Does Jesus make physical appearances today? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity.
Well, hi there. This is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.
That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Adriel, first up today, we have a Facebook question from Phoebe. She says, God was coercing us to sin, or something like that. Then we could say that God was evil, that there was something really sinister about this whole thing. Now, we know that everything that happens in the world happens under God's sovereign control, if you will, His decree. And so what I mean by that is there are things that take place that the Lord allows, but which we wouldn't say He's the author of, or that He's immediately responsible. There are a few passages of scripture that we could go to to talk about this.
One that I oftentimes go to is in the book of Acts. It's actually a prayer in Acts chapter 4, where the believers are praying for boldness. What we read there in verse 27 is, truly, in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the Jews. And the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Now, think about that for a second. You have all these people who were involved in the most heinous crime known to man, the murder of the Son of God. And yet, here, the disciples are able to pray, Lord, we know that this happened according to your sovereign plan. And so, while God allowed it, we wouldn't say that He was the author of it. And the beautiful thing is the Lord used, in one sense, their actions for the redemption of humanity.
And so, we don't know how this all works. This is above our pay grade, but you think about what Paul says in Romans 8, that God is able to make all things work. Work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And so, Phoebe, we're doing some deep theology here, thinking about the world, sin in the world, how God relates to us, and how we're to understand these things. But I think if you stick to that reality that God is not the author of sin, even though He's over all things, I think that you're safe. And you're aware, essentially, the church where Christians have landed for the last 2,000 years.
Because if we go as far as to say that, well, God was sinning, He was the one who coerced these things to take place, well, then we have a really big problem with who God is. And that's not the God of the Bible. So, thank you for that question. Amen. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.
We received this voicemail from one of our listeners named Mark earlier this week. I had experienced a detail, I don't know how to say it, I had physically seen Christ walking with my minister up the road when the minister took his two dogs for a walk, and he was coming back. And I had seen Christ walking with the minister, and he didn't know that I'd seen it. And he just faded out.
I just wonder if it's possible. I don't forget about this. I think about it every day. Why did I get to see him and the minister didn't? Thank you.
Mark, thank you for that question. It sounds to me like you had this experience, this very vivid experience that you think about every day. It would have been a miraculous experience. I've heard of stories of individuals who say, I had a dream or a vision of Jesus. And I've even heard instances, you think of things coming out of the Middle East where you hear about Muslims having dreams about Jesus and then hearing the gospel or meeting a missionary who shares the gospel with them. So there are these extraordinary circumstances, I think, that we hear about. It's hard to say, well, I wouldn't tell you, well, that didn't really happen.
This is your experience. I think that the danger, one thing we have to be careful with with these kinds of experiences when we hear these kinds of stories, is do they line up with what the word of God says? Because I've also heard people say, well, God spoke to me or appeared to me and told me to do X, Y, or Z. And it doesn't line up with what scripture teaches because God has already spoken to us very clearly in his word. And ordinarily, typically, he uses means to communicate to his people like holy scripture, like preaching. Now, God is free to work apart from means. He could just zap us and immediately reveal himself to us if he wanted, but ordinarily, God uses means. Now, in terms of the content of your vision, if you will, I was just thinking of how in the book of Revelation, Jesus describes himself as the one who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
The lampstands there early in the early chapters of Revelation are symbols for the churches, the seven churches that are described there in Revelation chapters two and three. And Jesus says, I'm there in your midst, walking with you, if you will. Now, does that mean that Jesus is with us in church bodily?
No. Bodily, he ascended into heaven, is at the right hand of the father. He's not making visitations to earth in secret. One day, he is going to come back bodily at the second coming and at the final judgment. But in a real sense, we can say that Christ walks with us, is walking with his church by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit through the faithful preaching of the word of God.
So, I rest in that. I mean, I'm a minister, right? I'm a pastor, and I take comfort in those verses in the book of Revelation that say that the Lord Jesus is with us. And that's precisely what he told his disciples, wasn't it? When he gave them the great commission and he sent them out, he says, go in all the world, make disciples, preach the gospel, baptize, and I'm going to be with you even to the end of the age. And so, that's a promise that we have from Jesus in his word, and I think that's where we should place our confidence. God bless you, Mark. Thanks, Mark. You know, I noticed that Mark saw Jesus while his pastor was walking with his dogs, and I know when I'm walking with my dog, I feel very close to God at that particular time. That's right.
Yeah, we can learn a lot from him. I mean, you know, he wasn't walking his cat. You've just offended every caliber out there. Okay, I'm teasing. I'm teasing. I'm joking.
And so, yeah. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we'd love to get your call. You can leave us a voicemail, by the way, 24 hours a day at this number. It's 833-THE-CORE.
That's 1-833-843-2673 if you've got a question for Adriel. And by the way, we have a wonderful resource we want to tell you about today. It's a book from a friend of this ministry, author and theologian, Nancy Guthrie.
Yeah, that's right. Nancy just recently joined us here on Core Christianity, and we had a wonderful discussion with her. She really is such a blessing to be around, and a wonderful Bible teacher doing these conferences throughout the United States teaching biblical theology to women. And she just recently released a children's book called What Every Child Should Know About Prayer. This is a mini biblical theology of prayer for children, and it's phenomenal.
It's a wonderful resource. And Nancy explains in child-friendly language what prayer is, how and why we should pray, and things we can pray about. There's a Bible verse for each topic and a prayer for children to make their own.
And so get a hold of this resource. If you have children, grandchildren, this will really bless your family. You know, prayer is such an important thing to model for our kids, to teach them. And you can pick up your copy of What Every Child Should Know About Prayer by heading over to our website, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. That's corechristianity.com forward slash offers.
And of course you can call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673. Well, one of the ways you can submit a question is through one of our social media accounts, and Chandler posted this on Instagram. He says, Is the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday? I've seen so much from Seventh-day Adventists that say I'm doomed if I worship on Sunday.
This weighs heavily on my heart. Chandler, this is why it's so important for us to have a biblical understanding of these things, because as you say, people will come along and say, Hey, you worship on Sunday. You're doomed. You're condemned. And if we don't continue to search the Scriptures and come to the right conclusions, we'll just be left distraught. And so, no, you don't have to be concerned for your soul because you worship the Lord on Sunday. Actually, by worshiping God on Sunday, Chandler, you're doing what the earliest disciples and apostles of Jesus Christ did. And there's a lot of evidence for this throughout the New Testament. It seems like they began gathering together on the first day of the week, Acts 20 verse 7, on the first day of the week, Sunday, when we were gathered together to break bread, probably a reference to the Lord's Supper.
Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. They're gathering together to do the stuff of church, to hear the Word of God taught to participate in that meal that Jesus gave to his church, again, on the first day of the week on Sunday. And why were they doing it on Sunday? Well, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Sunday, and in Christ, we find true Sabbath rest. This is why he said to his disciples and to all, come to me, you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'll give you Sabbath.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. That's the end of Matthew chapter 11. And so it's in Christ that we find true Sabbath rest, and the early disciples of our Lord, the early apostles understood that, and they began gathering together to worship the Lord, to meet and to praise him on the first day of the week. This is the evidence for this also in 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 16, verses 1 and 2, also in the book of Revelation, Revelation 1, verse 10, where John talks about receiving his vision on the Lord's day, that is, on Sunday, the first day of the week. So I would just say, look, and this is what I often say, if it was good enough for the apostles, for John, for Paul, if they were cool with it, then we should be too.
It shouldn't be an issue where we think, oh, I'm doing something wrong. I'm condemned because I'm doing this. No, the earliest followers of Jesus, this is the example that they set, and we're following them. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.
If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life we always love to hear from you, you can email us at questions at corechristianity.com. Here's a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Laura. I'm so grateful for your program. You guys are just amazing. I listen to you every day and I always come away with something great. I wonder, I have a family member who is talking about flat earth, and he proposes a lot of very convincing arguments that say that the earth is not round and that we've been deceived.
I wonder if there's anywhere in scripture that talks about whether or not the earth is a globe or whether it's flat. If you could answer that, I'd appreciate it. Thank you so much for what you do. Bye-bye.
Well, thank you for your encouraging comments. Look, God reveals himself to us in two ways. These are sometimes referred to as the two books of revelation. One, which I know you're familiar with, we talk about it every time on this broadcast, it's God's special revelation. It's his word where we learn about God, about salvation, about what God wants for us. What does the word of God primarily teach? We're to believe concerning God and the duty that God requires of us as his creatures. You have special revelation right here in the word of God. But you also have this other book. We might refer to that as the book of nature or general revelation.
That's the world around us. God is speaking through that as well, isn't he? In fact, God's special revelation, the Bible, tells us that God is revealing himself through general revelation, nature, creation. I'm thinking of places like Psalm chapter 19. The heavens declare the glory of God.
The firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day, utter speech. Night unto night reveals knowledge. That is the day and the night, the heavens, the stars, they're speaking to us about the greatness of God, the creator. I bet you've heard their voice before. You ever go outside on a dark night, starry night, and you look up and you're just overwhelmed by this sense of the divine, this sense of God?
Or maybe, just the other day, I was driving home later in the evening and caught the most gorgeous sunset. I'm just looking at this thing and thinking, wow, beautiful, this sense of the greatness, the glory of the creator. Paul also talks about this in Romans chapter 1. You have these two books, if you will, of revelation through which God is revealing himself to us.
We can receive both. We receive his special revelation in scripture and we receive general revelation. We look at the world around us through observation, through science, through trial, and so on and so forth. We can treat that as God's truth, if you will. The reason I bring all of this up is because when people go to the Bible and they say, oh, look at this verse right here. It seems to suggest that the earth is flat. It talks about the sun rising and the four corners of the earth and so on and so forth. We have to understand that oftentimes the scriptures use what is known as phenomenological language. That's a big word, but it simply means that essentially what's taking place is these writers inspired by the Lord, inspired by the Holy Spirit, are giving us their perspective from the human point of view, if you will. They're not making scientific claims that we're supposed to take and say, oh, well, I guess the earth is literally founded on these pillars and that kind of a thing.
No. I would say what we ought to do is receive the best of what general revelation says, what we have through common grace, through science, through all of these wonderful things, these gifts really. We can embrace that.
We can say this is good. This is a blessing for us, for the world around us. It's one of the ways that God reveals himself to us. I think just on the basis of God's general revelation that it's not the case.
I think this is very clear that the earth is flat. One of the issues today, and this is just a separate thing, is there is so much distrust in authority, in anyone who, the institution, if you will. I think we can get caught up in this sort of sense of everybody's lying to us. We just have to figure it out for ourselves. A rejection even of common grace, which is a big problem, believing that God isn't revealing himself through the created world around us.
That's an issue. I think taking a step back and realizing that God reveals himself through common grace and that he also is revealing himself through his word, through special revelation. Basically, embracing that reality and being thankful for that reality, being thankful for the scientific advancements that we've seen over the last several centuries, being thankful for the medicinal advancements that we've seen. These are all things that we could say, man, this is a part of God's goodness to us. It's just common goodness to the world that we should be grateful for. Thank you for that question.
May God bless you as you have conversations with this family member. So glad you pointed that out, Adriel. There's this kind of false dichotomy between faith and science in today's world and among some Christians. Yet, if you look historically, many of the early scientists were devout Christians. One of the reasons that they explored God's creation was to learn more about him, right? Yeah, and it should lead us to worship him, to praise him.
Now, I know that it doesn't for many people, sadly. In fact, that's what the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 1, is we have this great creation around us, and then instead of worshipping the creator, we worship the creation. We worship ourselves, and so we see that as well, but that doesn't mean that God isn't actually revealing himself through the book of nature, if you will, through the world around us, and we should be in awe at that.
I mean, it really is a wonderful thing. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's the phone number if you'd like to call us or leave us a voicemail anytime. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. If you leave us a voicemail, let us know your name and where you're calling from. Let's go to Bethany in Baltimore, Maryland. Bethany, what's your question for Adriel?
Hi. I just had a question. When you have younger kids, there's some things in the Bible that are tricky to talk about with your kids, and well, I'll just say it. So the book of Solomon, for example, is hard to try to go through with young kids, so my question is something like that. Is it okay to let your kids read or should we avoid talking about that until they're older? Hey, thanks for that question, Bethany.
I love that question because I have little kids as well. Now, I would say I think that there's a way that we can go through those books with our children. One of the things about the Song of Solomon is it's erotic poetry, but it's very poetic and it's very tactful. When you compare it to some of the other similar genres, if you will, in the ancient Near East, which were a lot more crude, which were not tactful, it's tasteful.
I don't know a better way of putting it. As I said, it's very poetic. You can read the Song of Solomon and the poetry, the language there, and your mind isn't immediately going to these images.
Your children, I think that wouldn't be the case either. What you can do is you can talk about the kind of special love that God has for his people through what you read there in the Song of Solomon. It's this picture of marital love, of marital intimacy. Many throughout the history of the church have also taken it as this parable of the relationship between Christ and his church. If we go in that direction, I think that's fine. We can draw things out of the Song of Solomon, out of the Song of Songs for our children as we're talking to them about God's special love for us, his church, his bride, the intimacy that the Lord has for his people ultimately in laying down his life for us. I really appreciate the fact that one, you're wanting to talk to your kids about the Word of God. I think just that is awesome. Keep doing that, sister. There are a lot of other books in the Bible that you could also go to.
I guess it just depends on what it is that you want to focus on. If you want to highlight, emphasize that kind of intimate love that the Lord has for his people or how special the love is that a husband and a wife have between each other, I think you could use the Song of Solomon and talk about it in a way that's perfectly fine for children. You could also be over the top. I've heard pastors do this with the Song of Songs as well and take all of this wonderful poetry that's done tactfully in a God-honoring way and just handle it in a manner that's not faithful actually to the text. I don't think that you're going to do that.
It sounds like you're very sensitive to wanting to make sure you're helping your children. One positive thing that I'll say about the Song of Songs that we really do need to recover in Christian families is too often when we hear about intimacy, we talk about it in this very negative way, don't we, in the church. It's very much taboo. It's don't do this, don't do that.
You're going to get yourself into a lot of trouble. We can have this very negative view of sex, of intimacy in marriage. Sometimes the church can put off that vibe, whereas the Song of Songs gives us a beautiful picture of marital intimacy. Recovering that positive view of scripture, of the goodness of marriage, of the goodness of this relationship, of that intimacy, I think is something that would benefit our families and maybe in particular our children as they get older. So may God bless you as you seek to disciple your kids in the Lord and talk to them about the things of the faith that really matter. Please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.
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