KHCB Questions & Answers – Feb 22 2024

Announcer: [00:00:12] Good evening. Time is now 9:30 Central Time. It’s now time for the Question and Answers program, a weekly program that you can call with your questions about the Bible Christian way of life  and our Pastors will answer that question for you. Live on the air. Tonight’s pastors are Doctor Andy Woods. He’s the Senior Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church. He’s also president of the Chaffer Theological Seminary. Pastor. Woods has authored many Christian books and theological journals, and speaks on a variety of topics at Christian conferences and churches. Tonight he’s joined by Doctor Jim McGowan, Associate Pastor at The Sugar Land Bible Church. The church is located at 401 Matlage Way in Sugar Land, Texas. Their website is SLBC.org. You can also reach out to them at Andy Woods Ministries.org, and you can find his YouTube (Pastor’s Point of View) and Rumble (Pastor’s Point of View). I’d like to invite you to call us at 832-922-4444. That’s 832-922-4444. You can reach us toll free at (877) 999-5422. That’s (877) 999-5422. We respectfully ask you to avoid mentioning specific people, denominations, or churches. If your question is about a certain passage of Scripture. Please have the scripture reference ready. And now to get us started, here are our pastors, Doctor Andy Woods and Doctor Jim McGowan.

Pastor Jim: [00:02:34] Well, welcome again listening, friends, and thank you for tuning in to the program this evening. As always, when we meet together, we expect God to do wonderful things not just for you, but also for us. So we’re looking forward with great anticipation to see what God is going to do in our midst during the next hour. Of course, the Bible will be our focus this evening, because the answers we need can only be found in God’s Holy Word, the Bible, the only inspired, authoritative Revelation  of everlasting truth that, when properly interpreted, provides everything we need pertaining to life and godliness. So together, let’s expect God to speak. And let’s remember to praise and honor him for the answers he provides us this evening. And oh, by the way, happy birthday to George Washington. Did you remember that? Hey, listen, let me just ask you to do 2 or 3 things for me before we bring you on the air, would you please remember to keep your on air time to one question. Would you also remember to turn your volume down? I know the tendency is to want to hear yourself, but if you’ll turn the volume down before we bring you on the air, that will prevent feedback and help everyone to hear better. And then finally, if you’d be so kind as to go ahead and hang up once you’ve given us your question to listen for the answer.  Well, that’s our housekeeping. I see we have two people waiting, so let’s go right to the phones. Thank you for calling the program this evening. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods?

Caller: [00:04:06] Hi. Doctor McGowan. Um. Oh, I watched you twice on Sunday. I watch on Wednesday. I oh, and Pastor’s Point of View is so good. I am so excited. I got the first call!

Pastor Jim: [00:04:22] Well we’re excited you have the first call too.

Caller: [00:04:25] Yeah I live in Illinois, so, you know, I watch virtually. I have a question. Um, you know, I was wondering because nobody, you know, people I was raised in a Catholic background, which I’m not anymore. I’m evangelical Christian. Um. Uh, what is, in your mind are the age of accountability? The Catholic Church used to tell us seven, and I don’t think a seven year old is. That’s just my opinion.

Pastor Jim: [00:04:55] That’s a great question. And I’m sure many people ask that very same question regularly. So let’s kick it over to Doctor Woods and see if he can give us a good, solid answer.

Pastor Andy: [00:05:05] All right. Well, generally, you know, when people talk about the age of accountability, they’re talking about, you know, what age is a person accountable because they now understand the Gospel. Um, I think it varies, to be honest with you, from person to person. I don’t know if the Bible reveals any, uh, uniform age of accountability. Um, so that’s basically my understanding of it, which doesn’t really help because she was looking for a specific age. I don’t think there’s a specific number. It kind of differs from person to person. Some people are capable of believing, understanding and believing the Gospel at a very young age. Other people are not, uh, as equipped and, uh, you know, the age of accountability for them might be might be later. Uh, we do recommend a book on this when these kind of topics come up. It’s the book by Robert Lightner and Brother Jim, you’ll have to remind me of the title of that book.

Pastor Jim: [00:06:08] I believe it’s Safe In the Arms of Jesus.

Pastor Andy: [00:06:11] And so he deals with all of these kinds of issues. I think the subtitle is, uh, God’s Provision for Those Who Cannot Believe.  So I believe he deals with the age of accountability there. He was a longtime professor, both of ours, by the way, but a long time professor of systematic theology at Dallas Seminary. And his stuff is very solid.

Pastor Jim: [00:06:34] I think it’s interesting, too, that Jesus did say, suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not so. And then I’m also reminded of the fact that Samuel was in the service of the Lord as a very young man in early age also. So I think we need to be careful that we don’t limit the power of God and the moving of the Holy Spirit on young people, and we probably should pray more for that, shouldn’t we?  All right, let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for that call. Thank you for calling the program. And what is your Bible question this evening?

Caller: [00:07:06] My question is found in, uh, Daniel’s.

Pastor Jim: [00:07:12]  Ma’am, could I get you to turn your radio down? Because I’m hearing myself.

Caller: [00:07:17] Okay. It’s in in Daniel. The book of Daniel. Okay. With, uh, with Daniel being put in the lion’s den. Um, did he obey the law of the land, or did Darius obey the law of the land?  How did that go?

Pastor Jim: [00:07:41] Okay. So is your question regarding what it is that caused Daniel to be placed in the lion’s den?

Caller: [00:07:48] Yeah.  Was that of God or man?

Pastor Jim: [00:07:51] Okay, great. Thank you so much for that question. Pastor?

Pastor Andy: [00:07:55] Well, I mean, ultimately I think it was of God because these are opportunities for God to demonstrate his faithfulness to his people as he does protecting Daniel supernaturally. And Daniel 6, just like he did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, uh, in Daniel .  But remember, Daniel had enemies. Uh, a lot of them were jealous of him. He possessed, uh, now this is in the empire of Persia. He possessed an excellent spirit, and he was sort of rising through the ranks. Daniel 6, verses 3 and 4. And when that happens, people that are jealous of you take pot shots at you. Um, and they kind of looked into Daniel’s, um, background and they couldn’t find any corruption or carelessness, which is a wonderful thing.

Pastor Jim: [00:08:43] Boy, I wish they could say that about me.

Pastor Andy: [00:08:44]  Yeah. Uh, no skeletons in the closet. So they tricked. They knew they could get Daniel on his prayer life because they noticed he was a man of prayer. Public prayer. They set him up. They went to the king, and they said, you know, you need to pass a law against public prayer, knowing that that would ensnare Daniel. And according to the laws of the Medes and the Persians, once a law is passed, it can’t be revoked. You’ll see a reference to that in the Book of Esther, written in the same a little later, but in the same general Persian time period, Esther chapter 8 and verse 8. And so he was tricked. And that’s why Darius, uh, spends so much time kind of tossing and turning that night. And he’s the first guy to go to the den and see if God was faithful. And lo and behold, the Lord shut the mouth, or the angel rather, that the Lord sent shut the mouth of the lions. And, uh, we know those lions were hungry, because when Daniel was pulled out, Darius through the enemies of Daniel in and they couldn’t even get to the ground before they were devoured. It’s just a wonderful statement of a man that would put himself, uh, God in front of his own security, and he just disobeyed the law?

Um, so there’s a there’s grounds for civil disobedience in the scripture. You see that in Daniel 3 and Daniel 6. There has to be a clear conflict between man’s law and God’s law, which there was here. And God in this case was faithful. But, you know, in the parallel story of Daniel 3, also dealing with civil disobedience in Daniel 3, I think it’s verse 18. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they’re about to be thrown into the fiery furnace, said, you know our God is able to deliver us, but even if he does not, we’re still not going to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. And so, you know, uh, you know, if you engage in civil disobedience, you got to be willing to pay the consequences.  And that’s what you see being developed in the book of Daniel. They have to deal with this issue because they’re outside their land, in Babylonian captivity. And they’re dealing with pagan kings that don’t know anything about Yahweh. But those pagan kings sure learned a lot by watching the faithfulness of these Hebrews, Daniel and his three friends.

Pastor Jim: [00:11:17] And that was the purpose, I think, too, right?  Amen. Great question. We hope that was helpful to you. And let’s go to our email box here. I have one here. And this individual writes “in Genesis 2:24 it says man and wife become one flesh. The question is, will my wife still be my wife in heaven?” And I’m sure that’s a question many people have.

Pastor Andy: [00:11:41] Sure. And I would just have to answer no. And I answer that based on one scripture. It’s something Jesus said to the, uh, Sadducees, um, who, um, basically denied resurrection.  But he said to them, for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. So based on that, he analogizes our resurrected state to that of the angels, and the angels don’t marry. So we would expect the human institution of marriage to be a bygone reality by the time we get to the eternal realm of the resurrected souls.

Pastor Jim: [00:12:30] Yeah. And, you know, I think sometimes people think about that and, you know. Oh, you mean I’m not going to be able to, you know, have the same relationship with my husband or my wife? But let me encourage you that whatever you think you’re experiencing now with your loved one and the intimacy you have is going to be superseded, uh, a thousand fold, a million fold. And we’re not even able to fully understand or comprehend what God has in store for us because we haven’t gotten there yet. But once we’re glorified, we’re going to find that there will be no sorrow in heaven. And I think we should probably dwell on that, shouldn’t we? Mhm. Amen. All right. I think we have a caller waiting. So thank you for your patience. What is your Bible question this evening.

Caller: [00:13:13] Yes. Coming from uh, Hebrews 12 uh, verse 22. I’m trying to see that little number there. But it says, “but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”, and so forth and so on. Uh, a couple things, uh. When I read that verse, it really seems like idle words to me. It really seems like I’ve never told anybody. When they asked me how I’m doing, I said, oh, I’m in New Jerusalem today. I’m in the I’m in the city of the living God today. But this verse says that that’s where we are. Uh, so, uh, how do we get from words that seem meaningless to me? Of course y’all may say, well, you’re off. You’re messed up because it means a lot to us and I, that’s great. But. And then then regarding the New Jerusalem, a second aspect of the question, do you all agree with this typology of the New Jerusalem? The gold is related to God’s divinity. The river is related to the Spirit. The wall of jasper is related to the transformation of the saints, uh, including the 12 foundations that are different precious stones, precious stones being the typology of the transformation of a saints, the pearly gates being the, uh, the typology or prefiguring or speaking before. I mean, it it’s a type of the redemption of Christ that through the Jews Christ came. He died for our sins. And that’s how we get into New Jerusalem and so forth and so on. So, hey, those are those are how I, uh, set forth my question. Take it for what it’s worth and, and, you know, say what you want to thank you.

Pastor Jim: [00:15:12] Okay. Thank you for that permission, pastor. Uh, Hebrews 12:22. Uh, what would you say about that?

Pastor Andy: [00:15:19] Well, let’s look at it. It says, “but you have come to Mount Zion, to the to the city. Of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem to the myriads of angels”. Um, when you go back to Hebrews 11, you know, concerning Abraham, we learned that he was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. So this is, uh, the, um, you know, New Jerusalem is what these passages are talking about. And these are mentioned because that’s our ultimate home as Christians, and it’s your ultimate destiny. Um, it shouldn’t be something that bores you because Jesus, I believe it’s in Revelation  3. I want to say verse 12 takes the name of that eternal city, and he writes it on the church that’s mentioned there in Revelation  chapter 3. Uh, I believe it’s the church at Pergamum if memory serves. Yeah, there it is. Pergamum. Uh, well, it may not have. Oh, I’m in the wrong chapter. Well, therein lies the problem. Uh, it’s the church at, uh, Philadelphia. He says, “he who overcomes”, which I understand is a believer.  “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he will not go out”. Excuse me not, not go out “from it anymore. And I will write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from heaven from my God and my new name”. So several new names are written on the folks there at Philadelphia. I would argue on all of us. And one of them is this heavenly Jerusalem. Yeah. Uh, Paul and uh, Philippians 3. What is it? Verse 20 tells us our citizenship is in heaven.

Pastor Andy: [00:17:20] So it’s our ultimate abode. It’s our destiny, and it’s what Abraham was looking for. And I think it should be something that excites us as well. Hebrews 12:28. You know, the same chapter, uh, talks about how we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, which will encompass the thousand years, but it will pave its way from the thousand years, which is just the front doorstep, you know, into that eternal city. And we will reign forever and ever. And you can find all of this in Revelation  21 and 22. Um, as far as going through the different colors, gold represents this and the water represents that. That’s a kind of interpretation that I reject because it’s allegorical. Allegorical basically means you’re using the language of the text to bring in some kind of higher meaning which is only evident to the one doing the allegorizing. So he said, you know, the water represents the spirit and gold represents this, and this color represents that. Well, that’s very subjective because someone else can come along and say, you know, they can come up with a different interpretation of each of those things. So when it talks there about a high wall, what it means is a high wall. When it talks about the river of life, it’s flowing through the center of the city. That’s what it means when it talks about streets of gold. That’s what it means. And if you don’t approach the Bible that way, there’s no, um, controls on the subjective mind of the interpreter. And so we want to let the authority stay in the text and not the fanciful imagination of those interpreting the Bible.

Pastor Jim: [00:19:09] Amen. And that’s a good policy, right? Amen to always take a literal perspective, unless otherwise indicated in the text itself. All right. Let’s go back to our email, uh, box here. I have another question. This individual says, uh, “after Jesus died and descended into Sheol, did he take with him the Old Testament saints from the Paradise side to heaven? Or are they still there?”

Pastor Andy: [00:19:36] Well, this whole Paradise side and torment side, you’ll find that in Luke 16, you know, verses 19 through 31, uh, my understanding is Sheol is in the center of the earth, and it’s divided into two compartments. And I’m getting this mostly from Luke 16 verses 19 through 31, which a lot of people say is just a parable. But I don’t think that’s a parable there because it uses proper names. The name Abraham Lazarus, uh, you’ll even find the name, uh, Moses towards the end. So, so this is not parabolic. You know, when Jesus says, when he’s teaching parabolically, he’ll learn. He’ll say, learn a lesson from the parable of the fig tree. He doesn’t do that here. He’s giving a real account of what happens, you know, after death, a literal account, I guess I should say. So you have this, uh, compartment in the middle of the earth that’s divided into two, and one of the places is a place of torment called Hades. And another place is a place of bliss called Abraham’s bosom. And I do believe that in between Christ’s, uh, crucifixion and resurrection, he descended to where the saints are, because that’s where you went if you were a believer in a coming Messiah in Old Testament times, you went to this place of bliss. And I believe that that compartment called Paradise was actually during that time taken up to heaven.

Pastor Andy: [00:21:11] And it’s interesting in Second Corinthians 12 and verse 4, when Paul the apostle, uh, talks about how he was caught up to the third heaven, he says, there I was caught up to Paradise. And so that’s one of the verses I would use to indicate that Paradise, which was once at the center of the earth, you know, has now been caught up into the heavenlies. And there’s kind of a whole Hebrew, um, wedding picture going on in terms of our future where the, uh, groom is coming back at an unknown time to retrieve us, you know, to the father’s house. And it’s a picture of the rapture. And part of that is the, uh, bride would meet the assembled guests of the father, the father’s guests for the wedding. And so there’s a there’s a line of thought that says, well, these, uh, guests of the father could be could be those, uh, in Paradise that were caught up to the third heaven. And so those are folks we meet, uh, right after the rapture. Just like a Hebrew wedding. You meet the father’s guests. So you’re meeting, you know, Noah and Daniel and Job and all of these Old Testament figures. And you know what? I start a new church over this topic. Not necessarily, but it’s just kind of the way I see the scripture working its way out.

Pastor Jim: [00:22:38] Amen. Well, thank you for that great email question, and thank you for that answer. And back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question? Hello, caller. Hello. Hi.

Caller: [00:22:50] Yeah. Doctor McGowan. Uh, sorry about that. Um, Doctor Woods, uh, first of all, I want to wish you guys, um, all blessings for your conference this weekend. And, um, but then I have a question. Um. Let’s see. Okay. Luke 4 uh, 5 through 7, when, uh, Satan is offering the kingdom to Christ. Uh, and anyway, the the NASB says in verse 6, uh, the devil says, uh, “I will give you all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me”. But my question is, was it actually handed over to him? Did God say, here, here you go. Or was it like the fall of man, or is it, uh, Satan just lying to Jesus, uh, outright? So that’s my question.

Pastor Jim: [00:23:43] All right. Thanks so much for the question. Appreciate it. Pastor?

Pastor Andy: [00:23:46] Yeah, and thanks for the promo there on the conference. And, um, we’re sold out for the conference, Brother Jim, I know that that’s this Saturday, but people can follow us, follow the conference if they want to on our live stream at the Sugar Land Bible Church website. I did get a chance to promote the conference a little early. I might have mis-spoke. Um, we’re going to have two of the conference. Actually, three of the conference presenters presenting at Sugar Land Bible Church during our regular church service times on Sunday, which I believe is the 25th. So Doctor Reagan is going to be given the sermon and Olivier Melnick is going to be teaching the prior session, the adult Sunday School class on Jewish evangelism. And, uh, uh, Russ Miller is going to be ministering to the youth during that time. So hopefully that clarifies some of the ambiguity from my prior announcement…those of you that were listening to that. Um, concerning this question. You know. Was Satan lying here? Of course he is the father of lies. But I don’t think he was lying. I think what he said there was true. Satan is capable of saying true things every once in a while. You know, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And he. Jesus never corrected Satan and said, well, that’s not true, because it is true. Um, the kingdoms of the world were handed over to Satan. Now the issue is, who handed them over? Did God hand them over? I’m of the persuasion that Adam handed them over.

Pastor Andy: [00:25:23] Because when you go back to Genesis 1:26 through 28, you’ll see dominion language, you know, subdue rule, you know, that kind of thing. And so Adam, along with his wife, under God’s delegated authority, were to govern creation for God. And the moment Adam started listening to creation, in this case, a talking snake and rebelling against God is the moment he lost authority over the earth. And it was handed over to Satan at that point. And that’s why when you progress through the book of Genesis, be fruitful and multiply is repeated to the different folks there in early Genesis. But the Dominion mandate, rule and subdue is never repeated, because that made a they made a choice there, and they handed everything over to the devil. And that’s why the only thing, the only one that’s going to correct this is Jesus in the book of Revelation , when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and His Christ, and he will reign forever and ever and until that glorious time in history arrives, Satan, as the New Testament calls him, as the God of this world, the God of this age, the prince and power of the air, etc. so I don’t think it was God. I don’t think he was wrong in what Satan said here, and I don’t think it was God that handed the keys over to Satan. I think it was Adam.

Pastor Jim: [00:26:57] Amen. All right. We hope that was very helpful to you. And back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods?

Caller: [00:27:04] How are you doing this evening, Doctor Woods?

Pastor Andy: [00:27:08] I’m doing great. Thank you.

Caller: [00:27:09] That’s good. Uh, if you can go into Revelation 6 and, uh. I think it’s verse 2. Then you can kind of have explain to us these different horses that you see. I mean, that’s, you know, it’s parabolic there, but, uh. If you could help us with that, I would appreciate it, and you might be able to help correct me.

Pastor Jim: [00:27:39] All right. Thank you so much for calling the program pastor.

Pastor Andy: [00:27:42] Well, this is the seal judgments. Uh, Jesus has just taken the seven sealed scroll. He’s qualified to open it. Praise the Lord for that. Revelation 5. He takes the scroll and he starts to peel back the different seals on the scroll. And I believe that the scroll is the title deed to the earth. And so what’s happening is the scroll is being progressively unrolled. And so by the time you get to the end of this sequence, you get to the seventh seal, which will trigger the trumpets. The seventh trumpet will trigger the bowl judgments. We know where everything’s headed. This this world is going to be redeemed from Satan’s power and grasped which we spoke of in the in the prior with the prior caller. So these are basically just the first, uh, four seal judgments. Sometimes they’re called the horse, the horse and horsemen of the apocalypse. But the first one is, um, I looked and behold, a white horse that’s the Antichrist coming forward to bring in a pseudo peace. That’s a form of divine judgment. Then you have a red horse, uh, Revelation 6, verse 4, which brings forth global war. And then you have a black horse which brings forth global famine.

Pastor Andy: [00:29:10] And then the last one is an ashen horse, Revelation 6 verse 8, which destroys a quarter of the world’s population, presumably from the famine and the war in the prior two seals. And so that’s my understanding of the four horsemen. Horses and horsemen of the apocalypse. They symbolize different judgments coming to the earth based on Jesus opening a seventh sealed scroll. And these judgments are going to continue as you move through the book of Revelation . It’s just the imagery of the horse and horsemen is only found here in these fourths first four seal judgments.

Pastor Jim: [00:29:48] All right. Great question. Thank you, pastor, for that answer. And I see we’ve come to the top of the hour. So we’re going to take a short station break. Please stay with us. And when we come back we’ll have our prayer for the nature Nation and more questions and answers. See you.

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Pastor Jim: [00:31:07] Hi. Welcome back to KHCB’s Question and Answer program. And we’re going to pause here for just a moment to pray for the nation. If you’re in a position where you can do so safely, we’d encourage you just to join along with us. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Abba, father, as we come before you this evening, we want to thank you for who you are. You’re the creator, the sustainer, the provider and protector of your people. We come also with thanksgiving for the gift of this Republic and for the Constitution upon which it was formed and operates. However, we also come to confess that as a nation, we find ourselves in a time of great distress and turmoil because we as a nation have not remained true to our founding Judeo-Christian principles. Moreover, because of our apathy and indifference, we’ve allowed, tolerated, and even encouraged the evil minded plans of godless men to undermine those principles. Therefore, we humble ourselves before you. And we pray, as you’ve instructed us in 1st Timothy 2:2, for all who are in authority, so that we might lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. We ask you to direct our leaders to humble themselves, and that you would guide them to an acknowledgment of your sovereignty and that they will one day ultimately give an account to you regarding their every decision.

Pastor Jim: [00:32:46] We ask you, ABBA, Father, to fortify those in our government who belong to you and remind them of their need to seek the wisdom that comes from above, as we’re told in James 3:17. We do lift up our executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. We also lift up our state and city officials, and we pray that they might make godly decisions and cooperate with your divine plan and will, not only for themselves, but for all the people they serve. Please move on these men and women, and motivate them and convict them to make wise and godly decisions for the good and betterment of all the citizens at each level of government, whether it be local, state, or federal. Bring conviction upon them and remind them of their sworn duty to uphold the laws, regulations and principles which they swore to defend. And as we are currently in the process of selecting those who will govern us for the immediate future, we come to ask you to also move upon the hearts of all of our citizens and convict them of their need to get out and vote.

Pastor Jim: [00:34:07] Please remind all of your children of the importance of our civic duties, because you have called us to be salt and light in the earth, and this is one way in which we can walk out that command. 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. Protect them from hurt, harm, and danger and please return them safely to their families. And finally, father, we say thank you for continuing to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus and for reminding us that we are Ambassadors for Christ and sojourners in this present earth. Help us to properly represent Christ to those who are lost, so that they too might believe in Jesus, your one and only beloved Son and Savior. For the safe-keeping of their souls. And this we pray in the name of Jesus, Maranatha and Amen. Thank you so much for pausing with us. We do appreciate you doing so. And let’s go back to the phones. I see that we have a couple of people waiting, so thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:35:34] It’s coming out of Isaiah chapter 11. It starts in verse 6. Uh, it says, “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together”. This is my question, because it gets more in detail. Uh, when will this happen? Will it be, um, after the Rapture? Um, because right now you can’t, you know, there’s no way that can happen. But it’s it goes to tell about, uh, you know, children, uh, actually, uh, playing with dangerous, very dangerous and wild animals. So my, you know, when I read this, I’m thinking, when is that? You know, when is that going to happen? Well, like I said, well, it will be, you know, with the new heaven and new earth or after the Rapture. So I just wanted to know the timeline about this.

Pastor Jim: [00:36:27] Thank you so much for calling the program. What a great question. And let me just tell you, many people are confused on this issue. So let’s see if we can’t provide some biblical clarity for you this evening.

Pastor Andy: [00:36:39] Um. Let’s see. Am I on here? There we go. Um, I think this is a millennial kingdom, uh, prophecy. Um, and I like what she said. It’s obviously not happening now, unless you do literalize it. I mean, last time I was at the zoo, I noticed wolf and lamb were in different cages. And it talks here about the. And also, you can, uh, kind of cross reference this with many passages in here. Isaiah 2, Isaiah 65. It talks about how the ox will eat straw. Um, so the animals are going to be sort of turned back to what they were like in Eden, you know, not carnivorous but herbivorous again. So it’s obviously not something that’s happening today. And I don’t think it’s something that’s going to happen immediately after the Rapture, either because the Rapture is followed by the Seven Year Tribulation period, which is bringing God’s judgment to the earth. And this is not talking about God’s judgment. Um, so this must be something after the Seven Year Tribulation period is over, and it really has to do with the Thousand year kingdom that Jesus is going to establish. And so that’s where I would put the fulfillment of these passages.

Pastor Andy: [00:37:57] I don’t think this is an eternal state passage, because the prophets, as far as I could tell, could not really see forward to the eternal state. I mean, not everybody agrees with me on that, but I’m following something. Doctor Arnold Fruchtenbaum taught that the high point of the prophets was the thousand year kingdom. You really don’t have the eternal state mentioned until the book of Second Peter chapter 3. Uh, there in verse 7 and 10 and verse 13 and other  passages. And then that eternal state will follow the Millennial Kingdom. And of course, John develops it in most detail in Revelation  21 and 22. So you’ll notice it makes reference to the seas there in verse 9 as the waters cover the sea. Uh, it’s it’s just kind of hard to believe that’s the eternal state, because John and Revelation  21 says, I saw no more sea. So this is something that’s happening during that interim period, uh, after the Rapture, after the Seven Year Tribulation period, between the Second Advent of Jesus and the Eternal State, that’s where you can put that’s where you can locate the fulfillment of all of these prophecies in the prophets.

Pastor Jim: [00:39:18] And also in the eternal state, there’s no death. And during the millennial kingdom, of course, the you know, she quoted the partial partially the passage there about the child, you know, that that a child who dies at the age of 100, you know, so there’s death, you know, there’s going to be considered to have been cursed because they died. So there’s going to be death during this time frame. So it can’t be the eternal state.

Pastor Andy: [00:39:41] Yeah. This, uh, that’s over in Isaiah 65. So that’s not in Isaiah 11, but that’s in Isaiah 65 verse 20. But it’s the same type of prophecies. You’re absolutely right. It talks about someone who, uh, gosh, they reached the age of 100 and they die. And everybody’s going to say, wow, how sad. What a shame this young man died today. If you make it to 100, you’re considered lucky. So this is talking about a time period where the curse is sort of rolled back but not eliminated. And that can’t be the eternal state, because in the eternal state, there’s no more death. Revelation  21, verse four. So this is the best place to locate these prophecies is the Millennial Kingdom.

Pastor Jim: [00:40:19] Amen. All right. Great question. We hope that was helpful to you. All right. We have a caller waiting. Thank you for being patient. What is your Bible question?

Caller: [00:40:27] Yeah, I’ve got a question from, uh, Genesis and it’s, uh, Genesis, the last chapter and the verse that it focuses on is verse 19, but I want to read just a few verses before that. But the verse I’m focusing on is verse 19 of 50, chapter 50. His brother said, forgive, I pray you, transgression of your brothers. This is starting with 17 state. Okay, forgive, I pray you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you. And now we pray you forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, so that’s the verse that I’m focusing on. Would Joseph have been more spiritual if verse 19 reads, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I forgave you and forgot. That’s my question.

Pastor Jim: [00:41:32] All right. Thank you so much for calling the program. Pastor?

Pastor Andy: [00:41:36] Well, I mean, forgiving is one thing I don’t think you can forget unless you have, you know, some kind of memory care, you know, kind of issues. I mean, uh, I’ve had I’ve forgiven people of things they’ve done to me. But you can’t just erase it from the memory banks. So I think Joseph is being very godly here. Uh, even though he could remember what they did to him, he decided not to hold it against them, and he opted not to use his position of power, you know, to get even. And so to me, this is the pinnacle of, of godliness. And, you know, Joseph, like Daniel is, he’s the only two characters I know of in the Bible other than Jesus, of course, where nothing negative is said about him. And I’m not saying these men, Joseph and Daniel, were perfect because Romans 3:23 says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But whatever sins they committed in their life, we have absolutely no knowledge of them from the Bible. And so I think Joseph is very godly in all ways.

Pastor Jim: [00:42:44] Yeah. Amen. All right. Well, we hope that was helpful to you. All right. Let’s go back to our email box. And we have another question here. And this individual writes in and says “can you please explain what Psalm 91:10 means as far as plagues coming near your dwelling? Of course, on my mind is Covid affecting believers dwellings?”

Pastor Andy: [00:43:08] All right. Psalm 91:10, it says there “no evil will befall you, nor shall any plague come near you, near your tent”. So let’s look at the whole counsel of God’s Word. You know, on something like this. Um, we remember from Job 1, verses 6 and 7 and Job chapter 2, verse 10, that Satan couldn’t do anything against Job unless he had divine permission first, because God had put a hedge of protection around Job. And even when God lowered the hedge, he put Satan on a leash in the sense that he said things like, you can do this or that, but you can’t kill him. Um hum. Um, so I believe that there is this hedge of protection around all of our lives. Um, if it weren’t true, we would have been killed a long time ago, right? Yeah, that’s true, because Satan hates us. So Luke 22, verse 31, uh, Jesus says to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan has requested permission to sift you as wheat. Um, and but I have prayed for you since, uh, when you put these scriptures together. Apparently there are times where God allows the hedge to be lowered under certain limitations, because God has a bigger priority for us besides our immediate comfort. Um, Revelation  2 verse 10, I think it’s to the church at Smyrna. He says, Satan is about to throw, throw some of you in prison and you will be tested for ten days, you know. But do not fear death. I will give you the crown of life. So there’s another example where the hedge was lowered, but Satan was put on a leash. He could only do what he could do for ten days.

Pastor Andy: [00:44:55] It says in Revelation 2 verse 10. So that would be basically my understanding of, uh, you know, in other words, I’m putting this in together with Psalm 91, verse 10. I don’t think there’s some kind of universal protection of of all times and places. I think it’s generally there, but God allows it to be lowered because sometimes God has bigger plans than that take precedence over our immediate comfort. Verses 11 and 12 were actually misquoted by Satan in The Temptations. He said to, you know, throw yourself from the temple and test the Lord to see if, uh, he’ll send the angels, you know, to protect you and so forth. So. you know, there is a truth of general protection. I don’t think it’s an ironclad protection throughout all of our lives, for reasons I’ve said before, and we’re not to use this protection as some kind of way to test God’s hand, you know? You know, let’s go ahead and touch that poisonous snake as some of the churches, they used to have, these snake handling services, they still do. And, um, to me, they’re testing the Lord. You know, it’s intentionally putting yourself in harm’s way to see if God’s going to keep his promise. And that’s why Jesus came back to that perversion of Scripture by saying, do not put the Lord thy God to the test. So that’s my general understanding of all of this. There is protection. It’s not universal. And don’t use it as an excuse to force God’s hand, because that’s an abuse of the promise.

Pastor Jim: [00:46:29] Yeah. Oh, and I would just add this, that some people want to take this and make it a promise. And I think we have to be very careful about that. I do think it’s probably, it probably be better to look at this as a general principle, which if you think about it, if I’m following God’s principles in my life and I’m living the way he wants me to live, there are many evils that I’m not going to encounter just for that reason alone. So anyway, thank you so much for that email question. And I see we have no callers waiting. So let’s go back to our mailbox. This individual writes in and says, “can you talk a bit about Gnosticism and what it is”?

Pastor Andy: [00:47:11] All right. Well, Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis meaning knowledge. And the Gnostics taught a secret knowledge that you could gain spiritual growth and maturity by following their secret system that not every Christian had access to. So that’s and this was kind of the current that was blowing through the New Testament world. It really reached full form in the 2nd century, but by the time the New Testament was written, there was coming through these various churches that we read about in the New Testament, what is called an incipient, you know, early form of Gnosticism. So that’s why 1st John, which is a great book dealing with Gnosticism, uh, says things like in 1st John 2 verse 20 and verse 27 that you have an anointing to learn. You don’t need a human teacher. He’s not trashing the gift of teaching. What he’s saying is, you don’t have to go through some secret, uh, system to get truth. You have an anointing to learn that comes from the Holy Spirit. Something else that the Gnostics taught was dualism. They taught that the physical world is evil and the spiritual world is good, which is a blatant contradiction of the Bible. Jesus in Genesis 1, excuse me, Moses in Genesis 1:31, after the six days of creation, which involve procreation, food, sunlight says, it’s very good. So the physical world is not bad, but the Gnostics taught it was bad. And that doctrine. Uh, damaged Christology, the doctrine of Christ, because what flowed out of that was something called docetism.

Pastor Andy: [00:49:08] Um, coming from the Greek word dokeĩn, meaning to seem or appear in the Gnostics basically taught that Jesus really didn’t have a body, he just seemed like it. Uh, that’s why John and his epistles, um, and even in the Gospels, talks about how, you know, we touched him. We felt him. John leaned against his chest in the upper room. He really did have a body. And that’s why John and 1st John 4:2 and 3 says, by this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist. Gnosticism, in other words, of which you heard is coming and even is now in the world. There’s also a variation of Gnosticism that taught something called Cerinthianism, coming from the heretic Cerinthus, who basically said, you know, if the physical world is bad, then Jesus in a body couldn’t have been the Christ. So he said that the Spirit of Christ came upon Jesus at his baptism and left him prior to his crucifixion. But he was never the Christ, because you can’t have the Christ in a body, and that’s why you have in your Bible 1st John 2 and verse 22. Uh, which says who is the liar? But the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  Christ means Christ is not his last name.

Pastor Andy: [00:50:54] He’s not Mr. Christ. It’s the Messiah, the meshiach. And then he says in the same verse, this is the Antichrist, just like he said it in 1st John 4, the Antichrist being the Gnostics, the one who denies the father and the son. The Gnostics also played games with the Second Advent because if because if the physical world is bad, how could he come back in a body? So that’s why you have in John’s second epistle, 2nd John verse 7, which says, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, this is the deceiver. And again it says the Antichrist. Now a lot of people say, well, that’s not just him coming in a body the first time, it’s him coming back in a body. Um, 2nd Peter 3 and verse 4 says, the Gnostics are going to come, uh, and they’re going to deny, they’re going to say, where is the promise of his coming?  So they don’t like this idea of a physical return because the spiritual, uh, spiritual world is good, physical world is bad. So they brought into this, uh, dualistic presupposition, and it just wreaked havoc on the doctrine of Christ Christology. And that’s and once you understand that all of these statements that the New Testament is making make perfect sense, that they’re combating Gnosticism, incipient form of it.

Pastor Jim: [00:52:28] All right. Great question. All right. I have another email question here. This individual writes in and says, “do you have to be righteous to be saved?”

Pastor Andy: [00:52:39] Do you have to be righteous to be saved? Yes, but it has to be the right kind of righteousness.  It cannot be self- righteousness. Uh, Isaiah 64 and verse 6 says, our righteous deeds. That’s a fascinating statement. In other words, the things we do to gain God’s, we think we’re gaining God’s favor. It’s kind of like Adam and Eve’s loin coverings. Um, those things don’t save us. Our righteous deeds are as filthy garments. What we need is what the Protestant reformers called alien righteousness. Meaning righteousness. That’s not our own. It’s imputed righteousness, meaning transferred righteousness coming to us from another source other than ourselves. And that, of course, is the righteousness of Jesus. The moment a person trusts in Christ for salvation, God looks at them as if they’re just as righteous as his Son. Because Jesus, at the point of faith alone, in Christ alone, transferred his righteousness to us. And that’s the only righteousness that’s going to give you any standing before God one day. Philippians 3 verse 9 says, and may be found in him. Paul writes, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness that comes from God, not self, comes from God on the basis of faith. So you’ve got to be righteous to be saved, but make sure it’s not self- righteousness that you have but transferred imputed alien righteousness.

Pastor Jim: [00:54:24] All right, pastor, great answer. Hey, I’ve got another one for you here. This individual writes in and says “after being judged at the Bema Seat, do you think we’re literally going to smell the smoke on our garments through all eternity? That sounds more like a punishment than a reminder of disobedience”.

Pastor Andy: [00:54:43] Well, I I’m uncomfortable with this word punishment that he put in the question because the Bema Seat is not a punishment. Because, um, Jesus said in John 19 verse 30, it is finished. In other words, what’s there to punish?   What the Bema Seat is, is it’s a loss of rewards that we could have received above and beyond salvation. And it’s very clear when you study 1st Corinthians 3, verses 10 through 15, that God is not putting us through a fire. He’s putting our works through a fire to ascertain their quality. They’re either gold, silver and costly stones, things we did for God with the right motive and under his power. Or they’re wood, hay and stubble. Things we did for God with the wrong, with the wrong motives, depending on our own power.  And so the fire is going to determine their quality. And whatever is finished after the fire finishes burning is part of reward that we receive above and beyond salvation. Apparently that will be a time of loss because it says there. First Corinthians 3 verse 15, if any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved as though escaping through the fire. So there does seem to be some kind of self-imposed loss. It’s kind of disappointment, I guess. Um, for some, based on what could have been, they could have been more rewarded, perhaps, but I don’t really put that in the same category as punishment. And I really don’t see smoke, you know, following you the rest of your eternal days because there’s a simile there. A simile is comparing two things with the words like or as it says, he shall suffer loss, but he, he, he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. So I’m this literal smoke that follows you all your days as a punishment. Um, I think is reading way too much, you know, into the judgment of rewards.

Pastor Jim: [00:56:51] Amen. Great answer. All right. I have another question here. This individual writes in and says, “Will most of the people who go to church be surprised that they are lost on the judgment Day?” And then they reference Matthew chapter 7:21 through 23.

Pastor Andy: [00:57:07] All right. Well, let’s go over there, Matthew 7 verses 21 through 23. “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Uh, depart from me, ye who practice lawlessness”. So you know whether this. You know. Is this a bunch of people in church on the Day of Judgment? I mean, I’m not going to be so bold as to make that prediction. I don’t know, because I don’t know what’s in people’s hearts. But what I think this passage is talking about is self-righteous people, which is what we just got finished talking about in the prior question.  Self-righteous people pleading their good works on the Day of Judgment as some kind of, you know, basis for I get to get in because look at what a good life I’ve lived, and look at what I did for you. And the truth of the matter is, these people had no relationship with God because Jesus says, I don’t even know who you are. And in a relational sense, I never knew you.

Pastor Jim: [00:58:31] And this was directed to religious leaders.

Pastor Andy: [00:58:33] Yeah. And that’s another point I wanted to make, is he’s speaking here to the Pharisees. And so it’s unregenerate Pharisees pleading their works of righteousness. Earlier in the passage, he talks about a tree. You know, a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Good tree cannot bear bad fruit. By their fruits you will know them. And everybody kind of takes that as, uh, boy, you better have the right kind of faith, because if you have the spurious faith, then you’re not going to get in. And that’s not even what the verse is talking about. It’s not talking about two kinds of faith. It’s there’s only one kind of faith. You either have it or you don’t. It’s talking about people with no faith. Um, they’re not relying upon the transferred righteousness of Jesus. They’re relying upon their own good works as a basis for entering the kingdom. Now, if you go to Matthew 12, he uses the same imagery. He says every, uh, either make the tree. Matthew 12:33, make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. Exact same imagery. And who’s he talking to there, Brother Jim, if you go back to Matthew 12:24, he says, but when the Pharisees heard it, they said, so he’s using this imagery in Matthew 12 against the works oriented, unregenerate Pharisees. And I believe that’s what’s happening in Matthew 7 with this. Speaking of unregenerate, works oriented Pharisees who think they’re saved by self- righteousness.

Pastor Jim: [01:00:14] Amen, brother. Well, thank you for that great answer. And folks, believe it or not, we have come to the end of our program for this evening. I want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to call in this evening. We can’t do this without you, and we want you to know we’re praying for you. Please continue to pray for us and continue to pray for KHCB and, uh, be sure and remember that, uh, they’ll be back next Thursday with the question and answer program. So God bless you and have a blessed evening.

Announcer: [01:00:53] And once again, we’d like to thank you so much for listening and participating in our weekly Question and Answers program. As the Lord tarries we’ll return next Tuesday with the pastor’s study at 9:30 Central Time, and on Thursday, another edition of the Question and Answers program. Tonight’s guests have been Doctor Andy Woods, Senior Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church and President of the Chafer Theological Seminary, and also Doctor Jim McGowan, Associate Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church. The church is located at 401 Matlage Way in Sugar Land, Texas. The church website can be found by going to SLBC.org. And you can also reach him at Andy Woods Ministries.Org.