Questions
If Satan was an angel and there is no sin in heaven, how did Satan sin?
- The Bible doesn’t give us a clear answer as to why Satan disobeyed and rebelled against God. It just tells us that he did.
What is different about the coming of the Holy Spirit to believers in the time of the New Covenant, versus His work in believers under the Old Covenant? My understanding is that we would refer to believers of both ages as “regenerate”, since this is a prerequisite for true faith. But in the New Covenant I usually think of this as coinciding with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a believer.
During Pastor Josh’s sermons we have been discussing prophecy, dreams, and the end times. I did not grow up in the EPC or Presbyterian Churches. Why doesn’t Pastor Josh explain what the organizations beliefs are on these different topics?
- I’d encourage the individual to go to our church YouTube channel and watch a Saturday seminar I did titled Naturally Supernatural Part 2.
- But there isn’t an official belief on these topics in the EPC.
What does our church believes happens to infants or children during the rapture or end of times? What scripture is there to read that discusses this or supports our belief?
- There’s a vast difference between the end times and the rapture. We’re living in the end times right now, so I’ll focus on the rapture part of the question.
- The question then is, “When Jesus returns, what happens to infants/children who weren’t able to receive or reject him as their Savior? Will they be raptured to Heaven or sent to Hell?”
- I think I’ve answered a similar question about infants/children who die. So I’ll quickly summarize my response.
- Scripture doesn’t say much on this topic, so we must be careful.
- Where I land, this isn’t an official Gateway position or EPC position as this isn’t a topic with enough biblical evidence to have an “official position” — however I land here: “Since God’s grace is enough to cover the sins of those who realize what it means to both be born in sin and that they have sinned against God, his grace is enough to cover the sins of infants/children who never reached the opportunity to realize what it means to be born in sin.”
How do we know all souls are eternal, specifically the ones not found in the book of life? I recently met someone who believes in annihilationism and says that after the final judgment, those whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life, still live on the new earth with God for all eternity, however, those not in the book of life will essentially cease to exist, body and soul, rather than be in hell for all eternity.
- Because Jesus tells us so. And he actually connects eternal life and eternal death. Where if one isn’t true, then neither are.
- To save time, I’ll read just one passage where Jesus makes this clear: Matthew 25:31-46
- “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,6 you did it to me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
- In the Greek, the same word is used — and is present — meaning, the translators aren’t implying that the fire and punishment are eternal just like life is eternal — the Greek text actually says that the fire and punishment are eternal along with life. Therefore, annihilationism ignores what Jesus actually says.
- For those who argue that the punishment could be eternal in a non-existent state — then one must also conclude that somehow the life that Jesus mentions could be just as eternal and of a non-existent state. And that’s not the life any Christians believes they’re headed for. So neither can the punishment be anything other than eternal for those who reject Christ.
- Finally, here’s what annihilationism actually does: it excuses us from sharing the gospel with people. Think about it. If there’s no eternal punishment — if all that happens to people who don’t believe in Jesus is that they will cease to exist — how compelling is that to share the gospel with them?
My life group was discussing the sermon from Daniel 8, and we had a point that we all got kind of stuck on. Pastor Josh talked about the two approaches: 1) the higher critics’ approach of not accepting all the prophetic details, or 2) believing that God is the author of history. He said that both of these views have obstacles. We understand the obstacles for #1, but we were confused about what the actual obstacle is for #2. Our best guess is that the “obstacle” is that it will be more challenging for Christians to live out their faith the closer we get to the end of this world. But we also struggled to see that as an obstacle because being challenged should actually strengthen our faith. So, can you confirm what the obstacle is to believing that God is the author of history?
- The questioner seems to have understood both of my points. Where there may still be confusion is on what I meant by obstacles for us Christians as we live in the end times. I’ll share a few of these obstacles from my point of view as a pastor and see if that helps clarify what I meant in the sermon.
- Take some of Paul’s final words about the end times from 2nd Timothy chapter 3:
- But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
- These are all obstacles for us as we strive to live faithfully. And we’re all prone to deceiving ourselves into thinking that we’re not the people doing the things that Paul lists! That’s the blindness our enemy continues to try and place over all our eyes. Now the diligence needed to overcome these obstacles may be present in the folks in the group who wrestled with my statement — but — again as a pastor — I see far too many followers of Jesus with very little endurance these days. Lots of compromise these days. Lots of appearing godly while denying the power of our faith. And it’s a huge concern because we’re the people — unlike the higher critics — who take God at his Word. Yet we don’t take him seriously when his Word is critiquing us.
In Romans 11, Paul tells us that there was left a remnant of God’s people, the Jews, who were able to hear with their ears and see with their eyes the truths of God’s redemptive work through Jesus. This remnant would be God’s instrument to bring the gospel to the gentiles in order to add them to the tree of Israel. And the reason he does this is 1) so that He may fulfill the promise he made to his people through the prophets to bring salvation to the gentiles and 2) to make the hardened Jews jealous in order to save some. Do you believe that this second point is still the intention for today? That God is still continuing to use the grafting in of gentiles to make the Jews jealous and bring some of them to faith and repentance? Or do you think purpose of the Jew’s jealousy has ran it’s course and was more of an early church approach to saving some Jews? Paul says in verses 13 and 14 that God appointed him as an Apostle to the gentiles and Paul wants to make the Jews jealous in order to save some. I ask this question because I wonder if Jews of today would actually become jealous of the ongoing grafting in of the gentiles.
- I’ll be preaching through Romans 11 in the near future — at the time of this recording — so more to come on this. But I think the context of the verses indicate that the jealousy continues until the full number of Gentiles are grafted in (11:25). So until the full number of Gentiles is reached — the period of their jealousy continues.
I really enjoy History….The History Channel is a favorite of ours. Lately I’ve been thinking how, as Christians, we are to reconcile ancient cultures and events with our belief in the Bible and timelines we have been taught and believe. Where do the cultures and peoples of the Americas come from and when did they get there compared to Biblical time lines and events? How does a pyramid in South America look so similar to a pyramid in Egypt? Ancient drawings depict similar figures all around the world. Continents seem to have fit together in the past and would suggest drastic continental movement of the Earth’s surface….separating peoples and cultures. The populating of the world in Genesis is confusing and hard to explain. These are all thoughts and questions that I’d like to be able to discuss intelligently with my family and friends. Or should we even worry or contemplate such things?
- I wouldn’t say don’t worry about contemplating such things, just realize what the point of the Bible is when it comes to its history portions. It’s not telling the history of every civilization, but mainly of the Jewish people and then the spread of the church in the NT. Allow other historians to be informative, but when they start to say, “Because of what we know over here, then the Bible isn’t true” understand that they probably have an agenda that goes beyond their history of study.