Tag Archives: Bible

Nebuchadnezzar’s Wise Men

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CrystalBall_thumb      Perhaps you have heard of or seen a magician, who as part of their act reads the mind of a member of the audience.  If so, you know how impressive this seems on the surface.  Just how is it that a man can read the thoughts of another human being?  Later, when you find that there is some sort of trick or gimmick to explain the ‘magic,’ you realize that man just does not have the ability to read minds.  This, however, is not a new discovery.

     In the second chapter of the book of Daniel, we have recorded for us that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a most troubling dream.  He called for all of his wise men to come to him and tell him what the dream was and what it meant.  The wise men of Babylon were perplexed.  Without any sort of clues, or without Nebuchadnezzar telling them about the dream, there was no way for them to determine what the dream even was, not to mention what it might have meant.  They correctly stated that, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.  It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh” (Daniel 2:10b-11 NKJV).  They understood that the power to know what was in the mind of a man was not something that another man had the ability to discern.

     This same truth holds today as well.  We are told in the New Testament, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11).  Man cannot read the thoughts of another man.  That is what makes Daniel’s description and interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that much more impressive.  Daniel was only able to tell the king of his dream and what it meant, because God made that information known to Daniel in the first place (Daniel 2:19-23).

     This event should prove to us that there is a God who knows all things.  Only such a God could be able to tell Nebuchadnezzar through His servant Daniel the details of his dream.  Likewise, there are things about God Himself that man can only know because God has revealed those things to us.  It is in God’s word, the Holy Bible that we can find out about who God is and what He is like.  Let us not neglect the great volume of information that we have at our fingertips about our God and about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A Religion of Peace?

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niger-church-protest-hebdo     This week in the West African country of Niger, there has been an uprising of Muslims against churches of other faiths.  In the uprising, it has been reported that 45 church buildings have been set afire and many people have been injured or killed as a result of the activity.  All of this was brought on by a French cartoon published by Charlie Hebdo.  It is amazing that all of this violence could be brought about by a cartoon in another country.

     Just what is to be accomplished in attacking those who have no connection to Charlie Hebdo and burning their buildings?  How could anyone call this a normal reaction to a cartoon depicting Mohammed?  Some of those who are calling for calmer heads to prevail are saying that this response does not fit with Islam, since it is a religion of peace.  Is that so?

      According to the beliefs of Islam, the world is divided into two camps.  Those who are in submission to Islam are Dar-al-Salaam (the House of Peace).  Those who are not in submission are Dar-al-Harb (the House of War).  Those who will not submit to Islam are subject to jihad, or holy war, to either convert them at the point of a sword, or to kill them (Sura 2:191; 8:39; 9:123; 47:4).  This hardly sounds like a religion of peace.

     By contrast, the God of the Bible calls on His followers to live at peace with all of mankind.  “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14 NKJV, emphasis added).  Over and over again we are reminded that God is a God of peace (Romans 14:17; 15:33; 16:20; 1 Cor. 14:33).  Paul wrote to the Corinthians that “God has called us to peace” (1 Cor. 7:15b) and that they should, “Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Cor. 13:11).  In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that the peacemakers were blessed, because they shall be called the sons of God.

     We should strive to call things as they truly are, and not as we would wish them to be.  We may want for Islam to be a religion of peace.  We may wish for the fundamentalist adherents to the writings of Muhammed to want to live at peace with the rest of mankind and to show tolerance to others.  However, that is not the reality of the situation.  It is our wish that all men would come to God, recognize their sinful nature, realize their lost condition, see the need for Christ, and obey the Gospel and live at peace with all of mankind.  Then, and only then, will we have a peace that transcends all human creeds.  Then, and only then, can we have peace with God.

Speaking in Tongues – Part II

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026_la_times       In lesson one of this series we examined the purpose of speaking in tongues.  It was observed that the apostles spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost in order to confirm the word of God and to allow each man to hear the word in his native language so he could hear and understand.  Having covered the purpose for tongues let us now move on to the duration of spiritual gifts, most especially the gift of speaking in tongues.  In this lesson, we will answer the question of whether men still speak in tongues today.

      For the answer to this question, we turn back to Paul’s first epistle to the church in Corinth.  In dealing with the importance and longevity of love, Paul states that prophecies will fail, tongues will cease, and knowledge will vanish away (1 Cor. 13:8).  This is all in reference to miraculous gifts of the spirit that were given to the first century Christians to guide them.  These gifts guided them in part, for each prophecy or tongue spoken or gift of miraculous knowledge imparted to them a part of God’s will, but not the full and complete will of God.  These gifts of partial knowledge were to continue until that which is perfect or complete would come, and then they would be done away with (1 Cor. 13:9-10).  Thus, we must consider what is meant by that which is perfect/complete.

       There are some who claim that Jesus is that which is perfect, and that these gifts, which include speaking in tongues, will continue until the second coming of Christ.  How does that idea stand up to the context of the passage?  Paul goes on to give several illustrations to clarify his message of the temporary nature of spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 13:11-12).  The first is the comparison of a child and an adult.  A child knows some things, but does not have the more complete knowledge of an adult.  It is difficult to see how this illustration relates to the coming of Christ.  The second illustration refers to a mirror, which in Paul’s day was a polished piece of metal that did not reflect much detail, and being able to see one’s appearance as if seeing face to face.  The third illustration has to do with having partial knowledge now, but when that which is perfect has come that knowledge will be complete.  Again these illustrations do not make sense if this is the second coming of Christ, because why would we need a more complete knowledge of God’s will after the end of time and the second coming of Jesus?  We need that perfect or complete knowledge of God’s will while we are still alive and able to repent.

       However, the illustrations given by Paul make perfect sense if that which is complete refers to the complete revelation of God’s will in the written New Testament.  These first century Christians did not have the complete written revelation of God, but needed prophecy, tongues, and miraculous knowledge in order to know God’s will in the interim period before the completion of the scriptures.  Once the completed word of God was available in its written form, those things that were done in part were no longer needed.  In Paul’s later writing to Timothy, he tells him that all scripture is given by God so that man may complete, thoroughly furnished for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  For man to be complete and thoroughly furnished there can be nothing that he still lacks.  Therefore, that which is perfect or complete, which will bring about the end of the partial miraculous gifts including tongue speaking, was the completed revelation of scripture, which we have in the New Testament.

       Because that which is perfect or complete has come in the writing of the New Testament scriptures, that which was done in part was done away with.  Therefore we can know for sure that miraculous prophecy, speaking in tongues, and miraculous knowledge have been done away with since the early part of the second century when the scriptures were completed.  In the third and final part of this series, we will consider God’s rules for the use of speaking in tongues.

Great Discoveries

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Christopher_Columbus_on_Santa_Maria_in_1492     In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue with three ships from Spain.  It was his plan to prove that the earth was round, and to find a better trade route to the East Indies than traveling overland through Asia.  We all know what happened. Columbus landed in the Americas, discovered the New World, and the rest, as they say, is history.

   While this was an important discovery, and one that has had a profound effect on modern history, there was another discovery made almost 500 years later that is even more profound.  In 1947 a young shepherd boy stumbled into a cave in Qumran on the NW shores of the Dead Sea and discovered jars full of ancient manuscripts.  Among these manuscripts there were found to be copies of the Hebrew Old Testament.

      What makes the discovery of such importance?  Prior to this time, the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Old Testament were dated from the 10th century A.D.  These manuscripts found in the caves of Qumran were dated from the 2nd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D.  That makes them about 1,000 years older than any known Old Testament manuscripts at the time.  Many of those who do not believe in the inspiration of the scriptures had made the argument that the Bible was corrupted by man over time and could not be relied upon to be accurate in our modern age.  However, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls showed just the opposite.  The modern Hebrew text was shown to be extremely accurate in comparison with these much older manuscripts.

      This discovery in Qumran is important because it shows that God’s word has been preserved and has not been contaminated by man.  Therefore, we can trust that the Bible today is still the word of God that He intended for man to have and obey.