UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES
We resume our excursion through the Book of Acts. Here again are Dave and Tom: We are in our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts, we are in Acts Chapter 13, and Dave, last week we left off with Verse 30, but maybe, for some of our new listeners, Paul here is in a synagogue. He’s on his missionary journey, and he’s recapping, for the Jews, some of their history, and certainly, as was Paul’s way, he went into the synagogue to the Jew first with the gospel, although he was the apostle to the Gentiles.
Dave:
Everywhere he went he went first to the synagogue.
Tom:
Right, and what would he do? He’s trying to explain to them, through the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.
Dave:
Their scriptures, what we call the Old Testament.
Tom:
Exactly, their prophets, it’s not New Testament prophets, and so forth.
Dave:
New Testament hadn’t even been written.
Tom:
Right. Picking up with Verse 30, “But God raised him from the dead:” Now, Paul is talking about Jesus here, God raised Jesus from the dead.
Dave:
Well, Tom, not to go back, but he has just explained about the crucifixion, and that because they didn’t know the scriptures they fulfilled the scriptures in everything they did to Him, you know---scourging him and crucifying him, and so forth.
Tom:
It wasn’t just the Jews, the Romans were involved as well.
Dave:
Right, and then we come to Verse 30, they laid Him in the grave. They thought they were done with Him, okay.
Tom:
“And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” Going with this last phrase and this last verse, “This day have I begotten thee” what does that mean?
Dave:
Well, Paul just explained it.
Tom:
But, begotten means that, you know, the first begotten---begotten of the Father.
Dave:
Only begotten of the Father, full of grace and the truth. Tom, he’s referring specifically to Psalm 2, and there are those within the Christian church---I guess we could still call them Christians---who say, Well, see, we believe that Jesus is eternally one with God, but we don’t believe he was eternally the Son, that he only became the Son when he was born into this earth. Well, but Psalm 2 says, Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish from the way, when his wrath is killed but a little. So, he hadn’t been born into this world yet, but he was the Son. Or you have Proverbs 30, where Ithiel is speaking, and I don’t understand exactly how that goes, but is Solomon quoting him or what, but it sounds like Solomon, and he raises the question. Do you know who created this universe? What is his name, and what is his Son’s name? Okay. So, unto us a child is born---well, the point I’m making is, there this is before Christ’s birth, God had a Son. Or if you went to Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a child is born, that’s the babe born in Bethlehem, unto us a Son is given. So, it’s already his Son and he’s given to this earth. He comes to live as a man, become a man. One of the best known Bible teachers in Southern California, highly respected, dear friend, taught for many years that, No, Christ only became the Son, had a different relationship with the Father at his birth. Well, Paul explains it. What does he mean when it says, Thou art my Son (this is quoting from Psalm 2) this day have I begotten thee---I will give thee the heathen for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession, and so forth. What does it mean? Well, we have Paul’s authoritative declaration, and it’s here in the scriptures. He’s talking about His resurrection from the dead. He is the first begotten, you quoted earlier, from the dead. So, this is what he’s talking about. This day have I begotten thee, because God raised him from the dead. That brings us into the relationship between Father and Son when Jesus said, My Father is greater than I. The Jehovah’s Witnesses then latch onto that, You see, He’s just a man. No, He also said, I and my Father are one, in Isaiah 9:6, I can’t remember whether we referred to this last week or not.
Tom:
Well, you just quoted it a minute ago.
Dave:
That’s right, but we kind of explained it, because maybe we do this all the time. It says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. The government will be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called (so we know He is the Messiah, that he’s the one that will govern) His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Father of eternity, the eternal Father. But wait a minute! You’ve got a Son, he is born into this world as a babe, as a man, and yet He is the Mighty God, Not only the Mighty God, He is the eternal Father! Now, explain that one! Okay. So, eternally, it says Hebrews Chapter 12, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. So, He’s always the Son of God---Has in these last days, Hebrews 1, spoken unto us by His Son, and so forth. So, He is begotten from the dead in a special way, and this is what it means in Psalm 2.
Tom:
Dave, I just want to go back to the terms, Father, God the Father, God the Son. Sometimes, we as finite fallen human beings, we take those terms and we try to apply them to God from our perspective, but these terms are a reflection of Him. In other words, He is perfect and infinite, and so on, and these terms have meaning. I’m not saying they have no meaning, but certainly from our view, from our vantage point, I’ve heard people say, Well, I just can’t relate to God the Father, because I had a father who was this and that and he abused me, this and that and so on.
Dave:
Well, that’s nonsense, since when does an earthly father set the standard for God? Because he’s been a bad guy, then God must be a bad guy?
Tom:
Right, but the point is that we’ve got to turn our thinking around, we have to look at what God says. He thinks from His perspective, as the Word of God says, have the mind of Christ. This is why we so need to study the Bible, to get to understand, to understand better his character, and what that’s all about.
Dave:
Tom, Sir James Jeans, one of the greatest astronomers of all time, he said, What has quantum physics (you know, the physics inside the atom and all this new stuff) told us? We are not yet in touch with reality. We don’t know anything. We don’t know what gravity is. We don’t know what an atom is. We don’t know what light is, is it a wave or is it a particle? We don’t know anything, okay. Then, it’s no marvel that we can’t really understand God, who is the Creator of all of this, and the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and so forth. So, we don’t draw back, because we can’t understand it. He says He is going to reveal to us things that are far beyond the imagination of mankind. So anyway---
Tom:
To a point that we can understand things, this is not just a leap of faith or---
Dave:
In our new bodies we will know as we are known. Now we see through a glass darkly, then face to face. Okay, so Tom, getting back to what we’ve been talking about here. Jesus said, No man takes my life from me, I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay my life down, I have power to take it again. But then He says: This commandment I received of my Father. So, all that it’s telling us is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons, one God. Neither one of them acts independently of the other. So, it was God who raised Him from the dead. Well, but Jesus said: I can lay my life down and I have power to take it again also. So anyway, all of that, to just make it clear, Jesus is eternally the Son of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, three persons eternally, and He’s the one who came to this earth, He’s the one who died for our sins, He’s the one who rose from the dead, and what Paul is saying is---Tom, you began way back there---he’s teaching this from the Old Testament scriptures. This is what the Jewish prophets said, this is not some new Christian idea.
Dave and Tom will resume their discussion on the Doctrine of Salvation next week, we hope you can join us. This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. And now, to tell you more about our ministry, here is TBC Executive Director Tom McMahon: The name, The Berean Call, is taken from the Book of Acts, Chapter 17, Verses 10 and 11, where we find the apostle Paul entering the synagogue in the Greek city of Berea after he had just come from Thessalonica. To these Bereans he preached that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah sent from God. They were commended for being noble, or fair minded, not only for their willingness to hear what Paul had to say about the matter, but more specifically, because they searched the scriptures daily to find out whether or not what the apostle was saying was found in God’s Word. That’s what we hope to encourage through this ministry. Our mission is to alert believers in Christ to unbiblical teachings and practices impacting the church. We want to exhort believers to give greater heed to biblical discernment and truth regarding what they are accepting as spiritual. We hope to supply those who profess to be biblical Christian with information and materials that will encourage the love of God’s truth. Hopefully, we can help mobilize believers in Christ to action in obedience to the scriptural command to earnestly contend for the faith, found in Jude 3. And finally, our prayer is that we can be used of God to stimulate Christians to look to the Bible alone as their rule of faith, authority and practice in living lives pleasing to our Lord and Savior.
Gary:
Would you like to expand your knowledge of God’s Word? We offer a variety of items that will greatly assist you, from books and tracts to audio and video recordings, CD-ROM, our internet website, and much more. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast, write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us at our toll free order number, 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on tape or compact disc, ask for Program #2006, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. Get a pen or pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment.
Next week, we will continue our series of programs based on Dave Hunt’s book, When Will Jesus Come? and, Compelling Evidence for Jesus’ Imminent Return. In Religion in the News, Church is looking for cooler people. We’ll take a look at that story and address the question: Is Christianity an experience? We hope you can tune in. If you have questions or comments about this program, we urge you to contact our offices. Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Ministry, is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers and your financial support. I’m Gary Carmichael, and for Dave, Tom and everyone here at The Berean Call, I would like to thank you for joining us and invite you to tune in again next week. Until then, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. For more information about The Berean Call, write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97709, call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org.
