Your Bible Questions Answered

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Your Bible Questions Answered

April 20, 2024

Today we look at the question, "Will a proposed sacrifice in Jerusalem of a red heifer, two days from now, have any meaning with respect to last days Bible prophecy?" In other words, does it mean that Christ is coming soon?

While there are people who are touting the significance of such an act, if it occurs, it really has no meaning as far as the soon coming of Christ.

We do know that a Third Temple will be built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and that it will be built in unbelief of Jesus. It will be defiled by the final Antichrist which will then start the clock ticking to the coming of the Lord back to the earth.

In fact, it will be 1,290 days from the defiling of this temple, known as the Abomination of Desolation, that the world will see the coming of the Lord.

It has been contended that before the 3rd Temple is built, the Jews have to sacrifice a red heifer in accordance with the need to rid the defilement of the people. However, even if a red heifer is sacrificed in two days, it has no meaning with respect to the soon coming of the Lord.

There are five reasons as to why....

First of all, the custodianship of the Temple Mount is in the hands of the Waqf, an Islamic group…. When the Temple Mount was liberated in June of 1967 by the Jews, it was handed back 10 days later to Islam where it has remained ever since. They are in complete authority of whatever happens on the Temple Mount.

Second, Jews, as well as Christians, are not allowed to freely worship on the Temple Mount. Indeed, such practices are met with resistance by the Waqf as well as the Israeli police on the Mount…

Third, there is no interest whatsoever in the Israeli government of changing the status quo. If there is no governmental interest in allowing the Jews and Christians to freely worship on the Mount, then the idea of the government pushing the building of a Third Temple on the Temple Mount is presently inconceivable….

Fourth, if the Jews attempted to do this, they would have the entire Islamic world against them as well as the Western World. War would certainly break out from everywhere…

Fifth, even if the okay was granted, there is a huge problem that remains unsolved… where exactly was the Temple located upon the Temple Mount? There are four basic locations that are suggested, but nobody can be absolutely certain as to the precise location.

It will be built someday, no doubt about it, but not in the near future…. So do not get your hopes up of an immediate coming of the Lord if this ritual is carried out…

While there may be an immediate coming of Christ, it will have nothing to do with any ceremony that will take place.

Therefore, do not be disappointed or disillusioned by believing that it means Christ is coming soon.

Your Bible Questions Answered

May 3, 2024

As we continue with our study of the Ark of the Covenant, we come to a tragic event in its history, namely, the capture of the Ark by the Philistines. On the positive side, we are introduced to one of the greatest characters in Israel's history, Samuel. We find that he had been dedicated to the Lord by his mother Hannah. He was staying with the High Priest Eli at the Shiloh where the Ark was housed. This chapter gives us a precious incident where the Lord Himself spoke to you Samuel who initially thought it was Eli. Samuel's eventual response was, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." A great lesson for us as how we are to react when the Lord is speaking to us. In this context, we are told that Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and were soundly defeated. Sadly, back in the camp, some of the leaders came up with the terrible idea of bringing the Ark with them into the next battle. They assumed that this would guarantee victory. The Philistines were needlessly fearful when the Ark arrived in Israel's camp. While the Ark symbolically represented the Lord Himself, the Lord was not living inside of it. Hence Israel was defeated and the Ark came into the hands of the pagan Philistines. Add to this, the two worthless sons of Eli, Phineas and Hophni, died in the battle. When word reach Eli that the battle was lost, that his sons had died, and the Ark was taken he fell over backwards and died. It was hearing about losing the Ark that cause his death. The wife of Phineas was giving brith at the tine to a son. She was also overwhelmed by the loss of the Ark to the point where she died in childbirth. Before she died, she named the child "Ichabod," the glory has departed from Israel. Indeed, it had. The people trusted in the Ark as a "good luck charm" rather than in the Lord Himself. As we will see in our next episode, while the Ark was now in the hands of the Philistines, it would not be something that was magical or even helpful to them. Indeed, the opposite would be the case.

Your Bible Questions Answered

May 2, 2024

We continue with our examination of the subject of the Ark of the Covenant. We've come to Episode 9 which is also chapter 9 in our book, In Search of the Lost Ark: The Quest For The Ark of the Covenant. The chapter is titled "Battling for the Promised Land." This book is a free download from our website educatingourworld and is found under the category of Bible Prophecy. We read the following.... We recall that God had promised Abraham that the entire land of Canaan would belong to his descendants. Jericho was the first city of the Promised Land to be conquered. After Jericho was destroyed, Joshua set his sights on the smaller city of Ai (pronounced eye). With the success at Jericho, it seemed that victory at Ai would be a simple matter. This, however, would not be the case. The People Went Fighting Without The Lord If Joshua thought that having the Ark of the Covenant would be an automatic guarantee for victory in battle, he would soon learn differently. The Bible describes what happened as follows: Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Not all the people need go up; about two or three thousand men should go up and attack Ai. Since they are so few, do not make the whole people toil up there” (Joshua 7:2,3 NRSV UE). The victory at Jericho was not won because of the superior fighting ability of Israel but because of the power of the Lord. Unfortunately, the overconfident people went to fight the battle with Ai without consulting Him. Scripture says: So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai (Joshua 7:4 NKJV). The army was defeated at Ai. The main reason for the defeat was that one of the Israelites, a man named Achan, took some of the booty from the destroyed city of Jericho. God had commanded that Jericho be utterly destroyed with no spoils taken. The Israelites had to be judged for their disobedience. After the loss at Ai, Joshua and the leaders fell before the Ark: Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothing in dismay, threw dust on their heads, and bowed down facing the Ark of the LORD until evening (Joshua 7:6 NLT). Ai was eventually conquered, but a valuable lesson was learned—mere possession of the Ark did not guarantee victory. The Ark moved around a number of places during this time period. First, it seemed to remain a couple of years at Gilgal, the place where they first entered the land. On one occasion it was brought to Mount Ebal in the area of Shechem. This was too commemorate the victories at Jericho and Ai as well as having the covenant renewed. The Ark then settled in Shiloh for some 400 years. There a more permanent structure was built for the Ark. We discover that for a three-hundred-year period after the time of Joshua, the references to the Ark are rare. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia notes: Just where the ark was during the period of the judges is still a matter of some uncertainty. We have the record of the High Priest Phineas receiving counsel from God concerning the civil war with Benjamin.7 We read the following in the Book of Judges: And the Israelites went up seeking direction from the LORD. (In those days the Ark of the Covenant of God was in Bethel, and Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron was the priest.) The Israelites asked the LORD, “Should we fight against our relatives from Benjamin again or should we stop?” The LORD said, “Go! Tomorrow, I will give you victory over them” (Judges 20:27,28 NLT). Apart from this one event, the Bible is silent about the Ark during the time of the Judges. Conclusion For several hundred years after the battle of Jericho, references to the Ark are few. It is assumed the Ark traveled with the Tabernacle and came to rest in Shiloh8, where it stood for a period of four hundred years. We now come to an incident where the Ark is again brought out to battle, and this time with disastrous results.

Your Bible Questions Answered

May 1, 2024

We continue our study of the subject of the Ark of the Covenant. As we have indicated, all the material from these videos comes from our book, In Search of the Lost Ark: The Quest For The Ark of the Covenant. It is a free download from our website, educatingourworld and can be found under the heading of Bible prophecy. We now come to Chapter 8, Conquering A City God's Way: Jericho... The God who reveals Himself in Scripture does things His own way. His ideas and thoughts are not the same as we human beings. The prophet Isaiah records the Lord as saying: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8,9 NKJV). This statement was never truer, than when Joshua received the battle plan from the Lord to take the city of Jericho. Once the children of Israel entered the land God had promised, they practiced the neglected rite of circumcision. Then they were ready to fulfill the promises of God and conquer the land. The first battle would be against the city of Jericho. The Battle Plan Against Jericho The battle fought against Jericho employed one of the oddest strategies ever used to fight a battle. Joshua told the men of war: Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days (Joshua 6:3 NLT). The seventh day the strategy would be different: Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the horns, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the walls of the city will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the city (Joshua 6:4,5 NLT). As predicted, the walls did indeed come tumbling down at the seventh day after they had circled the city seven times. How did it happen? Simply put, it was a miracle. The Evidence Says This Actually Happened Recent archaeological evidence has substantiated the biblical account of the destruction of the city of Jericho by Joshua. After evaluating all the facts, archaeologist/scholar, Bryant Wood, writes: Was there a destruction at the hands of the Israelites? The correlation between the archaeological evidence and the Biblical narrative is substantial. The city was strongly fortified (Joshua 2:5,7,15,6:5,20). The attack occurred just after harvest time in the spring (Joshua 2:6, 3:15, 5:10). The inhabitants had no opportunity to flee with their foodstuffs (Joshua 6:1). The siege was short (Joshua 6:15). The walls were leveled, possibly by an earthquake (Joshua 6:20). The city was not plundered (Joshua 6:17,18). The city was burned (Joshua 6:24). For further documentation on the evidence from Jericho, see our book Ancient Mysteries of the Bible Solved, Volume 1, pages 54-55... It can be found under the heading of "The Bible." God’s Power Is What Brought Down The Walls Jericho, the fortified city of Canaan, was conquered by the miraculous power of God. Led by the Ark of the Covenant, the city was taken with a battle plan that clearly showed the superiority of the God of Israel. The conquest of the Promised Land had begun.