Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-05-21

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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom, a ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, declaring God’s love through radio and the internet, providing real answers to whenever searching world. To reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep Bibleline on the air in your community, dial toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Number 21. Thanks for joining us here today. This is Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries. You are just in time to hear Dr. Hank Lindstrom’s teaching series on the book of Revelation.

We pray that Bibleline will be glorifying to God as well as edifying to you. Through Bibleline’s combination of teachings from the Word of God and real life questions with answers taken straight from the Bible, we are continuing Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry of spreading the good news of salvation throughout the world, salvation through simply trusting Jesus Christ alone as your Savior. If you have not yet trusted Jesus, we encourage you to do so. Please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org for information that could change your eternity.

We pray that you will come to trust Jesus as your Savior and be saved to the glory of God. We hope that you will plan to open your Bible and join us for this verse by verse study of the book of Revelation. You might be familiar with the three major divisions of the book of Revelation. Things past, things present, and things future. During this series, these topics and more will be explored. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about Bible line.

If Bibleline isn’t being broadcast in their area, then ask them to visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org. If you miss any of the teachings in this series, then call our Resource Center at 1-800-576-3771. Now open your Bible to the book of Revelation chapter 2 and join us for Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching for today. Now, there are pastor teachers which are gifts the Bible says to the church to help people to be edified or to teach them and mature them for the work of the ministry.

But I’m not any closer to God than you are. We have an equal brotherhood. And yet this became a division later where some are taught that they have to bring their prayers to the clergy and then they relay them on to God and so on. Or go to the clergy to have your sins forgiven and get it to go directly to Christ. That’s all false. And so here was the beginnings of a false doctrine that they hated and did not embrace but later became doctrine later on.

So there is no difference between the clergy and the lay person in the sight of God. We’re all equal and brothers of Christ. Verse 7, He that hath in ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Now we have to define terms here because most people define and overcome wrongly. If you have a commentary, probably we’ll get it wrong.

If you hear preachers most of the time they get it wrong. I got it wrong when I first read the book of Revelation and we miss some of the great promises of this book if we don’t have it defined right. So we’re going to go to our left to 1 John just about five or six pages to your left. We’re going to turn to 1 John chapter 5 and this is the way you interpret the Bible. You compare Scripture with Scripture and here we have in 1 John chapter 5, notice if you verse 4.

1 John 5, 4 says, For whatsoever is born of God overcome with the world. And this is the victory that overcome with the world, even our faith. 1 John 5, 5, page 13, 25. Who is he that overcome with the world? Answer, he that believe it, that Jesus is the Son of God. So when you are born again, you become an overcomer. Verse 1 says, whosoever believeeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. So when you believe, you become born again.

If you’re born again, you’re an overcomer. Verse 4 says, this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Verse 5, even better says, who is he that overcometh the world? Answer, he that believeeth that Jesus is the Son of God. So we learn that every believer is an overcomer by virtue of what Christ did on our behalf at the cross of Calvary. He overcame sin, death, the grave, and so on, and conquered Satan, and he’s alive forevermore.

And when you trust Jesus Christ as Savior, positionally, you become an overcomer. Isn’t that exciting news? So therefore, now when we read the book of Revelation and we read about an overcomer, you can put your name in there because if you’re a believer, this is a promise for you. So let’s go back to Revelation 2, 7, now where it says, in the middle of verse 7, he that hath an ear, let him hear. Now, you all have ears, but it’s talking about spiritual hearing.

where you hear what God says as the Spirit of God talks to you and me through his word, we hear the message from him that it’s for us. And here, if you’re a believer, this should be heard by you because you are a believer in Christ. You’re an overcomer. He has a special message for you. It says to him that overcometh, that’s a believer. Will I give to eat of what? The tree of life. That’s really good news isn’t it?

I like to eat. And so we’re going to get to eat of the tree of life. You know that tree was back in the Garden of Eden. There were two trees in the center of the Garden of Eden. The tree of the non-Jigod and evil, they were forbidden to eat of that tree, but the tree of life they were not forbidden to eat of. And apparently God has transplanted that tree and kept it alive. And we’re going to read about how that it’s found over in the book Revelation in chapter 22 in the New Jerusalem and all of us are going to get to eat from that tree.

It has 12 men are a fruit on the same tree, bears fruit all year long. So can you imagine in heaven we get to walk over and say I wonder what fruit I’d like today and reach up and pluck fruit off of the tree of life and enjoy. Will we eat to survive? No. I think we’ll eat in heaven just for enjoyment. we have to worry about getting overweight or having indigestion or having other eating complications. No, not at all.

What a wonderful thing it will be. We’ll just be able to go over and pluck fruit off of that and eat for enjoyment. Later we learned in the book of Revelation that the leaves are for the enjoyment of the nations. And apparently we can take from the river of life that serves some of that beautiful water and then take some of these leaves and stir them into the water and have a refreshing drink and then pluck down some fruit and sit around and talk with our friends for all eternity.

Enjoy a refreshing drink and a refreshing fruit and God has that plan for us. So here’s a blessing to the believer and notice it says here the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God whereas paradise was in the garden back in the Old Testament. Ultimately we find paradise in the New Jerusalem where we’re going to live forever and ever. And there we’re going to enjoy of the tree of life. So there’s a blessing that we’re going to have waiting for us.

I’m going to get to eat in the tree of life. I can’t wait to try it. It ought to be great. Verse 8, under the angel of the church in Smyrna, this church pictures to us the second and third century church. And as we can look back in hindsight, 2020 vision, we see how perfectly it fits. The word smurner in the Greek means myrrh. Myrrh. Myrrh. Myrrh. Myrrh. Myr was used in embalming. Myrrh when crushed would bring forth a beautiful fragrance which was used to anoint the body that had died.

And it’s a beautiful picture of what happened in the second and third century as Christians were persecuted. And what happened as they were persecuted? A wonderful fragrance came up before God because of their testimony and their willingness to stand for Christ in the midst of opposition. And so here, Mer is a very fitting description. It says, Notice in verse 8, these things say of the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. That’s again Christ. Christ is the one who is speaking.

And again, we find the phrase the first and the last, which is the phrase of deity. Notice it refers to him having died at the cross of Calvary and risen now from the dead and he’s alive. Verse 9, as he said to the other church, I know thy works. Again, as we said, he is omniscient. And it says, and tribulation and poverty. So this church was persecuted and many were thrown into prison. Many were martyred and obviously their properties were confiscated.

And so they were made poor. They were in tribulation and they were in poverty. But look at what is in parentheses. But thou art what? Rich. Although they were poor, materially here, they were rich in treasures in heaven. And I believe that as we live for Christ here, we can be laying up treasures in heaven that will have one day. I want you to hold your place here and look back in Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs coming right after the Psalms.

Proverbs 13-7, there is that making himself rich yet hath what? Nothing. Then it says there is that that making himself poor yet hath what? Great riches. So, you know, what really counts is what do we do here on this earth for heaven’s sake. Because that brings about eternal rewards that are forever. I love the story about the lives of the missionaries that were martyred down in Ecuador many, many years ago now, when they tried to reach a tribe that was never reached before, and they landed their little plane on a sandbar in the middle of a river, And the Indians came and they killed these five missionaries that were there camping out.

All of them in World War II, all of them were armed. They could have easily killed these natives. But that would have defeated their purpose. They came to win these guys to Christ. And so essentially they laid down their lives. And it created a great call for missionaries throughout the world. People responded to the story. And many became missionaries and went into all parts of the world. And others went back to reach this tribe. And many in this tribe were reached.

And some of them even became preachers and missionaries out of that tribe that killed the five missionaries. But I’ll never forget in the diary of one of those missionaries, Jim Elliot, he wrote this which has had an impression upon my life. He said, he is no fool who gives up that which you cannot keep to gain that which you cannot lose. I love that phrase. So Jim Elliot wrote in his diary, he is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

And that certainly is a great phrase is when we think about this life and the things we have here are gonna pass. We’re gonna leave them behind. They’re not gonna count for eternity. We only have them for a short time. And to give up things that we have here that are temporal to gain things which are eternal in heaven is a wise choice. He is no fool who gives up those temporary things to gain those things which you cannot lose.

And that’s the picture here. And of course we know Jesus gave up his position so that he can make us rich in him. Thank you for joining us. You are listening to Bibleline with your host, Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Bibleline is a teaching ministry that is dedicated to reaching out to people with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many resources available at Bibleline, such as Dr. Lindstrom’s DVD teachings on the topics of predestination, false gospels, and is Lordship Salvation a counterfeit gospel?

In addition to many others, please contact our Resource Center at 1-800-576-3771. Now please join us for a segment featuring Dr. Lynchroom answering questions from callers. We’re going to go to David in Clearwater and David, welcome to the Bible and program. Hey Hank, how are you? Good. You were talking about the three heavens, the collar of the third heaven. You said that the third heaven is where God lives, right? Yes. And what were the other two heavens you were talking about?

The first heaven is the atmospheric heaven. you know we use the expression like I saw the birds flying off into the heavens and that’s the atmosphere and and the second heaven is the visible universe the stars the planets the galaxies and so on and the third heaven second Corinthians chapter 12 mentions it in second Corinthians 12 3 the third heaven is where paradise is paradise used to be in the heart of the earth but once Christ rose from the dead he removed paradise from the heart of the earth and is taken to the third heaven so that when we die as believers today we go absent from the body, present with the Lord in the third heaven, which is the heaven, the heaven where God lives and resides, which as it describes it in Ephesians 4, far above all the visible heavens, the planetary and starry heavens that we view out there with our telescopes.

And you were also talking about in the new living translation. Was that first print in 619? No, 6-9. 6-9. 6-9. Just a little bit earlier in the chapter. And a lot of people get confused on this, especially if you have this thinking in your mind that we have to do more good works and bad works to be saved. They just see anybody who’s doing a bad work headed for hell. as that. That’s not really what it’s saying. The Bible is saying right up front before it starts listing some sins that I didn’t even get to that part of the verse yet.

But it says don’t you know that the unrighteous? Right there that tells us the answers that we’re talking about unbelievers. Because the unrighteous are those that lack God’s righteousness and they are the unbelievers. In Romans 3, 10 it says there are none righteous, no not one. then it proceeds to show how that through Christ’s death we can be made righteous in Christ by trusting Him as when He died to pay for our sins and God then legally declares us righteous.

That’s what justification is all about. It’s a legal term. It’s a declaration of us being declared righteous based upon what Christ did for us as He took our sin debt and paid for it, that His righteousness could be imputed or credited to our account. I thank you for answering my questions and I really appreciate your show. I listen to it every day at work and really enjoy it. Great. Thank you a lot, David. Okay. Do you take care? Bye bye.

That was David in Clearwater. We’re going to go to Mike and Tampa. Mike, welcome to Babylon. Oh, thank you very much, Dr. I was actually calling. I grew up in the Catholic Church, but always felt, especially over the past few years, that I’ve been being led away from the church. And I’ve been listening to you for a few months now, and I’m just curious, what do you feel is the denomination or church that’s closest to teaching the truth? And I’m going to actually let you go here and listen in to your answer.

I appreciate it. All right. That’s a difficult question in a way, because you really have to judge the individual church. But some churches have a doctrine of works just kind of built into their denomination. And obviously many of them have this works idea of salvation. And that’s the major issue that you have to deal with when looking for a church. There are basic elements you need to look for as to what they believe about the Bible. Is it the inspired word of God?

Is it inspired of God and without error as we believe it truly is? What do you believe about the Godhead? Is God, does he exist as three eternal separate persons? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit? You have to ask the question, what about Jesus Christ? Is he God who came and took on human flesh? And was his work at Calvary sufficient to save you and to forgive you of all your sins? Did he really indeed die to pay for your sins?

Or was he buried and did he rise again from the dead? Is he alive forever more? These are essential questions. And then of course, the issue of salvation, that it must be a gift as is given to us in the Scriptures as being God’s wonderful gift. In 1 Corinthians 9, 15 it says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. That gift is a gift of his Son and the gift of eternal life through Christ and so on. But rather than just get myself in trouble with people here and naming names here, I’d like to offer you a sheet of willmail an out to you if you, if my secretary got your address as a first-time caller, I’ll include it.

But I’ve got a sheet that I’ve written called Beliefs That Matter. And there are about 22 essential beliefs that are fundamental to the Bible that you want to embrace as a believer. And when you go looking for a church, you might even get on the phone, do a little interview, and ask, what do you believe about this, about that, about this, about that? And this will be like a cheat sheet for you as to what to ask when you call.

because a lot of people don’t ask the right questions and they don’t know what to look for when looking for a church. But it’s in these areas of teaching that you need to be assured that they are online with the Bible or you’ll be in deep trouble. Like the one guy, he was asked, what is your church preference? And he scratched his head and thought for a moment and he said, well, red brick. I’m afraid a lot of people pick the church that they go to on the basis of the architecture, convenience to their house, their location, the nearness to their home for other amenities that they might have when actually the major reason why you ought to choose the church is because they embrace the truth and proclaim it and it’s a place where God can be found and where you can learn about

God from his word and be taught and instructed and grow and where people are getting saved and And so let me leave the answer in that form if I might rather than just to start naming people and things and I get myself in trouble. And really the answer is you need to search out even in the same denomination. You can have a good pastor and a bad pastor, a saved pastor and even a lost pastor. So you need to go and do some interviewing, do some homework.

You can do it over the phone. You’ll be quite shocked I think sometimes when you start asking even on simple questions, Do you believe in hell? You’ll be shocked. A number of churches will probably tell you that they don’t believe in hell. And that’s a serious violation of believing the scriptures because obviously the Bible very clearly teaches that there is a hell. We’re going to go to Jose in St. Petersburg and Jose welcome to Bibleline. Yes, I think just a quick question today.

What’s the latest on the ecumenical movement? Do you keep up on it at all? I haven’t read originally, but it’s moving along and it is quite alive you know and the ecumenical movement you might think well my i might say like a good thing but uh… actually it’s not joining together for the right reasons when you have all these different denominations and isms and asms and spasms joining together but not because they agree on the bible uh… then it’s not a thing of god you know god wants for believers to be in unity and harmony but they have to be believers but many many denominations have doctrines which clearly are based upon man’s righteousness and man’s works as the means of salvation and absolutely denied the some of the very basic doctrines of the bible and course the major one for the person as far as their salvation is the doctrine

of salvation that uh… that man’s righteousness is filthy rags that but uh… i’ve heard preachers preach that we have a spark of goodness within us that we’re inherently good and that we just found that little spark and keep blowing on it and get that flamed to to go that we can become better and better and we can eventually or an eternal life i was kind of raised with that environment and and and that is far far from what the bible teaches the bible teaches that we’re born as centers with a nature inherent from adam we are unrighteous from the get-go and in order to enter heaven we must be righteous but the righteousness that is required is God’s righteousness and that can only be received as a gift from God.

And so our salvation is in God and in Christ in the death that He made the cross and when we trust Him then we become righteous in God’s sight and it’s not based upon what we have done. And that’s why the Bible says in Ephesians 2 and 9 and many other places salvation is not of works lest we should I can’t go say, I’m so good and I’m getting into heaven because I’ve just done my best and I shine, you know, but that’s not it, you know, and I have to say I’m a sinner and I was deserving of hell, but God loved me and sent Jesus and Jesus died and He paid for my sins and I trusted in Jesus and God gave me the gift of eternal life.

Do you think the Accumet medical movement is politically motivated? power and politics are all a big part of it, yes, absolutely. And it’s the thing that’s really Satan is going to use because once the rapture happens, the churches will come together under the leadership of the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and there will be a world-religious system that will be totally corrupt, and so we’re headed there, and obviously every day we see more strides in the way of departure from the Bible and unifying based on all the wrong reasons.

I appreciate your time. Okay. I compare the ecumenical movement to the kind of unity that you have when you tie two cats, you tie their tails together and hang them over the clothesline. Well, they have union but not really unity and this is really what’s going on today. It’s not the kind of harmony and love that ought to be from true believers with one another and obviously we can embrace another believer and hug them the death and say we’re on We are on the same page.

We believe the same truth and we live to proclaim this truth to others. But a lot of denominations and organizations have departed from that. And certainly we cannot endorse that kind of a ecumenical situation. We hope that you’re learning with us. As you listen to this question, answer segment featuring Dr. Hank Lindstrom. If you’d like to hear today’s program again, then please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org. There you’ll be able to replay today’s program in our audio archives, as well as access other resources, including a Bible search tool and flashcards, in addition to many other resources in our online store.

It’s time for us to take a short break now. When we return, we will continue this question and answer segment and then hear more Bible Don’t go away, Bibleline will be back in a moment. To pledge your support for Bibleline, give us a call at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. We’re going to get into the Bible for a few minutes. It was just a very interesting day. I was looking on the internet yesterday and I pulled up 10 websites that all talk about U.S.

May invade Iran and it might happen in the next couple of weeks. That is very interesting, especially in a lot of Bible prophecy. As we know that the nations of the world will focus on the Middle East and obviously Jerusalem will become the ultimate focal point. as we head toward the second coming of Christ. But before that, of course, we have the Rapture. And the Rapture, of course, is the event when all believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

That could happen at any time, but we believe that whatever year it happens, it will happen on the Feast of Trumpets. This year, the Feast of Trumpets will be on the very end of September. And so if the Lord comes this year, that’s about how much time you have left. Isn’t that something to think about? Whenever the Lord comes, we’ll be snatched out, meet the Lord in the air, and whatever we’re going to do for Christ, we need to do before the Rapture.

And it becomes this year, and I don’t know what year he’s coming, but it would be on the Feast of Trumpets, which is Rosh Hashanah. And so that’s how many months you have left until the Lord comes. If he comes this year, I didn’t say that he would. And we know that because of the feast days that God gave to Israel, you know, seven feast days pictured, the two comings of Christ, and Jesus died as the Passover Lamb on the Passover was buried during the Feast of First Fruits.

Rather, Unleavened Bread was raised from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits, and Pentecost, which began this age, happened on Pentecost the Feast Day, which was the fourth feast, exactly on the day. And of course, the next feast which concludes this age will be the Feast of Trumpets, and that happens in the fall. And this year, it occurs in September. you’re ready. If you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, then you are indeed ready, and all believers are going to go up to meet the Lord in the air.

Let me quote that passage for you. It says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 that we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That’s 1 Thessalonians 4 17. Some people say, well the word raptured doesn’t occur in your Bible. That’s correct. In the English, it doesn’t occur. But the Greek word, it’s translated caught up. And guess what?

The word rapture means caught up. So you could put that word right in the text if you wanted to. I prefer it to be as it is because a lot of people don’t know what the word rapture means, but everybody does know what it means to be caught up. It says, we, which are alive and remain shall be caught up. The word rapture means caught up. So put it in there If you want, we’ll be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

What an exciting event that’s going to be. There’s going to be a large group of people that will be exempted from death that will never die. It’ll be caught up while they’re alive in their bodies and be transformed into their new bodies on the way up. And we could be all of us in that group if you’re a believer. If you’re an unbeliever, you’ll be left behind for the darkest hours that will ever occur on in the earth. It says in chapter 5 that when this event takes place, that sudden destruction will come upon the world as prevailed upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.

But if you notice verse 4, it says, but you brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. In other words, we really shouldn’t even be caught by surprise. We should be watching and looking for the return of Christ, and we’re children of the day of the light and it says here that we are not in darkness that that day should overtake you. That is the believers as a thief in the night. You are all children of the light, children of the day.

We are not of the night nor of darkness. So we should be obviously when the Lord comes say, wow, we’ve been waiting for this day. We’ve been looking for you Lord. We’ve been expecting that you would come and catch us out and we expect that we will now be with you forever and ever and ever and ever. Well I hope you are a believer because if you are then you will be in this event. Verse 14 says, If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

In other words the key to being in this event is trusting Christ. If you believe that is if you trust that Christ died and rose again that is the gospel message, then it says those which have already died in Christ will God bring with him so the dead that have died in Christ are already with the Lord absent from the body present with the Lord and they will be coming back with Jesus. We’re going to rejoin stations that have been on break into the second half hour by the line so keep you ready to right where it is.

Would you like to help Bibleline continue in your area? You can! Just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. And now back to Bibleline. Welcome back from the break. We hope that you’re learning with us as you listen to Bibleline and hear real-life questions with scriptural answers from Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Please make plans to join us and open your Bible as we also present in-depth studies covering a variety of biblical topics. Now let’s return to our question and answer segment and then we’ll hear more Bible teaching from Dr.

Hank Lindstrom. We’re going to go to Clearwater. We have Beverly on the line. Beverly, welcome to Bibleline. Good morning, Dr. Hank. Good morning. I was privileged to work with Dr. Mary Stanton and she was in the basset at the International and I was a project coordinator. We wrote Bible lessons with Sudanese many years ago. She had taught me that and she made it like a little figure eight almost like the eternity son and she said that was she all and she all was divided in half half was a paradise and half was Hades and could you see if there was some distinction and what you’re saying well that’s exactly right I didn’t talk about the other part of Hades or she all and Hades are the same place one is the Hebrew word she all the others the Greek word Hades are equivalent.

In Hades and Shil was a place called Paradise and also another place of torment. The unsaved were in the place of torment and they still remain there and will until after the thousand year reign of Christ is over then they’re going to be brought up and cast into the eternal lake of fire. But the saved were in a place of comfort, a place called Paradise in the heart of the earth and actually they could see each other across an impassable gulf.

In Luke 16, Jesus pulls back the curtain on the unseen world and describes that hollow place in the heart of the earth where there were two compartments, one for the saved, one for the lost, separated by an impassable gulf, two men die, a rich man who was unsaved and he went to the Flamin torment side. And it’s not a purgatory because you don’t get out of going to hell by being there. simply a place of detention or holding until Satan is cast in hell because God designed hell for Satan and his angels and they get to be first in.

So after Satan gets his opportunity to be first in and then his angels then all of the unsaved dead are brought up out of Hades according to Revelation chapter 20, assigned a degree of punishment and held based upon their works and cast into the eternal lake of fire. But there are two places there. I just failed to mention the other part because it didn’t really have to do with Manti’s question. That’s okay. I thank you so much because it clarifies it for a lot of people out there.

Yes, ma’am. Thank you. Thank you Beth. All right. That was Beverly in Clearwater and she’s exactly right. And the rich man who went to the Flamin’ Torment part in Luke chapter 16, beginning in verse 19, is still there. He’s still in Flamin’ Torment. But Lazarus, who is the believer who went there, who was in Paradise when Christ later then went down and proclaimed Liberty, has now been evacuated out of there, and now Paradise is up in heaven itself. This is now a call to clear what of this is Joyce on the line.

Joyce, welcome to Bible Life. Good morning Dr. Hank. I’ve called before but we have never met. Just wanted you to know that. I’m in Exodus 33 and you were earlier speaking about Jesus as God in the flesh. Now this is the section where Moses says to the Lord, oh show me your glory because up to that time all the pagans had God’s they could be visibly seen and touched and so forth. So the Lord says in verse 20 of Exodus 33, you cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live.

And then he says in verse 23, you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Now my question has to do with The Jewish people and how they understand this because earlier Jacob had set back in Genesis 32-30, hey I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved at Penel. And then later on Isaiah 6-1 says, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up in the train of his robe filled the temple.

And Micaiah and the son of Abimla saw the Lord also sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by his hand and on his left. That’s 1 Kings 22-19, I think. But then when Gideon sees God, he’s terrified. Gideon’s terrified. He knows he’s going to die. He’s looking at God face to face and he can’t see the glory. So how do Jewish people understand this? I’m not too sure how they understand him, but what I believe is taking place is that we cannot stand in the presence of God in our flesh bodies.

We’d be destroyed and we cannot see a spirit. And God, I think, allowed Moses to see the glory of the Lord and protected him in the cleft of the rock. But he did reveal himself in human flesh, and we believe there are preincarnate appearances of Christ in the Old Testament that Jacob actually wrestled with the Lord. I believe everyone of the appearances of the so-called angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And John 1 18 I think has the answer where it says, no man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten God.

It reads the Son and King James, but the Greek word is Theos, the only begotten God, he has revealed him or he has declared him. So God has been seen in a human body in the person of Christ, but otherwise no man has seen God or could stand in His presence until we’re actually in heaven. Yes, sir. I’m still in Exodus 33 where God and Moses are speaking to each other. I understand at this point that it’s very difficult for Jewish people to understand Jesus and the flesh as God incarnate.

All their past experiences, even when Daniel spoke to the Lord, must be very confusing for them. I’m in 33, wait, I’m in 3314. Okay, 3314, Exodus 3314, where God says, my presence, well, Moses is to him, show me. He says, I’ve got to see you for proof. It’s something about this. They have to actually see God to show me because Moses was not confident enough to do what he was supposed to do. And God says, my presence will go with you.

And I will give you rest. in that instance which i think connects with manthio eleven twenty eight thirty isn’t that the holy spirit is it’s a record to the holy spirit probably is the yes and it’s the probably the chakanda glory you know because yes the uh… uh… god’s presence was there uh… by a pillar of uh… fire by night and by cloud by day and when the cloud would be lifted up or the pillar fire from the tabernacle then they were to move and follow and the lord led them and his presence was with him throughout the whole wilderness experience and they were terrified that the uh…

high priest would die in the holy of holy if he wasn’t doing every little independent nitpicky thing they had to be done so i i think that uh… i think quite his present i think the holy spirit is present but i think and in this aspect of jewish people find it very difficult to understand well they do and uh… and they of course of what they like to focus on is the fact that they are monotheists and they quote in the synagogue every time they worship the shalom.

But what they don’t understand is that word one there is a composite unity and so it is a passage that really says that the Lord their God is a composite unity and that He obviously is a Trinity and they miss it. The word Elohim which is a word that denotes the office of God is a plural word in the Hebrew which plural in Hebrew is three or more. I understand. And so it’s all there. I’ve led many many Jewish people to Christ and I’ve taken.

Well that’s my question. How do you really witness to someone like that? I think that’s why the Bible says their eyes are closed and they don’t understand in their mind. I just pointed out to them and I said you know Elohim is plural and they know that but it’s just like they haven’t added it all up yet and you just kind of work them through it and I’ve been amazed. In fact, it was interesting when I first began to witness, I was at University of Florida, I lived in the dorm.

It was like God trained me over those years because one semester I had Jewish roommates. Oh. Another semester I had Roman Catholic roommates. Wow. And I was, he didn’t overwhelm me. I had a whole semester or sometimes a year to deal with a particular group. And I learned how to… I was just like a sponge learning from them as much as I tried to teach them what I believed. And I was able to lead Jewish people to Christ. In fact, I never forget one fellow.

He lived in Miami Beach, as was his home. We were at school at Gainesville University of Florida. But I asked him because I also came from Miami if he would take me to the synagogue down there where he was born and raised. The Jewish people have an expression, Shalom, electom, which means it’s a greeting, it’s a peace be to you, you know, and you respond by reversing it, saying electom Shalom. And anyway, we went to the synagogue and I just followed his instructions and that was my real first experience with him and I got taught here by a Jewish fellow.

I had another friend with me who wasn’t paying attention and After the service was over a Jewish man came up and said to my friend who was a Gentile Sholo Malekum and He said Thompson’s the name glad to meet you mr. Like We had a really curved to release But we began to learn a lot about Jewish people and how they worship and and I imagine though to witness to a Jewish person is a little more difficult than we’re talking to someone who’s in a cult or a non-believer or someone who doesn’t understand the mark.

It takes a little more time. You have to take time and when you can show them from their own Bible, it’s very, very powerful. And if they’re listening and we’ll let you continue a dialogue with him, I think you can lead him to Christ. Okay, well, thank you very much. You’ve been helpful. I’m going to John 1 18 and study on that. Yeah, that’s a good one. Thank you It was Joyce and Clearwater That wraps up today’s question and answer segment as believers in Jesus There is no other topic that is more important to us than the gospel of Jesus Christ And it was Dr.

Hank Lindstrom’s mission to spread the gospel Through your prayers and ongoing financial support for Bibleline you too can help spread the gospel of Christ throughout the world and reach others with the message of salvation through Jesus. Please, prayerfully consider supporting Bibleline by visiting our website at BibleLineMinistries.org and getting copies of any of our resources, such as Dr. Lindstrom’s audio CDs on the books of Ephesians or James, plus many others. Join us now as we continue today’s teaching series from Dr.

Hank Lindstrom. So Jim Elliott running his diary, he is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep, the game that which he cannot lose. And that certainly is a great phrase isn’t it, when we think about this life and the things we have here are going to pass, we’re going to leave them behind. They’re not going to count for eternity. We only have them for a short time. To give up things that we have here that are temporal, to gain things which are eternal in heaven is a wise choice.

He is no fool who gives up those temporary things to gain those things which you cannot lose. And that’s the picture here. And of course, we know Jesus gave up his position so that he could make us rich in him. Let’s look at a verse in 2 Corinthians, another beautiful verse here. And as Christ is our example, we can think about this verse when we think about spending our lives for Christ. In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul tells us about Christ and he says in verse 9, in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9 says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be rich.

That is a beautiful passage. Christ is God. He owns the universe and he left heaven and he came into this world and entered in a very simple way, being born in a stable, laid in a manger. Here this was the creator of the universe himself and he laid aside his splendor in order that he might become a man. He grows up and goes to the cross and he substitutes himself in our place and takes the punishment that we deserve so that we can be forgiven, given the gift of eternal life.

What a beautiful story. Well, here the second and third century church was like that. Many of them laid down their lives. Many of them suffered great persecution. And let’s go to verse 9 again in chapter 2 of Revelation. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but then in parentheses, but thou art rich.” Who’s saying that? Jesus is. Wow. So Jesus knew their earthly situation at the same time he also knew that they would receive great riches in heaven.

you and I as we invest. I call them the three T’s and all of us have them. Time, talents, and treasure. So if we invest the three T’s that we have, giving of our time, giving of our talents, and giving of our treasure, we can lay up treasures in heaven and make investments that will return to us eternal dividends. So a believer is the only one who has that privilege. You know, lost people can’t do that. They can’t lay up treasures in heaven.

in heaven. They’re not going to heaven. So this is a unique opportunity for every believer to lay up treasures in a place where we’re going to spend all eternity. And here Jesus pronounces that this group would be rich. They had lost much here as they lived for Christ and were persecuted and went through tribulation for their testimony sake. And he says, I know that you are rather rich. Then it says in verse 9, I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews that are not but are of the synagogue of Satan.

Back at the early part of the church age, it started with all Jews and they were kind of surprised when Gentiles got saved. And now it has gotten that the other end of this age where most of us that are saved are Gentiles and sometimes we look surprised when we see a Jewish believer, although we shouldn’t. And so back in those days, when it said here, you know the blasphemy of those which say they are Jews, we can substitute at our end of the age of Christian.

In other words, there were those who said that we’re truly a completed Jew or a born again Jew or a Jew that had the circumcision of the heart, not just in the flesh, and yet they weren’t. They were false and not believers at all. And today we ought to be able to recognize those that are true believers and those that are not. And so hopefully you get to know your Bible well enough that you could ask the right questions where you could identify somebody who claims that they are Christian and are not.

And not everybody can do that. But sometimes we are fooled because of the outward facade that they present. I’ll never forget going to a meeting here locally to see John Wahlvard, who I love, and I love the books that he’s written, preach. And I enjoyed the meeting immensely, and the guy next to me couldn’t help but notice, but he was all really geared up to take this meeting in, and he had a recorder, and it was humming away. He had a Bible there open, and he had this box of different colored pencils, about 50 different colors, and he was color-coding everything.

He had a yellow pad, and he’s taking notes like crazy. And after the meeting, I introduced myself and I said, where would you go if you were to die? And he said, heaven. I said, how do you know? He says, I’ve trusted Christ. So let me ask you a question. What if you don’t pursue meetings like this anymore? And you don’t take notes in your Bible anymore. In fact, you quickly go into church all together and backslide and die.

Where would you go then? He said, oh, I’d go to hell. I said, you’re not saved. He said, yes, I am. I said, no, you’re not. He said, yes, I am. I said, no, you’re not. I said, the reason why you’re not saved is because you’re trusting in your works. He said, no, I’m not. I said, yes, you are. He said, no, I’m not. Yeah, I said, yes, you are. And so let me just borrow your yellow pad and I’ll illustrate.

So I drew it out. And I said, you’re telling me, if I got it right, that if you live the Christian life, you’ll go to heaven, if you die. But if you stop living the Christian life and die, you’ll go to hell. Yeah. Well, I said, look at it. That’s works. You’re telling me that what you do in your future will determine whether you make heaven or not. That makes you the Savior not Christ. And you’re really trusting on how you’re living your life to get yourself to heaven while I let him to Christ.

So you can’t trust the fact that somebody is sitting beside you with a Bible and is marking it and is into it and says prayers or whatever, that doesn’t tell you necessarily that they are a believer because a lot of people are doing that to become saved. They are trusting in their works to get them to heaven. So you really have to go cut through all that and ask them the bottom line question, what are you depending on bottom line to get you to heaven?

Is it what you are going to do or is it what Christ has done? And the false gospel always points you to your own future and tells you that something that you do or that you do not do will determine your salvation. And so that’s a false message. They were able to detect that. Then it talks here about these were members of the synagogue of Satan. And so we could say the church of Satan today. And there are churches today where nobody saved.

I was raised in a church like that. When I got saved and I went back and talked about Solvation, I was confronted by the pastor and he said, what’s going on here? I said, I know I have eternal life. I’m saved. He said, you can’t know you’re saved. And I said, well the Bible says I can know I’m saved. And I’m saved. He said, well, you can’t know you’re saved. It was all based on works. And I discovered I don’t think anybody in my church was saved.

And there are churches like that. And when the rapture happens, they’ll be able to continue their services uninterrupted. They’ll be left behind. Won’t that create a amount of confusion? Because they’ll go to their pastor after the rapture, and he’ll say, what rapture? We’re all here. You know? I believe the majority of those that claim to be Christian will be left behind, their churches will continue right on into the tribulation period. And I know the church I was raised in would qualify for that.

Nobody seemed to know. And that happens too often. I’ll never forget a lady coming to me one day and she said, would you pray for our pastor? And he was a pastor of a large downtown church and I said, sure I’d be happy to pray for your pastor. What would you like me to pray for? She said, would you pray for his salvation? We all know he doesn’t know the Lord. And we want you to pray that He could say that.

So what the word, the prayer, we certainly pray for your pastor to become saved. But there are pastors in the pulpit that have just chosen a profession. And so when they were asked, you want to be a doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, fire engine, or preacher, they said, I think I’ll be a preacher. That sounds like a nice profession. And there are people that are not called, not sent by God, that They’re not saved, standing in pulpits. And so Satan has his churches.

Did you know that? And it talks about in Corinthians about false preachers, being apostles of Christ, and yet not knowing the Lord of Savior at all, in pulpits. So we need to be able to recognize them. This church did. They could tell those that really were faking it, that really weren’t Christians. Verse 10 says, fear, none of those things which thou shall suffer. So here’s a message to that church that they would suffer. They’d be persecuted and don’t fear.

He goes on to say in verse 10, behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison. During that time, many were martyred for their faith. Many were thrown into prison for their faith. Then it says here that you may be tried or that you may be tested. And you shall have tribulation 10 days. Now, we don’t know exactly what that 10 days means, but it is interesting that in the second and third centuries, There were 10 distinct periods of persecution under 10 separate Roman emperors.

It could mean that. The word days here just means a period of time. So there would be 10 periods of persecution. Thanks for listening to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’d like to continue with Dr. Lindstrom’s teaching, but we are out of time for today. We hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program and that you are learning from it. If you missed any part of today’s program, or if you’d like to hear it again, please visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org, where you can either listen to today’s program again or if you prefer you can get the entire teaching series through our online store.

If you have any questions or comments about today’s program, please call us at 1-800-576-3771, Or you can write us at Bible-ign ministries 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. It was Dr. Lindstrom’s ministry to spread the gospel of salvation by telling all who would listen about the shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to pay the sin debt that we all owe but cannot pay for ourselves. If you have not yet trusted Jesus as your Savior, we encourage you to do so.

Just visit our website at BibleLineMinistries.org and watch Dr. Lynch from 7 minute video that will greet you there. If you have already trusted Jesus as your Savior, then we encourage you to develop and strengthen the foundation of your Christian life by spending time reading your Bible and learning with us about God’s Word by listening to Bibleline. We’d like to say thank you to our audio team for their work on today’s program. Until next time, this has been Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries.

We invite you to join us again for another edition of Bibleline, and as Dr. Lynchroom would say, keep looking up. Jesus is coming. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet. Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bible Lines Address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline Online and BibleLineMinistries.org.

Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. The dead that have died in Christ are already with the Lord absent from the body, present with the Lord, and they will be coming back with Jesus. And they will be given their new bodies a split second before we’re given ours, and then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And of course verse 18 gives us one of the great reasons why God gives prophecy. It says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. These are comforting words, aren’t they? To know that we’re going to go to be with the Lord and nothing’s going to undo that or stop that. If you’ve trusted Christ, you’re saved forever. He’ll never cast you out. He’ll never lose you. You are saved forever and ever and ever. We’ve got a wonderful series on the class.

Jesus is coming. Are you excited? I think this is going to keep you on the edge of your seat or up on your feet or on your tippy toes as we watch How the Bible unfolds the future and what we’re seeing in our headlines today is reflected in the Bible thousands of years ago We hope you’ll take advantage of this wonderful 10-hour Series of teachings on Jesus is coming and we certainly believe he is and the time is getting short I think Christ will be back very, very soon.

We have about 40 different series that I’ve taught that are available on CD. One series, Exciting is the Holy Spirit, 12 Hours of Teaching. One is Revelation, 12 Hours of Teaching. Another is the Spirit World, 12 Hours of Teaching. And of course, on many books of the Bible, we have 10 hours or 12 hours of teaching, including some of our best here as of later. as of later is the book of Jude, incredible book that bridges the sixty-five books or sixty-four books prior to it and then links it to the sixty-sixth book, the book of Revelation.

It’s a wonderful book just jammed with information and we did a wonderful series on that. We have the book of Romans. Romans, what an incredible book that is. This is the book that really sparked the Reformation. Martin Luther, the Reformer, was a Roman Catholic priest. He was asked to teach the book of Romans at the University of Wittenberg in Germany. After you get assigned a course to teach you have to study it. He’s studying the book of Romans and guess what?

He gets to verse 16 and he gets saved. That’s right. Romans 1, 16 says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it the gospel is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. Well, Martin Luther saw that verse and he got saved. He simply trusted Christ, believing the gospel message, the death, the barrel, the resurrection of Christ, as the only means of his salvation. And that sparked, of course, the revelation shortly thereafter. He nailed his theses to the church door there at Wittenberg, Germany, and the Reformation was underway.

This incredible book, we’ve got that on CD, 10 hours of teaching, and I know you’re We can enjoy every minute of it. We deal with all the difficult passages, including those with predestination in Romans 9, 10 and 11, and you’ll want to get that series. We also have the book of Hebrews. Boy, if there’s a book that is difficult, it’s Hebrews. Look in your Christian bookstore for a commentary on Hebrews, or even if you have a commentary, look at the length of what they say about Hebrews.

They pretty much skip it. Bible expositors just walk right on by Hebrews. But we deal with all the difficult passages and go verse by verse and you’ll love the series on Hebrews. Plus we’ve got one called 10 vital doctrines of the Bible. What a solid foundation that will give you. You can go to that on CD. You can call our operators after the program is over and they can help you if you want to order in these things. Also of course you can go online.

Our website is Bibleline Ministries, and there you’ll find that you’ll be able to see these things and order them on the internet on our website, BibleLineMinistries.org. Again, we have to run, keep looking up, Jesus is coming, and I hope you tell your friends about Bibleline. God bless, keep looking up, Jesus is coming, and we believe He’s coming soon. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. The regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area and on the internet.

Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Or visit Bibleline online and BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida.