Okay; thank you, Jonathan.
I would like to welcome everyone to EBible’s fellowship room. Each person is welcome to share whatever is on your mind by raising your hand and taking the microphone, or you can type it out. I will try to respond by going to the Bible.
Before we open up the room to everyone, I would like to read a question that came through the website.
By the way, before I read the question, there was another comment that a person left about answering questions. Let me see if I can find that real quick, because I think that some people might be confused. It is our fault, I think, on the website because of the way we have it set up.
(00:52) 1st Comment from Website: The Bible Q&A page has not been updated for over a year. I think it is better to shut it down than for people to think that you are not really serious about it.
Chris: There are a couple of pages on the website. One page has questions and answers. I looked and that page really has not been updated since 2005. Anybody submitting a question, if they go to that page expecting to find a response, they are not going to see it. So I am going to try to straighten that out this week in order to make it a little clearer so someone can know if they submit a question or comment where they can find it.
There is another section on the site that is under “Questions and Answers” and entitled “Fellowship Hour.” If you go there, that is where many of the questions are being answered. Also, at times we have a segment during the morning fellowship at Delco and I will take some questions there. (You will find them under “Questions and Answers” entitled “Sunday Open Forum.”)
But those are the only places that questions are being answered. Some of these other places, I was typing responses for awhile, but when you are typing things, it takes up a lot of time. Anyway, in case someone here submitted that comment, that is what is going on.
Tonight, I will take a question that someone submitted through the website. So we are doing that; it is just that you have to know where to look for a response.
(02:42) 2nd Question from Website: The God Jesus Christ can save me from my troubles, sorrows, sad.
Chris: They are really asking, “Can Christ save me, as far as the problems in my life and my sadness or my sorrow?”
We have to be careful because there are gospels out there today that specialize in the area of telling people, “Now, if you become a Christian, if you sign up, if you join, then you are going to have a wonderful life from that point on. You are going to be so happy and full of the joy of the Lord that you will be beaming. You will have great joy at all times, practically.” This is what they are implying, but that is not always the case.
We have to keep in mind that we are sinners. We are sinners. We are transgressors of the Law of God. At times, sin brings great sorrow. If God is dealing with us, then someone can be cast down in soul for a period of time.
God moved King David to write in the Psalms, “I will be sorry for my sin.” In the Beatitudes in the book of Matthew, Jesus is letting us know that the one who has a mournful heart is blessed. God, at times, is showing us our sin and it can be a troubling period in our lives. He is in complete control of how long this will last, and it may last for awhile.
So, can Jesus take away your trouble and sorrow? Yes. Yes, ultimately and finally, if you are a true child of God, if you are one of His elect, He will take them away permanently for all eternity. This is what the Bible tells us. In the new heaven and the new earth, there will be no more sorrow or tears. There will not be any trouble of any kind in the new heaven and the new earth when we are living with Christ.
Now, we also have to remember that this day is not far off, that the time of entering into the Kingdom of God is close at hand. It is close to two years. Really, that information helps us in our lives because we can gain comfort from the thought that whatever we are going through right now, whatever trouble, whatever ailments we have, whether physical or emotional or mental, whatever affliction, it is very limited and finite.
It has always been temporal things that afflict the believer and the believer has always known that this is a momentary affliction that will give way to an eternal weight of glory. However, now we can see the end in sight.
It is like running a race when you turn a corner and you see the finish line. It is still in the distance, but you can make it out; you are beginning to see how much more it is going to take to get there.
This is where we are, so do not be so concerned about how you feel right now. Rather, go to God and beseech Him for mercy that He might save you. As far as being cast down, God can take care of that. He may even take care of it in the time before the end; He may help you with that. But there is a permanent solution that is right at hand.
Thank you for visiting and submitting your question, and let us go to “May212011.” Please go ahead.
(07:58) Question #3 from “May212011”: Today is Palm Sunday. Can you explain a little about Palm Sunday and the spiritual meaning of it, particularly when Jesus told His disciples to loose the colt, as well as when small branches of palms were laid while He was riding the colt?
Chris: Let us see where that is found in Matthew. In Matthew 21:1-11, it says:
And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strowed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
This account, which is known as the Triumphal Entry by theologians into Jerusalem of the Lord Jesus, is very important because it was on this particular day that the lamb would be selected that would be the sacrificial lamb for the Passover.
So Jesus is entering into Jerusalem and the spiritual emphasis is that He is the Lamb that God has selected to take away the sin of the world. The apostles or disciples are given instructions regarding the ass and the colt. In another account, I do not know if it said it here, but these animals were to be animals upon which man had never sat.
I think this is important because an ass and a colt, the foal of an ass, a donkey or an ass, represents people at times. We find in Exodus 13:13 that God gave information about redeeming an ass. That is because it points to people who are redeemed by the blood of Christ.
These animals had never had anyone sit upon them. To sit in the Bible points to ruling, so they are a good picture of unsaved people. We are rebels and lawbreakers. We will not have God to rule over us, and yet Christ comes as the Lamb to take away the sins of His people and He is seated upon the ass that never man has sat. This shows that He is ruling and will rule in the lives of His elect people.
Then He enters into Jerusalem, but I am not sure about the branches. God speaks of trees and certain kinds of trees as representing, again, people or true believers in some cases, but I am not really sure exactly what the spiritual meaning might be. We do know that the cry is made, “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Mr. Camping has pointed out in one of his studies regarding the 1335 days of the prophecy in Daniel that in Daniel 12:12, it says:
Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Mr. Camping has shown how this relates to Christ entering into Jerusalem and how the prophecy fits His time of ministering upon earth perfectly. So the cry, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord” helps us to tie that in with this prophecy in Daniel 12.
Thank you for your question, and let us go to “saviourjc.” Please go ahead.
(14:08) Question #4 from “saviourjc”: Other brethren and I hand out the “Does GOD Love You?” tracts and your “The Rapture - May 21, 2011” tracts. I try to be a witness to family and co-workers and to be as obedient to the Word as I can, in His strength, but is that what God means for us to do in Galatians 5:14? If not, what is your discernment regarding Galatians 5:14? What does it mean for me to do in my life? Thank you.
Chris: Let us look at Galatians 5:14. It says:
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
We have to learn what love is. Love is not what the world would say love is, what the world’s idea or definition of love is. It is really not an emotional feeling. Much of the world’s idea of love is lust going after beauty, but that is not the Bible’s idea. The Bible teaches that love is obedience to the Word of God. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” That is a demonstration of love.
The believer who does love Christ or God does so because God first loved him or her. When God gave us a new heart and a new spirit, He implanted a desire to obey Him and to keep His commandments. That is what the believer begins to learn from the Bible. What are God’s commandments? What has the Lord said to me to do?
We find, for instance, that Jesus said in Matthew 28, “Go into all the world and teach all nations.” There is more information there, but that is the basic idea, “Go into the world with the Gospel to teach and to share the Word with people.” So God’s people, in obedience to this, are likewise showing love to God and, at the same time, to man.
That is why we want to hand out tracts. Tracts are a very good way of sharing the Gospel, because you do not have to say anything. You do not have to know it perfectly yourself. You can really know very little about the Bible. Maybe God has saved you and you just want to share the Gospel and a tract is a really good way of doing it.
We see how God can work with very little information in the book of Jonah. When Jonah went into Nineveh and he proclaimed one sentence, we would say one verse, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” that is all that God tells us that he said. He could have said more, but nothing further was recorded. So we just have to say, or else we would be speculating, that Jonah definitely said this one statement, eight words.
As a result, the whole city repented and sat in sackcloth and ashes and fasted and cried mightily to God that He might save them, and He did save a great number of people in Nineveh according to Matthew. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that the men of Nineveh will rise at the judgment because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. God multiplied His Word there that was spoken verbally. It was declared. Jonah did not go into the city with a tract, yet we see how God brought a whole city to repentance.
Now, imagine something like a tract trip that Family Radio goes on, EBible has gone on a couple, where you go into a city and you have 150,000 tracts, pamphlets that have numerous verses that you are distributing in the city. God is going to accomplish His own purposes. He will seek out His elect. We are very encouraged and confident that God’s Word will not return void.
That is why tracts are very good, afar and at home. When we give people tracts, sometimes people really do not want to do something in public. They do not want to converse in public, but when they are handed a piece of paper, they can put it in their pocket and at any time, they can read it, so this is always a good thing. As long as we have a faithful piece of literature to share with others, God can use it in many ways. It is a demonstration of love to God and obedience to His command to go into the world, and of love to our fellowman because we are desiring the best for them, that they might read or hear the Gospel and become saved. So I do not see any negatives with handing out tracts. It always seems to be a blessing.
Yes, go ahead. Do you have something else?
(21:24) Question #5 from “saviourjc”: Thank you. Also, 1 John 2:3-6, what do you suggest regarding obeying this?
Chris: 1 John 2:3-6 says:
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Again, we are hearing the Gospel and we know the Gospel tells us that we have to wait on God for salvation. It is natural and normal for someone to wonder, “Well, I am hearing these things from the Bible and I believe them. I acknowledge them and I wonder if I am saved. Am I really a child of God? Has God given me a new heart?”
Well, God here is giving us a bit of a way of analyzing ourselves or examining ourselves, as 2 Corinthians 13 commands us to do, to look at ourselves to see, “Are we in the faith?” We come to a verse like this and it tells us that if we are learning about the Word of God and God’s commandments, there should be repentance in our lives. But none of us are keeping God’s commandments naturally, because we would certainly have to be turning from many things in our lives as we are learning about the Bible.
So if we find that we are able to do this through God’s grace and turn away from sin and to do positive commandments, like sharing the Gospel with people and other things, then it can be evidence to us that we know Him and that we are a child of God.
Yet we always want to be careful because we are living in a time of great deception and man naturally has a deceitful heart, plus Satan is the master deceiver. So we want to be careful and go to God for assurance, “O Lord, I thank You that I was able to turn in this area and to do Your will and I find that I am doing it in these other areas, but can You grant me assurance? Can You give me that gift?” Just like all of the other gifts, it comes from God. So God’s Spirit can witness to our spirit that we are a child of God.
A good way of looking at this is that God is able to do this through the Bible. That is where His Spirit can testify to our spirit and where He is able to convince us or to give us a lot of evidence that we are a believer.
Thank you for bringing up these verses, and let us go to “Nate.” “Nate,” please go ahead.
(25:19) Question #6 from “Nate_TeWinkel”: Good evening, Chris. I have a question for you regarding, for example, John 11:24, where it talks about the resurrection at the last day, and there are corresponding passages throughout John 6 for example. In our previous understanding of these verses, we had looked at them in terms of corresponding the very last day, the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, with the resurrection that would take place; in other words, the Rapture that we have been studying in regards to May 21, 2011. Many of these last day passages do reference a resurrection. I am just trying to understand a little bit better how we are to understand the resurrection or being raised up in terms of this last day that it is talking about here that coincides primarily with the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Hopefully, this makes sense? Thanks.
Chris: Let us read this in John 11:24:
Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
And then in John 7:37:
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
The problem is that the resurrection will be on May 21, 2011. That is the time when God is going to raise up His people and Rapture them. He is going to raise up the dead bodies to join them with the souls of the people of God who have been waiting in Heaven, and also the living believers upon earth will be taken up, which is known as the Rapture.
The only difference between resurrection and rapture is that one is referring to the dead body and the other is referring to the living, yet they are both going to the same place. If they are true believers, they are going up into the clouds or to Heaven to be with the Lord.
So, here, without any doubt, the resurrection of John 11:24 is on May 21st. But in John 7, when Jesus is referring to “the last day, that great day of the Feast of Tabernacles,” God identifies what that day is as being part of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Tabernacles in the year 2011, the last day, the eighth day, will be on October 21st, and yet both are called the “last day”: May 21, the resurrection and the last day, the great day of the Feast; October 21, the end of the world. That is the day that will complete the five months and when God will destroy the world, the universe, and everything in it, including unsaved man who will be completely annihilated and destroyed forever.
It is an eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord, and everything will cease to be. As the universe, which once was, will never be again, so man who is in the earth and destroyed will never be again.
How can we understand this? Well, we can understand how Christ can refer to both as the last day once we realize that the last day is language that God uses to describe the entire five-month period or 153 days, which encompasses our calendar’s five months from May 21 to October 21.
So the last day begins on May 21, 2011. That is when the resurrection is. It is the last day, but May 22 and May 23 and May 24 are also the last day, all the way to October 18, 19, 20, 21. The whole period is the last day. God does this in different places and in different ways where He takes a whole clump of time and gives it a definition or He fixes a phrase to it. It so happens that it is the end of the world and it is the last day, but it will last for five months.
Thank you for your question, and let us go to “lisalimmer1968.” Please go ahead.
(31:05) Question #7 from “lisalimmer1968”: In Genesis 49:1, does the last day relate to the judgment day or the five months?
Chris: Genesis 49:1 says:
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
This is plural and it is saying “days” rather than “day,” like we read in the Gospel of John. God uses the language of “last days” to refer to, number one, the whole New Testament Church Age. If I remember right, I cannot put my finger on a verse, but I remember that the Bible uses some Scripture to point to the whole New Testament period as the last days, from the time after the cross until the end. But then more specifically, God assigns “last days” to the Great Tribulation period that we are in.
In 2 Timothy 3:1, we read:
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
Then it goes on to say in verse 7, 2 Timothy 3:7:
Ever learning…
Speaking of those who are associated with God. He is talking about Christians, but they are not truly born again or saved. They are:
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now, the only time that happens where there is an inability in the church to come to the knowledge of the truth is during the time of the Great Tribulation. That is the time period that Hebrews 6 refers to where it is an impossibility to find repentance. That is not exactly how it goes, so let us turn to it. It says in Hebrews 6:4-6:
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
This refers to what is going on in the church today. There is no salvation; there is no repentance possible while individuals are in the church. It does not mean that any particular individual could not find salvation, that God could not give them the gift of repentance, but He would bring them out of the church because God is not working in the congregations. He is not saving anyone there.
Likewise, 2 Timothy 3:7 refers to this same thing because people are still reading the Bible. Theologians are still writing books. Pastors are still teaching their flock, the people in their church that are in the pews. So all kinds of people are ever learning today, but many times they are not learning true things, they are:
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
So that identifies this passage with the Great Tribulation, just as Hebrews 10 ties in with this where it speaks in Hebrews 10:25 of:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…
That is, believers are to go to God on an individual basis for worship. It is between the individual person and God. Then in the same context, it speaks of:
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Again, repentance is not possible:
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
That is the reference in 2 Timothy 3:7 [note: speaker inadvertently said “2 Peter 3:7” instead of “2 Timothy 3:7”]:
…never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
So the “last days” reference in this passage in 2 Timothy 3:1 [note: speaker inadvertently said “2 Peter 3:1” instead of “2 Timothy 3:1”]: is to our present time. It is a matter of context as to how we are to understand the language of “last days.” Again, in Jeremiah a couple of times, we find a mysterious phrase that God throws out in a couple of places where He says in Jeremiah 30:24:
The fierce anger of JEHOVAH shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.
In another place in Jeremiah, He says, “ye shall consider it perfectly.” That is what is happening as God is opening up the Bible to our understanding to consider it more accurately and actually more perfectly.
That is the New Testament language, too. As Hebrews mentions the impossibility of repentance for those in the churches of the Great Tribulation, it speaks of going on “unto perfection,” and that is what we are doing as God is, in a big way, perfecting the understanding of the Gospel.
Thank you for your question, and let us go to “Jeremiah 16-9.” Please go ahead.
(38:33) Question #8 from “Jeremiah 16-9”: Who does the woman represent in Revelation 12:15-16? If the “flood” is the false gospels, does it relate to the flood of Daniel 9:26? Thank you.
Chris: In Revelation 12:1, we read:
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
She is a figure that God is using to typify the believers in the nation of Israel or the line of believers who brought forth the Messiah when, finally, Christ came through Israel and entered into the human race. She is clothed with the sun and Jesus is the “Sun of Righteousness.” He is the Light of the world and He is the believer’s covering or clothing. It is His righteousness that covers our sins and that is why the woman is:
…clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet…
The moon is a reference to the Law that no longer judges us or condemns us.
…and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
And the stars typify the believers. You can point to many verses to show this. The promise to Abraham was that his seed would be “as the stars of heaven for multitude.”
So she is wearing a crown and a crown is sometimes referred to in the Bible as a crown of grace. The twenty-four elders in the book of Revelation cast their crowns before the throne, before the One seated upon the throne, and that is indicative of all those who become saved. We have a crown of salvation. So, too, here, the stars represent the fullness of the believers as this woman brings forth the child who is Jesus. He is the man child in verse 5:
…who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
And that is what happened. Jesus came into the world. Then at the proper time, He began His ministry, until He was crucified.
So the woman brings forth Christ. As Christ came into the world, Satan is there wanting to destroy the child. God gives us the historical account of Herod having the children who were two years and younger, all of the males, slain in Bethlehem and in the surrounding coast area.
But then you wanted to know about the flood. After Jesus went back to Heaven, it speaks of Satan persecuting the church or “following after.” That is actually the meaning of the word “persecute.” It means “to pursue” or “follow after.” As the Egyptians followed Israel into the Red Sea, that word “follow” is translated as “persecute” in a couple of places in the Old Testament.
So when you have people today who are very interested in hearing what Family Radio is teaching or what is coming out of the Bible about judgment on the church and the end of the world and they are listening critically, very critically—they are closely following everything that is said so that they can find an error or a mistake and then pounce—well, actually, that is persecution. Now, it is very light persecution, but that is what the word means, “to follow after,” to pursue with either hatred or vengeance in your heart and mind.
So Satan was persecuting the woman and that is the body of believers, yet God protected her. Then we read later in Revelation 12:13-16:
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
We need to just keep in mind that the dragon is Satan and Satan stirs up people. He has his emissaries and ministers of righteousness to bring false gospels into the world.
The Gospel is likened to water in many places. So in order “to be carried away of the flood” of this water that is coming out of his mouth, he is using people in the churches and occasionally outside of the church who have some knowledge of the Bible, intellectually, to develop false doctrine and teaching and gospels in order to snare, hopefully, this is always the hope, an elect person, to snare somebody that Christ has elected to salvation whom God has guaranteed will be saved.
God has pledged that every one of His elect will be saved. He has promised this, so if Satan can somehow destroy them through false teachings or gospels, that would be the greatest thing for him in his mind, yet it has never happened and never will. So he settles for hindering the true Gospel and trying to make the work cease of getting the Gospel to the world, and he does this all through people who profess to be Christians and who teach from the Bible, and this has been going on all through history.
But God has helped the woman, as it says, and it is really the Lord who is doing this, as it says in verse 16, Revelation 12:16:
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
This relates to physical death. When somebody develops a false gospel and false teaching, many times upon their death, the numbers of people ensnared falls away and the assault against the camp of the saints in that particular way ceases because they have died. They have gone into the grave, into hell, which is really the grave, and they have been swallowed up by the earth. They have gone back to dust and now there is some quiet, even though we do see some remaining effects of their teaching. For instance, the people who established Jehovah’s Witnesses a long time ago, or the Seventh Day Adventists, the original founders died and yet their false teaching continues. But for the most part, a lot of the assault against the believers does cease at that point.
But thank you for this passage and your question, and let us go to “JC4God.” Please go ahead.
(48:43) Question #9 from “JC4God”: Habakkuk 2:1 appears to be teaching that “watching” is the equivalent to listening to what God is saying from the Bible; and that as we are watching, God will reprove us. Could this be pointing to our day, as God is correcting our doctrine?
Chris: In Habakkuk 2:1, it says:
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
This is a good point. Several times, the Bible tells us to watch, “watch therefore.” Let us just look at a couple of references here. In Matthew 24:42-44
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
And there is other Scripture. In the next chapter, in Matthew 25:13, it says:
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Some people say that to watch means just that you are to be saved. You should be saved. If you are saved, then you are watching. And that is what it means. But, actually, no to watch does not mean to be saved.
For instance, when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, it is when He went to pray that He left the disciples to watch. Then He came back after prayer and He found them sleeping and said, “Could you not watch with Me one hour?” And then He did it again.
Those disciples were Peter, James, and John, I think, if I remember right, and they were saved; they were true believers. But Christ was indicating that their sleeping was a failure to watch, so that means that it is not salvation that God has in view.
I think that you are right concerning what it means in Habakkuk where it says:
I will stand upon my watch…
What Christ is saying concerning watch in the Bible is, “Keep your eyes open in the Scripture because there will come a time, the time of the end, when I will open up the Word and reveal truth to you, and so keep that steady watch; keep reading; keep studying; keep comparing Scripture with Scripture.” If you continue to do this, then at the perfect time, at the right time, in God’s timetable, He will reveal truth.
We know that this is the context of Habakkuk 2, as it goes on to say in Habakkuk 2:2-3:
And JEHOVAH answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables…
The word “vision” is language having to do with the Bible. Prophets receive visions of God. Isaiah’s book is called “the vision of Isaiah.” A couple of other books also refer to a “vision.” It continues:
…make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it (He) shall speak…
It says “it” in the King James but it should have been translated “He.” It is talking about the Holy Spirit.
…and not lie: though it (He) tarry, wait for it (Him); because it (He) will surely come, it (He) will not tarry.
So we do see “watch.” Watch, because at the end, God will speak. That is what is happening today as God is not speaking audibly, not from Heaven, but He is speaking through His Word. 1 Corinthians 2 explains that when we compare Spiritual with Spiritual, the Holy Ghost teacheth; and when you teach, you speak.
God does not tell us to use sign language, even though we could, but normally we speak and the Holy Spirit is speaking to us today through the Bible as we follow that God-ordained methodology of comparing Scripture with Scripture and making sure that our conclusions harmonize, that they fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
Jesus teaches us to harmonize when He is being tempted by the devil and the devil is quoting Scripture. Christ is responding with Scripture to show that what the devil is saying does not fit; it does not harmonize with all of the Bible, “What you are saying, yes, it is a Bible verse, but you are wrongly applying it.” That is what many people do in the churches today. They wrongly apply what the Bible is saying.
We have come to the end of our time tonight. I would like to thank everyone for sharing your questions and comments and especially for the Bible verses that we have had a chance to read and to look at and to think about.
Lord willing, this Tuesday and Thursday evening at 10:00 P.M. EST, we will open up a room in the Christianity section on Paltalk that is called “May 21 2011 The Rapture” If you can, please join us. Then on Friday, Lord willing, we will try to take that room into another area of Paltalk. For now, I am going to say good night and may the Lord’s perfect will be done.