Hi, I'm Dr. Abidan Shah, Lead Pastor at Clear V Church and host of the Clear V Today Show. If you're looking for solid biblical truth in a world full of noise, I want to introduce you to our friends at the Truth Network, your home for faithful Christ-centered broadcasting 24-7. From powerful preaching and insightful biblical teaching to engaging talk shows tackling real world issues, the Truth Network brings you programming that strengthens your faith and equips you to stand firm in God's Word. Wherever you are, whatever you're facing, the Truth Network is here to encourage you and challenge you with bold biblical truth. You can listen live or stream on demand at truthnetwork.com.
Or for even more convenience, you can always download the Truth Network radio app for free from the app store or on Google Play. You're listening to Clear V Today with Dr. Abidan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis, and welcome to our Good Friday show. Dr. Shah, happy Good Friday, my friend.
It is Good Friday because if it wasn't for Good Friday, it would be a bad every day for us. It would be a bad every day. Forever and ever.
Yes, it would be a bad always. Lost and hopeless. There's a song we do here at Clear V. It's called Hallelujah for the Cross. And I'm the first to admit, the song is old, right?
I think it came out like 2019, like 2020, something like that. But that one line, where would I be if it wasn't for the cross, has kept that song at Clear V Church for the last five years. Everybody on the worship team listening to this is like, I can't wait to retire that song. But I love that line, where would I be if it wasn't for the cross? And I think every time we sing that song, as we're leading and as we're singing, I ask myself that question. Because I know I'd be, I would have no hope.
No hope at all. Do you ever have, this is a little bit of a departure, but do you ever have Christian gripes about people with turns of phrases that get stuck in Christian vernacular? Let me give you an example. We're talking about Good Friday, and I had somebody yesterday tell me, Good Friday's coming up.
And he was talking to a group of people. Why do we call it good if Jesus died? I feel like at this point, we ought to know why it's called Good Friday.
It's not good as in like, man, this is so much fun Friday. It's good in the sense of, it's good for us. It saves us. It gives us hope and a future, an eternity with Christ and forgiveness before a holy and righteous God.
And gives us the new heavens and new earth because someone is going to take our punishment upon himself. Someone is going to die in our place. And hopefully we can talk about that today. Yes, absolutely. Before we do, I do want to just check in with the audience. This is a check-in that came to us from Veronica P from South Carolina. Hey, Dr. Shot, just checking in.
You guys are too much. Just checking in. The show's hitting like sweet tea on a summer day, refreshing with a little bit of kick. Appreciate the truths and the laughs.
Keep it rolling, still listening, still learning, and still loving it. I think we met Veronica P at NRB. I believe I met her. I believe I met her. Veronica P at NRB sounds like a set up for a song. I don't know what her last name was, but I remember there being a Veronica. Either I met her or Ellie met her.
But a lot of our check-ins have been coming from people. That's awesome. I love that. That's awesome. Veronica, thank you for listening. Thank you.
Really, thank you. Also, my South Carolina people represented. Because the show, since we got on Pray.com, the show has been really hitting hard. And I've noticed that a lot of our listeners are from South Carolina. Some good things happening in South Carolina. Before you even went to the UK, we had... That was kind of sneaky.
The listenership has been going up in the UK as well. I thought you had just been handing out cards while you were over there. No, no. I mean, I did.
I did talk to a few people about the show. There were two ladies. We were in Wales, kind of northern part of Wales, in a place near Powys Castle and Gardens.
It's the most beautiful gardens, castle behind it and beautiful gardens. And so we were staying overnight at this bed and breakfast. And while we were there, we had dinner and these two ladies, senior ladies, were sitting on the side over here.
We kind of say, hello, how are you? And then we ate our dinner. At the end of the dinner, the host of that farmhouse, he said, would you like to retire in the living room?
And I was like, yeah, we'll retire in the living room. So he asked the two ladies first and then he asked us. I was like, I mean, yeah, of course, as long as they don't mind. So I said to the ladies, I said, if you don't mind, we will join you there.
He's like, oh, yes, of course. So we went in there and sat down. I had a great conversation with them. And one of them, you know, I don't believe that she knew Christ. The other one went to church growing up and had some knowledge of Christianity.
Maybe she was saved. I don't know. But our conversation kind of went on for a while that evening. I mean, we talked for like two and a half hours. Wow, that's awesome.
Yeah, by the fireplace. I mean, we just talked for two and a half hours about America and where we are as a nation today and what's happening in the world and our faith and our journey and our family and our and all of that. And the next day, back in the breakfast time, they were there and we were there. And so we talked a little bit about what I did. And so I gave them a card with our show on it. Wow.
Clearly, today's show. That's awesome. And so I gave both of them a card. And that's why I said, check it out.
You go on the app and you can download its free app and you can just find me. And there's a lot of information there. And so I did talk to some people in the UK. That's awesome. That's awesome. That was one of the ideas that we got from our good, good, good friend Stu Epperson.
He came and he had these little cards on them that had just like a little just a QR code and it just took you right to the Truth Network. And on the other side, it had the gospel presentation. And I'm not going to lie, we stole that idea.
We just stole it. If I can give you one more illustration. I was at a conference there. This conference is on the text of the New Testament, especially Pauline Epistles and ancient versions like Aramaic and I'm sorry, not Aramaic, Arabic and Syriac and Latin and Gothic and all these. So different scholars from different countries in Europe came and they were listening and sharing their papers. And then one gentleman who was there, he is just starting out the PhD program.
And so he and I began to talk about it, talk about life and what God is doing. And he is just starting the PhD. But he has some years under him and he was kind of concerned whether or not he'll be able to do the program. Is it too late for him? And I encouraged him.
And I told him I said, you know, God may use those experiences you had to really help you use your PhD. How old did you say he was? I mean, I would say maybe early sixties. Okay.
Yeah. But was nervous about getting his PhD later in life? Later in life.
It's like, I don't know if it's a mistake or not. I said, no, maybe God's going to really give you the benefit of having experience in ministry. And that's going to make your PhD even deeper. Your dissertation would be richer and fuller than maybe a young person who just started out.
I can, I can attest to that personally because I have watched you and Nicole. Cause like, you know, I, I didn't get, I'm still working on my undergrad, you know, I'm 33 years old, still working on the undergrad. And I was really embarrassed about that because it seemed like all my peers went on ahead and got their four years, got their undergrad, not all your peers, not all my peers, but a lot of them, but a lot of them, like, like the people I went to high school with, it seemed like they had it. And the people that I was around now had their masters and stuff before they ever even came here before.
Right. So watching you and you had yours, but I mean, you were still working on your PhD later in life and even watching Nicole, like, like get hers later in life. It helped me feel less embarrassed, not like, Oh, they're in that position too.
But it's like, yo, God, God works in everybody's life in different times and it's completely valid when they get it. So I would say, man, you gave him good advice, but you also modeled it for me and your wife modeled it for me to continue pursuing that education. But the reason I bring that up is because at the end of the conversation, he's like, so what do you do? And of course he knew about my pastoring and my teaching, but I said, we also have a show and it's on pray.com. And I said, have you heard of that? He said, yeah, I've heard of pray.com. And so I told him about it, gave him a card. And, and so, so I was out there talking to people about pray.com, our radio show, Clearview Today, our daily broadcast and all the things that we're doing.
And so the word is getting out. I love it. Awesome.
And it's exciting to see what God is doing through, through our show. Amen. Yes, it is. Yes. So exciting.
That's right. We love hearing from you guys. Thank you, Veronica, for writing in the check-in today. Write in and tell us where you're at and where you're listening from 252-582-5028. Dr. Shah gave you some encouragement on the air.
Don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick break and be right back with more Clearview Today. Hi, I'm Dr. Abidan Shah, lead pastor at Clearview Church and host of the Clearview Today show. Every day we bring you bold biblical truth to help you navigate life with clarity and confidence. We tackle the tough questions, dive deep into God's work and bring a fresh perspective on faith, culture, and the world around us.
But none of this would be possible without the faithful support of listeners like you. When you give to Clearview Today, you're not just supporting a radio show, you're investing in a gospel-driven mission to share the truth of Jesus Christ without compromise. Your financial partnership helps us stay on the air, expand our reach, and continue creating content that encourages, equips, and transforms lives. Would you prayerfully consider supporting Clearview Today? No gift is too small, and every dollar goes directly towards furthering the message of hope and truth in Christ. To give, just follow the link in the description below and click the Give button.
You can make a one-time donation or become a monthly partner. Whatever God lays on your heart, thank you for standing with us in this ministry. Together, we can make Christ visible. Welcome back to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's right, Dr. Shah. Today is the most Good Friday verse we could possibly imagine. Isaiah 53 and verse 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. Wow. Wow. If you ever doubt how much God loves you, read that verse and read it again.
That's right. And then read it again. Because he didn't just die for us, you know what I mean? It says he was actually wounded. He was cut. He was stabbed. He was tortured on a cross for us. Anybody who would do that for me, I don't know, that's a love I can't even—I can't even try to describe it. That's right.
That's right. You know, because it's teaching us a very important doctrine, and that is the doctrine of the vicarious nature of the death of Christ. You know, vicarious, when we talk about—when we use that word in our daily life, it's not a good word. Yeah, like when we think of like a dad or like a parent. Living vicariously through their children means you're playing sports, days are over, but now you're pushing your son or your daughter too hard because you're trying to live through them.
Or you wanted to have this dream job or dream life, since you couldn't put, you know, do it, now you're trying to use your children to live through them. That's how we use vicarious living in our world today, in our context. Do you ever see those shows, like the pageant moms, that take it way too far, that like travel around? Yeah, they are definitely— Pageant moms, dance moms, all those things. That's vicariously living. Yeah, that's the worst I've ever seen.
I mean, the sports dads are pretty bad too, but man, those pageant moms are— But the pageant moms are— Those pageant moms are something else. Right there with them. Yeah. But when we talk about vicarious living in the context of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, this is actually a very, very good word. It's like we're getting that righteousness through him.
Yeah, because what we're talking about is, we're asking the question, can someone else stand in my place and take my punishment of sin? Just like a father is hoping that his son will, you know, hit the big leagues, and so, in a sense, the son is standing in his place, which is not— It's not good. It's not good. Nothing healthy.
Nothing healthy about that, because it's not really you're hoping for your son to be a good player and be successful and have the good life. You're trying to live through them. Right. You do this so I can bask in this glory. I can be connected to this somehow.
Your achievements are also mine. Right. Yeah, and it's kind of really weird and almost, I would say, borders on creepy. Yeah. Like, you're getting some sadistic joy, but you're not putting the work in anymore because you can't, but you're pushing your son or your daughter to push hard and you're angry with them and, you know, frustrated and all that because you want some kind of a, you know, satisfaction. Yeah, satisfaction.
You're right. And it's usually that the kid is not even interested in it at all. Typically, it's like the artistic boys that want nothing to do with sports, but it's like a dad who was like a sports star in high school. They're like, no, you will like sports. Yeah. Or they maybe expressed some interest at first, but then like the parent pushes them way further than they ever wanted to go. Like, I'm content playing like little league ball, but now I'm training for the MLB.
Yeah. My dad was never like vicariously living through me, but I remember he definitely wanted me to be in sports because like I just sat around and played video games. And so when I was in like seventh grade, he was like, hey, that's got to stop. You have to either play sports or you have to start taking music. And I was like, well, I definitely don't want to take music.
So I guess I'll do sports. And I remember he was like, really? And I was like, yeah. So he was like, okay, sounds good. He more wanted just to bond with me over sports.
But I mean, either way, it was, I remember him being like that and I found it very quickly. No, I'm not a sports is not a thing. You know, the German word for that is kind of interesting word is Stelver Trettung. Stelver Trettung. Yeah. Stelver Trettung means taking another's place.
Okay. And it's kind of a word used by theologians Stelver Trettung. And there are several hints of this Stelver Trettung in the Old Testament. We find that, of course, with Adam and Eve after the curse in Genesis 3 21, it says also for Adam and his wife, the Lord made tunics of skin and clothed them, you know, which means the animal was sacrificed. And the skin of the animal was put on Adam and Eve. Right. There had to be a blood payment, blood payment for their guilt, but also in a sense, he was they were covered in him in that the poor animal.
Right. We find that again in Cain and Abel, it says, and Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat and the Lord respected Abel and his offering. But he did not respect Cain and his offering because fruits and vegetables are not living, you know, organisms. But Abel was represented in that sacraments. Yes, exactly. It's like because it wasn't like the Lord just respected his offering.
He also respected Abel. Right. Gotcha.
Right. And then we hear about Noah after over a year on the ark. It says they come out in Genesis 8 20. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burn offerings on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imaginations of man's heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. So sacrifices were made so that Noah and his family could go free. It's funny because people typically think that didn't come until Abraham or Moses, like, but sacrifices for your sin were there even pre flood. Absolutely. I mean, it goes all the way to the Garden of Eden. Can and Abel. I mean, it's right from the beginning, somebody dying in your place vicariously was always there.
It was not created by Moses by copying, say, the Egyptians or the Syrians or whoever. No, this is something very, you know, inherent to human beings. Here's another one. Abraham.
Now we know this one. It says after God tested Abraham's faith in Genesis 22 13, then Abraham lifted his eyes and look there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burn offering instead of his son. I mean, there could not be a clearer statement on the vicarious nature of sacrifice.
It's kind of funny, and I'm glad you bring all these up because I think people tend to look back at all those examples and say, Okay, for us reading this 20,000 like 20,000 for us reading this 2000 years later, we see the foreshadowing, but they just were like, Oh, okay, cool. I have a way out. But I think it's it's good. And this is a point that you often hit doctor shot is that they understood.
Yeah, right. And why is it just for anyone listening? Why is it important for us to know that the people understood what was going on? Because if not, then there is. Okay, so what is called? It's called the hidden people. Um, salvation.
Hidden people. Salvation means somehow people were saved through something other than the coming death of Jesus Christ, right? And it has implications for us today, even though Jesus has already come. What about people who are living in some jungles in Africa or India or some remote part of the earth where the missionaries haven't gone?
There are no Bible translations. There is no way for them to hear about God's son dying in our place to forgive us of our sins. And by faith we can receive. What if those people are saved the same way? Old Testament people are saved who never heard the gospel of, you know, the sacrifice of the vicarious sacrifice right for our sins.
So this this idea has a lot of ramifications, right? Because if if that's true, then we have two methods of salvation, right? Yeah, there there would be other ways to get to God. And then at that point, the death of Christ is, in a sense, nullified, right? I mean, like you can be saved by that or something else. Now, if if if God could have saved us some other way, just like Galatians 3 21, if righteousness could have come apart from the law, apart from, you know, the gospel, then God would have done that, right?
If it was done by some kind of works, whether keeping the Old Testament or keeping your own set of rules and standards and traditions, then Jesus didn't have to come and die. But the truth is, right from the beginning, God's people knew we have to sacrifice. I would say people knew. Not just God's people, people in general knew.
Yes, people knew. Now, what made God's people, the people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, what made them distinct? People knew that these are the people who are gonna be carrying the one who's gonna die for my sins.
That's what made it distinct. It's not that they saw them as chosen ones. These are the chosen ones.
I don't know what makes them special. I don't think it was that. They knew. These are the people who are the carriers of the man of promise. The one that's ultimately coming.
He's gonna come out of the seat of the woman that's coming through them. Now, which one will it be? Was it Isaac, or was it Jacob, or was it Joseph, or Judah, or who it's gonna be, or David, or Solomon?
I mean, that was like year after year, century after century going, I guess not, I guess not, I guess not. But people knew someone is coming and that someone is not gonna be ordinary human being. This someone will be God in flesh and this someone is coming through these people, these descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I don't know if this is an appropriate way to think of it. This could be my imagination or this could be the way that actually was, but I always see it as like the more linear in time you go, right? So starting with Adam and Eve, they receive the promise and it's very hazy, it's very blurry. But with every generation, as it gets closer to Jesus, the prophets start coming, they start saying, the son of promise will be like this. Like the image starts to get clearer and clearer and clearer until he's actually born. And I don't know if that's just imagination or not.
I don't know if that's really true. I think it may be, almost be the other way around. I think it was very clear, but because of sin and depravity, I think it became cloudy. Do you think that's why God sent the prophet to try to sharpen it back up? Yes, I would say so. I think it's just the opposite. I think, like Eve, she knew what God meant when he pronounced that judgment on her and judgment on the serpent.
You will strike his heel and he will crush your head. She knew. Because when it comes to naming her child, she said, I have acquired the man, the man, not just any man, the man.
Why is she saying the man? Because she knows the man means this is the one that God has foretold will come and crush that serpent who deceived me and brought sin into this world. And with sin came death.
So she knew. And so, with time, I think because of sin and fallen angels and all the rest, I think that message of gospel at time became very cloudy. So you think God gave the prophets more and more details about his birth?
Like, for instance, he'll come from Bethlehem or he'll do this or even what we read in Isaiah, he starts giving these details to sharpen that image back up? Yeah, but also to wake them up. This is this is still happening. This is still happening. Don't lose sight of it.
Yeah. Don't don't go into sin. That's why he gave the law to be a tutor, tutor in the sense of to protect them, to guide them, to keep them from going astray, to keep them from becoming to be obliterated because they were going into sin. And God said, if you keep going there, I'm going to wipe you out. You won't be able to recognize who you are.
You won't remember who you are. And it has happened. You know, there were 12 tribes. We only know of two that have survived, right? Judah, Benjamin, but really Judah, the major tribe. Maybe Levites, because you still hear those Levites. What happened to the rest of the 10 or the nine? It's not like they died.
No, they so have lost their identity. And I think in the end of times they will know their identity because of research, whether it's in DNA or genome, we're going to know who we were. And at that point, that's how God's going to bring back those 144,000, which means 12,000 from every tribe.
How do you how is he going to do that? Because in the end of times, God will use the technology again, which is coming from him, to bring back those people. Those people will be revealed. They won't be like created out of nothing because it's not like those people are extinct.
That line will just be revealed. That's right. Gotcha. And so the whole point I'm making here is the idea of the coming one who will die for us vicariously, right?
It was not something novel, was not something invented later in time. I mean, think about the plagues in Egypt. God sent nine plagues just so that Pharaoh will go, OK, I take those people, get out.
He doesn't. The tenth plague is very interesting because the tenth plague is the gospel. God gives them the gospel.
Not just Israel, not just the Hebrews, but Egyptians. He gives them the gospel. Death is coming. The first point has to die.
Yeah, it's the gospel. That's a good point. One chance for them to get saved. And what does Pharaoh do? He hardens his heart.
Wow. When you understand it in light of, you know, this this big story that God is telling, it's not just these isolated episodes where now we're in Egypt and now we're with Abraham and now we're blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. God's writing one story and in throughout the scripture, Dr. Shaw, you always call our attention back to it's always about Jesus, always about this one that God is sending. And people have wondered and people have lost sight of that. But God is telling the same story.
Yeah. And then the sacrificial system that he gave through Moses to his people was very, very clear. Like, you know, as you know, the law is the moral law, the sacrificial, the civil, all those things are kind of put together as the law. But in that ceremonial side of things or the sacrificial side of things, you have the the rituals of the Day of Atonement. And Leviticus chapter 16 talks about this. It says, then he talking about the priest, you know, they will have two goats. He shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people.
Bring its blood inside the veil and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions for all of their sins. Now, the word for atonement is the word Kippur, which means cover.
So that's where you get the idea. Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur, which means the day of covering. It implies that God can forgive. It implies that God will cleanse. The payment of sin has been made. God's wrath has been averted. Blood sacrifice has been made. But then in Leviticus chapter 17, verse 11, it says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you all upon the altar to make atonement for your sins or for your souls.
For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. So that's the first goat. How about the second goat?
Because it's two goats. Well, the second goat was not sacrificed. It was sent away into the desert as a scapegoat or it's called the goat for Azazel.
It means a rugged cliff. The priest would place his hand on the goat, implying a transference of sins from Israel or from that Israelite family or Jewish family to the living goat. It was symbolic of their sins being carried away from them to somewhere far away. Why does that need to happen if one goat has been killed and atonement has been made?
What is the purpose of the second goat going into the wilderness? Just to demonstrate for them that he carried our sins away. The coming one is going to carry our sins away.
Got you. So he's not going to have to send another savior the next time we're sent. He's taken our sins. So here, he's paid for our sins, but now he's carrying our sins. So in a perfect example, if they had a goat that was eternal, if they had a goat that didn't die, they would kill the goat and then also send that goat away. Couldn't have said it better. That's it. I love it. Yeah, because the goat will die, so you can't really prop it back up and say, now you take it away.
You've got to have a living one for the whole picture to work. But with Jesus, it's not like he died on the cross and it's like, alright, your sins are covered. It's like, I just sinned again. I just sinned again. He's like, alright, I've got to send him to die again because you just messed up. He carried it all.
So two, because once you kill the goat, you cannot prop it back up and make it walk. True. I love it. That's awesome. Guys, we hope you have a wonderful Good Friday. Hope this was helpful for you in understanding exactly what Christ has done for us. Make sure you join us next week.
Same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clear Read Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible and don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes and you can always support us financially at ClearReadTodayShow.com. John, anything you want to plug as we head into Easter weekend?
Yes, absolutely. First and foremost, Christ is risen. Thank you to Jesus for rising up the dead, but thank you for our church. Thank you, Dr. Shaw, for the amazing Easter service we're about to have here at Clear View Church. Guys, if you're not a part of a church family, join us online or if you're in the area, you can join us right here at church.
It's going to be a fantastic, fantastic time. Praying for everybody who is going through Easter worship this weekend. Praying everything was smoothly tech wise for your churches, for your congregations. Just pray that God will bless each and every one of your worship services. Amen. Happy Easter. We love you guys. We'll see you Monday on Clear View Today.
