Questions and Answers

with a question that we've received that some online listeners have and I just thought I would deal with that and then we'll take questions that you guys have this morning the question I want to start with is the question of where is paradise where is it located so we'll start with that if you would open to Luke 23 verse 43 and we'll we'll start with a brief word of Prayer probably God thank you for this time thank you for your word thank you for preserving it for us it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that we pray amen so the question I want to consider first is the question of where is paradise the term paradise appears three times in the Bible only three times the underlying greek word is paradise and what is often taught by folks is that paradise is a singular place that moves around two different locations in the universe and I'll show you why people say that so look with me at Luke 23 verse 43 Luke 23 verse 43 and jesus said unto him this is the thief on the cross verily I say unto thee today shalt thou be with me in paradise now if you take that verse literally which you should the Lord is saying that very day he is going to be in paradise and he's saying that while he's on the cross so that day where is the Lord Jesus Christ physically going to be located in the heart of the earth right Matthew 12 verse 40 Matthew 12 verse 44 as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth so after the cross the Lord Jesus Christ went to the heart of the earth and that's where he was for three days and three nights so when he said to the thief on the cross today thou shalt be with me in paradise clearly paradise that he was referring to had to be in the heart of the earth guilt me second Corinthians 12 verse 4 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 4 this is Paul speaking how that he was caught up into paradise so Paul was caught up into the paradise does that sound like the heart of the earth well obviously not now go up to verse 2 just to you see the context Paul says I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago and this appears to be a reference to Paul himself whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth such an one caught up to the third heaven and then verse four says how that he was caught up into paradise well the paradise in 2nd Corinthians 12 has to be the third heaven verse 2 talks about being caught up to the third heaven verse 4th talks about being caught up into paradise so obviously those two are the same now what some folks will say is this before the cross paradise was in the heart of the earth and so when the Lord said in Luke 23:43 today thou shalt be with me in paradise it's because he's gonna descend into the heart of the earth where paradise is but that after the cross paradise then moves up to heaven in paradise is then in third heaven I don't believe that and one of the reasons I don't believe that is look with me at Acts chapter 2 in other words what is commonly taught is that the Old Testament Saints prior to the cross are in Abraham's bosom in the heart of the earth but after the cross the Lord Jesus Christ sheds his blood paradise can then go up to heaven in other words before the blood was shed Old Testament Saints couldn't be in the in the presence of God but once the blood was shed they then could be and so the paradise that was in the heart of the earth Abraham's bosom went up to heaven now the reason I don't believe that is look at acts 2 verse 34 acts 2 is is at Pentecost so it's after the cross it's after the resurrection it's after the ascension we're talking about an event that's roughly 50 days after the cross and notice what it says for David is not ascended into the heavens now if you actually read the original Greek it's extremely strong what it says is for David is not ascended into the heavens in other words it says exactly that but but the point is if that verse is true where is David is he a Senate in the heavens or is he not he obviously is not well as David and Old Testament st. he clearly is so the whole theory that the Old Testament Saints go to heaven after the cross in my opinion is blown out of the water by that verse David isn't as David is not ascended into the heavens on the authority of acts 2 verse 34 now by the way just think with me for a moment if you're an Old Testament Saint what is your future expectation where do you expect to be for eternity do you expect to be in heaven you don't you expect to be resurrected into the Millennial Kingdom and in fact Ezekiel even talks about the graves being opened an Old Testament Saints being brought into the kingdom so what I would submit to you is if you're an Old Testament Saint why would you go to heaven after the cross the future expectation for you is the Millennial Kingdom and by the way the folks that are down in Abraham's bosom today it's not like they're sad it's a great place to be they're not disappointed about being there and they look forward to exactly what the Old Testament promised them get Revelation chapter 2 Revelation chapter 2 revelation 2 verse 7 he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life then notice what it says which is in the midst of the paradise of God so the paradise of God that's being described here has what within it the Tree of Life now does anyone know where the tree of life is yet revelation 22 notice something about revelation 22 revelation 22 is a description of the New Jerusalem verse 2 in the midst of the street of it that's the New Jerusalem from that's mentioned in Revelation 21 in the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there The Tree of Life so the Tree of Life we know from revelation 2 is said to be in paradise but we also know from revelation 22 that the Tree of Life is in the New Jerusalem so does anyone want to say the New Jerusalem was in the heart of the earth in the Old Testament does that make any sense whatsoever see what I'm going to suggest to you is I don't think it really makes a lot of sense to say that paradise is a singular location that just moves around to different places in the universe what paradise is is it's a term that is used to describe different places where the those in faith reside you follow me paradise didn't move move from Abraham's bosom up to heaven or put another way Abraham's bosom didn't move Abraham's bosom is a place of paradise just like the third heaven is a place of paradise it's a term that can be used to refer to more than a singular location all right so I'm gonna stop there on that in terms of what I have to say about paradise what I'm what I'll simply say is this if you take the view that paradise is a singular location that moves around you just bump into problems because Abraham's bosom is still in the heart of the earth it hasn't moved the Tree of Life is in Paradise which is located the Tree of Life is in the New Jerusalem but do you really want to say the New Jerusalem is in the heart of the earth none of these things make sense so it's much it's much simpler and more sensible to conclude that the way things work is that paradise is a term that refers to a blessed state of the debt all right so we'll pause there on that now did someone have a question they wanted to ask this morning I thought we had one yep so the question is as Paul preaches a different gospel than Peter does where does Paul get that gospel so first get with me Galatians chapter 2 and then we're gonna get acts 26 Galatians chapter 2 I want to start simply by showing you the fact that there are different Gospels in the scripture so Galatians 2 verse 7 but contrariwise when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter so based upon that verse Paul has the gospel of the uncircumcision Peter has the gospel of the circumcision what many folks will say is they will say there's only one gospel in the Bible I think part of the reason they say that is they are trying to fight against the idea that there's different paths to heaven so what some will say of course you've heard this is that Hinduism and Buddhism and Zoroastrianism and all the different religions of the world all lead to the same God that's not a true statement Jesus Christ says in John 14 verse 6 I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me the only way to get saved is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ if you're trying to get saved by some other fashion it is not going to work right so that truth is very clear in Scripture but it's an entirely different thing to say there's only one gospel the word gospel means good news is God the Father limited and he's only allowed to have one piece of good news throughout eternity he's not constrained by that he can have as much good news as he wants to have and when you read Galatians 2:7 scripture goes out of its way to tell you there's more than one gospel because there's the gospel of the uncircumcision and the gospel the circumcision and if words mean anything those are different Gospels so there are very clearly different Gospels in the scripture what most of churchianity would say is that Paul comes along later because he's persecuting the church but once he gets saved he then preaches the exact same thing as Peter well you know that's not true because Galatians 2:7 just told you that Peter and Paul had different Gospels they both preached Christ they both preached Christ rose from the dead there are some things they that were in common but there are some things they preach that were not in common and that's why they had different Gospels now look with me at acts 26 next chapter 26 in the book of Acts there are three times where Paul recounts his conversion on the road to Damascus there's acts 9 and there's acts 22 and then there's acts 26 so look with me in verse 14 and when we will all fall unto the earth I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks and I said who art thou Lord and he said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest now notice verse 26 but rise and stand upon thy feet for I've appeared unto thee for this purpose now notice carefully what this next part says to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee so with that verse is clearly saying is that Paul was to be a witness of what he had already seen and things in which the Lord will appear unto him so Paul received more than one revelation from the Lord look with me at 2nd Corinthians 12 2nd Corinthians 12 one of the things that is simply the way that scripture operates is God operates on the basis of progressive revelation now you know what revelation is revelation is when God reveals God communicates truth to man that man otherwise would not know and God does so progressively in that did he give it all at once well he did did God give did did God reveal to Adam every there was - no obviously not did you real - Noah do you revealed Abraham no it was sequentially given over time it was progressively revealed as God unfolded it look with me at Sankranthi is 12 verse 1 it is expedient for me doubtless to glory I will come to visions plural and revelations plural of the Lord so did Paul have multiple revelations of the Lord yes he clearly did you know that from acts 26 16 you know that from 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 2 and so what Paul does in his epistles is he he records over time the revelations that were given to him so a good question someone have another question so look at Jeremiah 32 35 and they built the high places of bail which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire under Moloch which I commanded them not neither came it into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin and so the question that's raised there is you know what does it mean here that this didn't come into God's mind how can it be that you know he wasn't aware of this what I would tell you is the answer to that there's a couple different things you can do with verses like that the first thing that you can do is you can say that God's knowledge is limited that in other words there are some things about the future that he doesn't know and then that he's watching it play out I am extremely uncomfortable with saying that and the reason I'm uncomfortable with saying that is that when you say there are things that God doesn't know about the future in my mind you make the fulfillment of prophecy in peril so in other words we're right here on the chart what about all this right here how do we know that's correct well you know that's correct because there are verses that tell you those things will happen in other words how do you know that there will be Daniels 70th week is there scientific evidence for that you know that because Daniel 9 tells you that the 70th week will happen how do you know that the Second Coming will happen you know the Second Coming will happen because there's a multitude of verses that indicate that it will and so what I would suggest to you is that I am uncomfortable with the idea that there are certain things about the future God does not know that he's letting play out and watching it occur it seems to me the more accurate view is that God has perfect and total knowledge of all of those things I'll give you an example turn with me to Matthew get Matthew 11 verse 21 get Matthew 11 verse 21 woe unto the corazon woe unto the bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes now that's an amazing verse because what that verse says is what would what the Lord is saying to the cities that he's speaking to there in other words what he's saying to corazon and Bethsaida is guys here's what's happened I've come here I've performed these mighty works I have given you such compelling evidence that if I had done this in tyre and sidon here's what they would have done which means not only does God know everything that does happen or will happen he also knows what would have happened had other things happened you follow me so here's the thing that happens all the time I give you a simple example you're watching a football game and there is a terrible call like say the Fiesta Bowl right what would have happened had that terrible call not been made the truth is you don't know right it would have been different things would have changed the momentum but you don't know for sure because you can't know how everything else would play out humans don't have that depth of knowledge does God the Father have that depth of knowledge yes he does so the way that I would suggest you think about it is God knows everything including what would have been had things been differently when it talks about this not coming into his mind I think the way to understand that is what it's saying is you're committing evil that never would have entered my heart to do when you look in the scriptures mind and heart are often used interchangeably what God is not saying in Jeremiah is he's not saying well you guys sinned and I had no idea you were gonna do that he's not saying that there's nothing man does where God couldn't have anticipated it or known it would happen what he's saying is you're doing this out of the wickedness of your heart I never would have purposed for you to do that that that's the way I would understand it it's not that he had some lack of understanding yes [Applause] so the question is God puts into creation man's free will so men and angels have free will to choose it's clear from first Timothy two three and four that he desires all men to be saved and yet obviously they're not so how can that be and the way I would respond to that is that a machine has no emotion and has no capacity for love right so in other words if you create an assembly line and you have a machine and the machine you know stamps a piece of metal or makes a cut or fixes a bolt or whatever it does right the machine has no free agency it's not making a choice right it's been programmed to do something and it just does it so when the machine does it it's not a moral act it's not an act of obedience it's not an act of love it's just a machine mindlessly doing what machines do right [Music] well or just put it as he lets people pick right so one of the things that happens is if you ask yourself the question why does someone go to hell today and and the basic reason they go to hell is they reject the provision that God made for them in other words to to go to heaven today do you have to accomplish some grand thing you have to lead a sinless life do you have to find a cure for cancer I mean you don't be doing grand all you have to do is Christ died for your sins if you trust the blood he'll shut for you he'll save you even if you live like an idiot right I mean let me ask you this question so if I believe the gospel on Monday I believe that Christ died on the cross for my sins is buried rose again the third day and then Tuesday I say you know I'm not so sure I believe this and I'm gonna spend the rest of my life as you know a believer in star trek and you just lead a life of idiocy are you saved already lost will you're safe you if you if you believe the gospel for a moment the moment you did the holy spirit end dwelt you and saved you forever is that true that's true the only authority of Ephesians 1:13 and 14 the point being the only way you go to hell is you have to reject the provision Christ made for you right I mean that's that's it and so when people do that God does honor their free will because what they're essentially doing is they're saying I'm not interested and it's you know it's particularly during the dispensation of grace it's a great tragedy that people are lost right because they don't have to get circumcised and join the nation of Israel all they have to do is believe the gospel but men because of the hardness of their hearts reject it and so they they suffer the consequence so that's the best I can do with that I mean God gives us free will but it should be honest he's made it easy right why if you just believe the gospel but because men's hearts are hard and prideful they they reject it Kathy yeah so get Luke 2:52 this question goes to the issue of what did the Lord Jesus Christ know while he was on the earth and when did he know it and so one of the things that is you know there are some things that are just really difficult to understand so for example Jesus Christ is he fully man yes is he fully God yes right he's fully man and he's fully God at the same time that is profound and true and in some ways impossible to comprehend right because man is what he's limited to this if I'm here right now then I'm not there right now that's the nature of having a human body right I didn't exist prior to being conceived right I mean I wasn't in existence so there there there's fundamental differences between man and God and yet Jesus Christ is both at the same time so there's going to be things that are very difficult to understand about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ so look with me at acts 252 I'm sorry Luke 2:52 I'm sorry Luke 2:52 Luke 2:52 and Jesus increased in wisdom way too high how'd he do that well the verse is true a lot of times what happens is we come to a verse and the verse doesn't fit our preconception so we decide how to massage the verse right but that verse is true and it says Jesus increased in wisdom well what that tells you is if he increased in wisdom then he must not have had all of it right and by the way when the Lord was born and he's one minute old was he speaking fluent Hebrew he wasn't right he increased in wisdom now let's be super clear he was always God he didn't cease to be God he was always God but in taking upon himself human flesh did he voluntarily put himself in a situation where he could increase in wisdom and the answer to that is yes he did because he voluntarily took upon himself certain limitations for a period of time look with me at mark 13 verse 32 and what people will sometimes do with with stuff like this is they won't like what the verses say and so if you don't agree with how they view these things that you then are denying the deity of Christ and you're a heretic and you know all kinds of slanders that people do and I'll just say you're better off believing the verses the verses are true God wrote them he knows what they say he's perfectly comfortable with the implications of what they say and so you're better off believing the verses so look at mark 13:32 but of that day and that hour this is talking about the second coming no with no man so does mankind know the time the second coming no no not the angels which are in heaven so did the Angels know the time of the second coming no they don't know read the next part neither the capital last Sun so according to that verse Jesus Christ does not know the time the second coming mm-hmm well it definitely doesn't know it he doesn't know it at that time so was Jesus Christ fully God yes he was he absolutely was he was God taking him on human flesh but in taking on human flesh did he operate differently than prior to that he did because he chose to right so were there things that Jesus Christ voluntarily chose not to know that he previously knew and the answer is yes and because he's God he can do that so that's the way to think about that there are things that the Incarnation where God you know immortal God takes upon himself human flesh so he can thereby die is something about us caught an inconsistency isn't it I mean God can't die right but God takes upon himself human flesh so that the Lord Jesus Christ can die and so what happens is the the act of combining the immutable eternal God with human flesh creates many things that are hard to understand because the nature of man and the nature of God are different and so that's the that's how to think about that would be my suggestion yes yep oh yeah he's fully God he's fully God he the Lord understand it comes to the understand that he is the son of God for sure okay but he does different things at different times so think about this way so get with me Luke for get Luke for in Isaiah 61 Luke for in Isaiah 61 and let well we're gonna look at them together so let's do Isaiah 61 first isaiah 61:1 the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord now notice this comma and the day of the vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn keep that but look at I look at Luke chapter 4 Luke chapter 4 verse 16 and he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah s-- and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written now notice what's going to happen in verse 18 and 19 the Lord is going to quote Isaiah 61 verses 1 & 2 verse 18 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind and to set to set at liberty of them that are bruised and that's very similar to Isaiah 61 verse 1 now it's not identical but it's very similar verse 19 of Luke 4 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord period now look at verse 20 and he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and sat down so what the Lord does in Luke 4 is he asked for the scrolls he gets up and he reads Isaiah 61 verse 1 he then reads part of verse 2 so look Isaiah 61 verse 2 Isaiah 61 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord you see how there's a comma there that's not the end of a sentence he complete he just stops there right in the middle of the sentence and sits down why does he do that I'm gonna suggest the reason he does that is look at a look at what Isaiah 61 verse 2 says and the day of vengeance of our God was the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 4 proclaiming the day of vengeance he wasn't he was proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord is their transition in other words is the law is the Lord doing something different before the cross than what he's doing over here sure he is if you think of Acts to get Acts chapter 2 was the first coming Jesus Christ coming as the righteous judge no it wasn't he was coming to save his people from their sins Matthew 1:21 what will the second coming be like it'll be Revelation 19:11 says that he'll judge and make war so is there a difference even within the Lord's ministry there is and it's time-based isn't it first he's going to do this but then there's going to come a point where he doesn't come to save his people from their sins he comes to judge and make war look with me at Acts chapter 2 and look with me and look with me at verse 34 for David is not a Senate into the heavens but he saith himself the Lord said unto my lord sit thou on my right hand notice until I make thy foes thy footstool when you think about acts 7 when Stephen is looking up into heaven what does Stephen see he sees the Son of man standing well if he's standing what's he about to do he's about to make his foes his footstool right acts 2 says I don't think I can do this but you know essentially sit until what and until I make thy foes thy footstool in other words sit down just take a minute here we're not going to make your foes your footstool just yet time ticks off in the book of Acts you get to act 7 what does the Lord do he stands because in acts 7 what is the next event that should happen it's the thing about this with me if there's no dispensation of grace after acts 7 what should what should happen in short order the 70th week so the reason why acts 7 in verse 55 in verse 56 says it twice that the Lord is standing is the prophetic calendar has moved on from where it was the 70th week is very close in the time of judgment and so that's what you see unfolding there all right thank you for the questions what we'll do is we'll take a break and then we'll start back up at 11:00 father thank you for this time we thank you that your word has the answers that your word tells us what we need to know and we just pray Lord that we would believe your word rather than our own opinions it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray amen

Channel: Columbus Bible Church

Views: 2,008

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: TWUiTw_c_SI

Length: 41min 49sec (2509 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 01 2020