Ask Mr Bible

Today there is much discussion and scientific research in regard to the origin (big bang?), size and shape of our universe.  Here is the Divine Author’s account:

A. Who created the universe?

1. According to David, the Father created all things.  “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psa. 19:1).

2. However, John declares the Son did it.  “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:3-4).

3. Finally, in other passages, the Holy Spirit is said to have performed the initial act of creation.  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:1, 2).

4. What are we to believe?  The answer is, of course, that all three persons in the Trinity had a part.  As an illustration let us consider an important executive who determines to build a spacious and expensive home.  He, thus, employs an architect to design the necessary plans for this home.  The architect then secures a competent contractor to follow his blueprints.  In this illustration the executive is the Father, the architect is the Son, and the contractor is the Holy Spirit.  The following verses then refer to the work of this Divine Contractor.  “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth” (Psa. 104:30).  “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent” (Job 26:13).  “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life” (Job 33.4).

B. How vast is our universe?  It is so vast that it takes a beam of light (which travels some 700 million miles per hour) over 100,000 years just to cover the distance across our galaxy called the Milky Way.  But our galaxy is only one among many billions in the known universe.  To illustrate the size of our universe, consider the following examples:

1. Paper tack model

● Let us say the thickness of a sheet of paper represents the distance from the earth to the sun (some 93 million miles).
● To represent the distance to the nearest star we would need a stack of paper 71 feet high.
● To cover the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy would require a stack 310 miles high.
● To reach the edge of the known universe would demand a pile of paper sheets 31 million miles high.

2. Orange and grain of sand model

● Here an orange would represent the sun.
● A grain of sand is the earth, circling the orange at a distance of 30 feet.
● Pluto, the most remote planet in our solar system, is another grain of sand, circling the orange at ten city blocks away.
● Alpha Centauri, the nearest star, is 1,300 miles away from the orange.

C. How minute is our universe?  Simply stated, it is as unbelievably small as it is big.  Consider the following:

1. All material in the universe consists of atoms.  Atoms in turn are made up of three “building blocks,” which are protons, neutrons (which two go to make up the center of an atom called the nucleus), and electrons (which circle the nucleus as our earth does the sun).

2. On the tip of a ballpoint pen are so many atoms that if they were carried by an army, marching four abreast, an atom to a man, it would take over 20,000 years for a march-past.

3. It would take 25 trillion protons laid side by side to span a linear inch.

4. There are as many protons in a cubic inch of copper as there are drops of water in the oceans of the world or grains of sand on the seashores of our earth.

5. The size of an electron is to a dust speck as the dust speck is to the entire earth.

6. The space between an electron and the nucleus is 10,000 times as great as the size of that nucleus.  For example, if the outer shell of electrons in an atom were the size of the Houston Astrodome, the nucleus would be the size of a ping-pong ball in the center of that stadium.

When did Jesus Christ die?

 A. Historically speaking, He died on Friday (many believe), March 30, A.D. 33 at 3:00 P.M.
  “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost”  (Matt. 27:50).

  “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost” (Mark 15:37).

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46).

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).

 B. Theologically speaking, He died before the foundation of the world.  At least four New Testament passages bring this out:

  “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love … In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:4, 7).

  “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:4-7).

  “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:18-20).

  “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).

Stated another way, in the mind and plan of God, the last Adam was already on the cross of Calvary before the first Adam was in the Garden of Eden!

1. How important is the death of Jesus Christ?

 Henry Thiessen writes:

The death of Christ has a prominent place in the New Testament.  The last three days of our Lord’s earthly life occupy about one-fifth of the narratives in the four Gospels.  If all the three and a half years of his public ministry had been written out as fully as the last three days, we would have a Life of Christ of some 8,400 pages!  Torrey claims that the death of Christ is mentioned directly in the New Testament more than 175 times.  Since there are 7,959 verses in the New Testament, this would mean that one out of every 53 verses refers to this theme.

The death of Christ is the essential thing in Christianity.  Other religions base their claim to recognition on the teaching of their founders; Christianity is distinguished from all of them by the importance it assigns to the death of its Founder.  Take away the death of Christ as interpreted by the Scriptures, and you reduce Christianity to the level of the ethic religions.  Though we would still have a higher system of ethics, were we to take away the cross of Christ, we would have no more salvation than these other religions.  Napoleon said, when banished to St. Helena, that Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and he had founded mighty kingdoms on force, but that Jesus Christ had founded his on love.  This is true, if we mean love expressed in his substitutionary death.

It is of Supreme Interest in Heaven.  The death of Christ is the subject of supreme interest in heaven.  We may expect those who have gone to heaven to have a fuller and truer conception of life’s values than those who are still limited in their vision by their existence in the body.  We are told that when Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, they conversed with Christ about the decease which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30-31).  We also find that the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sang the song of redemption through the death of Christ (Rev. 5:8-10).  Even the multitude of angels around the throne, though not in need of redemption themselves, joined in the song of the Lamb that was slain (Rev. 5:11-12).  Since those who have the veil of human limitations completely removed from their eyes—those who have entered into the fuller fruits of redemption through the blood of Christ—extol Christ’s death above everything else, we mortals ought to study into the true meaning of that death.
(Systematic Theology, pp. 313-314)

Consider the importance of Jesus’ death as viewed from another perspective.

A. There is a total of 89 chapters in the four-fold accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

B. Of these 89 chapters, only 4 are given over in recording the first thirty years (Luke 3:23) of Jesus’ earthly life (Matt. 1, 2; Luke 1, 2).

C. Of these 89 chapters, no less than 13 describe (in detail) those events surrounding His death (Matt. 26, 27; Mark 14, 15; Luke 22, 23; John 13-19).

D. We may thus correctly conclude that, according to the space afforded it in the divine record, the death of Jesus Christ was considered more than three times as important than the first thirty years of His life!

E. Unlike any other person in history, Jesus’ greatest gift to humanity was not His life, but rather His death!  Thus, He was born in Bethlehem that He might die at Calvary.  The manger would become the door leading to the cross!

The Old Testament records the PREPARATION for the life of Jesus Christ.

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).

The Gospel accounts record the MANIFESTATION of the life of Jesus Christ.

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

The Book of Acts records the PROPAGATION of the life of Jesus Christ.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

“And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42).

The Epistles record the INTERPRETATION of the life of Jesus Christ.

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I an chief” (1 Tim. 1:15).

The Book of Revelation records the CORONATION OF KING JESUS CHRIST.

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).

● Negative consideration.  It did not occur in Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus.  In fact to the contrary, for had there been a medical doctor present to assist in the birth of Jesus (but not knowing the background of the event) he would have encountered nothing unusual in the delivery process itself.

● Positive consideration.  It did occur in Nazareth upon the announcement of Gabriel:

 “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

 Stated another way, the miracle of the incarnation was the supernatural conception of the body of Jesus within the womb of Mary without the aid of a human father!

A recent U. S. census revealed that a majority of Americans used a shoe to drive a nail into a wall.  But why would they do that?  Surely no shoe designer or manufacturer whoever lived had this usage in mind.  Shoes are for walking, not pounding nails.  Actually the mystery deepens, as the same census also discovered 95% of those households polled had at least one or two hammers.  So why the first object and not the second?

The answer of course is simple indeed—a shoe was always available, the hammer was not!  So it is with the divine “nail driver.”  Whom does God use?  That one who is available.  Thus, the two greatest abilities are availability and dependability.

Most Bible students would agree that the greatest Old Testament prophet was Isaiah and the secret of his success?

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me” (Isa. 6:8).

God grant us more “shoe saints” in these last days!

A very significant event transpired during that first Easter Sunday afternoon following the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Luke records this for us:

“And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem [about] threescore furlongs … And it came to pass, that, while they communed [together] and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them … And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24: 13, 15, 27).

Just what “things” did the Savior report?  It would have no doubt included the following:

 ● The offering up of Isaac (Gen. 22:1, 2, 10)

“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten [son], Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God [was] able to raise [him] up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure” (Heb. 11:17-19).

 ● The Passover Lamb

In Exod. 12, a lamb was taken and killed, then its blood was sprinkled upon the door post.  That blood then saved the life of the oldest child in that household.  The New Testament says that Christ has become our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7).

 ● The giving of manna (Exod. 16:14, 15)

  Jesus would later say:

“I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51).

 ● The smitten Rock (Exod. 17: 5, 6)

  Moses recorded this event:

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exod. 17: 5, 6).

Paul explained its significance—

“And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4).

 ● The brazen serpent (Num. 21:5-9)
  
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:14-16).

Well, all these things happened to them in the past.  So how do they apply to us at the present hour?  In a word, Everything!  Note the following admonitions:

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:11).

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it … Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:1, 16).

Then Complete the Following Assignment:

List everything that God has ever done in the past, plus everything He is now doing at the present, and, finally, all He will do in the future!

Give up?  Impossible you say?  Not really.  In fact, not at all, for a well-informed Bible student could ace the test in about 30 seconds or less, depending on how fast he or she could write down two words:
C-R-E-A-T-I-O-N and R-E-D-E-M-P-T-I-O-N!

That’s right, this covers it all, past, present, and future.  In fact, God Himself has provided several reminders for us regarding these two all important works.  For example:

● There are nine sacred feasts in the book of Leviticus.  Three of these celebrate creation and the remaining six speak of redemption.

● In the book of Revelation we hear two great hymns of praise coming from heaven.  The first (Rev. 4) is the song thanking and praising God for His creative work, and the second (Rev. 5) for His redemptive work.

● Finally, consider the seven weekly days: Saturday is set aside commemorating His finished creation, and Sunday reminds us of His completed redemption!

And the bottom line?  He wants you today to thank Him for creating you in His own image, and in the fullness of time redeeming you by the blood of His Son!

I believe it can be safely assumed that if a lost person would suddenly decide to attend church during one given Sunday out of the year it would probably be Easter Sunday morning.

However, for that person (who might attend only to be seen, having no desire to accept Christ), resurrection Sunday would be the worst possible choice, for that Sunday serves as a warning of the future and frightful Great White Throne Judgment!

• Paul declared this judgment during his Mar’s Hill sermon:
“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (Acts 17:31).

• John later described this judgment:
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire  (Rev. 20:11, 12, 15).

And the lesson to be learned?
While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
(Heb. 3:15)

Strangely enough it might be evermore indicative than that of the empty tomb.  Imagine the following:

While visiting a foreign country you are suddenly seized by some terrorists and held hostage in solitary confinement for 90 days.  During this time you are permitted absolutely no contact with the outside world.  After three months (for no apparent reason) you are released and allowed to return home.  Upon arrival however, you learn some incredible news.  During your absence all Christian churches everywhere no longer gather for worship on Sunday, but instead assemble on Monday of each week.  Your immediate question of course would be what in the world could have happened during those 90 days causing Christians to abandon their 2,000-year-old custom of worshipping on Sunday.

Yet this is exactly what happened in Palestine shortly after the resurrection of Christ.  As ingrained as the Sabbath was in the hearts and history of the apostles, it would have taken some fantastic event to change their thinking here.