Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P506 (01-24-20)
Synopsis
When we are born again, we have become a new creation. As we study God’s word, letting the Spirit reveal truth to us, we just cannot help but thank God for His amazing grace, with total unconditional acceptance and love. We have truly been made complete in Christ. All of us have been taught things, error from our former life, that often carry with us in our new life in Christ until our minds are renewed with truth. Many times we can remain in error for much of our life because we fail to study God’s word or remain in a church that reinforces false teaching.
So many people get caught up in the burden of having to tithe, as if tithing is for today. They are told that if they are not tithing they are robbing God. Yet, by simply studying the scriptures, the book of Hebrews and Galatians, you come to understand you are not a descendant of Jacob, you are under grace, not law, the New Covenant and not the Old Covenant, and God lives in you to grow in the grace of giving, not the law of giving. God wants us to give cheerfully, not under compulsion, in accordance with what we do have, and not in accordance with what we do not have, and with such joy, as a hilarious giver. You cannot do that under law, when you are compelled to give, beyond even what you are able to give, and manipulated to give from guilt.
Another common way error continues to keep a grip on people, is when an erroneous doctrine or practice is formed from scripture taken out of its context, and is propagated by traditions, institutions of learning, pastors, and even seminaries, from one generation to the next. Bob addresses several examples in this call in program. One serious error Bob addressed was this false Calvinistic teaching that originates from not understanding what salvation is. Salvation is not getting sins forgiven. Jesus forgave, or took away, the sins of the entire world by shedding his blood once and for all at the cross. You have already been reconciled to God, but you are saved by His life. His death was a necessary preparation for life to be given, to take away the cause of death, which is sin, in order for the Spirit of God to be placed back into man, to those who believe by faith and faith alone. You are not saved by the death of Christ but by the life of Christ. Bob explains this more fully in the audio.
Assuming one has spiritual discernment and has grown in the Lord, there is seemingly insurmountable obstacles when confronting those propagating error, often met with resistance by those unable or unwilling to receive correction with truth. That is why the apostle Paul praised the Bereans for diligently studying the scriptures to see if what he said was so. We are to lean not on our own understanding, but rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us truth through His word, rightly interpreting the meaning of God’s word in its proper context. That is really the only way to keep from being deceived by every wind of doctrine. Truth is what sets you free.
What is critically important to spiritual growth is understanding the difference between the Old Covenant of the law of sin and death, and the New Covenant, the law of life in Christ Jesus, the new way of grace. If you are in Christ Jesus, born again with the Spirit of God living in you, then you are under the New Covenant. Study the book of Hebrews to learn about this New Covenant established by God for you, through the Lord Jesus Christ.
So God wants us to renew our mind with truth. He want us to experience the abundant life in Him, a life he produces in us and through us, that does not depend on our circumstances. We live in a fallen world, and all of us will die sooner or later. The older you get, there is less and less allure of the world. We are to comfort one another in that we will be going to a better place, where there is no more death, sickness or pain, and we will be united with those in Christ, who have gone on before us.
Transcript
Gene from Anaheim, California
Gene: Hi Bob. How are you doing?
Bob: I am doing good, Gene.
Gene: I want to say thank you for your ministry. It was about seven to ten years ago that I first heard you on radio. The whole concept of our relationship with Christ being complete and receiving the new life, and no longer having to feel the guilt or the condemnation of asking for forgiveness, but knowing that it is already done, complete at the cross and the resurrection. That has freed me and my wife up, and almost everybody we come into contact with when we share the true gospel message. I thank you number one for that.
Bob: You are welcome brother.
Gene: “Classic Christianity” is a phenomenal book. What I would like to know today is this. I am still confused with how you divide the death of Christ and the resurrection. It seems to me the death took away our sins universally. If that is the case, then the resurrection is what gives us eternal life. What I wonder is if people who never come to Christ, their sins are forgiven under the cross, where does that put them when it comes to judgment day.
Bob: Gene, the only sin, singular, that is attributable to man, the only sin that could not be forgiven, is the sin of the rejection of Christ Jesus, who came to take away the sins of the world, and to give life to those born into this world dead spiritually. The only sin attributable to man is the sin of the rejection of Christ Jesus.
John 16:9 (TLB)
The world’s sin is unbelief in me
The sins have already been taken care of. So what you are dealing with is this. You were born into this world reconciled to God from God’s standpoint.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
God was in Christ reconciling the whole world unto Himself, not counting their sins against Him. The problem you run into, of course, is if people think you are saved by getting your sins forgiven, then there is no other conclusion you could come to if Jesus died for the sins of the entire world, and that is what salvation is, that would be universal salvation. That is where Calvinism got off. “It does say he died not only for our sins and the sins of the entire world, but that cannot be because we do not believe in universal salvation. So let us just spin this to mean he only died for the elect”. Then they spin this and add other things to that. Since their premise is off, their findings are off. If they would just realize that the whole world was reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, that being an accomplished fact, that we will be saved by his life.
Romans 5:10
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Bob: You are not saved by the death of Christ. You are saved by the life of Christ. The cross was preparatory for salvation. It is what prepared us to receive the resurrected life. Had He not taken away, eternally and universally, the thing that caused spiritual death, which was sin, and dealt with it totally and given us life, the next time we sinned, we would die again. In order to give us eternal life, He had to take away eternally the cause of death, which is sin. So the sins of the world have been taken away, and the only sin, singular, attributable to man, is the rejection of what Christ came to do.
Gene: Yes, that makes a lot of sense. So people that respond to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ by faith, then enter into obviously eternal life. So those who reject are damned, the sin of rejecting Christ.
John 3:18
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Bob: You just remain dead. Your sins are taken away. People are trying to bite their elbows. All that had been accomplished for you. They just had to turn to Him for life and be saved, but they were too stubborn to do so. The lost world wants to run their own life. We do not want someone else to run our lives. We want to run our own just like in the garden of Eden. We want to determine on our own what is right and wrong, good and evil. We want to write our own laws, form our situational ethics, or just believe that everything is okay. We deceive ourselves by saying, “It is okay to be homosexual, drunk, or a fornicator. You just do your own thing. Whatever turns you on, just do it”. That is the thinking of the world. That is the kind of thinking of someone who will never come to life, and therefore, condemns themselves to eternal damnation.
Proverbs 14:12
12 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Gene: Bob, another thing I just want to say is my prayer life has changed because of your ministry as well. A while ago, I found a book that talked about A.C.T.S. prayers, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. Even using that model, in the confession part of that prayer, it is so freeing. I still confess sins I do daily, the ones I notice, and I am just thanking God for the price already been paid for all of that, for the life He has given me, and the acceptance I have before Him. It is a whole different way of praying now. I just thank you guys for that.
Bob: Well, thank you Gene. Prayer is not a formula. I used to laugh at that A.C.T.S. deal, to think it is like a child wanting to get the car. He goes to his dad. He is thinking, “Let us see. What do we do here. A.C.T.S.” So he asks his dad, “Dad, you are phenomenal. You are the greatest dad in the whole world.” As he thinks some more, “Let us see. Confession.” “You know, dad, I am not worthy of anything. You are certainly faithful to me.” As he thinks again, “Let us see. Confession. I got to confess this and this.” So he confesses this and that. Then he says, “Now dad, can I have the car?”
Bob: Dad is saying, “What are you going through all that stuff for? If you have something to say to me, I am your Father, come boldly into the throne of grace, calling me Daddy, Father, and receiving mercy in your time of need.” You do not need a formula. We make the Christian life into a formula instead of a relationship. Those things sound good, and all that kind of thing, but that is the last thing a loving Father wants is to approach Him with a formula, that if I punch the right keys I get through to Him.
Hebrews 4:15-16
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Gene: I agree with you, Bob. At the same time, before I did that kind of prayer, I had no real focus for prayer. I would just ask of God, and come to Him when painful things would happen. What that helps me to do is to have a more balanced approach to cover all the territory.
Bob: Whatever God is leading you to do, brother, that is what you do. That is what blesses God.
1 John 3:24
24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Gene: Well, thank you so much. You have a great day.
Bob: You too, Gene. Thanks for your call.
Grace from Lubbock, Texas
Grace: How are you doing?
Bob: Doing great. Thanks.
Grace: I was wondering how literal to take things, like when Paul addressed a certain activity. At times I hear you take it literally, and at other times, you say you have to know the context, and where they were in this time period. There are a lot people I know who will find some niche they like and stand in their own self righteousness and feel powerful they are saved because of living that particular rule, for then they feel holy. They do not say it in those words but feel righteous in being able to hold those particular things. A particular example would be in Corinthians, when a woman has to have long hair because she has to have her head covered, and men do not have to have their head covered when they pray. These little innuendos. People try to live those things out to feel they are saved. Even though it is written that the righteous shall live by faith. I do not take it literal. He was talking to women in that particular church, who kind of overpowered everything, with her little gossip group and he said hush.
1 Corinthians 11:2-16
2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you. 3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head – it is the same as having her head shaved. 6 For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
Bob: There are two things you can do. You can lean on your own understanding or you can acknowledge Him and let Him direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Bob: When you are talking about context, you are talking about interpretation. You are talking about the meaning of the word of God. The word of God does not change. It is not something here today and gone tomorrow. The word of God is the word of God. It is to be taken literally. But the interpretation of what is written you have to interpret in context. Like what you are talking about is as true today, the principle behind it in those days.
Bob: As you well know the prostitutes in Corinth shaved their heads. That was one of the ways in which they identified themselves. What it is saying is, “Well, if you had a shaved head, grow some hair on it. Otherwise, you are going to be identified as a prostitute.” That is the context. So you have to look at that. That does not mean all women are supposed to wear long hair or to judge how short it should be before you are a shorn woman, or how long a man’s hair should be before it is a disgrace to him. But the principle is her hair is her covering. That is what you have to look at, what is it literally saying there. And context has to be taken into that.
Bob: Now about women speaking that is true today, as it was back then. The context of that was speaking in tongues. I wish people paid more attention to those passages today. You would not have an issue on a minute issue. If it were not for so many women hung up on that which is their hobby horse, there is a reason why women should not have a leadership role over a man. If you are a leader over men at work, then what will you do with your husband when you get home? There are a lot of reasons that we possibly do not know, but the word of God is true. I think you are right in what you are saying, but do not take it too far.
Grace: I have met with various people where they find places too literal and say that is too short or that no one should speak in church.
Bob: That is not what it was talking about. It was talking about speaking in tongues.
Grace: I understand that but I know a lot of people who take it otherwise.
Bob: Oh sure. That is why you are going to interpret by leaning on your own understanding and not acknowledging Him or acknowledging Him in all things and let Him direct your paths. The meaning of the word of God can only be revealed to us by the Spirit of God. If the Spirit of God is not revealing the meaning to you, you will not know what it means any way.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
9 However, as it is written:“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived” –
the things God has prepared for those who love him –10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
Carlo from Wichita Falls, Texas
Carlo: I have a question about tithing. I am just going to ask and listen to your answer because I am driving. A few days ago I listened to your program and we are no longer in the Old Testament and we are in a New Covenant and about tithing. All my Christian life, I have been taught that we are supposed to give our tithe because that if we do not do it, we are stealing from God. When I listen to you saying that on radio, I need to find more about that. My eyes were opened to something I never heard before. If a person is having financial trouble, will I be sinful to stop giving to take care of the finances first?
Bob: Carlo, in the first place, there is no such thing as tithing in the New Covenant we live in today. We live in a New Covenant, and if anybody will read the book of Hebrews, you will read in the book of Hebrews the Old Covenant did not work.
Hebrews 9:11-14
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Hebrews 10:1-10
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll –
I have come to do your will, my God.’”8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” – though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Bob: So God brought us into a New Covenant. It is a covenant of grace. That all took place as a result of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus once and for all. This New Covenant is a covenant of grace.
Hebrews 10:15-18
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:16 “This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”17 Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Bob: This is the covenant He gave to us. So Christ, as an example, did not enter a manmade sanctuary that was a copy of the the true one.
Hebrews 9:23-28
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Bob: He entered heaven to enter God’s presence. He did not enter in there to sacrifice for sins over and over again. He was sacrificed one time to take away the sins of the people. He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Bob: That is all a part of the New Covenant we live in today. The reason he had to usher in the New Covenant is because the old one could make no one perfect.
Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Bob: So in the New Covenant we live in today, a new testament, a new covenant, a new will, and in this, tithing is never mentioned. The reason for that is because tithing was to support the Levitical priesthood. Hopefully you are not under the Levitical priesthood. If you are, you are not under the priesthood of Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 7:11-12
11 If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood – why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.
Bob: Under the New Covenant we are under free will giving, according to scripture. I do not have bias on this thing. I just want to teach truth on this. The truth is Paul devoted two chapters in Corinthians in teaching us how to give freely, joyfully, without compulsion, and in accordance to what we do have, not in accordance to what we do not have, and to be a hilarious giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7-8
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
Bob: To be able to give hilariously. Now, you cannot do that under the law. When you are down there thinking you are robbing God, that is utter nonsense. That is what people teach. Why? They teach you to put you under a guilt trip.
Bob: 2 Corinthians is where this criteria for giving is, where it starts, and it ends in the 9th chapter. If you just read those, you will see what kind of a heart God wants you to have in regard to your giving. In the Old Testament, what tithing was, was taking food stuff. What we ought to do is pick a basket of potatoes and dump it on the alter, if people tell you to tithe. I do not think anybody would be very happy with that.
Malachi 3:6-12
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse – your whole nation – because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
Bob: To be honest with you, again, I am not saying these things to cause problems. The people causing problems are the people teaching these things when it is not in the New Testament.
Bob: Now if you are going to go over to the Old Testament to teach giving in regard to teaching Old Testament principles, then you will have to start slaughtering bulls and goats and quit eating shrimp and quit eating pork. To the preachers representing themselves as a priest, you do not give tithing to a preacher. You give it to a person who has been declared by God by birth, a priesthood, you give to a priest. I do not think any of us who are pastors want to call ourselves priests. The issue is that when you are giving in that way, if you are going to give in the Old Testament fashion, then open it all up, and follow all the laws. If you are going to cherry pick the laws, sorry it does not work, you have to obey all of it.
James 2:10
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
Bob: So it is not the way God intends us to give. He wants us to give joyfully and excel in the grace of giving, not in the law of tithing.
2 Corinthians 8:7
7 But since you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Bob: I know this does not make a lot of pastors happy who hear this, and some of them get quite irate in my teaching this, because they feel it is the only way they are going to raise money for their church. But if they just learn to depend on Christ Jesus, they will raise more money by free will giving than they ever will by tithing. Because in the first place, very few people in the church actually tithe. I challenge these people who are so hell-bent on tithing, and just check their IRS records, and just see how many are tithing, even in accordance with the Old Testament. Quite frankly, including pastors, you will find very few people who are. So we need to stop this hypocrisy and to trust Jesus to bring in the funds that are necessary to keep a ministry going. In other words, if you are going to trust him for that, then you are going to have to be more diligent in what you are teaching, and teaching truth, for God is not interested in financing erroneous teaching. I think we would probably be more diligent to search scripture in being a Berean, in regard to searching scriptures, if we were really depending upon Christ to bring the money in instead of putting people on guilt trips and having them respond as a result of guilt.
Acts 17:11
11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Peter from Boston, Massachusetts
Peter: I really appreciate everything you are saying. In the church I was going to when I was younger, there were quite a few congregants that were anti-Semitic, jealous of the Jews. There was a sense that God had no more plans for the Jews. Israel was not modern and Israel was not in prophecy. They felt the New Covenant rendered the Jews unimportant or no longer a vessel for God.
Bob: Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Romans 9:1-5
1 I speak the truth in Christ – I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit – 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
Peter: That is the way I felt. I felt that when God makes a promise, He never renigs on it no matter what. It seems to me there are a lot of passages in the bible that refer to having the Jew and the Gentile together as one in Christ. Jesus actually brought the Gentiles into the family with the Jews. Am I wrong about that?
Bob: No, that is a hundred percent right. Everything Jesus did in the cross and the resurrection was for the purpose to make one new man out of the two. The two men were the Jew and the Gentile.
Hebrews 2:14-16
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
Bob: The new man is called a born again believer, to have unity in the same Spirit. That is the whole plan, and is the mystery in the heart of God and revealed only when He chose to reveal it in Christ Jesus.
Romans 16:25-26
25 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith
Ephesians 3:2-6
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Bob: His whole plan was to bring the Jew and the Gentile in one new body called the Ecclesia. We sit around and ignore that. I wish we had more time to talk about that. On the next program, call earlier and we will spend more time on that.
Peter: I really appreciate that, Bob.
Bob: Thank you, my friend. Bye. Bye.
Joy from Fresno, California
Joy: Thank you. I heard a gentleman call a few months ago about when we get to heaven, if we would know things here. I lost my son two years ago, age 22, killed in a car accident. I am praying and hoping we will know each other when I get there.
Bob: It says we will. If he is in Christ Jesus, or was in Christ Jesus and today is in heaven, and you are in Christ Jesus, then you also will join him there some day, and you will recognize each other. The only thing it does say there will be no marriage in heaven. Some people say that is why it is heaven. (laughter).
Mark 12:24-26
24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising – have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[Exodus 3:6]?
Bob: Yes, we will be recognizable. Again, Joy, there are a lot of things we do not know. When you recognize your son, will you recognize him as your physical son here on earth or will you recognize him as a brother in Christ. But they will be recognizable. We just have to wait and see on that. But for sure, we will know each other.
Joy: I use it to comfort myself a little bit. In fact, I lost my son August 1 and lost my cousin, a vietnam veteran, on August 31. Then five months later, I lost my sister. One thing I kept doing is thinking they are all together. It was a comfort thing.
1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Bob: It really is Joy. When the bible tells us we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord. To think where they are in comparison to where we are, that is comforting. I look at nature, and absolutely gorgeous what God made, but to see what man had done with it, with wars, and rumors of war, perversion, child molestation, and all the things in the world today, it is not a pleasant place. The older you get, there is no allure in this world left. I am looking forward to the day I am absent from the body and present with Jesus, never having to see death, sickness, trials and tribulation. I look forward to that, a long, long eternal vacation.
2 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Joy: I am feeling that was my earthly father. He is eighty years old, with heart problems. Now I hear he has lung problems. When we talk, he very much wants to go and be with the Lord. I am not ready for him to go. It is a real struggle.
Bob: We never are, but we all have to go sooner or later. The beauty of that kind of thing. I do not know how old you are, but life goes by so rapidly, Joy. It will not be long when your dad goes to be with the Lord. It will not be long when you go to be with him. It goes very fast for sure.
Joy: I am looking forward to it.
Bob: Yes, I am too. I appreciate your call and I hope that helps.
Joy: Thank you. Bye. Bye.
