Hey! 

I was reading in Isaiah this morning, and I had a question on something that I came across. In Isaiah 49:16, our version says “Behold I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands. (Going to Jesus.com – Bible Translations)   Your walls are always before me.” Specifically the beginning, is that one of the Old Testament references to the crucifixion, that because of Jesus’ sacrifice we have been engraved on His hands?

Thank you! 

Samantha

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Yes, Samantha.  And I am glad you picked up on that.  It seems sweet to me that the Lord would say that.

Pastor John

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Hi, John.

Listening to the morning coffee after I left, Sue said something that I have a question about. Sue told Martha and Vivie that the God that saved Donald Trump’s life was the only God that could. 

I know Donald Trump said it was God who saved his life, but could it have been Satan (or one of his demons) that saved Trump’s life?  Did God grant Satan the power to kill and save humans?

~Allison

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Hi Allison.

I the opening chapter of Revelation (v.18), Jesus said to John that he (not Satan) held the keys of death and of Hades.  And in Acts 3:15, Peter called Jesus “the Prince of life”.  So, we know that Jesus has the power of both life and death, though Satan once did have the power of death, according to the author of Hebrews 2:14.

Regardless of who God used to do it, God is the One who decided that President Trump would not fall victim to an assassin.  So, Sue told little Martha and Vivie the right thing.  To God belongs all the responsibility for the president’s survival.  As God said through Moses in Deuteronomy, “I kill, and I restore to life” (32:39).

Hope that answers your question.

Pastor John

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Hey Pastor John,

After the meeting Saturday night, Aaron and I were talking about the scriptures we read, where Jesus was speaking of another baptism, his, that never will incorporate water.  As we were talking, I asked him if we could look at what Jesus said as being him prophesying of his baptism before anyone ever knew it?  I was wondering what your thoughts were on this, to help feed my hunger. 

Alex S.

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Hi Alex.

Yes, Jesus was certainly speaking of his baptism, which (1) no one knew about, and (2) was not available, and (3) does not include water, and never will.  Much of what Jesus said should be considered prophecy, for he was speaking of life in the Spirit, which was not available for anyone except Jesus until the day of Pentecost.

Hope that helps.

Pastor John

Baptism in the NT – PDF

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Hi, John.

Lee Ann’s testimony confirmed for me what the Spirit told me about being carried away with activities that take time spent away from learning of and speaking to Him and the Father.

I’ve spent last night and today, after fellowship with Melissa, Gayle, Randell and Doris and Brad, reading Romans and digging deeper into understanding words that “I think” I know what they mean, but know in my heart that I may not really know.

Once such word is justified/justification.  I found the definition in my Strongs Concordance and then searched to see where it was used other than Romans.

My question regards Matthew 11:19: “But wisdom is justified by her children.”

My question is this: Am I right in thinking that this sentence could be written “Wisdom (Jesus) is declared acceptable to God by His children”?  Not sure because the pronoun used is her.

~Allison

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Hi Allison.

That’s an interesting question.  I don’t know that is what Jesus meant by his statement, but what you said is true; Jesus is justified by God’s children.

As for the feminine pronoun, that is because the word “wisdom” is a feminine word in Greek.  The same is true in the Hebrew language; “wisdom” is a feminine word.  And yet, in Proverbs 8, the Son of God calls himself “wisdom”, even though it is a feminine word.

So, yes, as to your question, it is possible that “wisdom” in that verse could refer to the Son, but I think that Jesus was speaking about wise children of God justifying God’s wisdom by the way they live.

Thank you for writing.

Pastor John

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Pastor John, 

I listened to the Saturday fireside chat and you talked about making some changes to your Old Testament translation, in particular, using the word “church” instead of “house” and/or “temple” in certain cases. The example you brought up was Psalm 5:7: 

“But as for me, in the abundance of your loving kindness will I enter your house. I will worship toward your holy temple in fear of you.” 

You said that in this verse you suggest using the word “church” instead of “house” and leaving the word “temple” as it is. 

I have heard you before talk about the origin of the English word “church”, and saying that it comes from the Greek word “kuriakon” (I have also translated the gospel tract titled “The Church?”* into Hungarian, where you say the same thing). You have also explained that kuriakon literally means “the house of a lord” or “a lord’s house” which, I assume, points to the pagan notion of there being “many gods and many lords”. 

Now, here in Psalm 5:7, David is speaking/praying to Jehovah, so when he talks about entering “your house”, he must be referring to the holy temple (actually at this point it was still the Tabernacle, if I’m not mistaken) that God had chosen to put His presence into; the one place where the children of Israel could acceptably worship God, by keeping the ceremonies and rituals commanded to them through Moses. 

So, my question is: Will it not communicate a wrong idea to the readers about what 

David meant as Jehovah’s “house”, if you’re going to use the word “church” in this verse? Wasn’t God’s chosen place to worship (the Tabernacle and then later, the 

Temple) indeed a unique, holy place in the Old Testament; and will not the word “church” (a house dedicated to ANY deity) actually question that idea of the Tabernacle/Temple being the ONLY place where God could be lawfully and acceptably worshipped? 

I hope I was able to make my thoughts and my question clear.

Zoli 

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Hi, Zoli.

Yes, that was very clear, and understandable. Here is my reasoning for the change. 

All earthly religion, whether in the ancient world or now, is church-based religion, except for the Faith revealed by Christ. His alone is a holy, Spirit-based religion. That was the wisdom revealed to the apostle Paul, and it set his gospel apart from even the gospel Peter preached, which included keeping the law.

Israel’s religion, under the law of Moses, was as much church-based as were the religions of the heathen. Zeus’ temples were churches; Islam’s mosques are churches; Jewish and Buddhist temples are churches. What made Israel’s religion holy and unique is that God really did give that law; all others were man-made. In AD 325, when the emperor Constantine, with the apostate believers who joined him, devised the new religion of Christianity, that religion was church-based; it was not revealed to Constantine or those apostate believers by God. It became the religion of the empire (and the basis of Western society) because Rome had the muscle to enforce it, but it was, and is, a church-based faith; it was not from God.

I don’t know a better way to communicate the uniqueness of Jesus’ blood-bought, Spirit-based Faith than to contrast it with all other religions, by calling them all, including Israel’s ancient religion, church-based. The church, which was central to Israel’s ancient religion, was the house of God in Jerusalem. To build it was commanded by God, but it was still a church, the only holy church that has ever been in the world.

Paul’s way of saying “church-based” is “in the flesh”. All religions on earth, including ancient Israel’s, are “in the flesh”. Jesus delivered us from all fleshly, church-based religions, so that we may now worship God “in spirit and in truth” instead. I think that distinction is important enough to emphasize it by calling the house of God in the Old Testament what it really was: a church. To do so, I think, will help people understand Paul’s revelation from Jesus. That revelation was misunderstood and rejected in his time, even by most believers (cf. 2Tim. 1:15), and it remains misunderstood today.

I hope that clarifies why we have decided to re-translate some biblical references to Israel’s temple as a church. 

Pastor John 

* Going to Jesus.com Tracts – The Church?

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