Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Jeff
Well. Hello, Jeff.

Jeff
Hello, Chris.

Chris
Good morning to everybody or good evening here today, huh?

Jeff
It’s funny meeting you here today.

Chris
Well, we record all these. We record five at a time, right? Yeah. That’s right. So technically we’ve already recorded, what, three of them? Three. Yeah. So? So, yeah. Funny meeting you here today. Today. So hey, so this morning we have a segment that is one of my favorite segments and it’s called Stump the Pastor.

Jeff
Yeah. This is a good one too.

Chris
And and this comes. Oh, uh, wait a minute. Oh, here it is. This is a.

Jeff
Question I’ve never been asked. I’ve never.

Chris
Been asked this question.

Jeff
Either. Never. One time. Nope.

Chris
And this comes from and there’s only an email address. So Diane, forget 1888. Don’t know what that means.

Jeff
I don’t know, but there’s something in 1888 Diane wants to forget.

Chris
Yeah, something something I don’t want to remember that.

Jeff
Because. Prom. Yeah. She wants to forget prom in 1888. Do you think that’s it?

Chris
No, I don’t think she’s that old.

Jeff
A bad date, right, a bad date, forget 1888.

Chris
So now, if she would have said 1988, I’d be like, yeah, I’d be like, oh, yeah, that’s totally something. That’s like an event. Yeah.

Jeff
Want to forget hairdos in 1988? Well, here.

Chris
Is I love the hairdos in 1988 okay, I do I think they’re the best. Okay. So this is the question from Diane. Diane says why did the passage we.

Jeff
Should read the passage. Why don’t you read Matthew 1023 and then ask the question, yeah.

Chris
My bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. So Matthew 1023 reads, but whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next. For truly, I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. Okay? Another version says returns. Yes. Right. So here’s the question. Why did the passage say that he would return before they visited every town in Israel with the gospel? I never noticed that. I know that the gospel was to go all over the world. But Israel is pretty small. Hasn’t every town heard the gospel? Or maybe there’s new towns to be question mark, question mark, question mark, emoji with a wondering face.

Jeff
Yes a question like this.

Chris
Yes. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. So so that’s a great question Diane. And it’s very cool that you are asking it. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. So whenever we read especially in the West whenever we read. That Jesus is going to come back or that he is going to return. It’s tempting to immediately go second coming of Christ, right? That he went back to heaven and someday he’s going to return again. That’s not this passage. So this isn’t a prophetic statement of the end times. Jesus is talking specifically about his own resurrection here and the way that, you know, that is verse 16. He says, look, I am sending you out as sheep among the wolves, right? He says, you will be handed over to the courts. You will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings. You will have the right words to say to share the gospel. Brothers will betray his brother to death. Fathers will betray his own children. Children will rebel against their parents. All nations will hate you because you are my followers. All of these things are things that were going to happen right then. Jesus.

Chris
He’s talking about current events, right?

Jeff
Right. That these things would happen when he sends them out on their mission and goes, But I’m going to return before you even make it to all the cities of Israel. He’s already been sending them out, remember? He sent them out. He sent out the 12. He sent out the 70. He’s sending them out. Town to town. He’s already told them. Shake off the dust. Off your feet. If they don’t. If they don’t want to hear the gospel here, he says, flee if they start to persecute you. But he says, he’s saying, here you won’t even make it to all of Israel before I resurrect. That’s it. It’s him. It’s his coming out party, him announcing, I am the King. I am the resurrected Messiah. And that’s what he’s telling us. Is that the that he’s he’s going to come back to life before they make it to the rest of Israel.

Chris
Right? So, so the Son of Man revealed. And by the way, this is actually a connected to a messianic prophecy in Daniel seven. Daniel 713, where it talks about the Son of Man.

Jeff
That’s where Jesus got the nickname from. Is he from from Daniel?

Chris
Yeah, from Daniel. And so. So yeah. When he when he talks about him, either coming or returning or being revealed, he’s, he’s referring to him being revealed as truly God. Because obviously, the resurrection now proves every claim that he’s ever had about being one with the father.

Jeff
That’s correct. Right. Prior to this, they thought many thought maybe he was the Messiah. Some genuinely believed he was the Messiah, but it had not been proven that he was the Messiah. Right, right. He was going to have to give, give his take the punishment in his body. He was going to have to give his blood to pay the price for sin as the Passover lamb. And then he was going to have to resurrect to defeat death and sin and hell and the grave, right? That those things had to have happened. So while they might have believed he was the Messiah, it was not proven. It was not revealed until his resurrection. And so that’s what he’s announcing is I will resurrect before you even get the message out to the towns of Israel.

Chris
So you remember Thor one?

Jeff
I remember the original, yeah.

Chris
Do you remember most of the movie? He was cast down to earth, and he was just like this normal human, and he was looking for his hammer. And at the very, very end of the movie, finally the hammer comes to him, and then all of a sudden, his clothes appear, right, and he gets up and everybody looks and goes, wow. And then. And then his girlfriend runs over Jane and says, is this how you normally look? And he goes, more or less. And she goes, it’s a good look, remember? And so it’s like, it’s like Thor was finally revealed for who he is, right? With all his might and power and strength, you know, like, yeah, he is the king of Asgard. So I think that it’s it’s this is sort of Jesus who’s like, living life knowing that he’s 100% God, but also 100% man. And then after the resurrection, guess what? He’s now demonstrated his complete deity to, to, to every human. They now see him for who he truly is, someone who has the power to overcome death itself. Right? Yeah.

Jeff
So that’s cool. So. So then he in verse 26, if you keep going, he says, so don’t be afraid of those who threaten you, for the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all what I tell you now in the darkness, right? This is before his death and resurrection. Shout abroad when daybreak comes. That’s the resurrection. He says. What I whisper in your ear. Shout from the housetops for all to hear. So we know. Later on, after his resurrection, he says, now I have all power. Go everywhere and tell everyone he gives the Great Commission, right? That’s a hint at his great Commission there at verse 26. So this is how you know, he’s talking about his resurrection, not about his second, the second coming of Christ at the end of time. Yeah. That’s great. So you’re going to be persecuted. Go tell everybody. Right. And and in between those things I’m going to resurrect.

Chris
So there it is.

Jeff
Great question Diane. Forget 1888.

Chris
Yes. For you. Well, you just rip that off out of your memory. Yeah. So just want to go ahead and say to all of our other listeners that if you have a question for Stump the Pastor. And you would like for us to answer it. We would love that. Absolutely love it. So please just email us at info at thebible guys.com and or you can just connect with us through commenting on our pages. We could also receive those comments as well that way. Right. But any type of question that you have we would love to hear from you. Right.

Jeff
So really good one. That was a good one. I’ve never even contemplated that concept before or that idea.

Chris
Have you? No, no, I have not.

Jeff
Never even crossed my mind. So good job we learned something every day. That’s right. Yeah. Okay. And by the way, we hadn’t seen that until, like, ten minutes before this. Yeah. That’s right. I scrambled and I don’t even remember reading that. That’s right, that’s right. We scrambled and found it. And so if we’re wrong and you find some theologian who proves us wrong, then they’re wrong, then probably. Yeah. That’s great. But so the Bible is its own best commentary. You can usually find the answer by reading the Bible. Yeah, yeah. So there you go. Here we go. So today we’re going to read John chapter eight verse 48 through 59. And Jesus is claiming now that he is eternal. Yes. So he’s been saying I’m the Son of God. The judgment, all these things. Now it says, so. He says, but you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God. Remember, that was what he said yesterday. You guys are sons of the devil. And so they get mad at him, maybe because of the words Jesus uses. And the people retorted, You Samaritan devil, didn’t we say all along that you were possessed by a demon? No. Jesus said, I have no demon in me, for I honor my father and you dishonor me. And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge. I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die. The people said, now we know you’re possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died. But you say anyone who obeys my teaching will never die. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died. So did the prophets. Who do you think you are? Jeff
Jesus answered, if I want glory for myself, it doesn’t count, but it is my father who will glorify me. You say he is our God, but you don’t even know him, I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great as a liar as you. But I do know him and obey him. Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad. People said, you aren’t even 50 years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham? Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am.

Chris
There it.

Jeff
Is. At that point they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden from them and left the temple.

Chris
Yeah, there it is.

Jeff
We already hinted at the I am statements a couple of days ago.

Chris
Yeah, but this one is.

Jeff
A full blown declaration.

Chris
Yep, yep.

Chris
So wow. First of all. And so keep in mind that even though we’re breaking this up in days, just like you mentioned yesterday, he said that. Yeah, that was in reference to yesterday’s podcast, not yesterday. In terms of their experience. This is one big conversation. Yeah. Right.

Jeff
So the last three days.

Chris
The last three.

Chris
Days have been one conversation. Yeah. So so he’s talking about the validity of his testimony, saying I’m the light of the world. And then they go straight into, you know, the conversation subject changed about Abraham. And they’re like, we’re children of Abraham. And he’s like, nope, you’re children of the devil, right? And then they’re like, you’re demon possessed. And so today he’s, you know, leading right into the fact that he goes, nope, I’m not demon possessed. You’re the ones. And then and then all of a sudden, he says, before Abraham was, I am.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which I think.

Jeff
It’s funny that the worst insult that they can come up with is Samaritan devil.

Chris
What? What do you.

Chris
Mean, right?

Jeff
They say so he he says that they’re sons of the devil and they turn you Samaritan devil. That’s what they said. It was the very first the people retorted, yeah, you Samaritan devil. So of all the most, the worst things they can say. So when he remember, he leaves Galilee and he goes through Samaria, there’s the time it says he must. He must needs go through Samaria. All these times Jesus engaged with Samaritans. But the Jews hated the Samaritans. So the worst thing they could say they added Samaritan to devil. He’s not just the devil, he’s a Samaritan devil.

Chris
He’s a cultural half breed. What a burn, right? But that’s the. That was your meaning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what they’re doing is, you know.

Jeff
They’re racist in this, in this situation and they’ve decided to use their version of, of the most racist word you can think of and say, and add that to the fact you’re not just a normal devil, you’re a Samaritan devil.

Chris
Oh, it’s even worse. And then they were like, we knew you were demon possessed.

Chris
We’re a trailer park devil.

Chris
Yeah. That’s right.

Chris
You’re whatever whatever else you can come up with, right?

Chris
Yeah.

Jeff
And he’s he’s like. And then they’re like, you’re possessed. You are demon possessed. And Jesus is like, dude, you guys have no idea. So this is gone. I mean, it took it. It escalated quickly. Here it goes from saying I’m the light of the world to your demon possessed. Right? That’s in a pretty short amount of time.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. That is, that is. That’s really funny. So again, I’m. I forgot my life. Christian Study Bible this morning. And so I brought what is known as a Quest Study Bible. And it’s from the NIV and it’s published by Zondervan. Anyway, it has a note over here and it’s asking this question on the side, was Jesus claiming to be older than Abraham? And it says the issue is not age, but the fact that Jesus existed prior to Abraham, it was Jesus simply referring to. If Jesus was simply referring to age, he would have said, Before Abraham was, I was. Isn’t that an interesting thought? Yeah. But for him to say before Abraham was born, I am was a statement of eternal self existence to the Jews. It was reminiscent of God’s own word concerning himself. I am who I am, which is found in Exodus chapter three, verse 14. Jesus was clearly claiming deity, leading to the spontaneous desire to stone him for blasphemy. And Exodus three would have been what what God said in the form of the burning bush to Moses, because he said, who are you?

Chris
Remember Moses? Who am I.

Jeff
Supposed to say sent.

Chris
Me? Yes. Who am I supposed to say sent me? And he said, if they ask you, tell them I am sent me. He said.

Jeff
Tell them I am that I am.

Chris
Yes.

Chris
Write that.

Chris
And then he says, tell them I am. Who sent you? Yeah. And so, yeah, that is just, just unbelievable that Jesus is making that claim.

Chris
So the.

Jeff
Jews would have perceived the.

Chris
Name in the synagogue, right. In the synagogue in the treasury. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Well, in the temple.

Chris
Yes, in the temple. Oh yeah. He’s a synagogue.

Jeff
Right. Synagogue would be just like a Sunday school classroom somewhere.

Chris
Yes.

Jeff
And this is this is the temple. Yeah.

Chris
The temple.

Jeff
So he says I am the Jews would have, would have viewed the name that God gave himself or referenced himself to Moses. Right? Right. That they would view as Abraham and Moses are the founding fathers of their of their nation and their.

Chris
Religion, and.

Chris
Currently still are.

Jeff
Right. So Abraham, being the founder of their of their family, of their their nation, and Moses being the founder of their religion and the God of their religion tells Moses my name is I am. And so Jesus standing in the temple to that God says, I am. Right? Right after they call him the devil. Yeah. And so he’s he’s already used the phrase I am three times, right? I read those the other day when he was reading in the like 21 through 30 or whatever. He replies with I am. But this one. He doesn’t add anything else to it, right? It’s just I am before Abraham was, I am. Yeah. And it’s such a cool name because it’s an eternal name, right? Right. And that’s kind of what the note that you were, you were talking about. Yeah.

Chris
Instead of saying I was there.

Jeff
Is no other way for his listeners to hear what Jesus said other than to hear him say, I am God in the flesh. Right? That’s that’s what he just did right there. And it was. And so they decided they were going to kill him for it, which is just astounding. Right? So here’s the guy. Remember, we didn’t even talk about this yesterday. Remember yesterday he says, hey, who can accuse me of any sin? Go ahead. Right. The proof’s in the pudding. Right. So you guys want to kill me? You want to murder me? But none of you can prove I’ve committed any sin.

Chris
Which, by the way, that’s a claim. Yeah, I.

Jeff
Can’t say that.

Chris
Zero sin.

Chris
Yeah. Zero. I’m going to get.

Jeff
Up on stage and say. Who can prove? I say my wife raised her hand.

Chris
Just like that. Fast. Right?

Chris
And by the way, like, you know, think about, think about, you know, attitudes and thoughts, like, all of those are sinful. Yeah. Sometimes in our lives. And Jesus is saying, I am without sin, which is crazy.

Jeff
And so he’s like, you guys are accusing me. You’re so full of hate. You’re so full of evil, but there is no sin that you can even lay your hand on. Except this one. If he’s not really God, that’s full on blasphemy, right? Right. And so this is where they finally decide they’re going to kill him. They’re going to kill him on the claim of being God. But the rest of it, they had nothing else to grab a hold of. They had no other accusation of him doing evil, doing wrong, abusing people, taking from people, hurting people. They have no accusation of of him being evil in any way. And so then it’s in that context that he finally just goes right to the point and says, let me just let me just be as clear as I can be. For Abraham was I am.

Chris
So it’s just so powerful.

Chris
When I was a youth pastor, actually, it was before I was a youth pastor. I was still in Bible college, and I had gone to Bible college. And when I had come home for the winter break or something, or summer, my pastor at my home church asked all of the college students to speak on a Sunday night. So we all like he just gave us, like, you know, like shots, right? Like reps. And so there was probably 250 people in the audience. I was super nervous. And I preached on the passage where Jesus was betrayed in the garden. Now, do you remember where Jesus said, I am in the garden?

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they all fall.

Chris
Down and they all fall down. Yeah. Well, it says like there were like a, you know, I don’t know if it was a legion of soldiers, but it was just a huge amount of soldiers who had come to the garden. It was definitely over.

Chris
I think it says 200.

Chris
Okay. Yeah.

Jeff
So I think as John says, there’s 200.

Chris
Yeah. So, so.

Chris
Maybe Mark.

Chris
Just an insane amount of people to arrest one man. Right. Is what I remember. Right? Right. And so I said, okay. I said, so I’m going to do a little illustration. And I did like a little skit during my sermon. Right. And so we brought up like an entire crowd of, I brought like the whole youth group on stage. Right? I brought like 20 of them. And I said, each one represents ten people or whatever. And I said, okay. I said, here’s basically what they did. And then they asked the question, you know, who do you claim to be or something? And I said, I am. And all of them backed up, stumbled and just fell down the stairs. And because because the altar was upstairs, you know, they all like, fell down. And the audience laughed so hard and they all started cheering. But it’s like the power of that statement in the garden sends people backwards. Yeah. And I’m sure we’re going to get to that. Right. But think about that. Unbelievable.

Jeff
You’re always using movie references. Every time I think of that. Remember when Gandalf was standing on the bridge?

Chris
You shall not pass.

Jeff
Yeah. And you kind of have this sense of, wow, Gandalf is a lot more than we thought he was.

Chris
Right? Right.

Jeff
We think Gandalf’s kind of like a trickster guy who can do a little bit of magic on the side. Poof!

Chris
Don’t look over here. Right, right.

Jeff
And all of a sudden, he comes up against this massive demonic thing, and suddenly he has so much power. Right? And that’s kind of the Jesus moment of that. I am at the garden where they all fall down, but in this one it’s a declaration of I’m God, right? So it would have cemented his believers and his followers, and it would have made the people who hated him hate him even more. Right? But he’s saying this in the context of eternity in every way. So he’s declaring he’s eternal with the name I am and that he is God. But he’s saying, everybody who believes me. He said, I’m not looking for glory for myself. It’s glory from God, and God’s going to give me glory, right? He’s referencing the Trinity, how the Trinity works there. But then he says, the people who believe me will never die. And they’re like, come on, even Abraham died right?

Chris
And they’re thinking literal death, physical.

Chris
Death, right?

Jeff
But Jesus, Jesus is walking both in the physical and spiritual all the time, which is the way I think Abraham or Adam. Adam lived in the spiritual and the physical all the time, right?

Chris
Because God was present and walked in the garden with him. Yeah.

Jeff
God would come in the cool of the evening and they’d walk in the garden together. So he had both the spiritual. And then when we died.

Chris
He walks with me.

Chris
That’s right. And he.

Chris
Talks.

Jeff
So then when we die. So then when we sinned.

Chris
I love that him.

Jeff
Me too. When we send. His his. His spiritual died. And so the Bible says, now we are dead in our sins. Even while we’re living. Our bodies are alive, but we’re dead in our sins. And then Christ makes us alive. And he’s talking about our spirit comes alive in Christ. Then our body will eventually die, but our spirit will never die. That’s what he’s talking about, right? Whereas he’s talking about hell is the second death. That’s an eternal spiritual death. So Jesus is is straddling the physical and the spiritual, and both are real, completely and totally real. You and I are not living in total reality. We’re only living in the physical. We’re not living in the spiritual. Jesus was living in both. So when he’s saying the people who follow me, sure, the vehicle you’re riding around in is going to rust out someday, right? It’s going to take it off to the junkyard. But you, who you really are, will never die. And they’re like, they’re so narrow and they only can think of of the physical that they’re like, you are nuts. And then that’s it’s in that context of both the physical and spiritual. Jesus goes, I.

Chris
Am, I don’t know the.

Chris
Name of the of the person in the Old Testament who says, father, peel his eyes back so he could see the chariots of warriors.

Chris
It’s Elijah.

Chris
Well, I know it’s Elijah, but.

Chris
Was the it’s his, his servant.

Jeff
It was. It was his.

Chris
Servant. Servant. He has.

Jeff
I think he does. But I forgot his name. Okay, but yeah, he it was his servant.

Chris
But yeah.

Chris
Remember when his eyes were peeled back and he says, peel back his eyes so he can see. And he saw the spiritual, and he saw all the chariots and all the soldiers.

Jeff
They were afraid that they were going to be destroyed by this army.

Chris
Yeah.

Jeff
And Elijah had no fear at all. And his servant couldn’t figure out why. Aren’t you afraid? Right. It’s like, man, my my boss is so courageous. And then he’s like, I’m not afraid because God let him see. And then God peels back the the spiritual and he can see all the armies of heaven. Yeah. Right there ready.

Chris
To protect Elijah.

Chris
So and that’s and that is a probably, in my opinion, the best example of, of what is happening around us spiritually. Yeah. Yeah. So here, here are all these armies right there. And Elijah is like, just let him see what’s really true. Yeah. Right. And all of a sudden and he goes, oh, I’m not afraid at all now.

Chris
Yeah. Right.

Chris
It’s like, wow, we have you outnumbered. Yeah. It’s like when Thor comes into Wakanda. Oh, you guys are in trouble now. That’s what the Hulk says, right? Bruce Banner says so it’s like it’s like it’s like, yeah, that’s the same thing. Well, that’s what Jesus is doing. And then, by the way, I have to make notation of this. Uh, they’re really bad at guessing ages. Jesus was only these young 30. Yeah, yeah. And they’re like, you’re not even 50 years old. It’s like 50 years old. This is probably.

Chris
Like, I’m not even 40, buddy.

Chris
Do I look that old?

Chris
I’m not even 35. What are you talking.

Chris
I’m in my young 30s, bro.

Chris
Yeah, yeah.

Chris
That’s like the worst guess ever.

Chris
Yeah. So?

Jeff
So he makes this declaration. I am. And then at that point, they picked up stones to throw at him. This is this is the beginning of the end.

Chris
It’s the beginning of the end. And then and then he and then he hides. Right. So you can imagine, after all this tension filled conversation, Jesus is like, I’m going to drop the ball, drop the bomb, drop the bomb, drop the drop the ball. But the bomb, he’s going to drop the bomb and slip away. Yeah, that’s what he did so well. We will definitely find out where it goes next time on The Bible Guys.