The scriptures teach plainly that Christ went to paradise after His death. In Luke 23:43 we read these words: "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Jesus clearly told the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in paradise. One thing we know from the scriptures to be true is that paradise is not hell, and neither is hell paradise.
Verse 26 of Romans 11 is the conclusion to the allegory. Paul says, "And SO all Israel shall be saved." Paul doesn't say, "all Israel shall be saved," but "SO all Israel shall be saved." The word "so" is an adverb of manner. It means in such a way, or in such a manner, all Israel shall be saved. The idea is that they will be saved in the same manner in which they are grafted back into the Olive Tree, through belief that Jesus is the Messiah.
Should we assemble on the Sabbath to worship? Some religious folks do, but the Bible never commands Christians to do this.
God is in heaven. Jesus is in heaven. The angels are in heaven. The saved will be in heaven. Will our pets be in heaven?
This is a common expression that is used in prayer. The word “molestation” here means not to be bothered by those who would interrupt the worship services. The idea is that we desire to have a peaceful experience when we are worshipping.
The Bible doesn’t explicitly discuss the concept of self-defense at length, but from what we know, a person is allowed to defend himself if his life were in jeopardy but for no other reason.
“Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land” (Matthew 27:45). The Greek word for “darkness” in this verse is skotos. There is nothing especially significant about the word indicating the quality of darkness. The word may be used to talk about a pitch black darkness such as in Tartarus in Jude 1:13, or “outer darkness” (Matthew 22:13), or it may be used to describe a shadow-like darkness (Matthew 4:16; Luke 1:79).
God the Father continues to give His Holy Spirit to those who ask. The question is, how do we ask? Do we ask with an obedient faith? Or do we ask out of a sense of selfish desire? If it is the former, then God certainly gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe and obey. If the latter, then God is not going to indulge a person’s fleshly desires.
I will approach this as a Bible question: What does the Bible say about the rightful owner of the state of Israel? Many in the religious world today declare that God unconditionally gave the land of Canaan to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel in perpetuity. They argue that God promised it to their descendants forever.
There is a measure of comfort to the foreknowledge of God. It's nice to know that God knows what is happening to me and what is going to happen to me. I can trust that he will take care of every situation in my life. He has the knowledge and the power to so act so as to provide for my entire life. Were such not the case, then what kind of god would we have? One who is unsure of himself and his future. That's not the kind of god that I would desire to worship and serve, would you?
The Christian who marries a person who is morally sound and does not pose a burden to his or her Christian beliefs or practices doesn’t' fall under Paul's prohibition regarding being unequally yoked. Neither does the Christian businessman who is involved with unbelievers in the practice of a legitimate trade necessarily involve being unequally yoked. It is only when one's involvement with an unbeliever would necessarily involve the Christian in sin that such a relationship would be wrong.
The word for “Peter” in this verse is the Greek word petros which means a pebble. Jesus goes on to say that upon this rock, petra, he would build his church. The Greek word petra means a large rock such as the ridge of a mountain or the ledge of a cliff. In other words, Jesus is saying, “Peter, you are a tiny pebble, but I am going to build my church on a great big mountain ridge.” What is the giant rock that Jesus would build His church upon? It is nothing else but the confession of Peter that Jesus is the Son of God. Christ is the rock!
This is highly figurative language and as such we should be careful only to interpret it in light of clear biblical teaching. Verses 1 and 11 are clear that this is speaking regarding the king of Tyre. In the absence of another clear Biblical teaching regarding Satan's fall, it would be a very unwise course of action fraught with questionable hermeneutics to declare this scripture as a description of the fall of Satan.
All the scriptures are profitable for me. However, we don’t appeal to the Old Testament to determine forms of worship, the organization of the church, or the plan of salvation. However, the Old Testament can supply us information on correct attitudes, wisdom, teach us concerning faith, and provide a great deal of background information regarding the New Testament.
Remember that the Mosaic Law was a legal system used by the Jews of Jesus’ day to settle legal matters of state. Jesus was saying that for one to worship God appropriately, he needs to resolve such legal conflicts first. This is necessary prior to making offerings of peace toward God. One cannot be at odds with his brother and at peace with God.
Luke 24:1ff? Our meeting upon the first day of the week is not by accident nor by arbitrary selection. There are some scriptures which specifically mention the first day of the week and there are other scriptures in which the first day of the week is implied. Let's look at these scriptures and see what we can gain in understanding from them.
The least in the kingdom of heaven would be greater than John in that they have greater access to knowledge regarding God's divine will. Remember that the prophets of the Old Covenant did not have the complete will of God revealed to them.
A miracle is an obvious work of God that is outside the normal laws of nature. God is able to do miracles because He is powerful. One of God’s names in the Bible is El Shaddai which means God Almighty.
The sudden appearance of Cain’s wife makes one wonder where she came from. Some have suggested that God made other people, but is this consistent with what the Bible teaches?
Psalm 90:10, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."