Why Romance Is a Big Deal in Christianity

Is Christianity anti-romance? 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. Our phone lines are open, and we would love to hear from you. Here's our number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843. Now, we also have some social media channels, including YouTube, and you can watch Adriel right now live in the studio. In fact, you can see him every day at 1130 a.m. Pacific Time on YouTube and send him your question through our YouTube channel.

Check that out. And of course, you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Miranda calling in from Illinois. Miranda, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, my question is, hi Adriel, first of all. I really enjoy your show.

Thank you, Miranda. Yeah, I was reading in the book of Revelation about how Satan was kicked out of heaven and placed in a bottomless pit. Well, I got a little confused because I thought, okay, this is the stuff that's going to happen in the future, obviously, in the book of Revelation. Well, back in Genesis, Satan was already kicked out of heaven. So, I know that there are three heavens. So, I was wondering, what's the correlation between what happened in the book of Genesis and what I read in the book of Revelation? Okay, now just specifically, because there are a couple of texts I think you might be referring to in the book of Revelation, Miranda, are you, which chapter are you thinking of specifically, if you recall? Okay, let me find it really quick.

I'm so sorry. Well, that's okay. It's when he was kicked out of the bottomless pit.

Let me see here. Well, so the language of, you might be thinking of Revelation chapter 20, where Satan is released, or you have the language of Revelation chapter 20, verse one, I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit in a great chain, and he sees the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed over him. That's the binding of Satan in Revelation chapter 20.

Now, there are some who think that's still in the future. There are others who think that binding took place when Jesus was, you know, doing his earthly ministry, as he's casting out demons. In fact, he even gives a kind of parable of sorts. He talks about a strong man being bound so that he might be plundered, and Jesus is the one who binds the strong man. The strong man there is Satan and Christ. Our Lord is plundering the kingdom of darkness, you know, redeeming people. You also have, going, you know, to this idea of Satan being cast out of heaven, you also have the language in Revelation chapter 12, verse 10, Now I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives, even unto death. Now here's what I think is happening in these passages. Through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, his suffering, his death, his resurrection and ascension into heaven, the evil one, Satan, has been cast down, excommunicated in one sense from heaven. His accusations have no more bearing because we have Jesus as our great advocate in heaven. John makes that clear in 1 John, and so there is something definitive that has happened through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ in destroying and in conquering the evil one.

And so this is not something that we're looking forward to. It's something that Jesus has already accomplished for us. Now there is a future point in history, I think described a little bit later there in Revelation chapter 20, where the evil one is released so that he might deceive the nations, once again, you know, the moment leading up to the second coming of our Lord Jesus.

And then after that, he's fully and finally conquered and cast into the lake of fire. And so one of the things with this is, as we're reading the book of Revelation, it's really important, you know, it's not meant to be read as this sort of sequential timeline, one thing happening after another, and it just sort of all follows sequentially. John is getting these visions of things that are happening in the future, of things that happened in the past, of things that are going to be happening throughout the history of humanity. And so, you know, something we see, for example, in Revelation chapter 12 might have already happened. And in fact, it did, where, you know, he has a vision, essentially, of Jesus's redemptive work.

And so recognizing, I think, helps to clear up some of the confusion. And, you know, just to summarize, the wonderful truth that's being communicated is our accuser has been cast down through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He no longer has any power over the people of God. They've been released, we've been released from the condemnation and curse of the law, because Jesus took that upon himself. And now we're set free to walk as the children of God, and we overcome the evil one through the work of the Lord Jesus. And, of course, that's precisely what John says in verse 11 of chapter 12 in Revelation. They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And so, God bless you, Miranda.

Thank you for reaching out to us, and I appreciate your question. You know, my own pastor is going through the book of Revelation right now, and I know you've done that yourself on your church. What a challenge it is to preach from that particular book.

You know, it definitely poses some challenges. It's also, I think, a really important book for us to study, because it's insanely practical. A lot of times people think of it as, you know, just full of enigmas and who can decipher these great mysteries. But the visions that John receives throughout Revelation are meant to be a comfort for the suffering church, and an encouragement for them, one, not to engage in idolatry, and two, to persevere in the midst of persecution. And so the words that John received there in the book of Revelation are so important for us to know and to understand and to receive that comfort that God has for us there. I'd love to hear that your pastor is diving into that book. By the way, we have an excellent Bible study here at Core Christianity on the book of Revelation. You can find that by going to corechristianity.com.

It may help you understand that book even better, and its main purpose, as Adriel just pointed out. This is Core Christianity, and we'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, something going on in your church that is confusing to you or you're concerned about, or maybe you have some doubts about the Christian faith. Hey, we're open to all questions. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also email us at questions at corechristianity.com. Here's an email from one of our listeners who says, I have a question regarding schools. Our best local Protestant elementary school option doesn't work well for us due to the distance from our home. The next best option is a local Catholic school. It seems like a good school, but of course my concern is regarding the doctrinal teaching which our sons will receive there. Most importantly, I'm concerned about the Catholic Church's view of grace plus works. However, since I plan to continue biblical instruction, catechism, and a gentle but frank refutation of much of the Catholic doctrines, I've convinced myself that the school is probably fine. But please let me know your thoughts regarding the decision to send my children to a Catholic elementary school versus a public school. Thank you so much. All right.

Thank you for that question. And as a father of five children, we've done a number of different things with our kids, whether it was sort of a private Christian education or we did a public charter school for a while. Currently, we're homeschooling. We've done sort of the classical Christian school type of a thing for a period. Even though our kids are young, we've kind of gone through the gamut of options.

And I think, you know, it could be that this very well is maybe the best option for you. I know that this is something that many parents wrestle with. You know, it's like, man, what's the best schooling option for my kids?

And I think it's something we should be concerned about and obviously involved in and with, while also recognizing that it's not the ultimate thing. The most important thing is precisely what you're talking about doing, which is the instruction that you're giving in the home with regard to the Word of God, the example that you are setting as a family, as a mother and father, praying together, studying the scriptures together, using good and helpful catechisms to teach your children and to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I think, you know, if the sense is, you know, the school, whatever school I send them to, whether it's a Christian school or a classical, you know, education or a public, you know, that that's going to be the ultimate thing, it's really important.

But if you're not talking about Jesus and studying the scriptures together in the home, then regardless of, you know, the school that you send them to, I mean, there's a serious problem. And so it sounds to me like you have the priorities, right? And it could be that there's an opportunity here. This is the best opportunity for you in terms of schooling that's close by and convenient for your family, and hopefully the education is good as well. And are you going to have to sift through some things there?

Probably. And it would probably, I mean, depending on the Christian school, if it was a private Christian school, I mean, you oftentimes don't know what you're going to get. And so I think it's so important just to be involved and engaged. And I love the exhortation that Paul gives to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1. In chapter 1, he encourages it and says in verse 5, I'm reminded of your sincere faith, the faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well. And then he says in chapter 3 verse 15, how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Do that. For all the parents listening right now, God works through His Word. And for us as parents, being immersed in the Word of God ourselves and seeking to live according to scripture and set a godly example for our children, and also, as Paul tells Timothy there, acquainting them with the sacred writings. That's our job. That's our job. That's not first and foremost the job of their school. That's our job, and it's the job of the Church.

And so I love to hear that you're committed to that, and may God bless you as you seek to do that and give you wisdom in this decision, but I don't think that you would be necessarily doing something wrong or that it would be a sin for you to send your children to that school if it was the best option for your family. God bless. Great counsel. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, or theology. We'll be taking calls for the next 10 minutes or so at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Cody calling in from Missouri. Cody, what's your question for Adriel?

Hello. I was curious if you had any information or knew where the Ark of the Covenant is located. My producer is looking at me like, I know where it's at. He says Ethiopia. I'm not sure.

That's maybe the clearest answer you're going to get from me. Scripture doesn't tell us, Cody, where the Ark of the Covenant is. Of course, we know that the Ark of the Covenant had a special role in the history of the people of God, in particular with regard to the sacred worship. Of the tabernacle and of the temple, we also know that the people of God and the temple itself suffered great destruction at various points in history, that the Ark was even carried away into captivity at times, sort of back and forth.

You see this in the Bible. It would be awesome. I mean, if we want to maybe pull some resources together, maybe the inner core can pitch in and send me and Bill on an expedition, sort of like a, I think the producer would want to come too, expedition to go and sort of Indiana Jones style look for the Ark of the Covenant. I think that would be awesome. But even if we were to find it, here's the thing. I mean, it maybe could go in a museum or something like that, but it wouldn't have any bearing on our worship today because those instruments of the tabernacle and of the temple in the Old Testament were pictures, were types of ultimately the greater reality that was coming in Jesus Christ. And so we look forward, they pointed us forward to the redemptive work of Jesus, which we have now, truly in fulfillment. And so I don't want to speculate. I know that there have been people who have, Cody, like our producer here at CoreChristianity, and I'm sure there are others who think it's somewhere else.

I don't know if you have a good, if you're listening and you have a good tip on this, feel free to email us and maybe we can put the team together. But Bill, do you have an opinion here? No, I was thinking though, if we end up doing the Indiana Jones expedition, you get to handle the snake pit because I'm not going in that one. Sure, whatever.

Yeah. Oh, Lord. This is CoreChristianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Love to hear from you if you ever got a question about the Bible or the Christian life, the Old Testament or the New Testament.

And here it is Valentine's Day, and we have a really cool resource for you. It happens to be on the topic of marital intimacy. Yeah, this resource is one we've been offering for a few days now, Seven Truths About Marital Sex, really focusing on the topic of intimacy within the context of Christian marriage. Oftentimes, I've said this before, in the church we can sort of have a taboo view of these kinds of discussions, so we don't want to talk about that, or just viewed purely negatively. We think of how the culture has twisted God's design for sexuality intimacy.

And so that's an issue, right? We have to address that, but we also need to talk about the positive view of intimacy within the context of marriage that the Bible sets forth. And so this resource is going to do some of that, and you can access it for free over at CoreChristianity.com forward slash offers. When you're at our website, we would encourage you to prayerfully consider making a gift to Core Christianity. We are listener supported, completely listener supported. We don't get money from a church or denomination. We don't play commercials on this program.

We count on people just like you to make regular gifts to help us meet our budget and do what we do every day. So if you believe in what we do here at Core Christianity, check that out when you go to CoreChristianity.com. Well, we do receive voicemails here at the Core, and here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Matthew. Oh, actually it's an email, I think, from Matthew. Do you have that?

Do you have that handy by any chance? I do happen to have the email from Matthew, so let's see what Matthew has to say. Matthew wrote us and he said, I am wondering why churches are always warning people about things related to dating and sex. There seems to be a lot of anxiety about these things. I know that other religions make a big deal about this stuff, like Hinduism and even Greek gods such as Cupid.

Even in the Bible, I read that Song of Solomon chapter 5 verse 1 says to be drunk with love. So I'm not sure why we are so scared to talk about this in the church. How do you think about these things? Matthew, thanks for writing into Core Christianity, and I sympathize with your concern.

I was just mentioning some of that with this offer that we have, right? How the Bible doesn't treat intimacy, sex, as a bad thing. It's like so many of the good gifts that God gives to us. It's something that can be corrupted by sinful man. Indeed, when we look at our culture today, society today, it's one of the things that has been the most corrupted, I think.

Especially when you think of all the discussions that are happening and shifts that have taken place with regard to gender identity and so forth. I think that's one of the reasons why churches talk about it and should talk about it, because it's one of the big cultural idols of the day. And so we have to address that, but also put forward, I think, a positive vision, the positive vision that's given to us in Scripture, and certainly you find in places like the Song of Solomon or in the Psalms as well, encouragements to love your spouse and to delight in them and to delight in the gift of intimacy that God has given to us as His people and within the context of marriage. So I think we have to do both, Matthew. We have to confront the false views, the pagan views, the idolatrous views of human sexuality that are out there and that are rampant in our culture today. But we can't just do that, because we don't want to communicate that this is a bad thing or a taboo thing. We have to talk about also positively what does God intend for marriage, for intimacy, what is that supposed to look like in a way that's honoring to the Lord and that takes God's good gifts and uses them in a manner that is pleasing to Him and leads to the flourishing of relationships, of marriages. So we have to do both, and I agree that there seems to be and can be at times maybe an overemphasis on the negative so that we don't put forward that positive vision. I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this as well, Bill, if you would agree with that.

A hundred percent, and especially when it comes to our young people. And there are some churches, I think, that are particularly conservative on this issue, and teenagers end up with a very distorted view, and they start to believe that sex is bad. And of course we know that it's not bad, it's good and it's beautiful in the context of a committed marital relationship. So yeah, I think we need to be very careful and, as you said, present both sides.

You often talk about how it's easy to fall into a ditch on one side or the other, and unfortunately sometimes we do that in the church. And you know this question, the way we've posed it, just the idea of romance, too. The Song of Solomon is full of romance. Erotic love poetry is what it is. It's not crude or crass.

It's beautiful, really. There's a lot of symbolism, but it's a part of the canon of Scripture. So there is this, I think, celebration of love, of intimacy, of romance. So there's an encouragement. Maybe if you're going out for Valentine's Day tonight with your spouse, after dinner you think, why don't we read the Song of Solomon together?

I'm covering my ears. Yeah, that's right. Read it to your spouse, not to your kids. No, just joking.

But it is one of those books that doesn't get a lot of focus, and it's unfortunate. Well, let's go to Sarah calling in from Missouri. Sarah, what's your question for us? Hello.

Hey, Sarah. Hey, I'm just curious. Our church has an Ash Wednesday service, and we've recently joined it. We never have gone to a Presbyterian church before, so I'm just curious, like, what exactly is it about? Okay, well, not all Presbyterian churches have Ash Wednesday services.

Some do. I mean, it's really, well, a couple of things. One, it's in some Christian traditions, it marks a period, the entrance into a time of fasting. That period is referred to as Lent, leading into the celebration, the Paschal celebration, the Easter celebration.

But that period of 40 days of fasting, in one sense to prepare. And the way this kind of developed in the history of the church, Sarah, is, you know, in the ancient church, after the days of the apostles, many people were received into the church during the time of Easter. That's when new members would get baptized oftentimes, I think highlighting the tie between baptism and new life and baptism and the doctrine of the resurrection. Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 6, for example. And frequently, those who were being baptized were encouraged to fast and to pray, and the church was encouraged to fast and to pray as well for the new members that were going to be joining the church. And over time, that developed into what some traditions, Christian traditions, have practiced. Now, there's nothing in the Bible that says, here's what you need to do. You know, these are holy celebrations that God commands us to observe. We don't see that in Scripture. So this is more of a tradition that's developed in the history of the church, in particular with this one, in the history of the Western church with Ash Wednesday. But it is, it's sort of that preparing or marking that period of entering into this time of fasting, ashes being a picture of death and contrition and mourning, and looking forward to ultimately moving towards the light of Easter and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so our church doesn't have an Ash Wednesday service. I know that there are many, many churches that do, and I think I've represented them well.

I think that's what they would be sort of focusing on. So appreciate your question. I'm glad to hear that you're in a church. And as always, we do want to encourage our listeners to be plugged into a solid church where the Word of God is faithfully proclaimed and where you can fellowship with others and grow in your relationship with the Lord. You need that. And so may the Lord bless you and be with you on this day. Thanks. as we explore the truth of God's word together.