Hello friends. It's time for the second hour of Open Line with me, Doctor Michael Moody Radio's Bible Study Across America. We're talking about your questions about the Bible, God and the spiritual life. I'm Michael Redlich, professor of Jewish studies at Moody Bible Institute, and I'm coming to you from Moody's downtown Chicago campus. If you have a Bible question today, don't call me the reason you shouldn't call me. It's a special all mailbag, all the time edition of Open Line.
You can send your question by going to our website, Open Line Radio, and you can click on the link that says Ask Michael a question and that will pull up a form, fill it out, and it'll be put into a future mailbag. But for today, listen in. You've sent in a lot of questions. We're trying to clear the spindle and get them out of here and answer as many questions as we can to help me do that.
I've got Eva right here. She's my wife. You may know that, but really, she's my colleague at Moody Bible Institute. She's on the faculty there. She contributed to the Moody Bible Commentary and to the Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy. And also joining me is Tricia McMillan. She is the producer of Open Line. You hear her every week during the Febc Mailbag edition, the Febc mailbag segment, when we
talk about that. And that's always great. But now you've got a huge mailbag and you're covering all our questions.
I do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's see what we can, uh, what we can get to this hour. We're trying our best to answer all of these questions.
All right. William from Ohio listens on the mobile app and asks, why does the temple become significant again in revelation at the abomination of Desolation, it seems it was made insignificant at Christ's death when the temple veil was torn them. There isn't a need for a temple in the end times, so how could it be desecrated if God is no longer in the temple or recognizing the temple?
I'd start by saying there's nothing in the New Testament that deprecates the temple. It does say that the blood of bulls and goats in the book of Hebrews didn't take away sin, even in the Old Testament temple. It always pointed forward to the those sacrifices were pointing forward to the messianic sacrifice. Um, and uh, but also early, if you look in the book of acts, even after the temple veil was rent, the early believers went to
the temple. Isn't that interesting? Uh, in the early chapters of acts, even Paul goes to the temple at, uh, at James suggestion when he comes back to Jerusalem. So. there's nothing bad about the temple. The. The Tribulation temple will be rebuilt, uh, by people who don't yet believe in Jesus. And they are going to. I don't know how or when, but Jewish people will be worshipping in the temple until the future false messiah tries to tell
them he's God and they should worship him. And that's when they they refuse, and that's when he turns, breaks his covenant with Israel and begins to persecute them. But also there will be a temple once again, looking back, remembering the sacrifices that were made. You can read about that in Ezekiel 40 through 48. It talks about a future millennial millennial temple. Also in Zechariah 14 it talks
about that. And so there's going to be a temple that remembers the sacrificial system, remembers the sacrifice of the Messiah Jesus, by reestablishing a sacrificial system in the messianic kingdom.
And in the The Tearing of the veil doesn't wasn't a comment on the the temple being bad, but it was showing the.
The finality of the sacrifice.
Of the sacrifice.
Okay. All right. Thanks for that question, William. Next question is from Helen in Indiana, listens on WGN. I'm studying Ezekiel and trying to understand it in Ezekiel 44. I've always assumed that the prince is the Messiah. But in Ezekiel 45, verse 22, the prince makes a sin offering. How could it be? The Messiah is he does not sin. Are the latter days the millennial reign? And if so, why are there sacrifices? Okay, so I know you've just kind of covered.
This a little. I'll answer that in a minute. But usually when a question comes up about Ezekiel, I just say, I don't know, ask Eva because she wrote the commentary with Charlie Dyer in the Moody Bible commentary on Ezekiel. So?
So, Eva. Yeah.
Well, let me just let's just look at the Moody Bible Commentary, which I think is a great tool, and I recommend all of our listeners and friends to get this great tool because it goes through the scriptures, verse by verse, answering the the big questions, showing how everything relates together. Very messianic in its appreciation for the message of the Bible. So here's here's Ezekiel's what we say
in in the Moody Bible Commentary just on this passage. It, it says that, that, um, it says although the gate will be shut in the, in the in for the temple area, the area of the gate will be used by the prince, which she is saying she's thinking of as being the Messiah. But I think the clues in the text are that it is not the Messiah. The Hebrew word translated prince in most translations is the word nasi,
which would be better translated as the leader. The leader will sit in the gate and and render judgments and settling affairs, although some have suggested this is the Messiah. The evidence is to the contrary. This prince or leader is not the Messiah because first of all, the leader made a sin offering for himself an act that would be unnecessary for the sinless Messiah. Secondly, this prince or leader has natural children. Another impossibility for the God-Man Messiah Jesus.
And thirdly, he will have a special portion of a land allotted to him, whereas all the land belongs to King Messiah. So? So it's not the Messiah, but it is a leader who will be functioning under the kingship of Messiah in the millennial period.
All right.
So now the question is, why have the offering which I mentioned before, but I just want to the offerings in the Old Testament, even sin offerings didn't take away sin. The book of Hebrews makes it really clear they were pointing forward. So even the sacrifices in the temple before the their being destroyed didn't take away sin. So what was the point of the sin offering? To point forward
to the Messiah. Now, what is the point of the sin offering or the different sacrifices in the Millennial Temple? The temple of the Kingdom? They would be to point back to the death of the Messiah, because there will
be people who enter that messianic kingdom right away. When Jesus takes, you know, the people who survive the campaign of Armageddon that are the sheep in Matthew 25 and that parable, the sheep and the goats, the Gentile nations will enter who believe they will enter the kingdom, and so will the Jewish people who are saved at the end of the tribulation, when the Lord Jesus comes, they cry out for him to be saved, and they will not have resurrected bodies, neither will those nations. They will
enter the kingdom. They will marry, they will have kids, and those kids will need to come to know the Lord Jesus and death will be less common. It says in Isaiah 65, in that millennial period, and because of that, when we when it's explained to these people who are born in the millennium. That Jesus died for your sins and rose again. They may not quite get it. What do you mean? He died? There he is. He's reigning over us. And so, to help them understand the significance
of death, there will be a temple. There will be sacrifices. There will be memorial sacrifices. Just the same way we have the Lord's Supper today. Uh, to look back on the death and resurrection and return. Look forward to the return of the Lord Jesus. So then there will be sacrifices to explain the death and resurrection of Jesus.
All right. I hope that helps you. Helen and the Moody Bible Commentary. You might be a good resource for you as you study Ezekiel.
Yeah, there's a good discussion about why their sacrifices as well in the Moody Bible Commentary. Thank you. Eva. Yeah.
Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much. All right. So let me find where my questions are here. I'm on the wrong page. Hang on. Okay. Tim in Georgia listens to Wpba. So, still talking about the temple? Sort of. Okay. But now going New Testament. Uh, when Jesus went to the temple and he overturned the money changers tables. Did he do this twice? Uh, because the Gospel of John seems to have it at the beginning of beginning of his ministry, and Mark has it during the week before
his crucifixion. Or was there only one time that he overturned the tables and the timing and the two is just kind of different?
I think we have two options. We option one is that, uh, in Mark, Mark and John disagree and they there's an error. I don't like that option. Option two is there seemingly were two cleansings of the temples, the temple two times. That's the simplest answer. Makes sense. That's what most scholars believe at the beginning of his ministry. At the end of his earthly ministry.
Okay. They just didn't get it, huh?
Yeah, they just didn't understand it.
Yeah.
Or just waited for him to leave. Okay, now we can set it back. Exactly. That's right. Yep. Okay. Hope that helps. Tim. John in South Carolina listens to Wlp. Does the Bible tell us why God chose the avenue of salvation by Jesus Christ through his death on the cross and the redemptive power of his blood? Leviticus 1711 tells us that the life of the flesh is in the blood, and our atonement stems from this blood. Is
this the answer, or is there more? I want to be able to justify our God to a non-believer who questions your bloodthirsty God. Why would God choose this particular method, which subjected Himself and His Son to the terrible torture of the cross for the redemption of his people?
This is such a typical question from the New Atheist.
Yeah, well, let's just put it this way. First of all, it's clear that a death for the soul that sins it will die that there had to be a death to pay for sin. And so God chose to take the penalty. The penalty that we deserve. That's it. And you know, you think about the father and the son. Remember their triune. Let's emphasize the EWN aspect of that triunity that when we talk about the Trinity, the tri represents his threeness and the the nity represents his oneness, right? Unity.
God himself said, I will take this. It's not like Jesus saying, no, no, the father hates me. He's sending me to die. That's ridiculous. The the entire godhead agreed on this. This is what Jesus said. No man takes my life, but I lay it down willingly. That's what Jesus said. And so now I've heard this question framed this way in Isaiah 53 it says that God was pleased to do this. Have you heard that expression? God
is pleased us to make him suffer. And they say, look how, what a what a terrible, brutish father this is. But the word pleased in Isaiah 53 actually means willing. The Lord was willing to do this. Um, and I think that that's really important because the father took no pleasure. That's why it says he's willing, but he took no pleasure. He wasn't pleased. Uh, because he God took no pleasure in the death of the Messiah. The death of his son. God the father didn't do that. Um. What the. The
example I would give is in the Holocaust. This happened more times than we really want to admit, but there would be people being hidden from the Nazis in a back room or in a basement or something like that. And just when the Gestapo was coming to to find them, an infant baby would start to cry, just like in
the movie Sophie's Choice. The infant would start to cry, and a mom might even take that baby and smother the baby to her own breast to keep it from crying, so that it would not expose the family members or the other people and would take the life of her own child. If you can imagine the horror of doing that, to say that she was willing to do it, that makes sense to save others, to say that she was pleased would obviously be wrong. So? So God the Father
took the the Punishment through sending the son. He was not pleased with the son's death, but he was willing. That's how much he loved us for our redemption. And I think that, uh, that's that's the answer I would give. And listen, if a person's got a hard heart, they'll never receive it. But if a person understands how much God loves them, that he would be willing to do that, then they'll be responsive to it. And so I can't make a person change their mind. But that's my best
understanding of why God did that. So, uh, believe it or not, I actually know met a woman who smothered her own baby, hiding her children from a terrorist. Uh, a Palestinian terrorist came into her home, and she was hiding some of her children. She was holding her baby, and she watched her husband being murdered by this terrorist and smothered her own child to keep to protect the other children with her.
Yep. Up in northern Israel. So sad.
And she took no pleasure in it. And so God the Father was willing to give his son. And the son said, no one takes my life. Hey, if you're listening, Jesus loves us so much that he died willingly for us and rose again. Don't become embittered at the father, but thank him for it and trust in Jesus. We're going to be back with more of your questions in just a moment. You're listening to Open Line right here
on Moody Radio. Open line is designed to take your questions and provide you with straightforward, honest answers from Scripture about the things that matter most. When you join our team of Kitchen Table Partners, your monthly gift will help us stay on the air to continue to share the truth of the Bible with those who need to hear it. Become a kitchen table partner by calling us at 886447122 or sign up online at Open Line radio.org. Org. Welcome
back to Open Line. My name is Michael Radonich. Joining me today for this all mailbag edition of Open Line is Eva Ray melnick and Tricia McMillan. And we're having a really good time trying to get through the questions you have sent in. Doing our best to do that, Trisha. Let's keep going.
All right. Monica in Ohio listens on the mobile app. I've heard binding and loosing talked about in churches for many years and this is in Matthew 16. Can you please elaborate on this subject?
It's actually a phrase from Rabbinic Judaism. To bind means to forbid, to loose means to permit. And it was used when it came to decisions that were made about the law, about the commandments, in terms of rabbinic authority. So what Jesus is using is just that language that was understood to everyone. All the readers of the Gospel of Matthew were Jewish initially, and when Jesus said those words, he was speaking to a Jewish audience. They all knew it.
He said when. When the church comes into being and they're exercising congregational discipline, the elders, whatever they say is binding, will be bound in heaven. You know, and whatever they say, whenever, when they make a legal judgment or whatever they say is loosed or permitted, when they're going to say, okay, you're released from this. The discipline isn't enacted that will
be recognized. It's basically saying that heaven is backing up the authority of congregational leaders to make congregational discipline decisions. That doesn't mean that they can do anything, even wrongly. It just means that God's recognizing their authority when they do it right. He will. Heaven will back it up.
Okay. All right. Thank you. Kenneth in Georgia, listens on the Good News Network and says, I've been listening for the last few Saturdays and I like your program. Yay! My question is about our nature and the New Testament. A believer gets a new nature and the Holy Spirit to live a Christ like life. So how does a Joe average Hebrew believer that was looking forward to Christ?
I think he's talking about an Old Testament believer there. Joe average there. He should have said something like Joseph. Joseph or Yaakov. Old Testament believer. Okay.
But but living in the New Testament time.
No, no. How does he. I mean, Old Testament believers.
Looking forward.
To Christ, to Christ live a Christ like life.
When his ungodly nature hasn't changed. I know the Holy Spirit came on people, but that was usually just unimportant people and only temporary.
I think the assumption is that there wasn't a changed nature for Old Testament believers, but there is a changed nature. You could see it in the life of Jacob. He keeps saying, If God's faithful to me, then I will make him my God. And then he comes back. God kept him safe, brings him back, and he then builds an altar and includes it. Calls it the God, the God of Jacob. He's made God his God as well, just like Abraham and Isaac. Uh, and there's a changed nature in him. What it is, is, as a person
is living by faith. The Old Testament, they're living by faith with an anticipation of the future Messiah. When they put their trust in the God of Israel, that's part of what their anticipation is. And God, based on that future anticipation, can change their nature. It's it's living by faith.
And and Hebrews 11 illustrates this very well with all of the people listed, even with the specific examples given. And then, you know, I could say all of this about these other people that yeah, he doesn't the author doesn't go into detail about and just rattles off their names and hundreds more. But but those those examples of faith in Hebrews 11 and how they lived with that faith, looking forward to the coming Messiah.
Yeah. I think sometimes we denigrate Old Testament believers as if now, certainly I think we have more blessings. We have the permanent Holy Spirit. The moment we believe there definitely is better to be a believer in Jesus after Pentecost. But, you know, yeah, it's better. We have greater spiritual blessing. No question.
We have the we have this entire Bible that we can look at to remind us, you know, it's not all.
But we shouldn't denigrate. It's not like they don't have anything to say to us or model for us. That's what Hebrews 12 says. This is the great cloud of witnesses that reminds us to stay faithful. And, uh, so no. And God could work in their lives and transform them and did.
Yeah. Okay. Thanks for that question, Kenneth. Uh, Craig in Florida listens on the mobile app. Uh, he says, by God's grace and mercy, I was and am saved. June 22nd, 2003. I was on fire for the Lord, singing, praising, studying the word, attending church. And I left the church due to a challenge there. So now I'm on my own with the Lord.
A challenge with another person?
Yes. With. With another? Yeah, with another person in the church. My problem is this. When I go to the Lord, I'm so disappointed in myself and I almost always dread it. I love coming to the Lord, but I'm so sick of telling God that I agree with my sin and repenting all the time. Um, I feel like I'm on my knees telling him lies, knowing that I will fail, and this makes me not want to come to him because I know I'll disappoint him.
Well, it sounds to me that he always starts his time with the Lord with confession. And I would say that the I like the acts model of our time with the Lord, which is adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. Now that's just one way that we can pray. But I wouldn't make confession. First, I would make adoration of God first. Worship of him for his nature and a great way to develop a heart of adoration. I found reading Tozer's
book The Knowledge of the Holy or J.I. Packer's. Knowing God, which deals with the attributes of God as we get to know the attributes of God, worship him. It'll take you time to get through those books. Worship him for those attributes. Uh, as you're going through those books. So I think start with worship instead of confession.
It's the Lord's Prayer. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Holy be your name. That's a model, right?
It starts with.
With worship.
Uh, and confession is good. It's to agree with God. He seems to understand that. But I'm just going to say now you guys girls have to. You women. I have to be.
Yeah.
Have to stop me. Okay, but I want to say, Craig, I love you and I want what's best for you. And it sounds to me that there's a problem. And here's the problem isn't that you have to confess your sin all the time. Because I do. And I'm always so grateful that God forgives me. But why are you not going to church? Maybe the first sin you need to confess is disobeying Hebrews 1025. If you had a problem with someone, you can't work it out. That's possible.
I'm not saying you have to go to that church.
That's Hebrews 1025. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
You're disobeying God. God wants you to be part of a community. And that's what being part of a community is, how he helps us recovering sinners recover from sin. That's why we stimulate each other to love and good good deeds. Part of the frustration that you feel about confessing your sin will be overcome if you're part of a community.
It's interesting, he says about himself. I'm telling God lies. Well, you think God doesn't know? I think you better straighten up your, uh, conversations with God.
When we confess our sins, telling him lies, I'll never do it again. Don't do it. Say I keep doing this. God, thanks for forgiving me. Now, the cycle of life for believers in first John one. It doesn't start with confession. It starts with if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. We have fellowship with God as we walk in the light, and then we confess our sin. And then, uh, what happens is we're walking in the light. We have fellowship.
We sin breaks fellowship with God. We confess it. We agree with him that it was sin. He restores fellowship with us. But let's start with walking in the light, not with confession. And so if a person knows something in Scripture that we're supposed to do it, we need to do it. That's what James chapter three says. If we know it, we need to do it. So, Craig, go back to congregation, be part of a community, grow in your walk with them. We're going to be right
back with more questions in just a moment. You're listening to Open Line on Moody Radio. So many of you call or write with questions about the Jewish people, and particularly how you can share your faith with your Jewish friends. One of the best way to do that is to help your friends understand the marvelous prophecy of Isaiah 53. Chosen People Ministries, one of open lines underwriters, wants to help you do just that. They're offering a booklet called
Isaiah 53 explained. As you read Isaiah 53 explained, you'll get a better grasp of this pivotal passage of the Jewish Bible, and you can pass it on to your Jewish friend to read it for her or himself. To get your free copy of Isaiah 53 explained, just go to the Open Line Radio website. That's online radio.org. Scroll down. You'll see the link that says a free gift from Chosen People Ministries. Click on that and you'll be taken to a page where you can sign up for your
own free copy of Isaiah 53 explained. I'm so grateful that the Far Eastern Broadcasting Company partners with Open Line to bring you the weekly Febc mailbag. Far Eastern Broadcasting Company is a terrific organization. They bring the good news to people via media and personal engagement. Check out the Febc podcast until All Have Heard featuring Ed Cannon, president of Febc, by going to Febc. Org that's Febc. I hope you're enjoying this all mailbag, all the time edition
of Open Line. I'm Michael Wright. I'm so glad to be with you. With Eva Rydell and Tricia McMillan. We're trying to get to all the questions you have sent in as you enjoy the holiday weekend. So let's go back to the mailbag. Tricia.
All right. Next question is from Sally in Tennessee. Listens to. And these are a couple of kind of witnessing questions that we'll have here. I have a non-believing friend to whom I'm trying to witness, and I don't know how, looking for words that will help her see the truth. She respects her religious tradition and does not read the Bible. Do you have any wisdom or help for me?
So it sounds like she comes from a Christian tradition. Maybe not an evangelical church, but Christian tradition. What would you say to someone who doesn't want to read the Bible? Eva?
Well, I would I would say that perhaps the best thing Sally could do would would first of all, talk about how valuable the Bible is for her own life in some specific areas and then say, maybe you want to read together. She might be more interested in wanting to read than Sally knows.
Because all Christian traditions, whether they're evangelical or not, are have a recognize the authority and respect the Bible. What did you what did you find about that, Tricia?
Oh, well, I my my church a couple of years ago did a whole series on the Bible and just opening the Bible and reading it. And the challenge given to us was find a neighbor or a friend that is unchurched and ask them if they would read the Bible with you, and then we could use they had developed this whole not a curriculum, but like help on the church website that um, to help ask questions. And
so they had kind of made questions. So it started in Genesis and went through revelation and just kind of hit high points of the the Bible.
The Bible story?
Yes, the whole Bible story. 50. You know, it was a full year thing. And so it was pretty easy to just pick up, like if you didn't know anything about the Bible, it was like, hey, would you read the Bible with me? And I didn't do this, my friend. I had several friends who did, and they were surprised that their friend was like, sure, yeah, I'll read the
Bible with you. And the hardest part was asking, you know, like getting past any fear you had that, oh, no, they might fill in the blank, scoff at me or or.
They're not going to really want.
To know. Yeah. And and so you just set up a time and, you know, get together and you could do it over zoom if Sally, you could do it over zoom. If you don't live near this friend or if you do, you could get together and, you know, have a cup of coffee and just read the Bible. It doesn't have to be a lot. And then just talk about it.
Yeah.
So, so.
Sometimes people are afraid to ask to invite their friend to read the Bible with them because they think, oh, my friend's going to have questions that I don't know the answer to. Well, don't be afraid of that. If they ask the question or the answer to just say, I don't know that. I'll look it up. Let's talk about it next week.
Get your Bible.
Get your moody Bible commentary out. Yeah.
Or call open line.
Come on. Yeah.
Don't be.
Afraid. Lots of resources.
Uh, you got good resources. I have found that some people are afraid to say yes, I'll read the Bible because they don't know anything about the Bible. And I always say, well, I'll give you an orientation, and it's not that hard to understand. And believe it or not, people say, oh, you'll orient, I get orientation. Oh yeah,
that's no problem. And we used to there was a woman that used to always invite her friends to read the Bible and say, and I was this was when I was leading a congregation, and I'm going to get my, my, uh, she would call me her rabbi, but my rabbi to come in and he can read it with us. I wasn't a rabbi, but that's what she would say. And so we'd get together and I'd say, okay, today our lesson is on the table of contents.
Yeah. Start really.
Basic. And I start the Bible isn't a book, it's a library of books. Look, it's divided in two big sections. And I explained, just people are going, oh, this is wow. I never knew that. Hey, it's okay to start at the most basic thing. Invite people to read with you, give them the orientation and start reading. It's great.
Yeah. And depending on how much your friend knows, and if you're willing to ask your friend to read the Bible with you, there are children's resources could help with this.
I mean, like like the two parts of the Bible. Um, or there are some, you know, kids videos that kind of go through here are the parts of the Bible and they've got there are lots of fun songs that go through here, the books of the Bible or the different parts of the Bible that those might be, depending on where your friend is at, those might be helpful for you as well.
A few weeks ago, we, uh, linked the Bible project on the Psalms on our Facebook page. So Bible Project's got some great resources. Videos eight nine minutes that really help you understand different parts of the Bible. So yeah, there's there's great stuff out there. So just be bold. Ask her to read the Bible with you. Um, if you don't want to listen to me, just listen to Eva and Trisha. They think it's.
A good idea. We think it's a good idea.
Yeah.
Uh, Mark wrote us from Florida, listens to RMB, says Shalom. My Jewish doctor does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Because in the Talmud it says Jesus is an illegitimate son and that he used sorcery to walk on water. How do I refute that? In love?
Of course I like how he says that.
In love, of course. Well, first of all, I don't think any Jewish person says I don't believe in Jesus because of what the Talmud says about him. They don't believe in Jesus because of the cultural predisposition not to believe in Jesus. Even what the Talmud says about Jesus, um, is that he was illegitimate Legitimate and that he did do miracles, but he did them by sorcery. The Talmud does say that, but you got to understand. The Talmud
was written. Codified between the fifth, about between 500 and 600. It was already way past the time when the church had become so malevolent, so hostile, so hateful of the Jewish people. And sort of in response to that, that the rabbis incorporated some answers Jewish people had for then. But we don't believe this because of what it said
about this Jesus. So it does have says negative things about Jesus, but it's in response to the terrible persecution that Jewish people were already feeling from the hands of, and the lips of people like Augustine, the Great Church father of the West, and John Chrysostom, the great Church, father of the East. So it's reactionary.
Self-defensive.
Yeah. Self-Defense. But all this I have, you know, people have said this to me and I've said, well, it is kind of interesting that he they recognize that there are seeming miracles. Uh, maybe what we ought to do is examine to see if they got it right. And in fact, one of the things that the Hebrew Bible says of the Messiah in Isaiah 35 is that he's going to open the eyes of the blind and heal
the lame and open the ears of the deaf. Maybe this is what Jesus was doing as fulfillment of messianic prophecy. And I just say, let's let's look at it. If you want, we can take a look at these other ideas. Maybe this is a misrepresentation of Jesus. Uh, it does recognize he did miracles.
And sort of going back to the previous question we were talking about about reading the Bible, you can encourage your Jewish friend. Have you ever looked at really looked at the New Testament to see what the gospels, what Jesus is really like. What does it really say about him? Maybe we could take a look at some original documents about that.
Yeah, there's. I don't get mad. Just like this person says, uh, in love, of course. But, hey, let's just look and see what the other evidence is.
And I think for both of these, just noting the relational aspect of these, both for Sally and her friend and Mark and this and his doctor, that having that relationship where they can actually have a conversation about spiritual things can open doors that, um, that you wouldn't have expected with just a, you know, with someone else that you don't have that relationship.
With some guy on the bus.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had a Jewish doctor once that saw me on TV teaching the Bible. He was so taken by that that he said he was going to take a look at what I taught. He was just amazed.
It was like flipping channels, flipping channels.
And there I was, Michael. And he started shouting to his wife, Hey! Come here. It's my patient. It's my patient.
That's fun. Yep. So hopefully that's helpful for you, Mark. And also Sally. Um, get some ideas there on how you can talk to these people in your life. Deborah in Ohio listens on the mobile app and says, how can we respond to those who say Christ's teaching counts, but Paul's does not.
Sounds like you should only read the red letter parts of your Bible, right?
Yeah. That's what.
That's what. It's a very skinny edition.
Uh, Paul's teaching.
Is the Gospels, I guess.
And only the red letter parts.
Right? Just just the things that Christ said.
Yeah. Uh, Paul says all Scripture is inspired, and so that would include his own writings. Peter says, uh, of Paul that his words are hard to understand, as are the and that people distort them as they do the other scriptures. And so Peter is recognizing Paul as Scripture. I believe that's in Second Peter where he says that. And so yeah, it's in second Peter chapter three. Uh, he says they distort the untaught and unstable twist them at his writings as to their own destruction, as they
also do the rest of the scriptures. Second Peter 316. Uh, I think that this now, this is the one that people often ask me about is Paul is talking about issues about divorce and remarriage in First Corinthians chapter seven. And he says, I say, not the Lord. And they say, even Paul is recognizing that his words are not from the Lord. That is such a mistake. What he means in first Corinthians seven when he says, I say, not the Lord is. He's referring to the words that we
have recorded of the Lord Jesus. The Lord. Jesus said, stay married, a one clause, one exception to divorce and remarriage that you can divorce, unfortunately, is immorality. And now Paul is dealing with another issue that's been raised to him is abandonment by a person who doesn't know the Lord. Uh, he says, let him leave and or let her leave.
You're not under obligation. He's saying, I say not the Lord. Meaning, I don't have a word from the Lord Jesus about this, but I'm giving you now as an as an apostle, an authoritative apostle, and an an inspired answer. I am writing to you what you should do. He is not denying the inspiration of his own words when he says, I say, not the Lord. He's saying, I don't have a written word from the Lord Jesus about this. But now I'm telling you as an apostle what the authoritative
answer is. And so that's a misunderstanding of Paul. No, We should read the whole thing. In fact, I am so committed to this, you guys, that my Bible that I read, I made special effort. I found one without red letters because the whole book is inspired, not just the words of Jesus. Okay, we're going to we're going to come back in just a bit. We're you're listening to Open Line with Eva Redlich, Tricia McMillan and me,
Michael Wright. And we're having a great time going through the mailbag, getting through as many questions as we can. Hope you're having a wonderful Independence Day weekend. Uh, having some fun, watching some fireworks, eating some grilled out food. Enjoy yourself. We're going to be back with more questions in just a moment right here on Moody Radio. My favorite professor, Howard Hendricks, used to say that it was a great sin to bore people with the Word of God,
and that's why he wrote Teaching to Change Lives. Whether you're a parent, Sunday school teacher, or someone who just shares God's truth with others. Teaching to change lives will help you become the teacher who has mastered not just what to teach, but how to teach. Receive your copy with your gift of any size. Call (888) 644-7122 or visit online radio. Org. We're back right here at Open Line. I'm so glad you've listened today. Thank you for listening.
And with me is Eva right? Tricia McMillan. I'm Michael Ray Melnick. We're answering the mailbag questions you've sent in for this special holiday weekend edition of Open Line. Let's go back to the the questions, Tricia.
All right. Dory wrote us from Georgia Listens on WNBA. I was married before, and I committed adultery when my husband found out he did the same. But I am the offending spouse now. I'm remarried.
I'm guessing she divorced.
I'm assuming that because she's now remarried.
Mhm.
Um. And I'm afraid I'm living in adultery. I have repented, but I want to make sure that according to the Bible, I am not living in sin. What do I do now?
I don't want to make this an issue of sin, that grace may abound. But let's remember the grace of God is greater than all our sin. And she has turned to the Lord. Now she is recommitted to the Lord. Come to know the Lord. It's not clear, but she has indeed repented of that sin, and God has forgiven her. Uh, but does it mean that she should divorce and go back to her previous spouse? Uh, we faced that in pastoral ministry. What was the quick answer? Eva?
No, you have to be. You have to serve God where you are. You can't go back. You can't. We don't even know where her first husband is. Maybe he's already remarried. I mean, it just gets to be such a tangled mess. Just live where you are. For the Lord Jesus, King. Messiah. Moving forward.
We can't undo the sin by committing another sin.
Right?
So faithfulness in your marriage, that's what you need.
In her current marriage.
In her current marriage.
Okay. All right. Marty wrote us from Elgin, Illinois. Listens to WNBA. Can you tell me what the gift of prophecy is in the Bible? And if it's being rightly used in the church today because of past experiences in my church growing up, I tend to shy away from it. Is there anyone using the gift correctly today?
Well, I'm going to just say plainly that the gift of prophecy was part of the, in my opinion, the foundational gifts of the church. Uh, and they have ceased the gifts of there's no longer any apostles. No one is testifying of the resurrected Lord. And the prophets of the New Testament were linked with the apostles in Ephesians 220. The foundation of the church was laid by the apostles and the prophets. That was a foundational gift.
So by testifying, you mean somebody who actually saw it and reporting it?
Yeah. A living witness to the resurrection. Paul even says, am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the Lord? And and so there are no apostles. I think even our friends who believe in prophecy would mostly recognize there are no apostles, but the prophets are linked to them. And so I would say, uh, therefore, if anyone is exercising prophecy in any way whatsoever, they're not doing it
biblically because it doesn't exist. So sometimes people redefine it, sometimes they redefine it as preaching, sometimes they redefine it as exhortation. But listen, if someone just exhorts you with what would be the Word of God, accept it. Be happy about it. But sometimes people come and they want to get into our lives and tell us, I have a word from God for you. And you know it's too, too much.
That is beyond scripture.
Yeah. Just. No, no, no. I would just say thank you very much, but no, that's what I would say. And and move on. I had a friend once say, oh, you need prophecy because the Bible is a dusty old book. It's like getting a text message from God. You wouldn't understand it because you're too old to text message. But. But prophecy is like getting a phone call from God. I love the Word of God. And what did you always say?
I'll honor. Yeah. That says I will honor my word above my name. So what God says about himself.
Let's not denigrate God's Word as the containment of God's revelation. That's what we.
Need. And he's written down all that we need to know.
All right. Thank you. And I think our last question will be from Diana in Indiana. Listens to what are the Jewish people still looking for their Messiah through the genealogical line of King David? And have they kept track of that pure line all these years?
Okay. Some Jewish people are still looking for the Messiah, and some are still looking for him to come through the line of David. Uh, but most Jewish people who are looking for the Messiah recognize that we have not kept track of that genealogy. Although a few years ago, when a Rabbi Menachem Schneerson was proclaimed by his followers to be the Messiah, uh, they said he was from the line of David. And everyone looked around the rest of the Jewish community and said, well, how do you
know that? We don't know who's from the line of David? They said, well, the rabbi told us that he was from the line of David. Well come on. He was making it up. He doesn't know that. Uh, and so, yes, Jewish people are still looking for the some and some are even looking that when it comes, it will be revealed from God that he is from the line of David. But here's the thing. We know for a fact that the Messiah has come and he is from the line
of David. It's clear both genealogies and Luke. Mary's genealogy shows that he's from the line of David, and Matthew's shows that he's by his adopted father Joseph from the line of David. So he is from the line of David. He is declared the son of David, most importantly with power through the resurrection. Jesus is alive. And so I would just tell anyone, Jewish or Gentile alike. You don't have to be looking for a future Messiah. What you have to do is look at the evidence that Jesus
really is alive. He is declared with power to be the Messiah by the resurrection from the dead. So yeah, the Son of David has come and he's our Messiah. And that's where I would put people. Seek him out. Read the Gospels. See how Jesus fulfills what you want to say.
Yeah. Just thinking about that verse in Second Timothy. Remember Messiah, Jesus, the descendant of David, risen from the dead.
Yeah. That's it. That's that's the key idea. So if you're listening today and you've been thinking, I don't even know what I think about this, you can find out all about what you need to know the most about the Son of David by reading the Bible, read the scriptures, read the Gospels and learn about Jesus, and learn that he died for us and then was raised again, declaring him to be the Son of David with power and put your trust in him. What a great time together,
you guys. Thank you, Eva, for uh, joining me today and Tricia and also Courtney Young for helping me out today, helping us out by doing a great job engineering. Thanks for listening, everyone. We are going to be back next week. Hope you'll be listening. Then check out our web page, radio.org. It's got every link you might be looking for. Keep
reading the Bible. We'll talk about it next week. Open line with Doctor Michael Melnick is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.