Hello, friends. Welcome to Open Line, our Bible study across America. I'm Michael Radonich, I'm professor of Jewish studies and Bible and academic dean at Moody Bible Institute. And today's program has been pre-recorded, truly special because it was recorded on our recent Moody Journeys of Paul Trip. Let me give you the scene. We were sailing on a four masted
sailing ship some 350ft long. You can even hear the wind whipped through the rigging while sailors work the deck, pulling ropes and hoisting sails on this beautiful sunny day on the way to Kusadasi, which is a city just on the coast of Turkey. And then we headed in about just a few kilometers into the ancient city of Ephesus. We were what were we doing? We were visiting the sites where the Apostle Paul went and preached the Preach
the gospel. And we saw those sites. We had actually just left Patmos, where we learned about the Apostle John, where he was exiled. And then we headed to Ephesus to learn about Paul. And on another day we were sailing towards Philippi. We assembled on deck under a canopy, where I assembled a panel to answer Bible questions that
we thought you'd enjoy hearing. On today's recording, you'll hear me also doctor Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute, Doctor Joe Stoll, former president of Moody Bible Institute, and Doctor Lori Norris, currently the dean of faculty working with me at Moody Bible Institute. The good people on the trip joined us to ask their Bible questions, and my friend and tech genius Chris Seeger recorded it all for you.
Okay, I have a question about the women who wiped Jesus feet with their hair in Mark 14 three. It talks about a woman in Bethany who wiped with from the alabaster box and they were complaining about the cost. But in Luke 736, when Jesus was at the Pharaoh's house, there was a pharisee's house. There was an immoral woman. Are these the same women? Are two different incidents.
Great question. Actually, a lot of there's a lot of interesting discussions about this, but I personally think they were different women. I mean, different place, different time, different background. I think the Mark woman was, you know, Mary Magdalene probably. Do you think Laura was a good chance? Yeah, probably. And Luke says that this woman was a sinner. He uses probably, probably a prostitute woman of the streets. So my my sense is they've been different women. Some people
will answer to say they're the same. I've never felt like the context means that they're the same.
Can I just add to, um, what strikes me really about that story is that, um, Jesus said of, uh, I'm trying to remember which text it was, but he said, this is a beautiful thing, and it will be talked about and think about. I love the fact that this woman that's broken feels dirty and broken and she's doing this, that this story will be talked about. There were people that were looking indignant at her. So don't miss the message. Don't miss the message. You know, how could you let
a sinful woman touch you? And yet Jesus said, she's done a beautiful thing to me. The main focus of it is the beauty of Jesus not being afraid to be touched by people that are broken and sinners and the beauty of it saying, and wherever the gospel is preached, this woman will be talked about. This is a beautiful thing.
And if I can add one more little thing sometimes, you know, as we're saying, these are likely different women, that's not always the case. So there are times in the Gospels where you have two stories that have some different details around them, or they're told in slightly different ways, and they actually are referring to the same account, but they refer they represent a different point of view on
that event by the evangelist that's telling the story. So they're bringing out certain aspects of the story that perhaps another gospel writer didn't provide, or perhaps they situate it in a slightly different place in the story to emphasize it. So it's not automatically the case that there are two different people. It could be in some cases it is the same event. But I think there are reasons, as you said in this case, to see it as two different women.
So in Luke seven he was in Simon the Pharisee's House and the Pharisee. As soon as this woman approaches him, approaches Christ. Simon says, ah, I know you weren't in his head. He thinks, obviously you're not a prophet. If you were a prophet, you would know that this was a sinning woman and would not let her touch you. You know, and so Jesus goes on to talk about her being forgiven much. That's why she loves him so much,
why she's doing so much. And then Jesus says, those who are forgiven little love little, you know, and it struck me when I read that and when I preached a sermon here. But, uh, in a sense, you know, I grew up in a Christian home. You know, I've known Christ my whole life. I remember being where the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir was singing, and this is a choir made up of people who are saved off the streets,
ex prostitutes, drug addicts. And they began by singing a song of blessing to Christ, and the spotlights had their tears running down their cheeks. You know the redemption that they felt. And I sat there thinking, I don't have that. But then I thought, so maybe it's harder for me to love much. But then I thought what Christ did to save me from all of that. How the spirit in my life, you know, had kept me from those
kinds of things. And then I started believing that I had a lot to love Jesus for, because he had saved me from so much.
Michael, I thank you for your talk. When we were at Patmos, at the cave, and you said that the people of the people like John may have recognized Jesus, because if you know your Old Testament, the scriptures show the Ancient of Days. So I just want. And the Son of Man. So the Son of Man in the Ancient of Days is in Daniel seven. So when we look at that and like you all might know this, but I don't. I've always pictured the Ancient of Days as being the father, but the Son of Man is Jesus.
So who is the ancient? I think.
You're right. I think the Ancient of Days is the father in heaven. Now no one can see God. People say, well, how did we see the Ancient of Days? It's a vision. It's not an actual sighting. Okay. So it's a vision. There's thrones set up, plural. One for the Ancient of Days and then one for the Son of Man. And the amazing thing when we come to John one, not John. Revelation one, that chapter in Patmos, you know. And the vision. It seems confusing. I know I mentioned this, but I
think it's really confusing. He is depicted there with the glory that the Ancient of Days has, whereas in Daniel seven the Son of Man looks like a man, that's what. One like a son of man. And I really do think the answer is John 17 five, where the Lord says, now that I'm going to be crucified and glorified, glorify me, give me the glory that I had with you before in eternity past. And now he's depicted in revelation one not as the suffering servant, not as the ordinary. And
that's what Jesus looked like. He didn't look ugly. He just looked ordinary. If you read Isaiah 53, not that way. Now he's the glorified Son of Man, and he's depicted with that ancient, the same glory as the Ancient of Days. He's not the Ancient of Days, but he's depicted with the glory, the same as the Ancient of Days.
Hi. Just curious to hear what your opinion is, is why Luke stopped where he did in the book of acts, when Paul got to Rome and preached to the synagogue there, and Luke didn't continue through, you know, the rest of the life of Paul.
Yeah, that's when he was done.
Actually, the publisher had a page limit. I think I was like.
No, I really think that's when he was done. He wrote all the events up to when Luke was writing it. That's all that had happened. He wrote the book and more stuff happened afterwards. You know, that's all it was. You know, it's not like he said, wait, you know, I'm going to hold off on finishing the book until Paul gets released, imprisoned again and martyred. Which, yeah, it was. It's an act. He finished it when the book was over, and that's when the events were done. And then more
stuff happened afterwards. And he didn't have time to to write a volume two.
And especially since Luke was a traveling companion of Paul, so much of Luke's writing is drawing on research. He's done on Luke and Acts really together, two volumes, but also a joint work at the same time. And he's done that research, but he's also Paul's traveling companion. So we'll see tomorrow, even in acts 16, where Luke is
entering the narrative himself and he's joining the story. And so this really is in real time when we get to acts, he's no longer just doing research right and compiling. He's now in real time with Paul as well.
So notice when you read the book of acts sometime the we sections Paul did this. Paul did this, Paul did this. And then then we did this, we did this, we did this. This is a pre-recorded open line from our journeys of Paul, trip aboard the Star Clipper sailing ship as we sail towards Philippi. More after this break. Do you want to read the Bible but don't know where to begin? Or maybe you just want to get more out of your reading of the scriptures? Well, have
I got a book for you? It's called 14 Fresh Ways to Enjoy the Bible. This innovative guide presents 14 practical principles to bring Scripture to life. Give a gift of any amount and we'll send you a copy just to say thanks. Call (888) 644-7122 or visit openline. Radio. Org. Each weekend on Open Line with me, Doctor Michael Radonich, we study the scriptures around our radio kitchen table. You can become a kitchen table partner through your monthly support
of Open Line. Your gifts help me to provide biblical answers to questions that many believers have about the Savior, the scriptures, and the spiritual life. Along with other partners. You're helping people receive guidance from God's Word. Become a kitchen table partner today. Call (888) 644-7122 or go to Open Line radio.org. Welcome back to Open Line. I'm Michael Ray Dolnick, inviting you to really enjoy this special pre-recorded open line
from our recent journeys of Paul Tripp. You'll hear where aboard a sailing ship, the Star Clipper, on the way to Philippi. Let's get back to the questions our tour participants had for our panel.
Okay, I have always wondered about this.
Passage, and I'm hoping you can help me with it. It's Matthew 517 through 20 where Christ says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Yet we totally ignore Jewish law these days. I've never understood what happened or why.
I'm guessing that's for me, right? Okay, if you look at the verse, it says, I didn't come to abolish the law or the prophets. He's talking about the whole Old Testament. He's not just talking about the Law of Moses. He's talking about the Hebrew Bible. And it's still, by the way, have you noticed? It's in there. The other thing, when it comes to the Law of Moses, I think
we have to think of it in two ways. There's the Sinai covenant, Exodus 20, the laws that are given, you know, you've got these droppings of these, these several drops of law that come through the rest of the Pentateuch. And those are the laws, the mitzvot, the commandments that Jewish people try to keep and also enhance and mitigate and things like that. But also when we talk about the law, we're talking about Genesis through Deuteronomy, right. And
that's not destroyed. It's we still read it, learn from it. There's even the commandments that are part of the Sinai covenant all have wisdom principles that we live by. And they're not destroyed. We're still living by it. In fact, in Deuteronomy it says, everyone's going to say that these laws. What a wise God you are who has given a people so many wise laws. That's what laws were thought of in the ancient Near East. And so we still live by wisdom principles in in the commandments. The whole
Hebrew Bible should be read. I don't think we should. What's what was said? We should. Uh unhitch. From the Old Testament. God forbid. Uh, that is a vital part. When Paul said all Scripture is inspired. He's not just talking about the New Testament. In fact, he's probably not at that point talking about the New Testament at all. He's he's talking about the Hebrew Bible. And so the whole Hebrew Bible is still for us. Uh, there's still wisdom principles in the commandments. So when people ask me,
are we under the law of Moses or not? I always say the same thing. No and yes No, in the sense the Sinai covenant isn't the Constitution we're living under. We're living under the New Covenant. On the other hand, all the wisdom of the Old Testament is still what God gave us as inspired text and and designed to guide our lives.
Part of the reason he said that is because he was being accused of being an antinomian against the law of the Old Testament. But remember when the Pharisee who was trying to trip him up, actually the Pharisaical lawyer, they had so many rules, right? What they started out with 600 and some, and then they added a bazillion of other ones. They were called fence laws, right? Like, you should never commit adultery. Therefore you should never be around a woman. Therefore. And all of these never touch
a woman. So all of these became equal weight there. And we do that a lot today, don't we? Similar. But anyway, all of that's kind of a little aside. So when when the the pharisaical lawyer who adjudicated the complexities of the law came and said, what is the greatest commandment? He reached back into the Old Testament. He said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and strength. And the second one is like it reached
back in the Old Testament again. You should love your neighbor as yourself and all of these, if you do those two things, all the rest of the laws will be kept.
Yeah, I was going to also just emphasize that there is a close connection between the New Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant, or the Law of Moses. Um, if you think back to the blessings and cursings of Deuteronomy, and you get to the end in Deuteronomy 30, where he says, you're you're not going to be able to do this, you're going to fail miserably. Um, the end of the the end of the Law of Moses is the promise of the new covenant that I will write my law
on your hearts. I will circumcise your hearts, I will. I will do this. I will cause you to obey. I will cause you to keep my law. And of course, that's repeated in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 and other places. And so that that relationship, even between the New covenant, we're under the New covenant now, not the law of Moses, but what is the New Covenant doing? It's enabling us to actually obey by the spirit the very heart of God, the commands to love the Lord your God and to
love your neighbor in its totality. So sometimes we we separate those two too much, and we forget that the New Covenant enables us to fulfill the will of God. We're not under the law in that sense, but we also are under the new covenant which fulfills it.
So can I add one? One other thing. My favorite phrase is not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. It's all about Jesus. I mean, what was the law for? The law was pointing us to the holiness of God.
Only Jesus, he fulfills it.
You are perfect and holy because of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus. The entire law is pointing to the holiness of God and how to live up to the standard that none of us can match. And so I love the part of I have come to fulfill it. In other words, you are justified before God like you had, as if you had obeyed every single law. Now in Jesus you are washed and cleansed. No need for a lamb. No need for another sacrifice. Because Jesus became the sacrifice. And that's a beautiful concept.
I'm going to read the verse that Mark is talking about. It says in Romans eight what the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh. God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own son in flesh like ours, under sin's domain. And as a sin offering in order that the law's requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. That's what Mark
was talking about. The law's requirement is met in us, not because of us, but because of the one who fulfilled it.
First of all, I want to say thank you for doing this for all of us. I think this is amazing that there's so much knowledge and wisdom sitting right there and just thank you.
I'm so thankful that they're here.
I'm really.
I'm terrified. Every Saturday.
I think Eva should be over there with you. Yeah. Okay. My question is, in the Old Testament, the Jewish people were saved by faith because they believed in the coming Messiah, right?
Be nice. Let me just tell you how all people are forgiven of their sin and enter into a personal relationship with God. From the Garden of Eden till the last person ever comes to know him. Are you ready? We're saved by God's grace, God's kindness, his undeserved kindness. We're saved by grace through faith in the revealed will of God. That's what it is. Now, they didn't know Jesus in the Old Testament, right? They God had revealed that a messiah was coming. Right. And so they had
a confidence and more and more was given. But they said, if I will believe God, just as Abraham did, it will be counted to me for righteousness. So they're saved by grace through faith in all that God has revealed. And there's a little bit about the Messiah and the Pentateuch, you know, and more and more and more. And they believe that and trusted it. But did they understand fully that Jesus was going, that Jesus of Nazareth would die for their sins and be raised again? No. They knew
a messiah, a Redeemer was coming. That's what they believed. Okay.
But my question really is post Jesus, what about the Jewish people? God's chosen. Are they automatically saved? I don't really know how to ask.
I understand what you're asking. Okay, good. You're asking, do Jewish people have an automatic in into the family of God? Remember what I talked about? Were you when I talked about acts 2021? Paul testified faithfully to both Jews and Gentiles. He said that he would wish that he could somehow, if it possible, to be separated from Jesus. If only his people would believe. Uh, so you know that no one, no one has an end. And since the Messiah has come, do you know what it says in Hebrews one? But
God today has spoken through his son. He is the revelation. And in John eight, I want to read you a verse of what Jesus said to Jewish people. Okay? And my pages are all going to blow away here. John eight. Uh, he says, unless you believe that I am. Boy, the wind has really gotten up, hasn't it? Okay. Uh, John 824, listen to this. Therefore, I told you that you will die in your sins. He's talking to Jewish people. This
is the Lord Jesus. For if you do not believe that I am is literally what it says that's declaring his deity. Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. So even Jewish people, my beloved people, need to put their trust in Jesus. Now, why do I say that? Because that's what Jesus said. Now, it's also why I gotta just say this. My life would have been a lot easier if I had gone into another kind of ministry. Uh, I've spent the last almost
50 years talking to Jewish people about Jesus. Not the most open people group I've ever met and have gotten some blowback in the past, even. Uh, but the reason I do that is because of what Jesus said, and I love them so much, and I care so much about them not doing to hurt them. I'm doing this because I care deeply. So, you know, I have a friend that was in Jewish ministry with me, with chosen people for many years. He was our missionary director, and
he left. He had planted a congregation that grew as far as 100 people. Then he left and became a pastor of a church in the western burbs in Chicago that grew to over a thousand people. And I said, wow, I heard your church is doing great. He said, Gentile ministry. Piece of cake.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. So, Michael. So. Right. Nobody gets a hall pass, right? You don't detour. Jesus. But. And it is hard to reach the Jews. But the 144,000. Talk about that. Okay.
And there's going to come a day when there's a period of time called the time of Jacob's trouble, or we call it sometimes the tribulation period that Daniel's 70th week. Lots of things that are called in Scripture. It's a seven year period, but at the beginning it says they're going to be 144,000 Jewish people, 12,000 from each tribe. I don't know what tribe they're from. Apparently God does. And that's how he picks them. And they are going to be. It doesn't say they're going to be sealed
and be servants of the Lord. It doesn't say, what do.
You believe that the Jewish leaders at the time of Jesus Yeshua, um, did they know it was the time based on the book of Daniel? Were they expecting the Messiah at that time?
I'm going to give you a very fast answer. They did not, because I believe Daniel nine was pointing to the. The exact date of fulfillment of Daniel 924 through 26 was on palm Sunday. That's when it was fulfilled. And what did Jesus say on that day? If you had known this day but you didn't so know, they did
not know. We'll be back with more from our special Journeys of Paul Open Line, where you'll hear even more questions that our tour participants had for our special panel, including me, Michael Wright, Joe Stoll, Mark Jobe, and Lori Norris. More coming up right after this break. Welcome back to Open Line. I'm Michael Radonich. Today's program is not live, so don't call. Instead, I'm taking you back. Just a month or so ago to a recent trip I hosted called The Journeys of Paul.
Doctor Stohl, as you were talking at Pergamon today, you said that the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden manna. Could you expound on what that hidden manna would be.
Well, of course, it's a reference to the men of the Old Testament. Manna of the Old Testament. Right. And that that's how God supplied their needs by this wonderful miracle of the manna that would come. These these beliefs. Not you got me in Jewish world here. But so the Pergamum believers were often deprived. They were poor. A lot of them lost their jobs because they were Christians, lacked provision. I think generally he's saying I will provide
for you. Hold fast. Don't flinch. I will provide for you. Why? It says hidden manna. I don't know, but I think Lori does.
Perhaps. Um. Well, I think part of it, you know, as you're saying, there's a spiritual dimension to the manna. But I even think going back to John six and thinking we're in John's discourses of Jesus. Um, it is interesting. The Bread of Life discourse, some of the Jewish tradition that underlies their expectations. You know, there's a lot of expectation that arises through Jewish history about the Messiah's coming
and what that will entail. And some of that, you know, an expectation of a Moses figure returning in a second Moses and the the idea of manna, a, a storehouse of manna in the sky. And some Jewish tradition believed that the initial manna kind of came from a storehouse in heaven. And there was an expectation that when the Messiah would come, when those times they weren't expecting necessarily just one figure, but when that time would come that there would be kind of a re pouring out of
the manna from heaven. And so remember, Jesus has just done this amazing miracle of feeding the 5000, right? So he's just multiplied the bread. These are poor, hungry people like at Pergamum. But in John six, these are poor, hungry people. He's multiplied the loaves and the fish for the people. And then he turns and, you know, they're thinking, this is it, right? This is it. This is the moment we've been waiting for. And he says, I am the bread sent from heaven. I am the manna from heaven.
And they're like, well, how do we. They're taking him very literally. Right. They're going back and forth, back and forth, and they're taking it literal. And he's saying, no, it's me. I am the one in whom you will never hunger and you'll never thirst. And so I think that Hidden Madden may be drawing a little bit on the Jewish tradition and there as well. And that idea that the words of Jesus in John six that says, I am the manna that is from heaven, I am the one
who feeds you. Um, it's maybe just an allusion. There's so many allusions in revelation to different parts of Scripture that could be part of it. Um, potentially Michael might have something to say about that.
Real quick, real quick. Just the hidden manna. The manna in the Old Testament wasn't hidden. They went out and picked it up. But Jesus is the manna that's been hidden from so many because they won't look, but he will give them the sustenance from God. The one who's been hidden, no longer hidden for them.
Glad I came on this trip.
Hi. Do you have any practical tips on how to keep, like, a childlike, wondrous faith as you get into scholarly stuff and deep theological questions and you study the Bible really deeply? Like, how do you keep a very simple gospel believing faith? You know what I mean?
You know what I tell the students at Moody that are going to be inducted into hours of theology, Greek, Hebrew. It's easy to start taking the book of the Bible with an analytical lens, which is not a bad thing, but when you study it just for theory, it's easy to stop asking, and what are you saying to me about my life? And what do I need to change? And so the very first chapel that I preached at Moody Bible Institute as a president, I went to the
store and I bought several thousand buttons. The lady said, is this enough? I said, more. Is this enough? I want more, and I walked out with bags of buttons and I put all the buttons across the stage. And I said, I just want to remind you, as students that are going to be studying a lot of the Bible, you'll be tempted to look at it as a textbook. But I want to remind you of the story of Mary and Martha. Jesus was in the house, the Messiah in the house there, the one that has never had
a beginning and will never had an end. And Martha was so busy about just the things that she missed the presence. And Jesus said to Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. And Mary has chosen that. And Mary was at the feet of Jesus in a posture of humility, listening to his words and his voice. And so I said, if you get the first button right. You get all the other buttons right. If you get the first button wrong,
then your entire life will tend to be unaligned. So get the first button right, and that first button is humbly sitting in the presence of Jesus, listening to His Word. With your Bible open in a spirit of humility, not reading it to analyze it, but reading it to say, Lord, what are you saying to me? And what do I need to do about it? I think get the first
button right. So every semester I give the students buttons. Now, and at this last graduation, I was I was handing out their diplomas, and the first guy put something in my hand and I looked and it was a button. And then the next one, I ended up with about 50 or 60 buttons that people had were putting in my hand, and it was their way of saying, hey, I remember keep the first button right.
Got it? Cool.
So let's see who listens to open Line here. Anybody? What do you do to read the Bible so it's personalized. You put on your specs. What do you remember? What specs represent? You read it. Looking for a sin to avoid, a promise to claim an example to follow, a command to obey, or a statement of truth to believe, right? How many times have you heard that on Open Line, right. It's a really important way of reading the Bible so that it's not just a theoretical book, but it's a
practical book. Every every chapter, every verse. We can see something that will apply to me. I think that's really crucial. But how do you keep a simple faith? I think you have to keep simple. I really do. Yeah. Uh, I don't aspire to be anything other than a student and teacher of the Bible. I don't want to be known as anything other than that. A student and teacher of the word. That's it. I don't want to be
known for scholarship or anything like that. When people say, oh, he's a scholar, I think, well, actually, not Laurie's a scholar. She is. I'm not. I am just someone that that studies and and does my best to teach it. And I think that every one of us, that's that's all we should. Every one of us should want to just study it, teach it, apply it. That's it.
I had the privilege for about ten years to teach spiritual life in community class to freshmen at Moody. One of my very, very favorite classes to teach. I don't have enough teaching hours now to still teach that one, but I hope I get it back one day because it's the most important foundation, right? Everything else that they do at Moody, like you said, if they don't get that piece right, then they can achieve all of these amazing goals and get the grades. But the Lord cannot
be pleased at the end of that. They want the Lord's pleasure in their studies. And so I always assigned to them this old sermon by B.B. Warfield, back in the days when Princeton was conservative. He was addressing seminary students at Princeton at the turn of the century. And he talks about the spiritual life of theology students, essentially. And he he calls them to worship and says, what a travesty that in studying the things of God, we would grow weary of God. And he says it in
just eloquent terms. He paints this tragic picture of what it's like to study God and become bored with God to to miss him. And he raises the question, um, you know what's better? Ten hours of study or ten hours of prayer. And I forget the exact number, but we'll say ten hours. And the answer, he says, how about ten hours of study on your knees, right. Which is such an important thing, right? We don't study God. We don't read the word. And we do that in
separation and independence and isolation. And we pray before we pray. After we do our study on our knees, we realize we need him to understand. We want to have the specs to see the things that Michael mentioned. And so I think that's such an important reminder. We often separate things that belong together. Sometimes even, you know, my study and my devotional life, there's a place to make that distinction.
But sometimes I don't like that distinction because it makes our study something else that's other than worship, and that's a really dangerous place to be as you go deeper in your study of Scripture. When I was in seminary, a good friend of mine was entering the program and she said, I want to master God's Word. That's why I'm here. And then she paused. She caught herself and she said, no, no, I want to be mastered by God's Word. And then she caught herself one more time
because she realized that was still one step removed. She said, no, no, I want to be mastered by the God of the word. And that, you know, I constantly remind my students that you don't stand over the word. You stand under the word. And we're used to studying things from an objective position, right where that's the object. And we're we're doing that analysis. But when we're studying Scripture, we stand under Scripture. It
examines us. And so I think part of guarding your heart in that simplicity is making sure that you're always in the right posture, that you're under and not over, um, that it judges us. We don't judge it.
So I think you ought to buy a good pair of EarPods and use music. I find that music often touches my heart in a very deep way. God invented music, right? It's his music. And so I find that just singing, praying and singing, you know, just a closer walk with thee, you know, and praying. That's hearing that and singing it. My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine for thee. All the follies of sin I resign, I
need thee, oh, I need I find. You know, from my childhood growing up in the hymnal hymns that to this day draw me closer to Jesus Christ. And so I encourage you to add that to your devotional time. Sing them, pray them back, and always touches my heart.
We'll be back with more from our special Journeys of Paul Open Line, where you'll hear even more questions that our tour participants had for our special panel, including me, Michael Radonich, Joe Stowell, Mark Jobe, and Laurie Norris. More coming up right after this break. We're so glad that Febc partners with Open Line with Doctor Michael Radonich, bringing the Febc mailbag every week. Learn how Far East Broadcasting Company is taking Christ to the world@febc.org on their weekly podcast.
Until all have heard with editor cannon, you'll hear stories of lives changed by Messiah all across the globe. Again, you can hear the podcast when you visit febc.org. That's febc.org. People are always asking me questions about the Jewish people. Some of you want to know how to reach your Jewish friends with the gospel, or you want to understand how the Messiah fulfilled prophecy. Others want to learn about
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Hello.
I'm bringing you to Jonah. So just thinking in the book of Jonah. And how do you reconcile, like Jonah's behavior in chapters three and four versus the prayer in and Jonah two, where it seems like he is being repentant. And so just trying to reconcile those two.
I think Jonah is one of my favorite prophets because I so can relate to him. I don't know if you've heard of Romans 12 one and two, right? Where it says, present yourself as a living sacrifice. Right? Yes. And you all have heard the problem with living sacrifices. We keep crawling off the altar. And I think Jonah was sincere in his penitence. But when he finally gets to Nineveh, he was also sincere in his proclamation of judgment,
which was yet 40 days. And and and Nineveh will be destroyed, with the caveat that unless you repent, which he was hoping they wouldn't because they were the enemies of Israel, it was predicted by the prophets that they would conquer the northern tribes. And and he didn't want them to do that. And so he wanted the Assyrians not to repent so they could be destroyed and avert the judgment that will come on the northern tribes of Israel. And then he saw that they repented, and he got
annoyed at God. I maybe you can't, but I do find that I have repented and talked to God about bad attitudes that I've had, and said, I am leaving those bad attitudes right? And then, shockingly, unbelievably, my wife is surprised to see that I have that same bad attitude again.
I have also noticed that.
No comment.
So let me just say that someone once called Open Line and said, how can you believe the Bible that shows all these biblical figures for all their sinfulness? And I said, that's exactly why I believe the Bible. There's no cover up. In fact, every time I read it, I just see myself.
So also, I think if I can just jump that up into our world where Jesus has called us to love our enemies, right? And Jonah refused to be a middleman in a compassion transaction between God and the Ninevites who needed him to repent. And I think a lot of times, you know, we refuse to be that middle person between God and someone who desperately needs because we kind of don't like that person. They kind of annoy us a little bit, you know? But we are to
love our enemies. Anybody in the house really thankful that God has loved his enemies? All right, so there it is. All right.
When we track the events of Jesus chronologically, is there any indication in Scripture that Jesus came and lived and died during the year of Jubilee, where he restores the inheritance of Israel?
Great question. It's a great question that I don't have an answer to. I have no way of tracking the the year of Jubilee.
No way. Seriously?
Yeah, I have no way of doing that.
Well, well, I've got the answer.
Wait, he's got the answer. He doesn't know either. Yeah, that's right, I know.
I don't, I don't, but, you know, I think open line's a challenging thing. People call up, right. And expect him to know the whole Bible. Like in Hezekiah three one. The third word in the verse. What do you think about that? You know, and you always do such a good job with it. That's why I was surprised to hear you say that.
Well, no, but.
We don't know. When they started calculating the year of Jubilee, and they ignored the year of Jubilee for so many years that that it's it's just it's I don't know how we could track it. I suspect I could delve into some rabbinic literature and find the answer, but I'm not sure. So good.
Question. I think that's an interesting thought. Yeah.
Yeah. Uh, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Okay. Um, one of the Ten commandments is to keep the Sabbath. Um, and it seems like the others are. You know, it's really clear how to do those, you know, don't kill somebody. Don't lie, don't covet. Well, how do how would how do we keep the Sabbath today?
Okay. Well, in Exodus it says that the Sabbath is the sign of the law of Moses. Okay. And I think that's why, of all the. There's ten commandments. Nine are repeated in the New Testament in the New Covenant. But the Sabbath one isn't. And I think it's because we are now under the New covenant. That's our operating system. You know, we used to sort of think about the covenant like this. You know, there was, uh, DOS and then windows 3.1 and then and now we're under windows.
I don't know how many 12, I think. Right. So we're under a different operating system, and the sign of the old operating system isn't there anymore. So that's why it's not repeated. But remember what I said is that earlier that there was a wisdom principle, and the wisdom principle is that we need a day for physical rest and spiritual renewal. We need to take a day. Romans 14 five says, one man honors one day above another. Another views them all alike. Let each man be convinced
in his own mind. Now, I guarantee you, I cannot take Shabbat as my day of rest. And it's because I've got to talk to all of you. That you may think I'm just sitting around, you know, kicking my feet back and doing nothing, but that actually takes some work to do. Open line. So I have to have another day of rest. Have a Sabbath. It's the day of rest, a day of physical rest and spiritual renewal. Thanks for listening to this special Pre-recorded Journeys of Paul
Bible Q&;A on deck of the Star Clipper. Coming up in the second hour on most of these stations is a Bible study, also recorded on deck about how to be a hopeful failure based on John 21. Don't miss it! Open line is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.