What's New at Cross Reference Library? Alton Gansky Books

Enoch - An unusual message is popping up in unexpected places around the world—in radio commercials, movies, TV shows, even within the pages of the New York Times. Believing that someone is playing an elaborate prank, FCC agent Gene Manford and FBI agent Katherine Rooney begin an investigation. But nothing in their training has prepared them for what they are about to encounter…A contemporary novel dealing with real spiritual warfare issues, Enoch will take you on a mind-bending, fast-paced journey through a story of good versus evil. 

The Prodigy - Undeniable miracles are following a rusty station wagon on its journey west. But the person behind them is no charismatic religious figure. He’s the six-year-old son of a poor single mother and the possessor of a gift he can’t explain. To multitudes, however, Toby Matthews is about to become a New Age messiah—and to unscrupulous opportunists, a ticket to undreamed-of wealth. But one person besides his young mother will see Toby for who he really is. Thomas York, a gifted but searching divinity student, finds in Toby a kindred spirit—brilliant, intuitive, hungry for truth. And as an evil beyond their comprehension unfolds, Truth will become their only weapon against a terrifying enemy unseen by all except Toby. A taut supernatural thriller, The Prodigy probes the influence of the invisible realm on the world around us and the indomitable power of the Light that shines in the darkness. 

Wounds - A man’s lifeless body is found in the fresh soil of San Diego’s botanical garden. Cause of death is asphyxiation, an easy call for the medical examiner. More mysterious, however, are tiny drops of blood on the victim’s skin, resulting from hundreds of punctures. A rabbi leaving his house for work expects a regular day at the synagogue. That quickly changes when he discovers a dead man on his front lawn, clearly beaten to death. Motorcycle riders racing along the empty streets of an abandoned military base stumble across another man’s corpse, its skin revealing long, red-purple marks of a thrashing given with wood dowels. The numbers mount. Each week another victim and another mysterious clue in a game of mass murder the police don’t want to lose. The solution rests with Dr. Ellis Poe, a religious professor who only wishes to be left alone with his books and classes. But evil must be faced, and the choice is no longer his own.

Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Part 1- The Empty Tomb

There is solid historical ground for the truth that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

“Inference to the Best Explanation”

A method commonly used today to determine the historicity of an event.

William Lane Craig describes this as an approach where we, "begin with the evidence available to us and then infer what would, if true, provide the best explanation of that evidence." In other words, we ought to accept an event as historical if it gives the best explanation for the evidence surrounding it.

There are three Historical truths about the resurrection which are so strong that they are accepted by all serious historians, even non-Christians.

1. The tomb in which Jesus was buried was discovered empty by a group of women on the Sunday following the crucifixion.

2. Jesus' disciples had real experiences with one whom they believed was the risen Christ.

3. As a result of the preaching of these disciples, which had the resurrection at its center, the Christian church was established and grew.

Evidence for the Empty Tomb

FIRST: the resurrection was preached in the same city where Jesus had been buried shortly before. Jesus' disciples did not go to some obscure place where no one had heard of Jesus to begin preaching about the resurrection, but instead began preaching in Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus had died and been buried. They could not have done this if Jesus was still in his tomb--no one would have believed them.

SECOND: the earliest Jewish arguments against Christianity admit the empty tomb.  In Matthew 28:11-15, there is a reference made to the Jew's attempt to refute Christianity by saying that the disciples stole the body. This is significant because it shows that the Jews did not deny the empty tomb. Instead, their "stolen body" theory admitted the significant truth that the tomb was in fact empty.

The Toledoth Jesu, a compilation of early Jewish writings, is another source acknowledging this. It acknowledges that the tomb was empty, and attempts to explain it away. Further, we have a record of a second century debate between a Christian and a Jew, in which a reference is made to the fact that the Jews claim the body was stolen. So it is pretty well established that the early Jews admitted the empty tomb. Remember that the Jewish leaders were opposed to Christianity. They were hostile witnesses. In acknowledging the empty tomb, they were admitting the reality of a fact that was certainly not in their favor.

THIRD:  the empty tomb account in the gospel of Mark is based upon a source that originated within seven years of the event it narrates. This places the evidence for the empty tomb too early to be legendary, and makes it much more likely that it is accurate. What is the evidence for this? I will list two pieces. A German commentator on Mark, Rudolf Pesch, points out that this pre-Markan source never mentions the high priest by name. "This implies that Caiaphas, who we know was high priest at that time, was still high priest when the story began circulating." For "if it had been written after Caiaphas' term of office, his name would have had to have been used to distinguish him from the next high priest. But since Caiaphas was high priest from A.D. 18 to 37, this story began circulating no later than A.D. 37, within the first seven years after the events," as Michael Horton has summarized it. Furthermore, Pesch argues "that since Paul's traditions concerning the Last Supper [written in 56] (1 Cor 11) presuppose the Markan account, that implies that the Markan source goes right back to the early years" of Christianity (Craig). So the early source Mark used puts the testimony of the empty tomb too early to be legendary.

FOURTH: the empty tomb is supported by the historical reliability of the burial story. NT scholars agree that the burial story is one of the best established facts about Jesus. One reason for this is because of the inclusion of Joseph of Arimethea as the one who buried Christ. Joseph was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrein, a sort of Jewish supreme court. People of this ruling class were simply too well known for fictitious stories about them to be pulled off in this way. Also, if the burial account was legendary, one would expect to find conflicting traditions--which we don't have.

The burial account and empty tomb account have grammatical and linguistic ties, indicating that they are one continuous account. Therefore, if the burial account is accurate, the empty tomb is likely to be accurate as well. Further, if the burial account is accurate then everyone knew where Jesus was buried. This would have been decisive evidence to refute the early Christians who were preaching the resurrection--for if the tomb had not been empty, it would have been evident to all and the disciples would have been exposed as frauds at worst, or insane at best.

FIFTH: Jesus' tomb was never venerated as a shrine. This is striking because it was the 1st century custom to set up a shrine at the site of a holy man's bones. There were at least 50 such cites in Jesus' day. Since there was no such shrine for Jesus, it suggests that his bones weren't there.

SIXTH: Mark's account of the empty tomb is simple and shows no signs of legendary development. This is very apparent when we compare it with the gospel of Peter, a forgery from about 125. This legend has all of the Jewish leaders, Roman guards, and many people from the countryside gathered to watch the resurrection. Then three men come out of the tomb, with their heads reaching up to the clouds. Then a talking cross comes out of the tomb! This is what legend looks like, and we see none of that in Mark's account of the empty tomb--or anywhere else in the gospels for that matter!

SEVENTH: women discovered the tomb was empty. Why is this important? Because, the testimony of women in 1st century Jewish culture was considered worthless. As Craig says, "If the empty tomb story were a legend, then it is most likely that the male disciples would have been made the first to discover the empty tomb. The fact that despised women, whose testimony was deemed worthless, were the chief witnesses to the fact of the empty tomb can only be plausibly explained if, like it or not, they actually were the discoverers of the empty tomb."

---

There have been various theories used to explain away the empty tomb, such as that the body was stolen. But those theories are laughed at today by all serious scholars. In fact, they have been considered dead and refuted for almost a hundred years.

For example, the Jews or Romans had no motive to steal the body--they wanted to suppress Christianity, not encourage it by providing it with an empty tomb. The disciples would have had no motive, either. Their preaching on the resurrection got them beaten, killed, and persecuted. Why would they go through all of this for a deliberate lie? No serious scholars hold to any of these theories today.

The resurrection of Jesus is not just the best explanation for the empty tomb, it is the only explanation around!

What explanation, then, do the critics offer, you may ask? Craig tells us that, "They are self-confessedly without any explanation to offer. There is simply no plausible natural explanation today to account for Jesus' tomb being empty. If we deny the resurrection of Jesus, we are left with an inexplicable mystery."

---

Because of the strong evidence for the empty tomb, most recent scholars do not deny it.

D.H. Van Daalen has said, "It is extremely difficult to object to the empty tomb on historical grounds; those who deny it do so on the basis of theological or philosophical assumptions."

Jacob Kremer, who has specialized in the study of the resurrection and is a New Testament critic, has said "By far most exegetes hold firmly to the reliability of the biblical statements about the empty tomb" and he lists twenty-eight scholars to back up his fantastic claim.

---

The information for this blog post was drawn from these sources:

- William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith  and The Son Rises

- J.P. Moreland's Scaling the Secular City

- Gary Habermas' The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus and Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

- desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection

---

You can download a free printout of this information by going to our “Free Material” Page and clicking on “Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Empty Tomb”.

---

This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”

Click here for more things written by Amanda Hovseth.

Is There Any Validity To The Doctrine Of Purgatory? - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Gary Hashley, Tim Hebbert and Brad Kilthau.

Tim Hebbert
So we're here to discuss another question, and this one comes from a listener. "Purgatory, where did this teaching come from? And is there any validity to it?" So guys, I thought I'd give you a little bit of a historic background to that, and then I'm gonna pass the baton to Gary. But as I understand purgatory, it's a temporary place between heaven and earth where those who have died go to be cleansed, or some unconfessed sins are dealt with so that when they enter heaven, they come completely clean. In the dictionary, it says the word purgatory cannot be found anywhere in scripture. The term itself, which literally means, "to purge or to cleanse," did not come into existence until, somewhere between 1175 and 1225 A.D. So let's talk a little bit about the history of it. Yeah, guys, it was interesting to research a little bit, because I didn't know that much about it. It was birthed, actually in ancient pagan religions, as well as Judaism. We can go back even to the time of the ancient Greeks when they were under the teachings of people like Plato, Heracles, and other philosophers. And they taught the ancient Greeks about a place that they were referred to as a Celestial Hades, somewhere between the earth and the moon. And you went there for a season to work out whatever you had not worked out in your earthly life. I think what I read was, Plato even thought that maybe, that was the answer of what the Milky Way was, that he could see. Ancient Judaism, also for a season, believed in prayers for the dead. In a book called 2 Maccabees 12:41-46, they say this, "So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous judge that reveals the things that are hidden. And they turned to supplication, praying that the sin that had been committed might be holy blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen their own eyes what had happened as a result of the sin of those who had fallen. He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of 2,000 drachmas of silver and sent it to Jerusalem, to provide for a sin offering. In doing this, he acted very well and honorably taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would've been foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was holy in pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead so that they might be delivered from their sins." So you're out there and you're saying, "Well, I've never heard of that book before." Well, it's not in our canon, it's in the biblical canon of the Catholic church. And guys, one of the things I've always struggled with, with some of the books that are added are, they're not recognized in the Old Testament as part of the Jewish canon. Primarily one of the very first reasons is, is because it's written in Greek. It's not written in Hebrew, but I also think as I look at that, they're written in that time between the end of our Old Testament canon and before the gospels begin. And they're written in that time, where for all intents and purposes, God goes silent for those years. So it's very difficult to say, you have divine inspired scripture unless the divine one is inspiring scripture. So we were talking before we went on the air, actually 1 Maccabees is a very good historic document about the Maccabees revolt. But what happens, I think in second and third Maccabees then, is they try to create a theology around that, which I would disagree with obviously. So the foundation of purgatory now is part of the Catholic faith. Their early church fathers didn't always believe it to be something of a physical place until around 1200 A.D. And a medievalist named Jacques Le Goff defines the birth of purgatory, the conception of purgatory, as a physical place. Now this is a place where you go, if you've left this earth, you've died, but you still have some unatoned sins. You go to this place of penance and cleansing. So if you have a loved one there, you can pay penance for them, financial penance for them. In a lot of ways, it's very similar to what we find in the Mormon faith, where they go and they stand as an intermediary or are baptized in place of their relative that may have not died within the bounds of what they would consider, what they need to be in that faith. So, Gary, I'm gonna pass the baton to you. Is there any validity to this teaching and why would it be needed?

Gary Hashley
Validity? That's a that's a good question. Again, the term purgatory really comes from a word that has to do with purification. And I've heard it explained this way, that it's possible that through Jesus your sins have been forgiven, but you haven't been purified yet. So when you die, you have to go someplace to be purified so then you can go to heaven. And so what they will say in their teaching is that there are three main thoughts to purgatory. The first is that, everybody in purgatory is going to heaven. The question in their minds when they believe in purgatory isn't, you're still up in the air as to whether you go to heaven or hell. They say, "You know, if you're in purgatory, that means you're gonna get to heaven eventually." They say, "It means purifying the soul, that your soul wasn't pure. So you need to go and have the fires of purgatory purify your soul." And the third part of their thinking is that, then those who are here and still alive need to pray for the dead and that it helps when we pray for the dead. Some of the reasoning seems a little circular, because they say, actually one of their proponents said, "If someone died and went immediately to heaven, why would we pray for them?" So he's saying, because we're taught to pray for them, must be they don't all just die and go immediately to heaven. They don't say, "Since someone dies and goes immediately to heaven, we don't need to pray for them," they go around the other way in the circle. And so, you know, why would it be needed?

Gary Hashley
Well, if, and here's an if, if we had to earn our own way to heaven: if it was our good works, if it was our efforts, if it was our religious practices that that made it possible to go to heaven. Let's suppose, if we had to earn our own way to heaven and we died, almost there and God was looking down and saying, "Boy, you know, Gary, you got close. I'm just gonna send you to purgatory for a little while to make up for what you didn't accomplish in earning your own salvation. Then you can come to heaven." Well, we don't earn our way to heaven. The Bible says, "It's not of works lest any man should boast." So it's not an issue of, we almost got there. Another thought would be, well, if Jesus' death was a good start, but we had to finish on our own, and that's kind of how I sense what they teach. Is that Jesus died to forgive us our sins, but it really wasn't enough to purify us. And so we have to finish on our own, and purgatory is where we finish that up on our own. But neither of those makes biblical sense, because the Bible teaches us: Jesus died on the cross, Jesus paid it all. His sacrifice was complete, His sacrifice was completely accepted. We add nothing to our salvation. That's why Galatians was written. It's not believe in Jesus and be circumcised, it's belief in Jesus is what saves. So because they divide forgiveness and purification, the Bible does not. In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:8-9 says, "Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him." It doesn't lay out a third. It's not, at home, you know, part way, and then away. It's, we're either at home in the body or away. We're either here or we're in heaven as followers of Jesus, and there's no in between place. Now they would take like, 1 Corinthians 3, where it talks about our works being tried, you know, whether gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw. That it's like, God paints the picture, He piles up our works and what burns up, burns up, and what's left, we get rewarded for. And then he says, "And you're saved yet so as through fire." They take that fire, as you go, and you burn a while. Then you get to go to heaven as if we're in the fire, not our works are in the fire. So no, I see no validity to it. So Brad, take this to the close.

Brad Kilthau
Yeah, Gary, I agree with what you're saying there. And even some of that history that Tim was sharing earlier, we think about Roman Catholicism, and it teaches that believers incur debts that must be inevitably taken care of in purgatory before the gates of heaven can be open to that person. And again, I think as you're sharing Gary, is that's not scriptural. Again what the apostle Paul said, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." There isn't a place in between that is taught in the word of God. And also when you think about, you know, the teaching and the believing in purgatory, I think first of all, the doctrine of purgatory undermines the sufficiency, obviously of Christ's atonement on the cross. I mean, scripture declares that Jesus was one sacrifice that He made perfect forever. Those who are being made holy, in Hebrews 10:14, it's also shared in Hebrews 1:3 And according to the Bible, we can rest assured that in Christ's body, on that cross, all the punishment that we deserve was placed into the body of Christ. And Jesus absolutely satisfied the justice of God the Father on our behalf. Romans 3 teaches us that, 1 Peter 3:18 teaches that. And then we also think, of course, we're coming closer and closer to Easter, and we always remember the work of Christ on the cross. And right before He died, Jesus said the words in John 19:30, He said, "It is finished." And what does that mean? It's obviously that the debt has been paid in full with the shed blood of Christ. There needs to be no other payment for our sins. And then I think, also the second part of this, of why disagree with purgatory, is because sometimes as you look at it, it undermines the seriousness of sin. By forwarding the notion that certain sins are not regarded as depriving the soul of divine grace. In other words, there are certain sins that will, you know, if we commit, but they won't keep us out of heaven. We have to understand that there are not sins that are not so bad that God just lets them slide. And they don't need to be atoned for by the blood of Christ. Every individual sin, even if we go steal a candy bar from the dollar general store, you know, that is stealing, that is a sin against God. And that is enough, there alone, to separate us from the presence of a very perfect and holy God. God the Father is not some old man that just lets things slide. He is perfect, He's righteous, He's holy. And so when we say that, that not so bad sin can be atoned for in a place called purgatory, that's saying that, "Well that not so bad sin doesn't need the blood of Jesus to cover it. This temporal punishment will take care of that." Well, that goes back again to what you were saying Gary. We're adding works to our faith again. Anytime you add works to faith, you have a false teaching. You have a belief that will not get you into heaven. It's only by faith alone, in Christ alone, that we are saved. There's never works, Ephesians 2:8-9 is so clear. And we have to understand that any transgression, any iniquity against our holy God is enough to separate us from our holy God, Psalm 51:4 tells us that. And so there's not a temporal debt that can be paid off on some of these sins and other sins don't need to be. Jesus taught very profoundly on that, if you just look at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. And then also we know that while the Catholic church promotes the teaching of purgatory, it wasn't officially defined by the, and I think Tim was talking about this, it was officially defined by the council of Florence in 1439. And it was also defended by the council of Trent in the late 16th century. Okay, so there were some council meetings, there were some coming together of high ranking hierarchy of the church in these, and there were some good things that were resolved. But we always have to remember, those councils are not scripture and what those councils wrote is not scripture. And when we look at the Bible, purgatory is not supported in a canon of scripture. In fact, I was even studying this a little bit earlier, even the new Catholic encyclopedia clearly acknowledges that the doctrine of purgatory is not explicitly stated in the Bible. Even those who are trying to promote it can say that it's not explicitly stated in the Bible. And so what you find as a teaching of purgatory, is really based upon traditions of the fathers of the Catholic church and not upon the forefathers of the Christian faith that we have of the apostles of the New Testament and the teaching of them. And then finally, I just got to say that most importantly, the father's testimony throughout all the word of God, as I've studied, it tells us that He has graciously provided salvation to those of us who come to Him by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Romans 8 is so clear on that, Romans 11:6 is clear on that and of course, Ephesians 2:8-9, as I shared earlier. So, when we look at the teaching of purgatory and the validity of it, is it true? Well, when you come to the scriptures, you cannot find that support. You can find history, you can find tradition, but support from the scriptures is not found. Hebrews 10:4, just to finish up it says, "By one sacrifice, He," that is Jesus, "made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Jesus did it all. Jesus did it all in the cross of Calvary.

What's New at Cross Reference Library? Men of the Past, Present, and Future

7 Men - How did George Washington resist the temptation to become the first king of America, and why did William Wilberforce give up the chance to be prime minister of England? What enabled Jackie Robinson to surrender his right to fight back against racists, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer to jeopardize his freedom and safety to defy the Nazis? In this stirring and inspiring new work, New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas reclaims a long-lost sense of heroic—the idea that certain lives are worthy of emulation. Get to know the seven men in this book, and your life will be immeasurably richer. 

The Men We Need - The world needs real men. But here’s the problem: While we know what men are not supposed to be, it’s not clear to us what masculinity looks like when men are at their absolute best. Into our cultural confusion, Brant Hansen paints a refreshingly specific, compelling picture of what men are designed to be: keepers of the garden. Combining depth and humor, he calls for men of all interests and backgrounds (including avid indoorsman like himself) to be ambitious about the right things and to see themselves as protectors and defenders of the vulnerable, with whatever resources they have at their disposal. The Men We Need is witty, challenging, bracingly honest, and perfect for any man who wants to know “Why am I here?”--and is ready to show up. 

Digital Winter - Twenty-two-year-old Donny Elton sat in his bedroom as he did every morning, writing line upon line of unintelligible computer code from his wheelchair. The helpless savant had never spoken more than a few words at a time, so Stanley Elton, Donny’s father, was shocked to hear a voice from his son’s room: “Shadow, shadow on my left; shadow, shadow on my right…” That was the day the lights went out. Colonel Jeremy Matisse of the US Cyber Command discovers that a computer worm has destroyed power stations around the country and is continuing to evolve. The race is on to determine its source before urban centers self-destruct without communication, transportation, and vital services. Can Jeremy stop the cyber attack? What is its endgame? And who—or what—prompted Donny Elton to write the code that is bringing the world to its knees?

What Does It Mean To Be Made In The Image Of God? - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Gary Hashley, Tim Hebbert and Brad Kilthau.

Gary Hashley
So the one we're gonna look at is this, "We often hear from Bible teachers that, we as humans are made 'in the image of God' what does that exactly mean? And what is the significance of this to us today?" Well, let's start with, where do we even find this term used in scripture?" There are really three places in the book of Genesis that alludes to this. In Genesis 1, in the account of creation after God has made, you know, the heavens and the earth in chapter one, verse one. Then He makes light, then He makes an atmosphere, and then He makes the seas and the land and the plants appear. Then He makes the sun, the moon and the stars. And then He makes the fish and the birds, then He makes animals. We get later to where He makes man, and in chapter one, verse 26, it says, "And God said, 'let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens. Over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God made man in His own image, in the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. And then a little later in chapter five, we come across this concept again, where it says, "This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, He made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and He blessed them. And named them Man, when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son after his image and named him Seth." And then we get to chapter nine, verse six, where we read, "Whoever sheds the blood of man by man, shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image." Now I'll tell you right off the top, that this is one of those questions that has been talked about, reasoned about, debated about, argued about, written about, and disagreed about as the years have gone on. What is implied when it says, that God made us in His image? One author says, "Christian thinkers have tried to locate the image of God in various dimensions of man's being. Including man's spirit, soul, rationality, will, mind, personhood, immortality and even his physical body. But scripture is not specific." I want you to hear that, "Scripture is not specific as to exactly what it is about man that constitutes the image of God." The image of God cannot be reduced to one attribute or any combination of attributes in man. The biblical portrait is more holistic. The entire man as a human being, images God. So I'm just gonna share a couple, three thoughts, and then I'll turn it over to my brothers, who are way smarter than I am. I have come to the conclusion over the years, that this isn't a physical thing, because God is spirit. Jesus became flesh, but when He became flesh He became like us. So the fact that, you know, we're made in God's image, doesn't mean physically we look like Him. I do believe it's a uniqueness thing, because if you notice in Genesis 1, it doesn't say this about any of the animals, any of the fish, or any of the birds. It doesn't say they were made in the image of God, but when it comes to the final creative act God records for us here, that He created man. It says He created them in His image. So there's something unique about people as opposed to cattle, as opposed to cats, as opposed to canaries, as opposed to trout. There's something in us that's unique enough that God said, we were being made in His image. I think it's also a position thing, because after saying "We were made in God's image," it says "Now have dominion over everything else." Dominion over the cattle, dominion over the fish, dominion over the birds, dominion over the plants. God put us in a position of being over the rest of creation. It's very important to remember, and I agree with the writer. The Bible does not describe the contents of the image. So anything we say today is kind of conjecture, maybe it's implied, but it'd be nice if He specifically said. And there were those over the years who have argued the difference between image and likeness. What's significant about the fact that we were made in the image of, and the likeness of? And there are so many variations of what has been thought and what has been said about such things. So does it refer to our personality, to our consciousness, to the fact that we can use language, to the fact that we have a will, to the fact that some morality that is built into us? I will let Tim pick up and share what he's prepared on this.

Tim Hebbert
You know, going back to Genesis, for me the defining shift there, and I'm gonna talk for just a couple of seconds here about character that we share with God. Things that He shared in our nature that come from Him. But the defining shift from every other piece of creation in the creation story, is He said He formed man out of the dust of the earth. And then He breathed the breath of life into him. And what is that breath of life? Because all the animals had to have life breathed into them, or they were created with that. I think the shift there is, He breathed His essence and His spirit into us, and so one of the very first things that we share with God is, He is spirit. And He has given us spirit. You know, my dad and I, he's jokingly said, "I don't think any animals will be in heaven except for dogs," because he loved dogs. But what separates man from the rest of animal living, breathing, creation, was that spirit that was breathed into him. In the fourth chapter of John, it tells us, "God is spirit, so those of us who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." So while most of us on Sunday morning, we're gathering and singing worship, but there's a physical human act that goes along in that. A physical act of humanity that goes on in life. But really, that worship time is born out of our spirit. All that we do to worship God is born out of our spirit. So the things in His character that He shares with us is, He shares things from His character with us, but not completely like Him. We are born in spirit, but we are a spirit that depends on His spirit. We reflect God's nature and our ability to reason and the freedom to choose God. God gave us part of that, He gives us knowledge, He gives us the ability to learn things and to reason with what we've learned. To make good decisions, and He's given us the freedom to use those, to make good choices. Unfortunately, in the garden, that's the very first thing that they did wrong. We share a nature of God that has a desire for fellowship. It tells us, you know, in the third chapter of Genesis. He would come to the garden for a time of fellowship with Adam and Eve. And when they broke covenant, that was the very first thing that got broken with Him. God is famous in all of scripture for His desire to be in fellowship with those who love Him. We were created and birthed as children with perfect innocence, which is a reflection of the perfect holiness that God has. Again, original sin destroys that. And I wanna just give one last thing and I'm gonna turn it over to Brad. He creates each and every one of us, unique. The one thing that we can say above all things about God is, there has never been or never will be anyone like Him. In the commandments, you know, I go back to A.W. Tozer talking about the second commandment, "Don't make any graven images." Basically Tozer says, "What He's saying to us there is, 'don't you think for a second, you know, what I look like or what I'm all about.' But in correlation with that, He's called and He's created each of us. That's one of the, I think the amazing things about human creation. There's not two of us that are identical. I mean, we are separate, we are different, each one of us is unique. Even if we're twins or triplets and we're identical on the outside, our spirits are still unique and individual to us.

Gary Hashley
So you're saying Mr. Rogers was right. There's nobody like you!

Tim Hebbert
That's it. Maybe, I don't know. You ruined my whole image of God. I always thought He had a long beard with a lightning bolt. No, I'm kidding.

Brad Kilthau
Well, yeah. And what you guys are saying, I agree. You know, the Bible tells us that we are created in the image of God, and Gary you gave three references from the Old Testament. We also have it in the New Testament, we have that in 1 Corinthians 11:7. And then we also have it in James 3:9 and that reaffirms that in the New Testament, that we are made the image of God. And so I guess I could just add to that is, we think about what does it mean to be made in the image of God? My definition is, "To be human is to be a divine image bearer." In other words, we are to reflect the, image of God to all of God's creation. We don't understand, as you guys were saying, it doesn't tell us a whole lot about what it really means to be made in the image of God. So what can you do? You can just go to the Old Testament and you can find the characteristics of God, and keep searching through that and learn more and more about who God is. And then look for those similar characteristics that we could relate to God in. Of course, as Tim was sharing, we have this ability to reason and we have this ability to rationalize things. Also we have this ability to create things. Obviously that's in the image of God. You think about some of the things that man's been able to create and come up with. The concept in His mind and then to make it with his hands, it's an amazing gift that God's given us being made in His image. Also we are moral beings, we for the most part, obviously we've been given a conscience and God's word is written on our hearts. So, but then at the same time, as Tim was saying, we have the choice. To obey what's written on our heart and our conscience, or we can disobey. And again, that's what Adam and Eve did, and of course they passed that down to all of us. And so the image of God has been distorted in us today. But one of the beautiful things is, when we put our faith and trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ, He begins to restore that original image of God back in us. As we go through this process of sanctification, we become more and more like Jesus. And so that starts to change, our attitude starts to change, our thoughts start to change, our desires start to change. And then as those things change inwardly, then outwardly we start to change too. Our language changes, the places we go, the things we do, all of those things begin to change. And I think as you look at that, then that's bringing us again, aback to what God originally created us to be. To walk upright, to be those who seek to live a holy life before God, and to please God. And so again, God gives us an ability that all the rest of the creation that you look at doesn't really have. I mean, the creation has kind of this built-in way of doing things. You know, like this time of year it's the birds who fly south or go to someplace warmer. It's an instinct that we often say they have, but man has the ability to reason these things out. And "why am I going south? And why do I need to do this?" Even our title that we talk about ourselves in science, we're called homo sapiens, which means a thinking being. We have the ability to think where other beings don't, they just do what their instinct says. And even getting back to the thought about dogs being in heaven, you know, we all want our favorite dog to be in heaven, but we have to understand, of course, they don't have a spirit. They don't have a soul, and so are they gonna be in heaven? I don't know. I think God's gonna give us even better animals when we get to heaven. I don't know. But obviously we have a soul that lives forever, He gave us a soul that will live for eternity. And of course, the choice we make determines where that soul is going to live, and with a body that will live with that. If we reject Christ, we'll live forever in a place called hell, with a body that can be tormented forever and ever. If we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we're given this beautiful glorified body to live forever and ever in the presence of God. You don't see that with any other of God's creation, just man.

What's New at Cross Reference Library? Facing the Future

The Last Days - Osama bin Laden is dead. Saddam’s regime is buried. Baghdad lies in ruins. Now the eyes of the world are on Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy, two senior White House advisors, as they arrive in the Middle East to offer a historic Arab-Israeli peace plan and the American president’s new vision of freedom and democracy. But in the shadows lie men whose hearts are filled with evil—men for whom the prospects of peace go against everything they believe. And soon, one terrifying scheme after another begins to unfold: 

• An Iranian plot to send suicide bombers into the U.S.

• A terrorist plot to assassinate the prime minister of Israel

• A Jewish plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock 

As Jon and Erin face a battle for control of Jerusalem, a battle for control of the Holy Land, and an Iraqi plan to rebuild ancient Babylon, they can’t help but wonder: Are such signs evidence that they are living in the last days before the return of Christ? 

Foster the Family -  There are great rewards that come along with being a foster parent, yet there are also great challenges that can leave you feeling depleted, alone, and discouraged. The many burdens of your day—struggling children, difficult biological parents, and a broken system—are only compounded by the many burdens of your heart—confusion, anxiety, heartache, anger, and fear. With the compassion and insight of a fellow foster parent, Jamie C. Finn helps you see your struggles through the lens of the gospel, bringing biblical truths to bear on your unique everyday realities. In these short easy-to-read chapters, you’ll find honest personal stories and practical lessons that provide encouragement and direction from God’s Word as you walk the journey of foster parenting. 

Know Yourself Know Your Money - You decide your money and your future by what you do: You’re too tired to cook, so grab takeout instead. You worry about retirement, but haven’t started saving. You want financial peace, but keep making the same money mistakes. That’s why you need more than a plan for your money. You need to understand why you make the choices you do. In Know Yourself Know Your Money, #1 New York Times bestselling author and financial expert Rachel Cruze helps you discover what’s at the root of your behavior: 

• How to overcome your biggest money fears

• How your childhood impacts your money decisions today

• What really motivates your spending, saving, giving, and more

Understanding why you handle money the way you do changes everything. It means you can use your strengths to get out of debt and build wealth. You can finally afford, and achieve, your biggest dreams. You can even improve your relationships. When you know yourself and your money, you can finally stop worrying about finances—and start living life on your terms.

Is The Russian Invasion Fulfillment Of Prophecy? - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Ben Poole and Gary Schick.

Ben Poole
All right, so forewarning---this question is---we obviously don't know who asks the questions. And so we don't want to be disrespectful, but we also want to look at this from what we believe, a Christian's standpoint should be. Some questions we get, we feel maybe motivated politically, or maybe you hear things from other leaders and preachers. And so we're going to discuss this from what we believe is the perspective a Christian needs from a biblical standpoint.

Gary Schick
It's a good question really.

Ben Poole
It really is. And so we want to honor the question and the one that's asking it, but also, just be prepared. It may not be what you were expecting.

Gary Schick
Do you want the Bible's answer or what you want to hear?

Ben Poole
Yup. So here it is, and this is probably something that you've heard. If you've been online listening, this is definitely a hot topic. So here it is, "As we watch what Russia is doing in the Ukraine, many are wondering if this is fulfilling any biblical prophecy." So again, this is something I've seen a lot of. And I think there's gonna be multiple stances on this, depending on who you listen to. But as always, we want to come at it from a scriptural standpoint. So with that, Gary, why don't you open us up with some plots?

Gary Schick
You know, and I really wasn't thinking about it when I said it. I was just thinking about the snow outside, but if you're familiar with the Narnian kind of allegory, there was a time in Narnia when they were waiting for Aslan to come back. Which is, symbolically, the world under a winter like we're under now, in more ways than one, waiting for Jesus to return. And that's a question, you know, really is this a sign that Jesus is coming soon? And I know there's a lot of places people go in scripture, I actually start with the gospel. Every time people want to talk to me about the end times and "Are we in them and are we getting close?" I start with the words of Jesus, and then I go from there. Out to Revelation and back to Daniel and all those places that people wanna jump to right away. I start with the words of Jesus. And that gives me interestingly, a slightly different perspective on how it's gonna unfold than most Christians seem to have to me. The context is very close to the end of Jesus' life and ministry on this earth. He's in His final week in Jerusalem, He's in the temple---Herod's temple---which was one of the wonders of the world. And, you know, the disciples lived in a time kind of like ours. There was some stability and there was great instability. They were under Roman rule, and they were looking to get out from under it. Everybody was thinking that Jesus maybe was a Messiah, but not the Messiah. Cause they thought, they were thinking, "Political leader to get us out of this mess." Not truly a savior to the whole world. In fact, they weren't even interested in the rest of the world. They, like so many of us, let's just be honest we're interested in ourselves and our own life and our own little plot on the planet. And that's kind of where the Jews were, they didn't really have a God's heart for the world mindset. They had a God's heart for "us" mindset. And so anyway, one of the things that was stable---they thought in their world---was God's temple. "Here it is. Look at it Jesus, isn't it amazing." The buildings and the structures and wow! I mean, it was just really, very recently completed in Jesus time. Actually, I think they may have still been finishing up part of it. And so he just kind of makes this offhanded comment, "Do you see all these great buildings? I tell you not one stone will be left on another." Well to them, the thought of that temple being taken away could only mean the end of the world. And so later in the day, while they're sitting on the Mount of Olives, sun's going down, they're looking across. Today, if you sit on the Mount of Olives, you're gonna see, what is it? The Dome of the Rock. I mean, it's built where the temple was, this Muslim edifice. But there's kind of a mystique about it, the sun's shining off the golden roof. And so probably you'd get a similar feeling. And so the disciples are looking across at God's temple at that point and they're saying, "So Lord, tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming?" You know, because all they could imagine was the final, the showdown. And so I wanna take you back to Mark 13, you could also look at it in Matthew 24, you can also look at it in Luke. All of these end times speeches of Jesus, they're the same one, but each one, you know, Matthew tells us more than Mark does, Luke tells us some different things. But I start with Mark, cause it's the shortest, simplest, and really the core of it. And so Jesus said to them, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one will be left. They'll all be thrown down." So while sitting on the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, "Tell us, when will these things be? What will be the sign that they're about to be accomplished?" Jesus began to say to them, "See that no one leads you astray." This is a topic that people, Christians are vulnerable to being led astray about. Because we have a itching ears that want to know more. "See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name saying, 'I am he' and they will lead many astray." And there were false Christs prior to Jesus: At the time of Jesus, right after Jesus, and there have been a few since. They'll lead ministry. And then, this is what's relevant to us Mark 13:7, "And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are but the beginning of birth pains." So first I wanna say where this does fit into scriptural prophecy, and then I want to key in on just one thing Jesus said there. In terms of prophecy, there has been a lot going on in the world in recent years. You know, we're hearing more about global warming and increasing, you know, violence in our weather. We've had the COVID thing. And just as we're coming out of COVID we all are wondering, I am too, could this lead to world war three? And what will that mean? Well, Jesus talks about how, as we approach the end, the very things that have been since the dawn of time: natural disaster, human war, famines and skyrocketing prices like you and I are seeing at the fuel pump today, these things will happen. But the only part of it that is showing that we're getting closer to "The Turn of the Jesus," is He compares it to birth pains. And I don't know about you, I remember particularly when our first one was born. My wife didn't believe that it was the day, but I'm sitting there at Red Lobster with her having supper and I just started timing the contractions. And they started out pretty spread out, but the intensity and the frequency began to increase. And I remember going upstairs with her to the hospital, she was still resistant and I was all wild, you know, like wild in my head. And I get to the desk and I said to the nurse, "I think we're pregnant." She looked at my wife, "Yeah, I think you're right about that." What I meant was, I think our pregnancy is about to turn into something more. The world is pregnant friends, and we're about to give birth to something. Is it today? Is it tomorrow? I don't know. But Jesus did say there would be an increase in intensity as we draw near to His coming. But what I wanna just move back to, is one word He said here in verse seven, "When you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be alarmed." The Greek word there is, "θροεῖσθε," and it means to wail, to clamor, to frighten, to cry aloud, to make a noise by outcry, troubled, frightened, be troubled in mind, alarmed. Isn't that where we find ourselves? When we're sitting there looking at the news, whatever news station you happen to watch, whichever one you've decided is telling you the truth or not. We get a little crazy don't we? And Jesus says, "Hey. Hey! Don't be alarmed. Don't be." Then He goes on and talks about what we should be a little concerned about. You're gonna be brought before rulers in this world, and you're gonna have to give an account for what you believe. And even then don't be afraid, just say what the holy spirit says. Jesus says, "You be my people until I come again, you focus on that. Don't be focused on what's in the head lines." Cause it's gonna come, it's gonna go. And it's gonna come with greater frequency and nothing we think about is gonna change it. But what we do wanna focus on is being witnesses for Him. And living out the Christian life and praying for the leaders and letting God be God of the things that we can't control.

Ben Poole
Yeah. This is probably a touchy subject for a lot of people, and we understand that. And I think that from our perspective, whether it is fulfilling prophecy or not, I don't think that should be our main focus. Because one thing I know: God is God, He is unchanging and He is going to send Jesus back. "Period." End of discussion. When that happens nobody knows, not even the Son. He even said, "I don't know, it's only God. When He says it's time, it's time, and that's that." And so what happens that I struggle with, personally, is watching Christians get so wrapped up into things like this. They neglect the ministry of being a Christian. We are called, not to look for signs and wonders and prophecies, in fact, Jesus---

Gary Schick
In this very passage.

Ben Poole
He kind of is antagonistic against those who are looking for the signs and the wonders. And He's saying, "This is who you are to be." He's asked, "What's the greatest commandment?" Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. These two complete, they are the fulfillment. They are the embodiment of all the law and the prophets. That's who we're to be, is to love God and to love people. And what happens is, so many times Christians are getting caught up in watching the news or listening to certain televangelists or preachers, from my perspective, teaching a fearful faith.

Gary Schick
And it brings in money.

Ben Poole
Yeah, it does.

Gary Schick
It sells.

Ben Poole
Fear sells, and so we are called to something else. And I really love the book of Revelation, and I think I see it differently than a lot of people. Like you said, it is one of the greatest books of hope in the entire scriptures. Because you think about the first generation church---

Gary Schick
God Wins!

Ben Poole
That they were being hunted like animals legally, legally murdered.

Gary Schick
Right.

Ben Poole
And God sends this revelation to John, for John to write down. To send to the churches as a message of hope, that you are going to endure great suffering, but I'm coming back.

Gary Schick
And that's the other thing people don't want to hear. I mean, obviously there are different viewpoints. Is Jesus coming before the tribulation, middle of tribulation, after tribulation? Regardless of your stand on that, Christians will go through times of tribulation. We're going through them now. Is it 'the' great tribulation? I mean, that's gonna depend on your position: Pre-trib, mid-trip, post-trib, and for some of you, what trip? I know, it gets confusing. But I think those arguments can be a ruse, because regardless of what happens at the very end, the last seven years, Jesus---in this passage---very directly says, "You will go through times. There will be times of trouble." And that's when we anchor in Him and say, "You know what? I know you're coming again, and I know you've got me. And I know that I need to rely on you for how I need to respond and not respond in the flesh."

Ben Poole
Yeah.

Gary Schick
But to be Christ's kid in the world and be prayerful and watchful and loving toward all. Which gets harder when it gets tougher. You know, it is hard to love.

Ben Poole
And that's just who God has called us to be. We know that tribulation and hard times are going to come. Who are you to be in the middle of those? You are to be the sons and daughters of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and to live for Him and to worship Him. But we can never use these times to neglect sharing the message of Jesus, because maybe God's coming back soon and maybe it's gonna be another thousand years. It doesn't really matter. He has called us to be His church, His people in the midst of these times. So that's our encouragement to you. I know that, maybe again, this might not have been the way you thought this conversation would go, and we would love to have more conversations about this if you'd like. But again, we're looking at this from a scriptural point from what we believe and really my heart and I think Gary's. No matter what comes be God's people.

Gary Schick
Well, and what gives us a great opportunity here is, just as Christians kind of get a little scared and wondering, or are excited, I would say, the world is actually scared. And to be without Christ in the crisis that we're in, and have just been in and are about to be in next, we don't know what's coming next. There's a lot of instability. You know, we've talked about what's gonna happen with oil and nickel and all kinds of, because we're dependent, we are so dependent. You know, can we even fully break the rush on everything who knows? But we have a message of hope. We know that God wins and that God's got us. And so it's not a blind, fluffy, boy are you're feet even laying on the ground. No, we are. We're walking through it. We're paying at the pump. We're praying for the relief to the people of Ukraine and the salvation of, you know, President Putin that he would just have a different heart and mindset. Whether that happens, you know, we know the gospel is getting through to the people in Ukraine and Russia and we need to proclaim it right here.

What's New at Cross Reference Library? Facing Life's Big Challenges

Do Hard Things - A growing movement of young people is rebelling against the low expectations of today’s culture by choosing to “do hard things'' for the glory of God. And Alex and Brett Harris are leading the charge. Do Hard Things is the Harris twins’ revolutionary message in its purest and most compelling form, giving readers a tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential. Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life. Then they map out five powerful ways teens can respond to personal and social change. Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. This rallying cry from the heart of an already-happening teen revolution challenges a generation to lay claim to a brighter future, starting today. 

Limitless Life - Afraid. Failure. Addict. Orphan. Damaged Goods. Purposeless. We all pick up labels that define us. But most aren’t true and put false limits on our lives. Thankfully, Jesus came to remove these labels and allow us to see ourselves as God does. In this transformational message, Pastor Derwin Gray reveals the amazing freedom we can find in Christ and the new labels he offers: Grace-covered. Courageous. Free. Purposeful. Faithful.   

Mission Drift - Without careful attention, faith-based organizations drift from their founding mission. It’s that simple, it will happen. Why do so many organizations wander from their mission, while others remain Mission True? Can a drift be prevented? In Mission Drift, HOPE International executives Peter Greer and Chris Horst show how to determine whether your organization is in danger of a drift, and they share the results of their research into Mission True and Mission Untrue organizations. Even if your organization is on course, it’s wise to look for ways to inoculate yourself against a drift. You’ll discover what you can do to prevent a drift or get back on track and how to protect what matters most.

Blind Faith: Is it Biblical?

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

John 20:29 (NIV) Then Jesus told him (Thomas), “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (ESV) So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Somewhere along the line in Christian history, someone took Hebrews 11:1, John 20:29, and 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, and simplified what they are saying to the phrase, “blind faith”.

Then society allowed this idea to morph into the belief that Christians have absolutely no logical reason to have faith in God, and blindly have no idea why they are doing anything, other than they “feel” it is right.

To be fair, some Christians do live as if God expects their faith to be blind. This allows them to be lazy in their studies of the Bible and results in choices that are made based on random whims. They use faith as an excuse to do whatever they want, no matter how random or illogical it may be, and act as if they deserve to have things happen in their favor just because they invoked the magic word, “faith”. But this version of “faith” isn’t Biblical.

If we look at Hebrews 11 in context, we see that, “the conviction of things not seen,” simply means that, when God says something will happen--even though we have not yet seen it happen because it is the future--we believe it will happen because God has already proven Himself faithful. 

When Jesus is talking to Thomas, He is just stating the fact that there will be people who don’t get to see Jesus in the flesh during their lives on this earth, but they will still believe He did walk in the flesh.

And 2 Corinthians is speaking about the fact that we can’t be home with God until we leave our physical bodies; and therefore, can’t physically see Him.

We may be blind in the sense that we cannot see the future--or really even the past with our own eyes. We can’t always explain how things will specifically play out. But we aren’t supposed to be blind about who or what we have faith in. We are meant to use reason to determine what we chose to have faith in--the object of our faith

---

God makes it clear that He values reason and logic

Psychedelic Brain in Vivid Colors by Bruce Rolff

Proverbs 3:13 (ESV) Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding.

Hebrews 5:12–14 (ESV) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Acts 17:11 (ESV) Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

James 1:5 (ESV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

John C. P. Smith from  answersingenesis.org said:

“The very language of the Hebrew Old Testament reveals that our faith is intrinsically linked to truth. The two words for faith and truth—emunah and emet—are even sometimes translated interchangeably in different Bible versions. Both Hebrew words derive from the same root, aman, meaning ‘firmness, certainty, reliability.’ So rather than being nebulous, biblical faith—like truth—is sure and certain.…Some faith may be unwarranted, and no doubt this faith is blind. In contrast, the Christian faith is both reasonable and justified. It is founded firstly and primarily upon God’s consistent and reliable Word.”

---

Just because we can’t see Jesus with our own eyes, does not mean we don’t have logical reasons to believe the Biblical account of Jesus’ life and death. God left us a ton of archaeological, scientific, and historical reasons to have faith in Jesus. 

(Recommended Reading: “The Case for Christ” and “The Case for Faith” by Lee Strobel; “The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus” by: Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona)

And even though we can’t see the future and have to wait to see God’s promises come to fruition, we still have logical and rational reasons to have faith in who God is: in His character and that He always keeps His Word.

Faith is not supposed to be just a shot in the dark. We are meant to learn who God is by reading the Bible. We test what we learn there through our experiences with Him in our own lives, and our studies of things like history, science, and archaeology. Our faith in God is based on the collection of evidence found.

---

The Bible, as a whole, consistently shows us why we should have faith in God and that this faith is meant to be rooted in reason. It is full of examples of people who had the type of faith which God commends. We can examine what their faith looked like, so we know how to best put faith into practice in our own lives. Here are a few examples:

The Unclean Woman of Faith

Mark 5:24-34 (NIV) So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

(Also in Matthew 9:20-22 and Luke 8:43-48)

This story when read on it’s own doesn’t seem like much more than a quick little example of a miracle. But when the Bible is read in context, we learn there is more to it.

First thing we must understand about this story is that this woman is suffering through much more than just a health issue. According to the Jewish law, this specific health issue also makes her unclean. And when someone or something is unclean and it comes in contact with someone or something else, it makes that thing unclean too.

Leviticus 15:19-33 (NLT) “Whenever a woman has her menstrual period, she will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. Anyone who touches her during that time will be unclean until evening…If a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is unrelated to her menstrual period, or if the blood continues beyond the normal period, she is ceremonially unclean. As during her menstrual period, the woman will be unclean as long as the discharge continues…”

So for twelve years this woman has been considered unclean within the Jewish community, which means she has been ostracized from her friends and family, expected to permanently separate herself from their society until the bleeding stops and she could be made clean again.

Since, their medicinal options obviously hadn’t helped her in twelve years, this woman had given up hope of ever having a normal life:

Mark 5:26 (NIV) She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

That is, until Jesus came on the scene. This woman heard of the things Jesus had been doing, the Messianic prophecies He had been fulfilling, and she believed He was the promised Messiah. Which meant, she also believed He could heal her ailment. 

But, it gets even more specific than that; Mark 5:28 informs us that she believed the only thing she needed to do was touch his garment. “...If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (NIV)

This woman obviously had a pretty decent knowledge of the Scriptures, because she is putting her faith in one of the Messianic prophecies in Malachi:

Malachi 4:2 (ESV) But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

The Hebrew word for “wings” in this verse is "kanaph". Strong's Concordance, defines it as follows:

Kanaph (kaw-nawf); Noun Feminine, Strong #: 3671

Wing, extremity, edge, winged, border, corner, shirt

-Wing

-Extremity skirt, corner (of garment)

In other words, this verse is saying:

Malachi 4:2 (ESV) But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in the fringes of its robe. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

This woman knew Jesus was the solution to all of her problems. With one little touch, she could return to life with her family and friends and be made clean in the sight of God. The problem was, Jesus was going to be surrounded by a crowd of people which she wasn’t supposed to get close to because everyone she would come in contact with would become unclean. And yet, because of the crowd, she knew there was no way she would be able to get His attention to ask for healing, especially not from a distance. 

It was a huge risk for her to venture into the crowd to touch Jesus’ cloak. But her knowledge of the Scriptures and of the fact that God’s prophecies always come true, led her to have such a strong faith that she took the risk. She pushed her way through the crowd and reached out to touch the edges of Jesus’ cloak.

And, the result?

Mark 5:29-34 (NIV) Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Her faith wasn’t just a random whim or feeling. She knew the Biblical prophecies about the coming Messiah and knew that Jesus had been fulfilling them. Walking into a crowd in her state was too dangerous to risk without being certain of who Jesus was. If she had been wrong, she would have made Jesus, Himself, unclean by touching Him. But she wasn’t wrong. Jesus was the promised Messiah. So, instead of her making Him unclean, power came from Him, through his wings, and He made her clean; just as He does for everyone who puts their faith in Him.  

The Canaanite Woman of Faith

Matthew 15:21-28 (ESV) And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

In this story Jesus tests the Canaanite woman’s faith by testing her knowledge about what God had promised through the Jewish Messiah. 

Jesus made the false claim that He was sent only to help the Jewish nation. But, the woman refused to accept that as an answer the Messiah would give. She was certain that God was not only the God of the Jews but also the God of the whole world. This shows she had knowledge of the Scriptures.

Isaiah 49:6 (ESV) he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV) The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 22:18 (NIV) “…and through your (Abraham’s) offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Psalm 100:1-3 (NIV) Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

The Canaanite Woman’s faith was grounded in the truth of God’s Word. She knew that the Scriptures prophesied that the coming Messiah would be sent to save the entire world, not just the Jewish nation. The Jewish nation wasn’t meant to be thought of as the only people God cared about, they were supposed to be a beacon pointing the entire world to God.

She had diligently done the work of studying the Scriptures. Her knowledge of them allowed her to be certain that God would keep His word. She was so confident in God and His promises that even when the promised Messiah, Himself, questioned her, she was able to stand firmly on God’s truth. And it led to Jesus proclaiming:

Matthew 15:28 (ESV) …“O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Abraham: the Father of Faith

Abraham is not only known as the Father of Israel, but also as the Father of Faith. So, since we are trying to figure out what Biblical faith is, it makes sense that we should look to him as an example. 

Romans 4:16 (NIV) Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

One of Abraham’s most famous faith stories takes place in Genesis 22 when God asks him to sacrifice his son—Isaac—and Abraham obeyed.

Some people in our culture love to get this story wrong, they will claim it means God supports child sacrifice. But, when Abraham’s life story as a whole is considered, it is clear that God was never planning on actually having Isaac killed. God was simply testing Abraham’s faith.

Genesis 22:1-2 (NLT) Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

The most obvious question after reading this passage is, “Why is it considered a test of faith for God to tell Abraham to sacrifice his son, and not a test of his blind obedience?”

To understand that, we need to understand the context. 

First off, God had made Abraham promises which relied on Isaac being alive:

Genesis 15:4-5 (NLT) Then the LORD said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.

Genesis 21:1-3 (NLT) The LORD kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac.

Genesis 21:12b (NIV) …it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.

God promised Abraham he would have a multitude of descendants specifically through Isaac. Abraham knew God always keeps His promises and Isaac hadn’t had any children yet. So, Abraham reasoned that God needed Isaac alive. 

Here is some insight into Abraham’s mindset on the issue:

Genesis 22:5-8 (NLT) On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

As a child, I used to think maybe these statements Abraham made were lies in order to trick Isaac into being the sacrifice. But, after further studies, it has become obvious that Abraham is not lying, he actually believes what he is saying. His faith is so strong he knows both he and Isaac will be returning to the servants and that God will provide the offering. (Just as God does for the whole world by providing His own son, Jesus, as our sacrifice.)

And how did this story end?

Genesis 22:9-14 (NLT) When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”

“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

The idea that Abraham was walking in faith is also confirmed in what is known as the “Chapter of Faith” in Hebrews when this story is referenced:

Hebrews 11: 17-19 (NLT) It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

Abraham didn’t know exactly what would happen when he put Isaac on the altar (he couldn’t yet physically see the outcome), but he knew that even if Isaac did die, God would bring him back to life. Abraham’s faith was strong, because he was firmly rooted in the knowledge that God always keeps His promises.

These are just three examples of what it looks like to put Biblical faith into practice, but the Bible is packed full of stories like these. Every single person who interacts properly with God in the Bible is doing so through faith. If we want to also live by faith, we should follow their examples. 

---

Bible stories not only show us what it looks like to live by faith, but they also show us how God consistently acts in response to such faith. They are meant to build a foundation of knowledge in us about who God is and what type of character He has. Based on that knowledge which has been tested and proven over and over, we can know that when we put our faith in God, He will act according to His character and come through on His end.

Malachi 3:6 (ESV) For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Deuteronomy 32:4 (ESV) The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Psalm 9:10 (NLT) Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.

We haven't seen God but we’ve seen his handiwork and fingerprints in our lives and the world around us.

“And while faith doesn’t require external proof, it is entirely compatible with physical evidence. God may be invisible, but His qualities are clearly seen in nature.” -John C. P. Smith answersingenesis.org

Romans 1:20 ESV For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

---

Biblical faith is belief put into action. It follows the evidence in order to determine what to believe in and how to act accordingly. Then it stands firm on the belief that the results will follow the logical path set forth by the evidence. For example, we can believe that a chair will do its job: “I have sat on this chair before and it held me up, so I believe it will hold me up again.” We have faith that the results will be the same as all the times before and we act in faith by actually sitting on it.

Biblical faith rests on the knowledge that God will stay true to who He is. We see who He is by reading the Bible and learning about how He has acted in the past. We also experience Him in our own lives over and over again. Faith gets stronger, every time God acts according to who He says He is. We can say, “I have faith because it works. Having faith in God in the past has proven to be wise, so it will be wise to do it again, and to keep doing it.”

In Summary:

We may be blind as to how God will keep His word, but not in that He will keep His word. Faith and reason are not contrary to one another, instead, they complement one another. Each helps the other to see clearly.

---

It’s also important to note that faith in God doesn’t mean life will be easy or that we will always get what we want. It means we trust that even when life is hard, God knows what He is doing and He has our best interests at heart.

Romans 8:28 (NIV) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

“My faith is to rest not in the outcome which I think God should work out for me, my faith rests in who God is…the quietness of my heart is in the fruit of an absolute confidence in God.” -Elizabeth Elliot

---

“Faith is the art of holding on to what our reason has once accepted, in spite of our changing moods.” -C.S. Lewis

“Faith is not an instinct. It certainly is not a feeling--feelings don’t help much when you’re in the lions’ den or hanging on a wooden cross. Faith is not inferred from the happy way things work. It is an act of will, a choice, based on the unbreakable Word of a God who cannot lie, and who showed us what love and obedience and sacrifice mean, in the person of Jesus Christ.” -Elizabeth Elliot

“You ask me, ‘What’s the greatest act of faith?’ To me is to look in the mirror of God’s word, and see all my faults, all my sin, all my shortcomings and to believe that God loves me exactly as he says he does.” -Paul Washer

---

This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”

Click here for more things written by Amanda Hovseth.

What Is The Sabbatical Year And The Year Of Jubilee? - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Gary Hashley, Tim Hebbert and Brad Kilthau.

Tim Hebbert
And so a question we want to sit and visit a little bit about today, we had to do a little digger-thinking on this one. "How about this sabbatical year and the year of the Jubilee found in Leviticus 25? Can you explain those things to us?" So I thought I would just start off by reading that first part of the 25th chapter of Leviticus, and I'm gonna start with verse two. "And when you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the Lord every seventh year. For the six years, you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops. But during the seventh year, the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord's Sabbath, do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that time. And don't store away the crops that grow on their own, or gather the grapes from your unpruned vine. The land must have a year of complete rest, but you may eat whatever land produces on its own during the Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you. Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces." Then verse eight goes on to say this, "In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years. Seven sets of seven years adding up to 49 years in all. Then on the day of Atonement in the 50th year, blow the Rams horn loud and long throughout the land. Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a Jubilee year for you, for each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors. And return to your own clan, this 50th year will be a Jubilee for you. During that year, you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own. And don't gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. It will be a Jubilee year for you and you must keep it holy. You may eat whatever the land produces on its own, and in the year of Jubilee, each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors." And I guess to define the difference there guys, is it goes along with God's plan. Our seven days of creation, He does all the work that He's going to do, to establish the universe and the world that we live in. Everything that's on it in six days, and He rests on the seventh day. So on a sabbatical year he's saying, "Okay, let's take every seventh year, let's shut everything down and let our land rest and replenish itself. Which is just really pretty good advice for a farmer, right? I mean, now they rotate crops, but you can probably go back through the history of time. Smart farmers would let fields rest, they just wouldn't let them all rest at one time, but they were letting the land rest or replenish itself. The Jubilee year, I think God takes that and He said, "Okay, see how we're resting the land on that 50th year? We're not only gonna rest the land, but I'm calling all of you into a Sabbath year, where you rest, you depend on the land." It's a time to reclaim, like maybe, reset yourself, hit a restart button, reclaim the land that you've come from. We're gonna settle all the debts, forgive all the debts that are left unsettled. And one of the things, you know, we see the word slave used a lot in scripture, but it didn't mean the same thing as what we've come to know from our history here in America. But it was all those that you would call slave, people that are indentured to you; you're gonna free them from that. It's also time where you're gonna go back and reclaim the land that you came from. And maybe what you're also going to do is settle some hard feelings and unforgiven debts that you have within your family, so that your families are restored. It's all part of God's plan to get us in a rhythm of work and then rest and depend on Him. So in that Sabbath year, then we would trust Him. They would trust Him for the provision of the food and the livelihood they needed. In the 50th year they would trust Him even deeper to restore to them, everything that He'd given them to begin with. And so I'm gonna turn this over to Gary. What did they do for the people of Israel?

Gary Hashley
I have to smile a little bit, cause there's a little farm boy that's grown up in me all these years. And that is, as you read this, it makes everybody wanna be a farmer, because if your storekeeper who doesn't say anything about shutting your store down every seventh year, you know? If you were a basket weaver, it doesn't say anything about shutting down your basket weaving business or your rug weaving business for a year. But it does say that, you know, those who are in agriculture, that every seventh year they were to not farm that year. And so I just kind of smile and I think more people would be signing up to be farmers if we were living according this instruction God gave to Israel. And that's one thing to keep in mind, this was specifically given to the people of Israel. A specific people, in a specific place, at a specific time. But what did it do for the people? Well, it gave them a rest. Farming's hard. We have equipment today that seems to make it easier, but it's still very time consuming and very long days for some. And here, you basically would get a one year vacation from your planting and harvesting of your crops or pruning of your crops. If it was at like, the vineyard or the olive grove. So there was rest for the people, and you know, we do need rest. Jesus told the disciples one time, "Come apart and rest awhile." Because we weren't designed to work 365 days a year all of our lives without a break. So rest for the people, rest for the land. I mean agriculture does take, growing crops does take nutrients from the soil. This would give the land a chance to recoup from having things drawn out of it and the chance to have it back. But I think one of the biggest things that I see in this is, not just rest for people and rest for the land, but trust for the people. Because in essence, God is saying, "Don't farm for a year and trust me that you won't starve to death. Trust Me that you won't starve to death." God basically told them, "On the sixth year I'll give you enough, to not only live that year, but the following year. And then into the next year when you plant until you harvest," which is partway through the year. Would the people trust God enough to say, "Okay, I will set the land aside, I won't harvest my grapes, I won't harvest my olives, I won't plant my wheat, I won't plant my barley," whatever it might be? It also was a lesson in selflessness, because they were to release any servants, as Tim said, and they were to release any debts they were owed. So that, you know, this idea of selfishness couldn't stand because it's not all about me. In fact, I'm gonna have to let go of this when that year comes. They say a Jubilee which followed a Sabbath year, which meant on the 48th year, God said, "I'll give you enough that you'll eat the 49th. You'll eat the 50th on until the harvest comes in the 51st year." So it was really a challenge to their faith. So Brad, is there any significance for us today in all of this?

Brad Kilthau
Yeah, I think so Gary as you know, those same principles are something we can always adhere to in our day and time. And it's kind of amazing when you look at the Old Testament and you see how many things that God used with the Jewish people; that actually gave us a symbol or a type of what we can learn from and see actually happening on this side of the cross and the work of Christ. You think about the Passover and how important the Passover was for the Jewish people and how that is so significant when it comes to the Lord's supper. The Passover was always a picture of the sacrificed lamb of Jesus Christ who would come. You see in the Old Testament, the story of Noah and the Ark, and of course Noah and the Ark is, as I was just sharing with our congregation a week or so ago. You know, when you're in 1 Peter 3 and Peter actually uses Noah and the Ark as an antitype to describe baptism. And that is to, you know, be free or away from the sinful world, put that behind you. And I think the same thing is true of the sabbatical year and also of the year of Jubilee, because the Jubilee when you get to the heart of it, it gives us a picture of looking forward to the kingdom age. It's a picture of that, of when Christ is going to come and reign on His throne there in the city of Jerusalem for that thousand year reign. And He's gonna fulfill all the promises that He'd made to the Jewish people.

You can read about that spiritual deliverance in Isaiah 61 about the tremendous joy and the freedom that the people of Israel, and basically all people on the face of this earth, when Jesus reigns on His throne there in the city of Jerusalem. And so the year of Jubilee points us forward and gives us a picture of that kingdom age, but it also gives us, as Christians, a picture of our Christian life. Because when you think about when Jesus, in Luke 4, was standing in the synagogue in the city of Nazareth, He was preaching. And He was actually reading from one of the scrolls of Isaiah, Isaiah 61. And He was reading as it shares there in Luke, through the first two verses of Isaiah 61, but Jesus stops short of reading about the day of the vengeance of God in verse two. And so why is that? Why? Because the day of judgment is gonna come, but it's not gonna come until after the Lord has finished this present work that He's doing of bringing all these people to Himself. And so it's actually a picture of the church age that we live in right now, and how the Lord is going to bring that freedom and that ability to come to Him. And of course, it's gonna be in the literal sense during the kingdom age. So it's, again, a picture of things that we are now seeing happen and what we're also gonna see in the future. So it's beautiful how the Lord puts those things together in the Old Testament. And when we study, we can see that that was a type or picture of what is really to come in the fulfillment in the fullest, in our time of the age of grace and looking forward. And then of course, Gary, as you shared also, we can learn always the principle of the year of Jubilee as it forced the Jewish people to say that God is their provider. They didn't have a choice. They went for three years as it came to that, 48th, 49th and 50th year, that through those three years they had no harvest. And of course they had to see that God was ultimately their provider. So maybe we ought to back up, look at that and say, "Yeah, that's true because that is our God for us. He is our ultimate provider."

Gary Hashley
And, you know, I've heard different preachers say, "We have no indication Israel ever did this."

Brad Kilthau
That's right, I've seen that too.

Gary Hashley
That they ever actually set aside the seventh year and then the 14th year and so on to the 49th and the 50th. And I guess the challenge to my heart, Brad, is even when it comes to tithing, when it comes to other things God asks of me, am I willing to trust Him in it? Because to my knowledge, they never let God show Himself powerful by actually doing it.

Brad Kilthau
That's right, because they were so greedy that they couldn't trust God. They had to hold onto their money and their power.