What’s with All of the Signs and Wonders in the Old Testament?

There are many fantastic signs and wonders in the Old Testament, so why doesn't God do those today? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us with your question at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, or you can email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, we have a good news story to share with you. After a young baseball player lost not only her home, but also her prized baseball card collection in one of the California wildfires, a local man stepped in with a very special gift. In addition to being a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan, nine-year-old Reese Osterberg is also one of the best baseball players in her league. Although Reese and her family were able to safely evacuate as the creek fire encroached on their home last month, they forgot to bring Reese's most prized possession with them, her baseball card collection. Well, her family made it to safety, but their house was destroyed by the fire, taking her 100-card collection, which she spent three years building with it. So in stepped the fire department to arrange a special step up to the plate baseball card donation drive for Reese. Not long after the news of that drive was announced, it reached baseball card collector Kevin Ashford, who has amassed 25,000 cards in the 25 years he's been collecting them.

With the help of the fire department, Mr. Ashford donated his entire collection to Reese. Wow. That's really cool. Isn't that amazing? What a great guy.

I mean, I just, you know, you hear stories like that. I don't know where, you know, this gentleman is as far as his faith, but that is the sort of thing that you just want to hear Christians do. Just such overwhelming generosity.

Just beautiful. Yeah. Well, let's get to our first question of the day. This one comes from Kim, who emailed us and she said, hi, pastor Adriel and Bill in the news cycle and on social media, misinformation is often a topic of discussion. I was just wondering, what do you all think are some of the most misunderstood or misinformed ideas about Christianity? I feel like I'm constantly learning how to answer certain misinformed views about Jesus and the Bible. And I'm just wondering, how do you deal with this?

Yeah, well, I think that one, you're totally right. I mean, there's been all sorts of talk, especially I feel like in the last year, you know, the talk of fake news and misinformation out there, and boy, it can be really depressing. And it can make you feel like, I don't really know what's going on anymore. And so this is a huge problem. And it's also a problem for Christians in the church. There is a kind of fake news, if you will, that tries to displace the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's not just a problem that we have in our day, it's actually a problem that has been experienced by the church from the very beginning, even in the days of the apostles.

I mean, I think of what the apostle Paul said when he was writing to the Galatians. At the very beginning of the book of Galatians, he says to this church, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Talk about misinformation, talk about fake news, right? And then he goes on to say in verse eight, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. And so fake news, false gospels have been a problem for the church of Jesus Christ since its very inception, since the very beginning.

And I would say actually, you know, to your question, what are some of the big misinformations out there today? I think at the heart of it, we would want to say, is misinformation related to the gospel that you do hear all over the place today? And look, the gospel is something that is so simple that even a little child can understand it.

I praise God for that because I have four little kids, so being able to talk to them about Jesus and the gospel is wonderful because I know that the gospel is for them. You can have a one-sentence definition of the gospel that gets to the heart of the forgiveness of sins, of God's goodness to us and his son Jesus, but the gospel is also so magnificent that we can spend all of eternity never getting tired of it. There can be tomes of theology that are written about the gospel exploring its depth, its beauty, and we'll just never get tired of the simplicity and the greatness of the gospel. And yet there's a lot of misinformation and confusion about it today, and I think one of the biggest confusions is people today don't know how to distinguish between the law and the gospel. I've had so many conversations with people outside of the church, and I've asked them, what do you think the good news of the Christian faith is? What is the gospel? And a lot of people assume they know what the gospel is, and their response is something like this. Well, I mean, it's be a good person, love God, love your neighbor, you know, the golden rule, that kind of a thing, give to charity. They point to the law.

Now, the law is a good thing. The law is something that God gave to us, to his people. It reflects his holiness, his goodness, his righteousness. The gospel, though, is not something that we do. The gospel is God's work. It's what he did for us in Christ to redeem us, to redeem humanity.

The law is our work. It's what God calls us to do. And yet so many times when you ask people today, Kim, what is the gospel?

They point to their own work. And so I think this is something that we really have to clear up for others and really for ourselves as well, because if you think that the gospel, the good news of Christianity is what you do, well, then guess what? It's not going to be very good news, because the fact of the matter is, one, all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, and two, even as Christians, born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, we're still in this constant battle where, although we want to love the Lord and serve the Lord and do indeed love and serve the Lord, we don't do it as well as we would want to or wish to. My life, your life, is not the good news of the Christian faith. The good news of the Christian faith is what God has done. That's why it's good news, because it's Jesus's perfect work on your behalf, and we need to point people to Jesus and to what the gospel really is.

Now, just really briefly, here's a second misinformation, and I think it's this. Christianity is all about blind faith. In other words, we accept it on a whim because it just makes us feel good, you know, that kind of a thing. But in the New Testament, calls to faith were often rooted in evidence and reasons.

The prophetic testimony, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, eyewitness accounts of the fact that he rose again from the dead. We don't embrace the Christian faith because it just makes us feel good. That's not why you should believe something or not believe something.

Your feelings are going to change all the time, every day. Embrace Christianity because it's true, and it's rooted in what God has done in history, in reality. That's what gives us hope, and I think that's another thing that we really have to clear up for people today is, look, it doesn't matter whether you feel like it's true or you feel like it's not true. Jesus really rose again from the dead. That's why we believe it.

Thanks for your question, Kim. Amen. You know, I was thinking about what Christian worldview author Greg Cokle says about post-modernism today and how faith is not simply a matter of what flavor ice cream you like. I mean, it's not whether you choose chocolate or vanilla. One is true and one is not, and you can't say that all roads lead to heaven or these are nice stories. These are historical facts, and that's where we put our faith, and man, I'm so glad you addressed both of those major misunderstandings.

Yeah, I like that. I like that way of putting it, right? It's not just like picking your favorite ice cream at Baskin-Robbins or something like that, but that's how a lot of people view religion and faith. We don't treat it as something that's either true or false. We treat it as a matter of preference, a matter of feeling, so that way when you say Christianity is true, people get offended because for them, that'd be like saying pizza is true. I mean, that's the best food, or Mexican food is the best food, which it is, by the way. But in their mind, they're thinking, how could you say that? You know, how could you tell me that your preference in ice cream or kind of food is superior to my preference?

Isn't it just a matter of personal preference? Well, no, that's not how faith and Christianity puts itself out there even. The Christian faith says, believe this because it is true, because Jesus really rose from the dead, and if he didn't, then don't believe it.

Don't waste your time. We really need to spend more time investigating the claims of the Christian faith, really investigating them. And if you're listening right now and you've never done that, you know, you're kind of on the fence, I'm not sure what I believe, let me invite you to do just that, to read the scriptures, to study them, to listen to what Jesus himself has to say about who he is and what he's done. Listen to what the apostles had to say. Read the history surrounding the New Testament, the book of Acts.

I mean, this is true, and because it's true, it's life-changing. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question for us, you can call us at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

Hey Adriel and Bill, this is Luke from Michigan. I just had a quick question about the persons of Enoch and Elijah. I've always been taught that Enoch in Genesis 5 did not die, but rather he was taken directly to heaven in bodily form. Similarly, the prophet Elijah, he exited the world a lot of the same way, not experiencing physical death, being taken directly to heaven. Can we conclude from these stories that these men are in resurrection bodies similar to that of Jesus? And if so, is that how Elijah appeared to Jesus on the Mount of the Transfiguration, within an embodied presence? Thanks.

Hey, thanks for this question, and well, let me just, you know, a little bit of background here. You're right. I mean, you read Genesis, you also read Hebrews 11 verse 5, it says this, by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God so it seems right there like, you know, he didn't see death, he was taken into the presence of the Lord. Second Kings chapter 2 verse 11, it came to pass as they still went on and talked at, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which part of them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Right there, you got like the heavenly taxi taking Elijah into heaven. Glorified bodies are associated with the final resurrection, which has not happened.

That's absolutely clear. In fact, there was some misinformation going around in the early church that the day of the Lord, or the resurrection, had already taken place. This is reflected in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, it's also reflected in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 50 and following says this, I tell you brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. He's talking about the coming of the Lord and the final resurrection. Similarly, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 16 and 17, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Now I bring up that second passage because it seems to indicate that at the second coming, those who are alive are going to be caught up and glorified. There's a transformation that takes place, and so could it be that something like that is what happened with Enoch and Elijah? I don't think we can be 100 percent certain. You know, what the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration saw was Elijah and Moses. This is described in Matthew chapter 17, and since Moses died and he hasn't been raised bodily yet, I wonder if what the disciples saw wasn't Elijah and Moses with glorified bodies, but in some other kind of form.

I'm not sure. Here's the main takeaways, though. One, the final resurrection has not happened yet, and that's clear in the New Testament. Two, the final resurrection is our ultimate hope. Now that, I think, going back to our first question, is another one of these misconceptions that a lot of people have about the Christian faith, even that Christians have. You know, a lot of people assume that the goal of Christianity, you know, Jesus died on the cross for my sins, so I could just go to heaven and be with God. My body's gonna go down into the ground, and I'm glad for that because it's breaking down, and it's not the body that I want, and I'm just going to go in heaven and sort of float around disembodied in the presence of the Lord for all eternity, and I'm going to be in heaven when I die because of the work of Jesus.

Well, that is true. You know, if you have faith in Christ, we are going to go to heaven when we die, and our bodies are going to go into the ground, but ultimately, the ultimate hope that we have is in the resurrection of the body. We're going to have glorified bodies, transformed bodies, that God is restoring the whole creation through the work of his Son Jesus Christ, and it really is a wonderful hope that we have as believers, and so one of those more mysterious texts of scripture with Elijah and Enoch there, but hopefully that gives you some direction, brother.

God bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we have a very cool offer for you today. It's actually the book that helped launch this program. Yes, the book is Core Christianity, written by my friend, Dr. Michael Horton, and we've been talking about some of the misconceptions that we see all around us in the church today related to the gospel, you know, the distinguishing between law and gospel related to the fact that Christianity isn't based primarily on feelings, but on what actually happened in history. We put our faith in these real events that took place, the life, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, even misconceptions about the resurrection. One of the things that's wonderful about this book, Core Christianity, is you're going to dive into all of that in this book, and it's going to help clear up some of these misconceptions that we see all around us today, and so to get a hold of this special offer for today, go over to Core Christianity forward slash offers, or give us a call at 833-THE-CORE, and on behalf of the whole team here at Core Christianity, thank you so much for listening. Go request your copy today. You will love this book, a great book to read with your family or maybe as a small group in your church, and again, if you'd like to request it, give us a call at 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Let's get to another question that came in, Adriel, this one from Kimberly. She says, what's the point of praying for things if God already knows what the outcome is for everything? Kimberly, prayer is the shovel with which you and I unearth the sovereign will of God, and here's what I mean by that. God knows all things, as you say, accomplishes his purposes throughout the world, but he chooses to bring about his will through our prayers, through your prayers. You see, God uses means. Jesus rebuked the false teachers. He said to them, do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. See, God doesn't need you or I to accomplish his purposes. He could, if he wanted, just zap his will into existence, but instead he does use us, and he calls us into fellowship with himself.

And let me just say this, is there anything more beautiful than that? That God would use sinful people working in and through them to know him and to accomplish his purposes. Think of a little boy helping his dad work on the car. You know, dad doesn't need the boy's help, does he? But he delights in spending time with his son, and he gives his son the joy of being able to participate in something special.

And I wonder if it isn't something like that, Kim. We are the children of God, and God brings us into fellowship with him and gives you the privilege of praying, serving, loving. It really is a gift that God gives to us. So you're right, God knows all things, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pray, because God has ordained to accomplish his purposes through our prayers, through our evangelizing, through our sharing the faith with others, through our walking with Jesus.

And so press into prayer and continue to grow in your own relationship with the Lord, getting to know your heavenly father through Jesus and through Jesus, and see how the Lord does indeed accomplish his purposes through the prayers that he places in your heart. God bless you. Thanks, Kimberly, for that question. This is Core Christianity. By the way, we are listener-supported.

We count on people just like you to keep this program on the air. If you'd like to learn more about how you could make a gift, just go to our website, which is corechristianity.com. Here's a question that came in through our Facebook account from Noel. Noel says, why did God choose to reveal himself in big and fantastic ways in the Old Testament, like the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, but today he doesn't reveal himself in those ways?

This is difficult for me to grapple with, because it seems the Bible is asking us to believe in mythic-type events that can't be proven or verified. You know, Noel, if I were going to write a story of my life, not that anyone would be interested in it, but if I was going to do such a thing, I'd focus on the key events, the big moments that were definitive for me in my own formation in my life. This is how autobiographies typically work, right? And if you had just that, you might think, wow, Adriel's life is jam-packed with these momentous events. But of course, you wouldn't be entirely accurate.

You know, I'd be focusing on them for the purpose of the story. In the Bible, we have the story of redemption, and it spans thousands of years, but we're given a glimpse into the big events of redemptive history, how God created the world, called the people, rescued that people, raised up kings and prophets along the way, and all throughout there were some pretty miraculous, amazing moments that we get to read about in the Bible, real events, not just, you know, mythic events, as you say, but real events that took place, historical events. But that wasn't the daily norm, and I say this because sometimes people read the Bible and they think that burning bushes and parted seas were appearing every week, but they weren't.

In fact, when Jesus showed up on the scene in the Gospels and he started doing all of these miracles, casting out demons, what did people say about him? They didn't say, oh, just another miracle worker, we saw a guy like this last month and the month before. No, they said, we've never seen anything like this at all.

We've not seen such a thing. So while God does accomplish miracles, even today, we shouldn't expect that that's the normal routine, the sort of ordinary, everyday Christian life. It wasn't, even in the Old Testament. The miraculous was often clustered around big redemptive historical events, like God delivering his people out of Egypt or establishing the temple, leading his people through the wilderness even, prior to that, right, before the tabernacle and the temple. So you have all of these big, miraculous things that are taking place as the story of redemption is unfolding. After redemption is fully accomplished, and where was redemption fully accomplished?

At the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I mean, this is the key moment in redemptive history. This is the pinnacle of God's revelation, of what God was accomplishing for us, for our salvation. But after that, what God gave us was his holy scriptures. You and I received the benefits of what Jesus has done, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, salvation. But we shouldn't expect to see all of these great, big miracles in the same way that they were seeing them in the Old Testament, because redemption has been accomplished.

Revelation has been finalized. We have the revelation given to us in Scripture, and while, as I said, God still does, you know, work in mighty ways even today, I mean, every time someone is converted and comes to faith, that's a miracle of the Holy Spirit that we don't want to minimize. It's amazing. It's the greatest miracle of all. And yet we know that the Christian life is quite ordinary, that it looks like growing in our prayer life, growing in a community of faith. That's what the Christian life looks like.

There are periods of the sort of mountaintop, exciting experience, and then there are periods of valley where it's difficult, and that's okay. Don't read the Scripture and assume that all of the miraculous things that you read there were the sort of everyday happenings of God's people, and that now God just doesn't do miraculous things anymore. No, that wasn't the everyday happening in the Old Testament, and even in the New Testament, and God is still doing mighty things today in particular, saving men and women through the preaching of the gospel. You know, Adriel, I'm struck with how many people in our society, both Christians and non-Christians, are looking for some kind of emotional experience that validates what they believe, and I think there can be a real danger of that in the Church. When we focus on feelings and not on the fact of God's Word, it can really trip us up. Yeah, your feelings and your experiences are only going to last so long, and if your relationship with Jesus Christ is primarily dependent upon how you feel and your circumstances, well, when difficult times come and you don't feel the presence of the Lord, you'll either think that God no longer exists or that God has abandoned you. Dear friends, God has given you something so much more stable, something so much more sure than your feelings, even than your own experience. He's given you His Word. We have the objective promise of God. As you've been walking with the Lord, if it's a sort of roller coaster up and down, and sometimes you feel like God is close, sometimes you feel like He's far, and it really is primarily dependent upon how you feel, let me just give you some good news.

You don't have to live like that. You can rest in what God has revealed in Scripture, in His Word, and there are going to be times in your life where God feels distant, where the circumstances of your life aren't what you would want them to be, but the Lord has not abandoned you. Just look at the life of the apostles. They went through all sorts of difficulties. I mean, Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 1 that he was burdened beyond his strength, and sometimes you might feel like that, too. He says, I was burdened beyond my strength so that I might trust in God who raises the dead, and because Jesus truly has risen from the dead, no matter what you go through or how you feel, you have hope in Him. Next time, as we explore the truth of God's Word together.