Transcript

KHCB – 04-27-2023 – Full Program Transcript

Announcer: [00:00:09] Good evening. Welcome to our weekly Question and Answers program, a program where you can call us with your questions about the Bible, a scripture or the Christian way of life. And our guests will answer that question for you live on the air. Tonight’s guests are Dr. Andy Woods, Senior Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church. He’s also president of the Chafer Theological Seminary. He’s authored and contributed to many Christian books and theological journals. He also speaks on a variety of topics at Christian conferences and churches. Also tonight, we have Dr. Jim McGowan, Associate Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church. The church website can be found at SLBC.org. You can also reach them at the Pastor’s Point of View found on YouTube (PPOV) and Rumble, and the website Andy Woods Ministries.org.

If you’re calling from inside the Houston listening area, you can dial (832) 922-4444. That’s (832) 922-4444. If you’re calling from around the KHCB network outside of the Houston area, you can dial (877) 999-5422. That’s (877) 999-5422. Or if you’d rather email your question to us, you can send that to questions. That’s plural questions at Questions@KHCB.org and it will appear on our computer screen here in the studio and we’ll forward it to our guests. We ask that you not mention any denominations or personal names because our aim tonight is to answer questions relating to the Bible. And now to get us started here, our pastors, Dr. Andy Woods and Dr. Jim McGowan.

Pastor McGowan: [00:02:37] All right. Welcome once again listening friends. Dr. Woods, brother Noah, our producer and call screener who you just heard, and I are so very excited to be back with you again this evening to take your Bible questions. And then, you know what we’re going to do this evening? We’re going to be going to God’s Holy Word, the Bible, for answers, because God’s holy Word is the only inspired, authoritative revelation of everlasting truth containing everything we need for life and godliness. So our prayer is that you will expect to hear from God this evening and that you will thank Him when you get the answer that God wants to give you this evening. So be ready to receive from God. And as we prepare to go to the phones, please remember our three on air directives. First of all, please try to keep it to one question only. Number two, turn the volume down before we bring you on the air so we don’t get feedback. And finally, number three, please remember that once you’ve shared your question to just go ahead and hang up and listen for the answer as that will free up lines for us for other callers. So we sure appreciate your cooperation with that. And I see that the phones are lit up. So let’s go right to the phone, shall we? Thank you for calling the program this evening. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods?

Caller: [00:03:53] Yes. Good evening. Yes, sir. I have a question concerning Jephthah and kind of prefatory, if I could just review the Hall of Faith, the Heroes Hall of Faith, as it were, in Hebrews Chapter 11, where it mentions (verse 32) “and what more shall I say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the Prophets”. And when we go over to judges where Jephthah comes on the scene and I had it, I had my finger on the place, but I believe I have moved it. I apologize. Let’s see. I believe it’s in Chapter 11 where, well, that’s the way it goes. I just. But anyway, the question is it talks about the vow that Jephthah makes. It’s commonly referred to as, you know, the “rash vow”. And there’s at least two camps that, you know, see it differently as to what that entailed. Was it actually the sacrifice of his daughter after the winning of the battle with the Ammonites, or was it the dedication of his daughter to perhaps temple service or Tabernacle service or something akin to that? And I kind of wanted to see which side of that you come down on. I, it seems to say textual, at least in the English translation, to at least lend itself to the interpretation that this man actually sacrificed his daughter to the Lord, which is an abomination of the very things that they were clearing the land of, that they were, you know, you know, establishing themselves in. And so anyway, can you kind of discuss it for a moment? Let me hear what your point of view is on that on whichever side it may be.

Pastor McGowan: [00:05:53] All right. We’ll be happy to do that. Thank you so much for calling the program. So the question is regarding to Jephthah’s vow and the two positions. And Pastor, what would be the position you would take here?

Pastor Woods: [00:06:06] Well, that’s a real interesting question. It’s a real matter of controversy, as the caller says.  A resource that’s really helpful on this is the online notes of Dr. Thomas Constable. You can find those at Sonic Slate.com. He does verse by verse, online commentaries. He was my professor at Dallas Seminary. And a few years back, I remember reading through his commentary on judges, and he has a wonderful chart there with Jephthah, and it gives all of the pros and the cons to each side. So it’s not, you know, an issue that we should start a new church over, you know, per se. But I think, you know, the point is Jephthah just made a very rash vow. He did something that wasn’t really that smart. And that kind of personifies/typifies what was going on during the judges era. Yeah, it says four times at the end of the Book of Judges, beginning in, I believe, chapter 17 through chapter 21, right down to chapter, the very last verse in the in the book it says, There was no king in Israel in those days, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. So even someone that’s one of the judges, as the caller points out, I think he was saved.

Pastor Woods: [00:07:34] He was in the Hall of Faith, did something. Very, very rash. And God is allowing this 300 year time period to go forward to demonstrate that Israel needs something different than what she currently had being ruled through judges. She needs a king. And of course, that’s going to pave the way to the Samuel books, where they’re going to get their first king, second king, and then later on Solomon. And ultimately, they’re going to get the right king one day, Jesus Christ, Who’s going to rule Israel during the thousand year kingdom. So which view do I hold on the controversial vow? I guess I’m of the view that he actually did offer his daughter as a sacrifice. He said, I’ll sacrifice the first thing that comes out of the house. And then what came out of the house was his child. And I don’t really have a problem with him doing that because the point of the book of judges is to point out the foolishness of people doing what’s right in their own eyes for 300 years. But if you want the other side of the argument, that chart in Dr. Thomas Constable’s notes will be very helpful to you.

Pastor McGowan: [00:08:43] Yeah, and if I could just take a second. I actually have constable’s notes up here. Oh, good, good. And I just wanted to read a couple of sentences he put here because I think this is kind of the heart of the matter. He writes here that Jephthah believed he could not get out of his vow. That’s from verse 35. He said, unfortunately, he did not know or had forgotten, and this is important, that God had made provision for his people to redeem things they had vowed to give him in Leviticus 27, 1 through 8. So this goes back to the idea of everyone doing what was right in their own eyes because they had forgotten the law. The law made provision that you could redeem something you had vowed. And of course, he apparently didn’t know that. And unfortunately, and I’m on the side that Dr. Woods mentioned that he ended up offering his daughter.

Pastor Woods: [00:09:33] So, yeah, and here’s a little note here in the Ryrie study Bible on verse 39, he says, quote, “Some understand that Jephthah’s daughter was only dedicated to the service of God in a life of celibacy and not actually slain. Others hold that she was killed according to Canaanite practices which Jephthah had embraced. So he’s articulating the two positions.

Pastor McGowan: [00:09:59] Yeah, and I would encourage you to get Dr. Constable’s notes online there and look at them. He is an excellent treatment on this particular subject. So thank you so much for calling the program. Back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:10:14] Hello. Could you explain to me how the Jewish calendar works to where you can explain how Jesus was, you know, dead for three days and three nights when he died on a Friday? And can you explain it so thoroughly that I can explain it to a child?

Pastor McGowan: [00:10:33] Well, we will certainly do our best to do that. And I’m excited to hear that. You want to explain that to a child. So God bless you. Pastor, what is the issue with the three day time frame and how Jews reckon time?

Pastor Woods: [00:10:46] Well, you know, the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And some people from that, and I respect their view, hold to a Wednesday crucifixion. I’m really not of that perspective. I hold to a Friday crucifixion. Well, there’s not three days and three nights in between Friday and Sunday. Well, it’s understood as a Jewish idiom where half a day actually can equal a full day. And you know, you can have half a day, and in the Jewish mindset, it counts as a whole day. It’s a Jewish figure of speech. Now, there are many, many places in the Old Testament where half a day equals a whole day. And here’s some sources I’m going to send you to to get those scripture references. There’s a book by Don Stewart and Josh McDowell. It has answering in the title. I think it’s answering critics or answering tough questions. One of those two, and they have just about a 1 to 3 paragraph explanation of it. And they’ll give you every, you know, example in the Old Testament where half a day can be a whole day. And the other source I’ll send you to, which is a little bit more academic, is Harold Hohner’s classic book, he was my professor also at Dallas Seminary, entitled The Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. And he will give the arguments for the Wednesday crucifixion, but he will show you that those arguments can easily be understood in light of a Friday crucifixion, because basically what you’re dealing with is an idiom there where half a day in Jewish thought many times can equal a whole day. And that’s basically the bottom line and how you get the whole thing to work. And if you want all the scriptural addresses, those are the two references I’d send you to.

Pastor McGowan: [00:12:46] All right. We hope that was helpful to you. And thank you so much for calling the program. Let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. We sure appreciate you calling. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening? Yes, go ahead.

Caller: [00:13:00] Yeah, my question is, um, when we believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in God, of course, and Jesus in the Holy Spirit. Can we say the Holy Spirit is the same, uh, of our conscience?

Pastor McGowan: [00:13:25] All right. The question is, is the Holy Spirit equivalent to or equal to our conscience? That’s a great question. Thank you for calling the program. Pastor, is the Holy Spirit equivalent or equal to our conscience?

Pastor Woods: [00:13:37] Well, I think the Holy Spirit can inform the conscience. The Holy Spirit can activate the conscience, but the Holy Spirit is very different than the conscience itself. The conscience, and I’m getting this from Romans 2 verses 14 and 15, you know, Paul says, those who do not have the law of God still know it because God has written it on their hearts. There’s a barometer inside of all people, which is a basic standard of right and wrong. And people all of the time do things that cause their conscience to accuse them, and then they do other things that cause their conscience to excuse them. Excuse them? Yeah. Accuse and excuse. And this is something that’s inside of all human beings, right? You’ll see this with Adam after Adam and Eve, after they fell. Genesis 3, God says the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil. What’s kind of scary, though, you get into 1st Timothy 4, verse 1, verse 2. It talks about how the conscience can be seared with a hot iron. In other words, you can go so far in, you know, rebelling against God in daily life that your conscience, you know, you no longer feel it’s a sense of guilt, which is a frightening place to be because pain can be good.

Pastor Woods: [00:15:03] I just took a little whack out of my leg there getting out of my car. And I’m glad I had some pain because it showed me that, you know, I need some hydrogen peroxide on that. I need some rubbing alcohol on that. I need some soap on that. I need some bandages on that.  And if I didn’t have any pain, I would just sit here and bleed and wouldn’t even know that. Wouldn’t even know the difference. And so that’s sort of how conscience works. It’s a good thing because it shows you that you’re outside of God’s parameters. And Paul, in the book of Romans says every human being has that. Even people that don’t have the Holy Spirit, they have it, although it can be seared. Now when the Holy Spirit comes into a person, I believe that the Holy Spirit can take conscience which has become deadened and reactivate it where it moves back into its intended purpose. So it’s the holy, the conscience now as controlled by the Holy Spirit. But don’t confuse the two things as being one and the same. They’re really different.

Pastor McGowan: [00:16:02] Yeah, the Holy Spirit is actually God and a part of the Trinity, so that’s a different thing. So thank you so much for calling. We appreciate that. That was a great question. And back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening? Hi, caller. Hey. Hello. Yes.

Caller: [00:16:20] Ah, good evening, sir. My question is, I know that there are different beliefs within different denominations, but I would like to know what happens when someone who is a believer dies and what happens when someone who is an unbeliever dies. I will hang up and listen.

Pastor McGowan: [00:16:40] Thank you so much. What a great question, Pastor, what happens when a believer dies and as opposed to when an unbeliever dies?

Pastor Woods: [00:16:48] Well, when a believer dies, which is the happier side of the equation. You know, Paul, in 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 8 says, absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, praise God. And over in the book of Philippians chapter 1, verses 21 through 23, Paul says, For me to live as Christ to die is gain. If I continue on in the body, that will mean fruitful labor for you. But you know, should I die, I’ll go to a place far better. So the Bible really doesn’t teach soul sleep. It teaches that the Christian upon death in a place of consciousness, it’s just as conscience as our lives now, goes directly into the presence of the Lord. And they’re waiting for their resurrected body, which will be bestowed upon them at the rapture of the church. And so when the rapture happens, the dead in Christ, the folks I’m speaking of, will rise first and they’ll be put in their resurrected bodies first. Now, when an unsaved person dies, you have a description of this in Luke 16 verses 19 through 31. They go immediately to a place called Hades, which is a place of conscious torment where they will await the Great White Throne judgment.

Pastor Woods: [00:18:09] And when you study Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15, you learn that there’s coming a time in history where Hades itself will be emptied out and all of the people in Hades will be also be placed in resurrected bodies and as their name is not found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, they’ve never trusted in Christ. In other words, as it’s demonstrated at the Great White Throne judgment, they will be judged by the books. The books are a record of their sins, so there are degrees of torment in Hell. And so they at that point will be transferred in resurrected bodies from Hades into the Lake of Fire, right where the Beast and the False Prophet already are a thousand years earlier. And where Satan Revelation 20 verse 10 has been thrown into. So that’s the terrible fate of the unsaved. They go into Hades, conscious torment, awaiting the Great White Throne judgment where they will be resurrected and transferred into the Lake of Fire.

Pastor McGowan: [00:19:15] Yeah, and what a great motivation for us to want to win people to Christ. Amen. That’s right. All right. Thank you so much for that wonderful question. And back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening? Hello? Hi.

Caller: [00:19:30] Oh, hi. Yeah, this is Joni. I sure appreciate you, brothers. I’ve been thinking a lot about in Revelation 16 about the bowl judgments of all things, and trying to relate them to, well, chapter 15 in my old, really old Ryrie Bible, it’s the human subtitle is Prelude to the Bowl Judgments. And I, I see how it links Moses and Jesus praising God and talking about how holy He is and what He’ll be doing. And I guess what I’m getting at. Oh, and then in Psalm 79:6, there’s one of probably many examples about how God will pour out wrath on nations that don’t know and worship him. And so what I’m getting at is, thinking about how the tabernacle and at least the first temple or probably both were symbolic kind of the true temple, which is God himself in heaven. And because even in 15:5 it says after these things I looked and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened. And it’s there’s a lot of well, at least some explanation of what that means in numbers and so on and Psalms. But what I’m getting at is, did am I correct to ask to say that in the, in the human temples, the Israelite temples and the tabernacle, that there was a type of bowl. I kept looking for it and trying to tie it in with somehow this word bowl has a lot of meaning and ties in the preparation, which to me is the whole Old Testament. And then as we march toward finally eternity. So I hope this makes sense. I just wanted to see if there’s some kind of link here between offering up bowls of worship and these this weird word bowl is going to also be used in judgments. So I’ll hang up now. Thank you so much.

Pastor McGowan: [00:21:50] All right, thank you, Joni. Yeah, and there’s also a reference to our prayers ascending into heaven as incense also and the bowl of incense. So, Pastor, how would you respond to this issue?

Pastor Woods: [00:22:01] Well, I think she raises an interesting point. I mean, there is a, you know, a clear pattern. You see this in the book of Hebrews. You see it in the Book of Exodus. You know how Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle after the, patterned after the tabernacle, which was already in heaven, in other words, patterned the earthly tabernacle after the heavenly tabernacle. And of course, you get into the tabernacle and there are bowls, there’s basins and there’s furniture. And so, you know, I’ve never really connected the dots the way she’s doing it. But it is an interesting parallel how, you know, that whole description there of the Heavenly Tabernacle leads to a description of the bowl judgments and maybe there’s some kind of connection between the heavenly bowls and the heavenly tabernacle and these bowl judgments. I don’t know of anybody that I’ve really read that’s ever connected the dots that way. But, you know, I think it’s a distinct possibility. I don’t know if it’s something you could prove one way or the other, but it sure is interesting to think about.

Pastor McGowan: [00:23:07] Yeah. Joni, why don’t you write a book and you come real famous and we can have it in all of our prophecy collections. Thanks for so much for calling the program. I really appreciate that. All right. We’re waiting for callers. In the meantime, I have an email question that I can present. This says, “Can you explain the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25? Some say it’s about Israel, but some say it has to be about the church because it speaks of the bridegroom and the call at midnight.”

Pastor Woods: [00:23:40] All right. Well, here is a set of verses that unfortunately are being dragged out of context to terrify countless Christians because it talks about these ten virgins. Ten were unprepared, ten were prepared. Excuse me, had that wrong. Five unprepared, five prepared. The prepared ones go into the wedding feast. The unprepared ones are locked out of the wedding feast. And so basically the way this is taught by so many people, sadly, is you better be ready for the Lord at the Rapture or you’re not going to be taken. And if you happen to be in carnality, you’re not going to be raptured and you’re going to be one of those, you know, five foolish virgins. And of course, this is part of what is called partial raptureism. Yeah, it’s unbiblical because Paul says in first Corinthians 15, verse 51, we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. And that was speaking there to a very carnal group of people. So at the rapture, if you’re saved, you’re going regardless of what your level of personal sanctification, is at or not at, at that given point in time. So we reject partial raptureism. And another reason we reject it is Matthew 25 verses 1 through 13 has absolutely nothing to do with the church. First of all, if this is speaking of the church, we just got demoted because I thought we were the bride of Christ. And here we got just converted to the bridesmaids.

Pastor Woods: [00:25:17] So, we just got demoted. So that really doesn’t make any sense. And there are, I think, about five major discourses in Matthew’s gospel. You know, you have the Sermon on the Mount chapters 5 through 7, you have the missions discourse, chapter 10, you have the Kingdom Mysteries, chapter 13, you have the discourse on humility, chapter 18. Then you have what we’re dealing with here, the Olivet discourse, and you know that every major discourse is over because it says something like at the end, “when he had finished saying these things”, it says it five times in Matthew’s gospel. And there it is in Matthew 26, verse 1. So you have to take the two chapters, Matthew 24 and 25, together as one literary unit. Yes, just like you would do with a Sermon on the Mount. Even though that is divided into chapters, it’s one literary unit. And by the way, these chapter divisions – Man did not, God did not put them there. Man put them there. So my point is, whatever you’re doing in chapter 24, you got to do in chapter 25. And when you go to Matthew 24 and you look at verses 15 and 16, he’s clearly not talking about the church, but he’s talking about the nation of Israel. He says, “therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken through the Prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Let those who are in Judea”.

Pastor McGowan: [00:26:56] Not in Houston?

Pastor Woods: [00:26:57] Not in Houston, flee to the mountains. And then you get down to verse, let’s see, verse 20 “Pray that your flight may not be on the winter or on the Sabbath”. That’s Jewish language. And so he’s dealing with people that are Jewish that see the temple desecrated mid-way through the tribulation period. And what most people do, unfortunately, when they interpret this is they just lose the context by the time they get to Chapter 25, I think the artificial chapter division throws them and they give you a big sermon on the partial rapture of the church. When the Lord is not dealing here with the church, he’s dealing with the nation of Israel in the tribulation period. What Jesus is dealing with here is something that the Old Testament prophets spoke of the division between believing and unbelieving Israel at the end of the tribulation period. Paul even said Romans 9:6 “Not all Israel is Israel”. So God is going to fulfill his program, not just through Israel, but through believing Israel, which means the two have to be separated. And you see that separation described in Zechariah 13:8 and 9 where we’re told that two-thirds will be broken off in unbelief and a third of the remnant will be purified. You see that separation spoken of in Ezekiel 20 verses 33 through 38, where believing Israel will pass under the Shepherd’s rod and unbelieving Israel will be purged out of the land. And so if you just stay with that prophetic theme, you’ll see exactly what the parable of the Ten Virgins is about.

Pastor Woods: [00:28:41] The five prepared virgins is believing Israel, the five unprepared virgins is unbelieving Israel. We’re not dealing with the rapture of the church whatsoever. We’re dealing with God’s program with Israel. And if all of that weren’t enough, when you go back to Matthew 23, which comes right before Matthew 24. Jesus says this in the last three verses of the chapter. “Oh, Jerusalem Jerusalem” (sounds Jewish to me) “Who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wing. But you were not willing. Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I say to you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” He’s talking about the conversion of future Israel. And then the Olivet discourse, Matthew 24 and 25 amplifies how exactly how that conversion is going to take place. And what most people do very sadly, is they don’t give you this background that I’m giving you right here, and they yank the parable of the ten virgins and make it sound like if you’re not a prepared Christian, if you’re not living for Jesus at the point of the rapture, then you’re going to be left behind at the point of the rapture. And that concept is completely, totally foreign to the context, because in Matthew 25, we’re not dealing with rapture teaching. We’re dealing with Israel teaching.

Pastor McGowan: [00:30:17] Amen, and if you understand this, it’s liberating and freeing. It is. All right. Well, we’ve come to the top of the hour, so we’re going to take a short break. Please stay with us. As we come back on the air, we’ll be having our prayer for the nation. See you in just a moment.

Announcer: [00:30:37] Awe of God’s love. This is KHCB-FM Houston, 105.7, also broadcasting at Lockhart, San Marcos, Austin, Beaumont, Port Arthur and Natchitoches, Louisiana. Broadcasting uplifting music and words of hope from God’s Word, The Bible. Keeping Him Close By.

Pastor McGowan: [00:31:31] All right. Welcome back to KHCB’s Question and Answer program again at the top of the hour. We always like to stop and pray for the nation, so we’d like to encourage you to join us as we do so if it’s safe for you. And let’s just go to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Abba, Father, we come at this time to confess our sins so that our fellowship with you might be unrestricted and our prayers unhindered. We claim and apply first John 1:9 which tells us that if we confess our sins, you’re faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We do this not as a salvific act, but as an act of progressive sanctification, the middle tense of our salvation. And now Abba Father, we come joyfully lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension to praise you for the free access that you grant us to your throne of grace. We come now bringing the petitions of our heart, including our concerns, our fears, our desires, our hopes, our dreams, and our Thanksgiving. And we do indeed thank you for hearing us, for caring for us, and always doing what is best, right and perfect for us. We come to praise you because all your works are true and all your ways are just.

Pastor McGowan: [00:33:05] And because we as your children are beneficiaries of your unfathomable love, which is continuously, abundantly and eternally showered upon us. Abba Father, we acknowledge that this great republic and the Constitution upon which it was formed and operates is your gift to us. So we come in obedience to pray for all who are in authority so that we might lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. We lift up our leaders local, state and federal, asking that they might seek out wise and godly counsel and follow it. We ask that they might walk in humility and integrity and that they might put aside personal agendas and aspirations and that they would be honest, morally upright, working for the benefit of the people as true servant leaders. We also ask you to motivate the true believers serving in our government. Encourage them to seek the wisdom that comes from above, and to remember that they are ambassadors for Christ first and servants of the people second. We ask for the salvation  of the unbelievers serving in our government that they might respond to the offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Abba Father, please also protect all of our first responders, law enforcement officers, firemen and women, EMTs, doctors and nurses, and the men and women faithfully serving in our military.

Pastor McGowan: [00:34:54] And please bring them home safely to their families. Help us, father, to be to be salt and light and faithful witnesses to those who are lost and dying all around us so that they, too, might come to place their faith, confidence and trust in your beloved son Jesus, your one and only provision for the eternal safekeeping of their soul. And finally, Abba Father, help us to continue to develop Christ likeness in our attitudes and actions and help us also to remember that we, your children, are called to faithfully occupy and represent you on this fallen planet until we are reunited with you through death or the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. And this we pray in the name of Jesus. Maranatha and Amen. Well, thank you so much for pausing with us. We do appreciate you praying with us and believing with us for our nation that God will do mighty things. And so now let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for waiting so patiently. Thank you for calling the program. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:36:15] Hello. Yes, it’s Matthew 24 and verses 29 through 31. And I’ve always myself, I’ve always believed in the pre-millennial. You know, my whole life. And now I’m not confused, just someone to talk to me about it. And I was like, you know, some people, whatever. I’m not going to go into a long discussion because you always are pressed for time. Okay. So I want to know on the verse 30, it says, it’s about and this lady was explaining to me how she believes. And so she said, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes. And she said, so to her, that proves, you know, that after the rapture or after the Millennial and the Tribulation, that that’s when Jesus would return. Can you explain how you feel, Pastor Woods, about that? And do you write anything about like, I’m really getting concerned, not fearful, You know, I’m not looking for the signs of the times. I know we’re not even supposed to. So yeah, I’ll be quiet now. I’ll let you respond. Thank you.

Pastor McGowan: [00:37:38] All right. Thank you so much for calling the program. Pastor?

Pastor Woods: [00:37:41] Yeah. You know, she asked, have I done something on it? What you want is my Rapture series available on the Sugar Land Bible Church website, and you want to go to the section where we deal with the Olivet discourse. And before the show is over, I’ll try to pull up. I’ll give over the air the lesson numbers, you know that you will need. I think if you go to our Dropbox account, you should be able to find them in there as Pastor Jim is looking. But the bottom line is that Matthew 24:30 and 31 is not talking about the rapture of the church. Um, it missed. These verses do not have the two major distinctives of the rapture that are given in 1st Thessalonians 4:13 through 18 and 1st Corinthians 15 verses 50 through 58. Number one, the Rapture is a catching up. We will be caught up. The Greek word is harpazo. There is no catching up here. There’s nothing vertical that’s going on here. Rather, what is happening is a horizontal gathering of the nation of Israel in belief at the end of the tribulation period. And just because it says trumpet doesn’t mean it’s the exact same trumpet as the rapture. There’s the rapture trumpet. Then we’ve got a seven year tribulation period. Israel now will be in belief. God, Jesus will come back. He will sound his trumpet and not gather them vertically but horizontally. In fact, it’s the fulfillment of God’s program for Israel is given in the book of Isaiah chapter 27, verse 13, where it says of Israel, It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown.

Pastor Woods: [00:39:38] And those who are perishing in the land of Assyria and those who are scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the Holy mountain of Jerusalem. So he’s gathering them to Jerusalem. That’s horizontal. He’s not catching them up into the father’s house, you know, which is what the rapture of the church is. So there is no catching up here. And even beyond that, the second definitive feature of the rapture is a resurrection. There’s no resurrection here. There’s no anywhere it’s described of a person receiving their resurrected body. So what I’m trying to say fits very well with the question we had earlier about the parable of the ten Virgins. Matthew 24 and 25 is not dealing with the church. It’s dealing with the nation of Israel. And this is talking about God’s program for Israel at the end of the tribulation period…..Him gathering them horizontally to the city of Jerusalem at the sounding of a trumpet in fulfillment of Isaiah 27, verse 13, the church will have already been caught up in the Rapture at least seven years before this event here is even takes place. So there’s a big difference in the Bible between the rapture of the church, which is Phase A of the return of Christ and the Second Advent at the end of the seven year tribulation, which is really Phase B of the Second Advent. And what’s being described here is the Second Advent, not the rapture of the church, which will have happened at least seven years before. So I hope that helps.

Pastor McGowan: [00:41:20] Yes. And before we go to our next caller, if you go to the Sugar Land Bible Church website, which is SLBC.org and click on the word “Sermons” at the top and you’ll see “Search Full Archive”. When you do that, you can then go put in the search box what you’re looking for, and you can put “The Rapture” there for the series. And if you go down to message number 21, that’s the first message where Pastor deals with Matthew 24 and 25. And there are subsequent messages after that in that series. So we encourage you to go look for that and he’ll answer every question you could ever have about Matthew 24 and 25.

Note to transcript readers :  Here is the link to the lesson mentioned above.            https://slbc.org/sermon/rapture-021-matt-24-25-pt-1/   To get to the other lessons, click this link for the Rapture series.            https://slbc.org/series_event/the-rapture/

 

Pastor Woods: [00:42:07] It’s actually lesson 21, right? That’s what you said. 21 And it goes all the way through lesson number 32. Yeah, it’s pretty extensive. And so that will give you some stuff to work on.

Pastor McGowan: [00:42:22] Yeah, that will keep you busy for a while. All right. Thank you so much for calling the program. And back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:42:30] Dr. Woods. Dr. McGowan, how are you?

Pastor McGowan: [00:42:33] If we were any better, we couldn’t stand ourselves.

Caller: [00:42:38] Okay, So this is a little bit funny. Not funny. Well, whatever, but okay, I’ve had this question in my box for Dr. Woods since last June 12th when we were in Genesis 20. And I know Dr. Woods always talks about, you know, taking so long. But anyway, yeah.

Pastor Woods: [00:42:56] Is that June 12th, 2022. Okay. At least it’s not like 2018 or something. Okay. I just want to double check. Yeah.

Caller: [00:43:07] But I don’t understand why God closed Abimelek family’s wombs because Abimelek had the dream. And he said. And God said, I know your integrity. You haven’t touched her and I prevented you from sinning anyway. But why did God? It’s at the end of the chapter 17 and 17 and 18 about the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelek. So I just wonder if you could speak to that a little bit and I’ll hang up and listen.

Pastor McGowan: [00:43:47] All right. Thank you for calling the program. And we’re talking about Genesis chapter 20, verses 17 and 18 there. All right. Thank you.

Pastor Woods: [00:43:57] All right. Well, my basic understanding of it is when Sarah was taken into Abimelek’s harem, he could have impregnated her very easily. And that would have, in the mind of God, been a disruption to the child that was supposed to come by miraculous means. Isaac, who doesn’t show up until chapter 21. He’s not, you know, born, conceived until chapter 21. And so if she had become impregnated and she was a very beautiful woman, you know, in spite of her age, we’re told. And, you know, if she had been impregnated in chapter 20, that’s not how it was supposed to work. The child, her womb was set aside to be the incubator. If you, if I can say it that way, the oven, a bun in the oven, so to speak, for Isaac. And Abimelech, impregnating her, anybody in his harem or anybody in his group, I should say impregnating her would have disrupted God’s plan. And so Genesis 12:3, God was very clear. He said, Whoever curses you, I will curse. Whoever blesses you, I will bless. In other words, it’s in kind. So what God is basically saying is, okay, Abimelech, you, whether you know it or not, are just are just disrupting my nation.

Pastor Woods: [00:45:26] So I’m going to disrupt your nation. I’m going to close all the wombs in your household so your dynasty can’t continue. And what you discover is that promise. I’ll bless those who bless you. I’ll curse those who curse you is very literal. You know, for example, why did God drowned the Egyptians in the book of Exodus? Well, because the Egyptians were drowning his children in the Nile earlier on in the book of Exodus. And, you know, we can travel right through the Bible and we can kind of see this in kind enforcement of the covenant promise. I mean, why is it that Haman was hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Because it’s very literal. It’s in-kind. Those who curse you, I will curse. And that’s what’s happening to Abimalek here. And that’s why Abimalek was smart, because he said, I don’t want this curse hanging over my head. Take Sarah back. And he kind of, you know, rebukes Abraham for not giving him the whole story.

Pastor McGowan: [00:46:35] Amen All right. Thank you so much for calling and giving us that great question. Let’s go back to the phones. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:46:44] Yes. Coming out of the Book of Hebrews. And he’s trying to in chapter one, he’s trying to say and he and this person, this he’s spoken unto us in the son in the beginning, all the time. In the past, he spoke to the fathers and the prophets by in many portions in different ways. But in the last of these days, he’s spoken to us in the son. And then it goes into chapter 5 it says and he has and he and it says in four verse, excuse me, verse four. Now this is chapter 1. This is chapter 1. Verse 4 says, And having been much having been made much better than the angels. So that’s the concept that that takes us into verse 5, where it says that that it says because it says the which of the angels has he ever said, You are my son, this day I have begotten you? So my question is on that verse is, who is this person who is the only begotten son of God, the only begotten son of God that God has begotten? That’s my question on verse 5, and then in verse 6, it says, and he And when he brings the first born into the inhabited earth, my question is, who is this first born son? So the only begotten, the only begotten in verse 5, the begotten versus the begotten. And then in verse 6, the first born. The first born. What’s all that about? Thank you.

Pastor McGowan: [00:48:28] All right. Thank you for calling the program. We appreciate that. All right, Pastor.

Pastor Woods: [00:48:32] Well, first born, you know, in Greek, it’s not. And help me, brother Jim, if I get my pronunciation wrong pro, I think it’s Christus, if I remember right. In other words, “first created”. That’s I think that that Greek word means prototokos. Right? Well, yeah, that one’s prototokos. But. But there’s another word for first created and I think it’s protoxus if I remember. Right, Right. But you might want to double check. Check me on that. But you’ve got two different words in Greek “first created” and “first born”. And the word that’s used here is not first created. It’s how do you pronounce that?

Pastor McGowan: [00:49:16] It is Prototokos. Prototokos Pro.

Pastor Woods: [00:49:20] Give it to me again. Prototokos Prototokos. Your pronunciation is much better.

Pastor McGowan: [00:49:27] An adjective?

Pastor Woods: [00:49:28] Yes. And that word? What it means is the preeminent one not first created. First created is a different word entirely. This is the preeminent one. In other words, he has the preeminence of someone first born. You know the rights always went to the first born. Jesus has that status, even though he was never created. He because he is the preeminent one. Hopefully that makes some kind of sense. And that’s what he means here when he says verse 6, and when he again brings the first born son into the world, he says he’s not talking about first created. He’s talking about the preeminent one. You want to throw anything else in here related to my mispronunciation? Those two words. Now related to only begotten the word there is monogenes. Mono means alone or by itself, and genes means species or kind. In other words, Jesus was one of a kind. That’s what only begotten means. You’ll see it in John 3:16 oh, countless other places in John’s gospel. And so he is one of a kind. Why? Because he is the God man at the point of the virgin Conception. What was added to eternally existent deity was humanity. He is the God man, 100% God, 100% man. The monogenes. It’s not saying. That Jesus had some kind of birth or Jesus had some kind of beginning point.

Pastor Woods: [00:51:13] He is the uncaused cause he always was. There never was a time in which he was not, but what was added to eternally existent deity. You know, Jesus has always been the eternally existent second member of the Godhead. What was added to eternally existent deity at the point of the Virgin conception was humanity. And he became the monogenes 100% God, 100% man. And so that’s what it’s speaking of there. When it says today I have begotten thee. And his point is, why would you go back to Old Testament Judaism when you have Jesus? The Jews had a very high opinion of angels because angels typically brought new revelation. The angels mediated the book of Galatians chapter 3, I think around verse 19 tells us that they mediated God’s law. So what the author of Hebrews is saying is you have you have somebody so much higher than an angel. You have Jesus who is the preeminent one not first created, and he is the monogenes. And what angel what angel can say that of himself? I mean, what angel is 100% God and 100% man all in one. So why would you lapse away from the higher and better revelation of Jesus back into Old Testament Judaism just to avoid persecution? So, what did I miss?

Pastor McGowan: [00:52:43] No, I think that’s really good. I was looking here in Constable’s notes. He says the title Firstborn reflects the sovereignty, uniqueness and superiority of Messiah. It does not always mean born first chronologically, which is basically what you were saying also.

Pastor Woods: [00:53:01] Yeah, and I think there’s a totally different word. I think it’s Christos, but I need to double double-check that.

Pastor McGowan: [00:53:09] All right. Well, we hope that was helpful to you. Thank you so much for calling the program. Back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:53:18] My question is, after Eve and Adam did disobey God and God did exact punishment on them, Adam was driven out of the garden. But what happened to Eve? The Bible indicated that he was driven out of the garden. And then another question is, I find it difficult to understand when God assessed punishment on man and also on a woman by telling a man, you sweat out, you will eat out of your sweat. And then for the serpent, the head of the woman, something like that, the heel of a woman will crush your head. And for a woman, the pain that you sustain labor will be great. So what does that mean? The head of the heel of a woman will crush the serpent’s head. What does that mean?

Pastor McGowan: [00:54:26] All right. That’s a great question. And I think if we go look at that passage and get the context, we’ll be able to answer that for you. Thanks so much for calling. Pastor?

Pastor Woods: [00:54:34] Well, first of all, whatever happened to Eve? I mean, Adam got kicked out of the garden. What happened to Eve? Well, when you look at Genesis three. Let’s see. It talks here about Eve became the mother of all the living. Help me find that brother Jim. That’s in Genesis chapter 3. There it is, verse 20. Now, the man called his wife’s name Eve, and she became the mother of all the living. So Adam and Eve continued to have children post-Eden. When you look at Genesis 4, verse 1, it says, Now the man had relations with his wife, Eve, and she conceived again and she gave birth to Cain. And she has said, I have begotten a man child with the help of the Lord. And then when you go over to Genesis 5, verse 3, it says, When Adam lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to the image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years. And he had other sons and daughters. So that’s what happened to Eve. Eve continued as Adam’s wife in the Post-fall world, the two of them had other children. One of them was Cain, another one was Seth, and they had other children beyond that. And so all of our humanity can be traced back to mom who is who is Eve. So that’s the best my best understanding of what happened to Eve after Eden.

Pastor McGowan: [00:56:19] We need to understand that when God drove Adam out of the garden, he also drove Eve out with him. Yeah. And so that’s then you. Then you pick the story up with them going on and having children and beginning to populate the earth. And then she asked about the issue of the curse difference between the man and the woman.

Pastor Woods: [00:56:38] Yeah, I think she asked about Genesis 3, verse 15. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. In other words, when Adam and Eve fell, Satan immediately was put on notice that there’s coming one from the seed of the woman. The woman here would be Eve. In other words, there’s coming into the world a man who is going to take Satan’s or the serpent’s head and crush it. And so this Messiah must be fully God to crush serpent, the serpent’s head. And he must be fully man because he’s coming from the seed of the woman Eve. And so I think that’s what Genesis 3, verse 15 is talking about. It’s what’s called the “protoevangelium”, which is the first formal presentation of the gospel found anywhere in the Bible. And it’s given immediately after man falls in Genesis 3. God says, here’s my redemptive program.

Pastor McGowan: [00:57:46] Yeah, yeah. And also it’s important to notice the context of verse 15 there when it says it’s going to be the seed of the woman. Well, the woman doesn’t have seed. So this is something very unique that’s going to happen. And Eve understands that later when she gives birth, she says that she’s going to get a man from God. And so that we understand that to mean the future or a prediction, the first prediction in the Bible of the coming Messiah who will be the fully God and fully man.

Pastor Woods: [00:58:19] Yeah, it’s the man that gives the seed. And here it says between speaking to the woman, your seed and her seed. So it’s kind of a veiled reference to the fact that a man is not going to, you know, impregnate Mary. That impregnation is going to be supernatural, you know, via the virgin birth. And so this, you know, right there in verse 15, there’s a veiled reference to the virgin birth, the deity of the coming savior. But he’s going to come from the seed of the woman. So he’s got to be a human. So the God man, 100% God, 100% man is going to come into the world one day and he is going to take the serpent’s head. The serpent is Satan. Revelation 12:9, Revelation 20, verse 2. And he’s going to crush Satan’s head. And so the whole world is put on notice that there’s coming a savior. Of course we know his name now is Jesus. Amen.

Pastor McGowan: [00:59:21] Amen. Well, thank you so much for calling the program. We have another caller. I think we can squeeze that in. Let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods? Hello?

Caller: [00:59:35] Oh, great. My question is, someone asked me if when Lot’s daughters got him drunk and they each had a child. Why were they not punished? And God went ahead and gave each one of those sons their own nation.

Pastor McGowan: [00:59:57] All right. That’s a great question. Let’s see if we can provide you a good answer. Thanks so much for calling the program.

Pastor Woods: [01:00:03] All right. Well, that comes that’s a story that we read about in John excuse me, Genesis 19 verses 30 through 38. It’s what happened to Lot when he was taken out of Sodom. Remember the destroying angel? Verse 22 says, I can’t do anything until you’re removed. And so we believe lot was a believer. But he was in a carnal state because look at what he did after he got out of Sodom. You know, you can take the man out of Sodom, but you can’t necessarily take Sodom and Gomorrah out of the man. And so there he is in a drunken state, and he’s having an incestuous relationship with his two daughters. From those unholy unions come the Moabites and the Ammonites, who were not nice people. They were perennial enemies of the nation of Israel. And the reason that they those two nations. Yeah, two nations did come out of the those unholy unions, but they weren’t great nations, to put it mildly. They were God rejecting God hating nations. You know, the reason God hating nations came from those unholy unions is the apple really doesn’t fall too far from the tree. They apparently imitated the morality of their progenitor Lot. And you see the same kind of thing with the Canaanites that came from one of Noah’s sons who uncovered his father’s nakedness. You remember Genesis 9? And he was put under a curse and God said, Cursed be Canaan. You know, it’s not a racial statement. It’s just the idea that the apple is not going to fall too far from the tree. And that’s why the Canaanites were known for their immorality. They imitated the sinful and detestable practices of Noah’s son. You know, there I think it was Ham, wasn’t it, their progenitor Ham, Shem and I think it was Japheth. So that’s why the Canaanites became the way they became. And the same kind of thing is happening with the Ammonites and the Moabites tracing it right back to the unrighteous lifestyle of Lot who was a child of God, but he was living in a carnal state.

Pastor McGowan: [01:02:20] Yeah, and I think I would add to here that the reason God didn’t judge them immediately is because he’s a gracious God. And in fact, he gave the Ammonites, the Moabites and all the Canaanites 400 years to repent before he sent Joshua in to exterminate those nations. So the God didn’t destroy him because He wanted them to repent. So we hope that’s helpful.

Pastor Woods: [01:02:45] And we’re not saying something good can’t come out of those nations. Well, that’s true because Ruth was a Moabitess. That’s right. But the general tenure of those nations is not positive. Amen.

Pastor McGowan: [01:02:56] Well, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, thank you so much for a wonderful evening. And we appreciate your calls and your questions. We do pray that you would just keep in mind CB’s Question and Answer program, and we’ll see you next time. Have a blessed week. God bless.