Author Archives: Dave
Does the Bible Command Absolute Obedience to the Government?
In times of national or international crisis strong feelings increase against governments. The last one-hundred years in America have seen many protests and riots against the federal, state and local governments. The last several years have endured the shameful chaos of the Black Lives Matter riots and the appalling spectacle of the Capitol riots. Some Americans seem to feel it is their duty to engage in less than peaceful protests.
Does the Bible permit Christian’s to disobey their government? Scripture gives repeated, strong commands to obey the government. “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” (Romans 13:1) “Be subject to principalities and powers, obey magistrates.” (Titus 3:1) First Peter says, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” When questioned about submitting to the taxes of the Roman government, Jesus taught obedience. “Render unto Caesar that things which are Caesar’s.”
The Bible clearly teaches that Christian’s must obey the government in all things. However, one exception to this rule can be found in the New Testament. The Christian must disobey their government when the governing body demands disobedience to God’s commands. The Christian must obey the government when it says to wear a seat belt or pay taxes. The Christian must not obey the government if it forbids preaching the gospel (or proselytizing, as it is often called) or if it requires Christian churches to solemnize homosexual weddings. The Bible is clear, the Christian must always obey the Bible first and their governors second.
A caution is in order. Disobedience to the government must only take place when a clear command of God is at stake. The mask mandates during the pandemic did not violate God’s Word, therefore, where those mandates were legally enacted the Christian had the duty to obey them. Christian’s may disagree with a law and they have the freedom in America to voice their disagreement and to use all legal means to change the law. Christian’s cannot disobey a law just because they disagree with it or because it violates a strongly held belief. Christian’s are only permitted to disobey when the law of man clearly contradicts the commands of God.
Christians live in obedience to the government but place obedience to God over submission to the government because God is Supreme. God sets up and overthrows governments. God appoints governments and establishes each government official to be a minister of God for the promotion of good, the protection of the innocent and the punishment of evil. (Romans 13:1-6) All governments are under the control of God, even those governments which Him and His authority. The Christian obeys God because God rules over all nation, all kings and all men. The Christian obeys kings, presidents, judges and officers because God rules over all nations and has appointed those officials for good. We must obey earthly authorities because God gave them that authority. To disobey them is to disobey God, but above all else we must obey God in all things.
What Does it Mean to Have a Personal Relationship with God?
What does the Bible say about Russia?
Russia has blasted it’s way back into the front of everyone’s mind. The world is intent on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The sudden invasion of Ukraine has caused some to wonder what the Bible says about Russia and if this war is anything to do with Biblical prophecy.
One thing the Bible does not say about Russia is its name. The word Russia does not appear any where in Scripture. Instead, the Bible mentions a political power named Magog that attacks Israel from the north. Magog is believed to be the region north of the Caspian Sea. Russia is the largest, most powerful nation in that section of the world. As a result, most Bible students connect Magog with modern day Russia. The connection with Magog leads students of Biblical prophecy to believe Russia is going to be a major player during the end times.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 38 and 39 that Magog will lead a coalition of nations against Israel. God will direct Magog to attack Israel so, “that the heathen may know me.” (Ezekiel 38:16) When Magog attacks Israel, God will rise up in great anger against them. He will destroy the majority of Magog’s army with only one-sixth surviving God’s wrath. Israel will be saved from it’s enemies. Magog’s attack of Israel will probably take place during the Tribulation, before the return of Jesus, but the Biblical information does not allow a precise identification of when the events described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 will happen.
In Genesis 10:2 and 1 Chronicles 1:5 the Bible also briefly mentions that Magog is the name of one of Noah’s grandson’s. The only other significant mention of Magog in Scripture is in Revelation 20. The events of Revelation 20 take place after the one thousand year reign of Jesus. Satan is released from prison and immediately begins to con the nations of the world to rise up against God. Revelation 20:8 mentions only one nation by name, Magog. This could be because of the importance of Magog in Biblical prophecy or as an indication of how Satan brings even distant nations to battle against God. People will travel from Magog to assault the city of Jerusalem where they will be destroyed by God.
The Bible says little about Magog except that it will suffer the wrath of God when it attempts to destroy God’s chosen nation, Israel. Magog will play a significant role in end times events, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not the fulfillment of any Biblical prophecy. The future Magog may not even be Russia as we know it today.
Interview with Caleb
Did Jesus Have Blue Eyes?
During a recent children’s activity one of the little boys asked his teacher if Jesus’ eyes were blue. The question amuses, but it addresses some deeper considerations that may normally be overlooked. What did Jesus look like?
No pictures of Jesus were ever taken. If any paintings or drawings of Jesus were made while He was on earth they have long been lost. Archeology has found no first century busts of Jesus and no texts describing His appearance. Much European art depicting Jesus is demonstrably inaccurate. Jesus was not European. The more He looks like King Arthur, the less accurate the image is likely to be. Other people groups have depicted Jesus in their own unique style and have fallen into the same errors as the Europeans. This author has seen images of Jesus with distinctively African features, including very dark skin, and of Asian Jesus’, including epicanthic folds. Jesus was not European, African or Asian.
The Bible gives a few descriptions of Jesus that guide our speculations of what He looked like. Jesus had a beard. Isaiah 50:6 prophesied that the Messiah would allow His abusers to pluck out His beard. Jesus was average looking. Isaiah 53:2 indicates that the Messiah would not be spectacular looking or exceptionally handsome. Nothing about Jesus’ appearance attracted others to Him.
Most importantly, the Bible plainly declares Jesus to be a Jewish man. Consequently, He would have had the features, skin, hair and eye coloring typical of an Israelite. A broad range of skin, hair and eye coloring can be found in any people group, but Jesus was most likely dark skinned (though not “black”), with dark hair and dark eyes. This is not at all certain, but Jesus most likely looked like an average Jesus man.
This question is important because Jesus was fully God and fully human. As a human Jesus descended from David, Judah, Jacob and Abraham. He was as genetically Jewish as any other Israelite. He might even have resembled His mother’s side of the family. Though blue eyes can be found in modern day Jews, Jesus probably did not have blue eyes.
When Did Satan Sin?
The Biblical account of Adam and Eve’s sin describes a serpent tempting Eve to disobey God. This serpent is understood to be Satan. (Revelation 12:9; 20:2) Satan is the originator of sin, but he was not created sinful. (Ezekiel 28:15) Satan was created perfect by God, and sometime after his creation he sinned. When did this happen?
The Bible does not give a definitive answer to this question, but Scripture does give a few indicators that help identify the time period in which Satan sinned. Ezekiel 28 says that Satan was in the Garden of Eden, was beautiful, was one of the cherubim surrounding God’s throne and was perfect until the day he sinned. Isaiah says Satan’s first sin was an arrogant desire to become greater than God. (Isaiah 14:12-14)
Satan’s sin must have taken place sometime after the sixth day of creation. Satan could not have fallen before the events described in Genesis 1 because the Bible says that God created all things in six days. (Exodus 20:11) The angels were most likely created on the first day of creation when God created Heaven and Earth, since the angels watched the creation of the earth from the beginning. (Job 38:7) Satan is an angel and must have been created at the same time as the rest of the angelic creatures.
Satan must have sinned after the six days of creation because Genesis 1:31 says that at the end of the sixth day, “God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good.” Nothing in the context of Genesis 1 limits Genesis 1:31 to only the things God had made on the earth, or only the things in the garden of Eden. Genesis 1 starts with, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” and continues with an unbroken sequence of Divine creative acts in which God made all things. Therefore, everything in heaven and earth must be included in the evaluation, “very good.” A sinful, rebellious angel would not be considered by the Holy God to be “very good.”
Satan sinned sometime after the creation week and before the sin of Adam and Eve. The Bible does not tell how much time elapsed between creation and the fall. Some scholars think Adam may not have sinned until nearly 100 years after creation, because he fathered Seth at the age of 130 years. Cain and Abel were born after Adam and Eve sinned and then grew to adulthood before Cain killed Abel. After Abel’s murder and Cain’s exile Eve gave birth to Seth. Therefore, Adam could have been as old as 100 when they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. The Bible does not tell how much time elapsed between Satan’s fall and the temptation of Adam and Eve. Satan’s rebellion against God could have been as late as 100 years after creation.
The fact that Lucifer ministered around the throne of God suggests that some time elapsed after creation before Satan sinned. He probably did not rebel on the 8th day of the world’s existence. Satan sinned sometime after the creation was completed but before Adam and Eve sinned. Satan was not created sinful, but in his pride he rebelled against his Creator.
Is Heaven Real?
In 1998 a country song was released which declared, “There’s holes in the floor of Heaven.” Through these holes in Heaven’s floorboards the deceased can see their loved ones on earth andwatch over them. Songs like this seem to accuratley capture the popular beliefs about heaven. Thoughtful consideration of what many think about Heaven makes it sound like a fictional place. Heaven can seem like a fantasy offered to comfort grieving people. Parents tell misbehaving children, “Santa Clause is coming” and well-wishers tell grieving friends, “She’s in a better place.” For many heaven is in the same category as Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. The Bible treats Heaven as a real place, inhabited by real beings and really reserved for Christians.
Little is said in Scripture about what Heaven looks like, but much is said about Heaven. The Bible declares that Heaven as a real place created by God on the first day of creation. (Genesis 1:1) Heaven is the native home of angels. (Matthew 18:10) Heaven is the resting place of deceased saints. (Revelation 7:9, 14) Heaven is the place where God dwells. (Isaiah 66:1) God descends from Heaven to answer the prayer of his people. (Psalm 18:6-9) Jesus left Heaven from to become a man (John 3:13) and He returned to Heaven after his resurrection. (Eph. 4:7-8) Jesus sent the Holy Spirit from heaven (1 Peter 1:12) to dwell in the Christian. (John 14:17) The Christian’s rewards and treasures are kept secure in Heaven. (1 Peter 1:4) God sends out His judgment from Heaven to fall upon the world. (Revelation 15:5-7) Jesus will descend from Heaven to destroy wickedness and establish His righteous kingdom. (Revelation 19:11)
Heaven is not a fantasy land. Heaven is not another name for Valhalla, the Happy Hunting Grounds, Elysium, Shangri-La or Nirvana. Heaven is not a fool’s paradise. Heaven is a real place created and inhabited by God, described in the Bible and promised to all who receive Jesus as salvation. The assurance that believers go to heaven when they die is not an empty platitude designed solely to make people feel better. The promise of Heaven is unshakable truth on which all can build their lives.
Heaven is for real. God told us so.
Did God Create a Perfect World?
Why does God sometimes refer to Himself as “Us”?
In Genesis 1 the Bible quotes God as saying, “Let us make man in our own image.” The next verse says, “So God created man in His own image.” Why does God speak of Himself in the plural but other places in the Bible refer to Him in the singular? This is seen in other places in Genesis. In Genesis 3 God said, “ Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” In Genesis 11 God says, “Let us go down, and there confound their language.” Why does God sometimes refer to Himself in the plural when the Bible says there is only one God?
Two answers can be suggested for this question. First, God is using the “royal we.” Kings and Queens sometimes referred to themselves in the plural. Wikipedia gives an example of this, “Now, we, Edward, by the grace of God, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. . .” Queen Elizabeth once proclaimed, “Know you that it is Our will and pleasure . . .” The royal we also shows up in literature. In the book Prince Caspian King Peter proclaims, “It is our pleasure to adventure our royal person. . .” This formal way of speaking could be the reason God is referred to in the plural, but it does not seem likely.
The Bible contains few plural references to God, though it contains many direct quotes from God in which He refers to Himself in the singular “I”. If God was using the royal we in Genesis, readers would expect to find it appear in later Scriptures and more frequently throughout the Bible. The small number of plural references to God suggests another reason for God saying “we” and “us” in Genesis.
The other suggested answer to this question is that God is both singular and plural. Which is what the Bible teaches. God is One God who is Three. He is One God in Three persons. This is known as the doctrine of the Trinity. The Bible teaches that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are each fully God and each are three separate persons, distinct from one another in their being, work and intellect. The Bible does not teach that God is three Gods, or a three part God. The Bible teaches that God is One, who is made up of three persons. This is a incredibly difficult concept to understand, but the Bible’s teachings are clear. There is One God, who is Three.
The Bible teaches that God is One God. “Hear O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.” (Deuteronomy 6:34) “There is one God, and there is none other but He.” “I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me.” (Isaiah 46:9) “There is one God; and there is none other but He.” (Mark 12:32) “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men.” (1 Timothy 2:5)
The Bible also clearly teaches that the Father is God. “There is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.” (1 Corinthians 8:6) The Bible teaches that Jesus is God. “I and My Father are one.” (John 10:30) “In the Beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” The Bible also declares the Holy Spirit is God. “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost . . . thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” (Acts 5:3-4) Scripture says there is One God and there are Three who are God. This is not a contradiction, but a declaration that God is a Trinity- One who is Three.
The God who created the universe is God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. Genesis records that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, creating the land and all that is on it. Colossians, John and Hebrews declare that Jesus, God the Son, created all things. Isaiah, Psalms and Jeremiah proclaim that the Father created all things. When God said, “Let us make man in our own image” He was speaking to Himself. These plural pronouns for God in Genesis are not proof of the Trinity, but when read in light of the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity it becomes apparent that God’s plurality and singularity is reflected in the pronouns in Genesis. God refers to Himself as “us” because He is One God in Three Persons.
Everlasting Truths 