too many people come to the
S1: Bible and they treat it that way instead of reading
S1: it for its plain meaning. Simple meaning.
S3: Okay.
S1: Of course she's excused. She was seven.
S5: She was seven, right? Yeah.
S3: Um, our next question is from, um, Cynthia in Lakeland, Florida.
S3: Listens to Wcqs. I enjoy your program and admire your
S3: dedication to the word. My question is in Luke 1619
S3: to 31. Um. It states that Lazarus the beggar died
S3: and was carried by the angels to Abraham. Why? Abraham.
S3: There's another Lazarus. This one should be a real quick thing.
S3: There's another Lazarus in John 11 one through 44. Um,
S3: John 11, who has died and was raised by Jesus.
S3: That's a different Lazarus, correct? Why would the beggar Lazarus?
S3: So it's kind of two different things. Why would the
S3: beggar Lazarus go to Abraham and not go to God?
S1: Yep. First thing is, it's true. There are different lazaruses.
S1: Lazarus is the name of the friend of Jesus who
S1: died and was resurrected by Jesus.
S2: Uh, had the sisters.
S1: The sisters? Mary and Martha. Exactly. And that's the Lazarus
S1: is a name like today we would say John. Okay. Uh,
S1: it was just a common Hebrew name.
S5: Okay.
S1: It was from Eliezer. Uh, in Hebrew. And so that's
S1: the first thing. Secondly, this Lazarus, when Jesus told the
S1: story of Lazarus and the the rich man. It was
S1: just that. It was a parable. It wasn't. It was
S1: an illustrative story. It is not. It's based on truth.
S1: But there was no real Lazarus character. There was no
S1: real rich man. It's a parable. It's an illustration. And
S1: we have to understand what a parable is. It's it's
S1: it's true to life, but it's not a factual retelling
S1: of a story. And in that culture at that time,
S1: when a person went to be with the Lord, the
S1: patriarchs were there to bring comfort.
S2: That was the, the, the image in the tradition.
S1: In the tradition. And so Jesus just goes with that.
S1: And who's to say that that's not true, that Abraham
S1: won't be the one to bring comfort and and so
S1: I think that's why it's there. But if he was
S1: bringing comfort, he was just an instrumental comforter in the
S1: hands of God when bringing comfort. So anyway, we're going
S1: to be back with more questions in just a moment
S1: on this all mailbag, all the time edition of Open Line.
S1: So glad you're listening in. We'll be right back on
S1: Open Line. Stay with us. Welcome back to Open Line.
S1: I'm Michael Ray Dolnick, and if you'd like to know
S1: a little bit more about me, you can go to
S1: my personal homepage. You'll find my bio there. Blog posts,
S1: also info about speaking engagements, books I've written, even trips
S1: to Israel. Just go to the Open Line Radio website
S1: that's Open Line radio.org and scroll down. You'll see a
S1: link with my smiling face that says my website. Click
S1: on that and it will take you to my personal website.
S1: And you can see all those things that I just
S1: mentioned with me today for this all mailbag, All the
S1: Time program is Tricia McMillan, producer of Open Line, and
S1: Eva Radonich, who's generally at home during the program, texting
S1: me the answers to your questions. But today she is here,
S1: giving me the answers directly. So thank you for being
S1: here and it's.
S2: Great to be at the radio kitchen table.
S1: Yeah, yeah. We need we need the coffee. We need
S1: everything so that we can just get everything done. That's
S1: what we need. So and so. Eva, just hold up
S1: big signs. You don't have to text.
S2: Okay? Okay. Good, good.
S1: Okay. So, Trish, we got something going.
S3: Yeah. Our next our next question is from Brad says
S3: I absolutely love spending part of my Saturday morning with
S3: you when I can. Blessings to you and the Moody family. Um,
S3: his question is about the location of your spirit right
S3: after you die. So the next several questions actually kind
S3: of are about where that sort of thing. Um, if
S3: your spirit goes immediately into the presence of God, does
S3: this mean that when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead,
S3: he brought his spirit back from being in the presence
S3: of God to his body in the grave?
S2: Well, I think he probably didn't bring it back to
S2: his body in the grave as much as he brought
S2: it back to his body, which was then.
S1: What was in the grave. It was ready.
S2: But yeah, but it probably wasn't reunited until he was
S2: made alive. Yeah. And he came out in the grave clothes.
S1: Yeah.
S2: Yeah.
S3: But would he have been with God that it was,
S3: like now? Oh, sorry. You know, you got that bad news.
S2: For Lazarus, right? Yeah. Lewis does. C.S. Lewis, I Wish
S2: I Had It With Me has a great poem about
S2: how Lazarus felt. Yeah. Being called back from the presence
S2: of God into into earth.
S1: So I don't have any. I think he was in
S1: the presence of God. He was being he was there.
S1: He came back. I have no basis for what I'm
S1: going to say now. Okay. Okay. Uh, but it's possible
S1: that the Lord took away his memory of what it
S1: was like in heaven. Uh, sort of like Men in black,
S1: where they had the neuralyzer.
S2: Yeah.
S3: Uh, a little memory thing. Yeah.
S1: Yeah, exactly. Uh, I just think that it would be
S1: so hard to be in God's presence and then return
S1: that I think God took that memory away. And that's
S1: why it says that the only one that that could
S1: speak about what it's like in God's presence was the
S1: Lord Jesus, because his memory was not taken away. Right?
S1: He came down from the father. He returned to him.
S1: And so I have no basis for saying that. But
S1: I think it's possible that that's what what happened?
S3: Okay.
S1: Okay. And that's the worst thing is I want people
S1: don't say Dolnick said. Because I don't know. I'm just guessing. Right? Yeah,
S1: that's that's what I think though.
S3: But not based on Scripture. Just just thinking. Yes.
S1: Just my thinking.
S3: Yeah. Yeah. Um, Gertrude in Lafayette, Indiana, listens to Wagner
S3: has a question along these lines. Um, she's heard that
S3: there are three heavens and wanted to know if you
S3: can speak about this. And then she wanted to know, um,
S3: the little girl in Luke eight that Jesus raises from
S3: the dead. And then also Lazarus there kind of spoke,
S3: spoken about as if they're not really dead, just sleeping.
S3: Were they actually Fully dead.
S1: Or were they sleeping.
S3: Or were they sleeping?
S1: Let me take the first question, which is the three heavens?
S1: I'm going to throw the second question over to Eva. Uh,
S1: so first of all, three heavens, people want to say
S1: that there are levels of heaven. I think that when
S1: Paul talks about the third heaven, he is not talking
S1: about a higher level of heaven than a lower level
S1: of heaven. I think you've got a sky that's first heaven,
S1: then you've got the atmosphere around us. That's the second heaven,
S1: and then you've got the presence of God. That's the
S1: third heaven. So when Paul says he was taken to
S1: the third heaven, it meant he was just brought to
S1: the presence of God. Mm. Uh, and so that's that's
S1: the three heavens. Now, were they sleeping or were they dead?
S2: Dead. Sleeping is just a it's just a euphemism to
S2: say that a person has died because they look a
S2: dead person laid out. Looks like they're just sleeping. And
S2: so I think that's it was just euphemistically A common
S2: expression that someone has had had died, but it just
S2: seemed too harsh to say they're dead. Yeah, so they're sleeping.
S3: So, like we would say, they've passed away.
S2: They've passed.
S3: Away. They're with the Lord. Instead of saying they died.
S1: Dead means separated.
S2: Means separated. Right.
S1: It's separating the the spirit, the immaterial portion from the
S1: physical portion. The material portion. And it's used in first
S1: Thessalonians four as well.
S2: Right. You see it on tombstones. If you go to
S2: the old graveyards, they have, like little epitaphs and stuff.
S2: It'll say like asleep in Jesus. But it's just a,
S2: it's a, it's a, it's a softer expression for death.
S5: Okay.
S3: All right. Thanks, Gertrude, for your question. Faye says she's
S3: listened to a well-known preacher say that all of our
S3: loved ones in heaven know what's going on with us
S3: and what's happening in the world. And he also said
S3: that things wouldn't bother them. Um, and she's not understanding that.
S3: Do you agree or disagree? What do you think?
S1: Well, I think it's a misunderstanding to think that God.
S1: That that people see what's going on with their loved ones. Uh,
S1: it's based on a misinterpretation of Hebrews 11.
S2: And too many Hollywood movies.
S1: Yes. But people get it from the Bible, from Hebrews 11,
S1: actually Hebrews 12. Uh, they they make a mistake. Uh,
S1: but they do get it from the movies more than
S1: they get it from the Bible. Uh, therefore, since we
S1: have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and
S1: so they presume that the they know that it's talking
S1: about the people in Hebrews 11. Right. Mhm. And they
S1: are a cloud of witnesses. So they presume that the
S1: witnesses are witnessing what we do on earth. And so
S1: they say, oh look, dead people can see us. That's
S1: not what Hebrews 11 is saying. The word witness means
S1: to testify. Right. If a person goes on trial and
S1: is called as a witness, they testify. And so what
S1: it's saying is, since we have such a large cloud
S1: of testifiers, of people who testify to the value of faith,
S1: then we should also exercise our faith in the same way.
S1: And so they're there testifying to the value of faith.
S1: And they are not witnessing what we do when we die.
S1: We don't become little gods that become omniscient. We go
S1: into the presence of the Lord. But God's admonition we're not.
S1: We don't become God. And so we can't see everything
S1: that's going on. I know a woman wrote in and
S1: she was concerned that her mother would be seeing, uh,
S1: what she and her husband are doing, and she thought
S1: she might be upset about that and felt uncomfortable with
S1: her mother watching her on Earth. And I'm like, no,
S1: you're honestly, if your mother is with the Lord, she's
S1: a little bit more interested in him than she is
S1: in you. And that's an encouraging thing for us. So no,
S1: we're not we're they're not watching us. So.
S3: All right. Yeah. All right. We'll try and squeeze in
S3: one last question. Okay. Michael wants to know what the
S3: Jewish faith teaches about the afterlife. Is there a heaven
S3: or hell?
S1: I just taught that my Jewish religious thought class. Jewish.
S2: Did you answer this question then? I will. Okay, good.
S1: I said in class that you get two Jews. You
S1: get three opinions. That's something we all live with. The
S1: fact that I'm Jewish. You know, I changed my mind
S1: from day to day. But the. If you go to
S1: rabbinic theology, Judaism teaches that there's that the perfectly righteous
S1: go to Paradise immediately. If you're if you never sin,
S1: that must be a very small group of people. But
S1: they say there's some that go to God, to Paradise.
S1: Immediately the perfectly wicked go to Gehinnom, which is hell.
S1: And they are. They suffer there for a year and
S1: then they're exterminated. And then there's ordinary people who go
S1: to who both have both good and bad. They go
S1: to Gehinnom and they are purged. And after a year
S1: they go into the presence of God in Paradise. And
S1: that's rabbinic theology. I don't think it's right, but that's
S1: what rabbinic theology in the Talmud teaches. Well, can you
S1: believe it? The first hour of Open Line is a fast. Yeah,
S1: don't go away. Stick around. Because I'm most of these stations.
S1: There's a second hour of open line. And if you like,
S1: check out our web page on the break here. Go
S1: to Open Line radio.org. You'll find links there to past
S1: programs email Facebook, Twitter. There's a link to the Chosen
S1: People Ministries free resource and you can sign up for that.
S1: There's also a link that goes to my personal home page.
S1: You can go there and if you're interested you can
S1: find out more about me. You can see books I've written, DVDs,
S1: I've done blogs I've written, speaking engagements that are upcoming.
S1: And of course, you see our current Bible study resource
S1: that you can get, or you can figure out how
S1: to become a kitchen table partner. Keep reading the Bible.
S1: We'll talk about it next week. Open line with Doctor
S1: Michael Ray Dolnick is a production of Moody Radio, a
S1: ministry of Moody Bible Institute.