BeachCast.TV: Bible Exploration, Apologetics and Church History with Dr. Chase A. Thompson:

Greetings to all of the peace-loving and unity-seeking listeners to the Bible Reading Podcast - you guys are the best! And if you are are the kind who likes nothing better than a good argument with other Christians - who takes joy out of showing simpletons how wrong they are, and can't push away from the keyboard when you find somebody wrong on the internet, well then maybe this episode is for you. Cheers!

Today's Bible readings begin with Genesis 44, where Joseph initiates his reunion with his treacherous brothers by implicating the youngest in a theft. Job 10 continues Job's gut-wrenching speech from yesterday, containing some of the most honest and most unfiltered commentary in the entire Bible. For those who do not believe a follower of God can be depressed, then Job has something to say about that. (As does Elijah, Moses, David, and many, many other heroes of the faith):

"Why did you bring me out of the womb? I should have died and never been seen. 19 I wish I had never existed but had been carried from the womb to the grave. 20 Are my days not few? Stop it! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little 21 before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return. 22 It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness."

Job 10:18-22

Mark 14 sees Jesus leading the Last Supper, and experiencing painful betrayal, followed by his arrest at the behest of the Sanhedrin. It also has Mark's retelling of the adoration and worship of Mary of Bethany, which was the subject of episode 26 of this podcast. Our focus passages for today and tomorrow will be Romans 14 and 15, and they are all about unity, agreement and a sincere call to avoid arguments and conflict among followers of Christ. Let's read!

Christians are known by many to be argumentative and divisive, which is heartbreaking considering Jesus' prayer for oneness in John 17:

20 "I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. 21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

John 17:20-23

When Jesus' followers are not in the unity that He prayed for, then we are muffling the communication of the good news to the world and are missing out on an opportunity to let the world know that Jesus was sent by the Father. I believe this hinders our evangelism massively in the U.S. and other parts of the Western world where nonbelievers look around and see hundreds, if not thousands, of denominations and scoff at Christians. Christian unity is essential to Gospel fruitfulness, according to the prayer of Jesus. I love Romans 14 because it gives Christians practical and powerful commands and advice on finding unity. Consider these verses:

1. Accept anyone who is weak in faith, but don't argue about disputed matters.

4. Who are you to judge another's household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls.

10. But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

13. Therefore, let us no longer judge one another.

13. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister.

19. So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.

21. It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.

21. Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God.

Romans 14

Consider what it would be like if Christians followed just the above commands in Romans 14! No arguments about disputed matters. No judging. Pursuing what promotes peace. No stumbling blocks or pitfalls. Keeping your opinion to yourself on issues that the Bible is not clear on. Consider these awesome words from Pastor Richard Baxter, an English Puritan from the 1600s:

Lastly, observe how we sin against the sad experience of the church in all ages, by laying our religion or unity upon these smaller or unnecessary things. What hath distracted the church so much as contendings about their ceremonies and orders, and precedency and superiority!

The Practical Works of the Reverend Richard Baxter

What wisdom! How many Christians, churches and denominations have divided over SMALL or UNNECESSARY things?! How many Christians and churches have been distracted by arguments over church service orders and other Christian ceremonies? How many Christian groups have splintered over biblically unclear issues like eschatology/last days, the issue of alcohol, the issue of dress, raising hands in worship, music style, Bible translations, the exact nature of communion and more? You might have a firm and clear opinion on some of those matters, and I do too, but we have multiple commands and mandates in Scripture to be in unity, to be one in thought and mind, to be at peace with each other, and we must stop ignoring those commands in the church! I love what Pastor Mark Dever said about this topic in a recent sermon. I beg you to come read these words on the Bible Reading Podcast website so that you remember them well:

I think that millennial views need not be among those doctrines that divide us. . . . I am suggesting that what you believe about the millennium—how you interpret these thousand years—is not something that it is necessary for us to agree upon in order to have a congregation together. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed in John 17:21 that we Christians might be one. Of course all true Christians are one in that we have his Spirit, we share his Spirit, we desire to live out that unity. But that unity is supposed to be evident as a testimony to the world around us. Therefore, I conclude that we should end our cooperations together with other Christians (whether near-ly in a congregation, or more at length in working together in missions and church planting and evangelism and building up the ministry) only with the greatest of care, lest we rend the body of Christ for whose unity he's prayed and given himself. Therefore, I conclude that it is sin to divide the body of Christ—to divide the body that he prayed would be united. Therefore for us to conclude that we must agree upon a certain view of alcohol, or a certain view of schooling, or a certain view of meat sacrificed to idols, or a certain view of the millennium in order to have fellowship together is, I think, not only unnecessary for the body of Christ, but it is therefore both unwarranted and therefore condemned by scripture. So if you're a pastor and you're listening to me, you understand me correctly if you think I'm saying you are in sin if you lead your congregation to have a statement of faith that requires a particular millennial view.I do not understand why that has to be a matter of uniformity in order to have Christian unity in a local congregation.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/dever-you-are-in-sin-if-you-lead-your/

I wholeheartedly agree with Dever here, and would count it a privilege to go to church with him and serve alongside him, even though he and I disagree on several of the issues he mentioned (including the Millennium) - but these disagreements PALE in comparison to the dozens of New Testament commands and urgings to pursue UNITY. Note that I am not suggesting that we must never contend for the faith or for clear biblical truth and commands - we must not compromise on that which the Bible clearly commands. There is indeed a time to stand up and contend for clearly revealed biblical truths, but we must avoid contending on 'doubtful issues,' and we must seek the guidance of the Word of God and His Spirit to walk in the wisdom to know the difference. I think Jared C. Wilson captures the crucial balance and wisdom required quite well on this issue, so allow me to close with some words from him:

We live in crucial times for the church, especially in the West. There are skirmishes a'plenty, opportunities every day to go to war with our neighbors, with our brethren, with every Twitter rando with an itchy keyboard finger. We are called to wage relentless war on our sin (Heb. 4:12) and the spiritual powers of wickedness (Eph. 6:12). But not every invitation to battle with flesh and blood ought to be accepted. And rarely should such invitations be given.Those in Christian ministry ought to especially take this to heart. Fighting is sometimes necessary. Liking to fight is not. In fact, it is forbidden.Consider whether you are in fact with every caustic tweet chipping away at your qualification for ministry. It is not manly to get up every morning thinking of the brethren as your enemies, not even the ones you disagree with on important matters. "The Lord's servant is not to be quarrelsome" (2 Tim. 2:24). Pastors are forbidden argumentativeness (1 Tim. 3:3).And while the Lord's violent cleansing of the temple may offer some model of holy zeal worth emulating, he said an awful lot more directly about blessing those who hate, praying for those who persecute, and turning the other cheek. Those are direct orders.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/jared-c-wilson/some-men-just-like-the-fight/

Welcome in to the show that my middle daughter says is a little bit too long, but C.S. Lewis has called the finest podcast he's ever listened to. Today's Scriptures feature the emotional reuniting of Joseph with his brothers and Benjamin in Genesis 43. We also find out the interesting tidbit that Egyptians consider it disgusting to eat at the same table as Hebrews for some odd reason. Sadly, the sin and stain of racism finds a foothold in almost every culture and people. In Job 9 we see Job answering the charges of his 'friend' Bildad, who has suggested that Job's children were killed because of their sins and he has urged Job to turn to God and be healed and refreshed, but Job says that he is too afraid of God to seek Him. Mark 13 is a much shorter version of the Olivet Discourse from Matthew 24, and it is centered on the end-times teaching of Jesus. Romans 13 urges Christians to submit to governing authorities, to be good citizens and to put on the person and ways of the Lord Jesus Christ, instead of the ways of the world.

Today we will conclude (or, rather pause) our discussion of dreams, visions and the more supernatural gifts of the Spirit. It is a subject we will return to in earnest at the end of February when we read 1 Corinthians 12-14, which represents the longest extended teaching in the Bible on the gifts of the Spirit. We received an anonymous bit of feedback on the the website today, and also heard from quite a few people on social media, most of whom seemed to indicate that they had an experience or two with God communicating to them via dreams.

I have dreamed a true dream. I will not give the details, because it does not reflect well upon the dreamer nor those dreamt of. But it happened on a Saturday night, and it came to pass, with some metaphorical license, the following morning. From this dream I learned that the praise and worship of the Living God is of infinitely more importance than our individual strife.

In considering whether or not spiritual gifts like tongues, prophecy and the like have ceased, and the very related question of whether God still speaks to His people via dreams and visions, it should be noted that the Bible does not make an obvious separation between what most would call 'supernatural' gifts and the more mundane gifts. For instance, consider our passage from yesterday in Romans 12, and then read the short list in 1 Corinthians 12:

6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith; 7 if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:6-8

28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in other tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But desire the greater gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:28

In these two lists, we see that there seems to be no delineation between gifts like healing, tongues and prophecy and gifts like teaching, helping, administrating, giving and service. If the Bible somehow taught that SOME of those gifts (that we are twice commanded to desire) will cease very soon after the compilation of the New Testament, then one would think that the New Testament writers would clearly categorize the gifts between temporary and permanent, but the very opposite is true. They are all mixed together in spiritual gift lists in a way that seems to argue against some of them being temporary and some permanent. Sam Storms, writing for the Gospel Coalition (which is a group of Christians that are devoted to Jesus and His Word - and includes BOTH cessationists like Thomas Schreiner and continuationists like Storms) makes the case that there does not seem to be any Scripture that indicates that some of the listed gifts will cease at some point. (With the exception of 1 Corinthians 13:8, discussed yesterday)

Furthermore, beginning with Pentecost and continuing throughout the book of Acts, whenever the Spirit is poured out on new believers they experience his charismata. There is nothing to indicate these phenomena were restricted to them and then. Such appear to be both widespread and common in the NT church. Christians in Rome (Rom. 12), Corinth (1 Cor. 12-14), Samaria (Acts 8), Caesarea (Acts 10), Antioch (Acts 13), Ephesus (Acts 19), Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5), and Galatia (Gal. 3) experience the miraculous and revelatory gifts. It's difficult to imagine how the NT authors could have spoken any more clearly about what new covenant Christianity is supposed to look like. In other words, the burden of proof rests with the cessationist. If certain gifts of a special class have ceased, the responsibility is his or hers to prove it.

We must also give room to the explicit and oft-repeated purpose of the charismata: namely, the edification of Christ's body (1 Cor. 12:7; 14:3, 26). Nothing I read in the NT or see in the condition of the church in any age, past or present, leads me to believe we've progressed beyond the need for edification—and therefore beyond the need for the contribution of the charismata. I freely admit that spiritual gifts were essential for the birth of the church, but why would they be any less important or needful for its continued growth and maturation?

There is also the fundamental continuity or spiritually organic relationship between the church in Acts and the church in subsequent centuries. No one denies there was an era or period in the early church that we might call "apostolic." We must acknowledge the significance of the personal, physical presence of the apostles and their unique role in laying the foundation for the early church. But nowhere does the NT ever suggest that certain spiritual gifts were uniquely and exclusively tied to them or that the gifts passed with their passing. The universal church or body of Christ that was established and gifted through the ministry of the apostles is the same universal church and body of Christ today. We are together with Paul and Peter and Silas and Lydia and Priscilla and Luke members of the same one body of Christ.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/continuationist/ Sam Storms

Ultimately, I agree with Storms. The burden of proof is on the cessationist to show that certain New Testament teachings are no longer valid or applicable, and I have yet to read a cessationist argument from Scripture that demonstrates this. Yes, there are absolutely people who go way beyond the bounds of the Bible in their practice of some spiritual gifts but this counterfeit behavior (which could be demonic in some cases, or simply fleshly immaturity in others) does not disprove the genuine and biblical operation of some spiritual gifts any more than the prevalence of false teachers in the U.S. today invalidates the possibility of any real Bible teaching.

I believe that Peter's quote in Acts 2 settles the issue of the contemporary occurrence of dreams and visions from God for us. God promises in the Old and New Testament that He will pour out His Spirit on people "in the last days," and that they will see visions and dream dreams. This passage indicates that dreams and visions will happen in the last days. Since Peter suggests that Pentecost is a fulfillment of Joel's prophecy about the Spirit being poured out and dreams/visions coming, then I can't see how that is not valid for us today. I don't think we've moved past 'the last days,' and I see no Scripture in the entire Bible that indicates that God has stopped speaking to His people in these ways.

And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 I will even pour out my Spirit on my servants in those days, both men and women and they will prophesy.

Acts 2:17-18

Let's be real: Would it be easier if God ONLY spoke to Christians through His Word? Would it be less messy, easier to manage, etc? Absolutely it would. There are way too many false prophets and false dreamers out there, and you can see them daily in your social media feed, and you can easily find them by turning on your television. So many false teachers and believers out there that are preying on widows and stealing from the vulnerable. Unfortunately, most of them seem to be of the continuationist/charismatic bent. But humans and church leaders don't get to make the call that God no longer does this or that because some people are abusing it. We don't have that power. Instead, we must seek to hold people to the Word of God, rather than nullify it. We uphold the absolute authority of God's Word - not by changing it to stamp out heresy, but by walking according to it.

19 Don't stifle the Spirit. 20 Don't despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-20

DON'T stifle the Spirit DON'T despise prophecies Test ALL things HOLD on to what is GOOD STAY AWAY from every kind of EVIL.

19 When they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter," shouldn't a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Go to God's instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

Isaiah 8:19-20

Should we separate over these issues? I do not believe so. We will discuss this question in depth in two days, when we get to Paul's beautiful and majestic call to oneness in Romans 15.

I'll close with two more gems from Spurgeon. One a dream with a profound meaning and the other a caution about the importance of esteeming dreams and extra-biblical revelation overmuch.

A certain king would build a cathedral, and, that the credit of it might be all his own, he forbade anyone to contribute to its erection in the least degree. A tablet was placed in the side of the building, and on it his name was carved as the builder. But one night he saw in a dream an angel, who came down, and erased his name; and the name of a poor widow appeared in its stead. This was three times repeated, when the enraged king summoned the woman before him, and demanded, "What have you been doing, and why have you broken my commandment?" The trembling widow replied, "I loved the Lord, and longed to do something for his name, and for the building up of his church. I was forbidden to touch it in any way, so in my poverty I brought a wisp of hay for the horses that drew the stones." Then the king saw that he had laboured for his own glory, but the widow for the glory of God, and he commanded that her name should be inscribed upon the tablet

C. H. Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes & 2: Genesis to Malachi, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 369–370.

Remember, it is "whosoever calls upon the name of God," not whosoever dreams about him. Dreams may do good. Sometimes people have been frightened out of their senses in them; and they were better out of their senses than they were in, for they did more mischief when they were in their senses than they did when they were out; and the dreams did good in that sense. Some people, too, have been alarmed by dreams; but to trust to them is to trust to a shadow, to build your hopes on bubbles, scarcely needing a puff of wind to burst them into nothingness. Oh, remember, you want no vision, no marvellous appearance! If you have had a vision, or a dream, you need not despise it; it may have benefited you: but do not trust to it

C. H. Spurgeon, Words of Wisdom for Daily Living (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 89–90.

Today's passages include Job 8, which introduces us to Bildad the Shuhite, who is a better friend to Job at the beginning of his speech than Eliphaz. Mark 12 features Jesus' in-your-face to the Pharisees and Scribes parable about a vineyard owner who's violent tenants won't listen to Him. And we will close with Romans 12, which is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. First Paul challenges us to not conform to the world around us, but rather to be transformed into a new creature with a renewed mind. Paul also discusses the gifts of the Spirit in this passage, which is a big part of our focus today.

In Romans 12, we learn that Christians actually belong to each other. This is quite a challenging thought in individualistic Western countries, but it fits perfectly with Paul's use of the "body" metaphor to describe the church. We further learn that God has given each Christian different/various gifts of the Spirit, and whatever your gift is, you "MUST" use it! The use of and operation in spiritual gifts is NOT an option for Christians (see also 1 Peter 4:10-11). This is a command – Christians who are gifted in exhortation MUST exhort; those gifted in showing mercy MUST do so cheerfully; and those gifted in teaching MUST teach! These gifts are a privilege and a joy – but they are not optional. Far too often churches have turned into a theater like atmosphere where people go to watch the performers and entertainers on stage - this is not the pattern of the Bible. In the past, something similar happened - churchgoers went and watched the priest/pastor/reverend/bishop/officiant/rector/whatever preach and perform the sacraments, but they barely joined in. The church is not to be a place where we go and watch, but a people that gather together and minister to each other in the power of the Spirit!

Shout out to Margaret Agnew of Northern Ireland who has left a very encouraging and kind review on iTunes. She writes, "I am listening to these daily Bible readings in Northern Ireland and Christ has given me a great number of blessings from hearing the Bible passages every day. I originally found Chase through a much earlier podcast he did called The Gospel friends. Would highly recommend this podcast to anyone who wants daily sound bite readings to study and think about. Peace in Christ to you Chase. Margaret Agnew." Thank you, dear Margaret. What a delight and encouragement it is to get a nice review like that, and especially one from Northern Ireland - a place I want to visit with my whole heart! Look up Mark's Mess podcast with Mark Adams, when you have a chance. It is delightful and features a fellow Northern Ireland International Liver (along with his daughters.) If you liked Gospel Friends, I'm sure you'd love that pod.

Today we continue our discussion of dreams and visions with Joseph - a mighty man of God who interpreted dreams and received messages from God in dreams. As we read through Genesis 42, ponder with me whether or not God has ceased interacting with His people in this way.

Today's question - does God still speak in dreams and visions - is a subset of a much, much bigger question, and that question is this: Does God still empower and interact with people the way He did during the New Testament, or are we in a post-New Testament era? Does God still empower people with miraculous gifts like healing, tongues, prophecy and words of knowledge, or have those gifts ceased? Does God still speak by prophecy, dreams and visions, or does He now ONLY and EXCLUSIVELY speak by the Bible? These are BIG questions, and we will return to them again and again over the year as we read through the Bible. To give a very basic and high level overview, there are two major ways to answer the questions above, and many nuances of position between those two ways. The cessationist view believes that the answer to most or all of the above questions would be in the negative. No, God does not speak through dreams, visions or prophecy today, but only through His Word. No, God does not give the gifts of tongues, healing, prophecy, miracles, etc, today because those gifts were exclusively given to authenticate the Bible as the Word of God, and we no longer need those gifts today. On the the other end of the spectrum are the charismatics and Pentecostals, which believe the answer to all of the questions asked are a resounding yes - God still does give those gifts, and in some cases, certain groups believe that God goes BEYOND what is seen in the New Testament in terms of empowering such gifts. In between those two poles are views like soft-cessationism, which believes that most (but possibly not all) miraculous gifts have ceased under most circumstances, but this view allows that God is sovereign and might sometimes, in some places, still empower such gifts and still send messages via prophecy, dreams or visions. The continuationist viewpoint is more cautious than most charismatic and Pentecostal viewpoints, and seeks to balance a respect for primary authority of the Word of God with an openness to miraculous gifts.

I myself am a continuationist, along with such scholars and pastors as John Piper, Wayne Grudem, Sam Storms, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, D.A. Carson, Matt Chandler, and many others. There are charismatic people that I have a great deal of respect for, and some of my ministry heroes, like Charles Spurgeon, are closer to the cessationist camp. I am a continuationist not primarily because of my spiritual experiences, but primarily because I am convinced that the Word of God points us in a direction that assumes (and even commands) the practice of all of the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible.

I am going to summarize the cessationist viewpoint in a few short sentences, but do know that this is too short and too shallow to be fair, exactly, but this is a short podcast that can't go into the depths that a 300-400 page Thomas Schreiner or Richard Gaffin book can. There are several cessationist arguments, but two major ones are this: 1 Corinthians 13 notes that tongues and prophecy (and also things like dreams and visions, presumably) will cease "when the perfect comes." (1 Corinthians 13:10) Many cessationists believe that Paul is referring to the completion of the New Testament canon in this passage, so that the gist of what he is saying is that prophecy, tongues, and things like that will cease when the Bible is complete. Continuationists, however, believe that Paul is not at all referring to the completion of the New Testament canon, but rather to the return of Jesus and His beginning of eternity. Here is the passage - pay special attention to verse 12. With the completion of the New Testament are Christians now in a place where they 'fully know' moreso than Paul did? Does Paul see in a foggy mirror then, but Christians today (because we have a completed New Testament canon) now see clearly - face to face?? I don't believe so, and therefore I don't believe that 1 Corinthians 13 is talking about the completion of the Bible canon, because vs 12 quite clearly rules that out to me.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. 12 For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. 13 Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:8-13

The second major cessationist argument is based on passages like Ephesians 2:20 and Hebrews 1:1-2, and states that gifts and offices like prophets and apostles were for the foundation of the church, and not for the continuance of the church.

So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

Ephesians 2:19-20

Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him.

Hebrews 1:1-2

Do the passages above clearly teach that tongues, prophecy, dreams, visions, miracles, healing and more have ceased? I don't believe so, but they are generally the go-to passages for the cessationist argument, and I honestly do not believe that they make a powerful case - from the Bible - that the gifts have ceased or will ceased, especially when they are compared with Bible passages that seem more clear and obvious in their meaning:

39 Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in other languages. 40 But everything must be done decently and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:39-40

Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and above all that you may prophesy.

1 Corinthians 14:1

Consider this question: Is the cessationist case clear enough from Scripture that Christians should disregard clear biblical commands like 1 Corinthians 14:1 and 1 Corinthians 14:39-40? I don't believe so. If it was, I believe that it would be the only case where one New Testament Scripture would nullify or cancel another New Testament Scripture.

Tomorrow we will continue this discussion, so stay tuned!

In our Bible readings for today as we follow the Robert Murray M'Cheyne plan, we will begin with Job 7. In this passage, Job is crying out in anguish and the deep bitterness of a crushed and wounded spirit. It is honest and powerful and bracing and nearly hopeless. One of Job's complaints is that when he tries to escape his pain by sleeping or napping, God sends him haunting dreams and visions. More on that in a moment. In Mark 11, we see Jesus coming into Jerusalem to give His life as a ransom for many. Before the crucifixion, however, He cleanses the temple of money changers and befuddles the chief priests, scribes and elders of Jerusalem. Romans 11 contains the implications of the rejection of Jesus that we are about to read in Mark. At the time of Romans 11, Jesus has been rejected by the leaders of Israel, crucified, resurrected, and ascended into heaven for several years. Paul is writing in light of that rejection of the savior, and giving hope for the future, including a tantalizing (and highly debated!) promise in Romans 11:26, "All Israel will be saved."

As promised yesterday, our focus today is on dreams and visions, and our focus passage is Genesis 41, which features Joseph interpreting dreams for Pharaoh and being elevated to a high place in his kingdom. Dreams in general are a frequently addressed phenomenon in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the word appears just shy of 100 times in the Bible. After we read Genesis 41 together, we will have a brief discussion on the nature of dreams in the Bible, and whether or not God still speaks that way.

The first clear time that God speaks to somebody in a dream in the Bible occurs in Genesis 20, when God has a conversation with King Abimelech. Jacob and Laban also have dreams with great spiritual significance, and it could be argued that some of Abraham's encounter with God in Genesis 15 occurred during a dream. Dreams would be a prominent feature in the life of Joseph, son of Jacob. He had multiple prophetic dreams in his youth, and interpreted multiple prophetic dreams in his adulthood. His brother's even (sarcastically) referred to him as a dreamer, or even an expert dreamer.

They said to one another, "Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!

Genesis 37:19

In Numbers, God tells the leaders of Israel that He himself speaks to prophets via dreams and visions (but with Moses, He spoke face to face.)

5 Then the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward, 6 he said: "Listen to what I say: If there is a prophet among you from the Lord, I make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.

Numbers 12:5-7

So, God confirms that He speaks to His people here in dreams and visions - at least during the Old Testament/Old Covenant times. There is also a cautionary warning given in Deuteronomy 13, however, that there can and will be false prophets and false dreamers:

"If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, 2 and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, 'Let us follow other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us worship them,' 3 do not listen to that prophet's words or to that dreamer.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3

Jeremiah 23 contains a very similar warning from God - this one even more stark:

24 Can a person hide in secret places where I cannot see him?" —the Lord's declaration. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" —the Lord's declaration.25 "I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in my name have said: 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' 26 How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds?...I am against those who prophesy false dreams"—the Lord's declaration—"telling them and leading my people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people"—this is the Lord's declaration.

Jeremiah 23:24-26+verse 32

By the day of King Saul, it is apparent that one of God's obvious ways of guiding His people was through dreams. We can see this in 1 Samuel 28, when Saul is flummoxed (and ultimately goes down a bad path) because God won't speak to him in dreams:

He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him in dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets.

1 Samuel 28:6

After the exile of Israel, we encounter a young man named Daniel, one of the few people in the entire Bible that there is nothing negative said about their life and no sinfulness is recorded. (this does not mean that Daniel was sinless, but it probably does mean that he led an unusually righteous life.) I note here that the two most prominent dreamers in the Bible (Joseph and Daniel) both led lives of exemplary righteousness and Godliness. Jacob, another prominent biblical dreamer, did not, however, so we can't make too many conclusions about a connection between dreaming and Godliness.

God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind.

Daniel 1:17

The prophet Joel gives a tantalizing end-times prophecy about dreams and dreamers in Joel chapter 2, that becomes quite important on the birth-day of the church in Acts 2:

After this I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions. 29 I will even pour out my Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days.

Joel 2:28-29

A simple word search will show that the vast majority of the occurrence of dreams from God happened in the Old Testament, but that doesn't mean that this practice died out. In the New Testament, God communicates with Joseph, father of Jesus, in a series of dreams, directing the holy family to safety during the early years of Jesus's life. God also speaks to the wise men in dreams and to Pilate's wife, warning her that her husband should not condemn the innocent Jesus. There are also a series of incidents in the book of Acts where the word dream is not used, but what happens is quite similar to God communicating in a dream:

8 Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, "Cross over to Macedonia and help us!" 10 After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Acts 16:8-10

9 The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, "Don't be afraid, but keep on speaking and don't be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city."

Acts 18:9-10

The above gives us a sort of high-level and brief overview of dreams in the Bible. We didn't cover every passage or principle, but enough to have an elementary understanding. In our overview what we have here is a pattern of God speaking in the Old Testament AND the New Testament to His people. It is obviously not a frequent occurrence, but rather a rare and special happening. Tomorrow we will go deeper into our primary question: Does God STILL speak to His people with dreams and visions, but I will close today with a good answer from Gotquestions.org's Michael Houdmann and some fascinating dream-anecdotes from Charles Spurgeon:

I firmly believe that the Bible is the perfect and complete Word of God. It contains everything we need to know to follow God's will for our lives. While it does not give specific instructions related to the personal situations and decisions we face, it does provide all the wisdom we need to be able to make right judgments in those situations and decisions.With that in mind, I do not see any reason for God to "supplement" His Word with additional revelation. But, at the same time, there is nothing in the Bible that indicates God NEVER speaks today. I do not know the mind of God, and therefore I do not claim to know every reason why God might say something to someone (Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:34).What I do know is this: if God were to speak today, what He said would be in perfect agreement with His Word. God does not contradict Himself. God does not change His mind. Compare any supposed message from God with God's Word, and if the message in any way is in contradiction or disharmony with God's Word, reject the message. If you think God has spoken to you, but are unsure about it, ask Him for confirmation (Judges 6:36-40; 1 Samuel 3:1-10). Seek wise counsel from men and women of God whom you respect and trust (Proverbs 11:14; 15:22).

https://www.gotquestions.blog/God-still-speak.html

I READ a story the other day of an elder of a Scotch kirk, who at the elders' meeting had angrily disputed with his minister, until he almost broke his heart. The night after he had a dream which so impressed him, that his wife said to him in the morning, "Ye look very sad, Jan; what is the matter wi' ye?" "And well I am," said he, "for I have had a dream that I had hard words with our minister, and he went home and died, and soon after I died too; and I dreamed that I went up to heaven, and when I got to the gate, out came the minister, and put out his hands to welcome me," saying, "Come along, Jan, there's nae strife up here, I'm so glad to see ye." So the elder went down to the minister's house to beg his pardon, and found in very truth that he was dead. He was so smitten by the blow that within two weeks he followed his pastor to the skies; and I should not wonder but what his minister did meet him, and say, "Come along, Jan, there's nae strife up here." Brethren, why should there be strife below? Let us love each other, and by the fact that we are co-heirs of that blessed inheritance, let us dwell together as partakers of a common life, and soon to be partakers of a common heaven.

C. H. Spurgeon, Flashes of Thought (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1874), 449–450.

I have heard of a man who had a dream in which he thought he stood at the gates of heaven, and his wife with him. She went in, but the porter shut him out, saying, "The other day you said to your wife, 'You may go to church and pray for us both.' Now she shall go to heaven for you both, and you must stop outside." Is that not just? There must be a personal hearing and listening to the Word for yourself. I ask you, do not make yourself absent from the hearing of the Word, for "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word about Christ" (Rom 10:17).

Charles Spurgeon, Galatians, ed. Elliot Ritzema, Spurgeon Commentary Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).

Myconius, the friend of Luther, had made up his mind that he would not help Luther, but that he would keep in a monastery, quiet and alone. The first night he went there, he had a dream to this effect:—he dreamed that the Crucified One appeared to him, with the nail-prints still in his hands, and that he led him away to a fountain, into which he plunged him,—a fountain of blood. He beheld himself washed completely clean, and being very rejoiced thereat, he was willing to sit down; but the Crucified One said, "Follow me." He took him to the top of a hill, and down beneath there was a wide-spreading harvest. He put a sickle into his hand, and he said, "Go and reap." He looked round him, and he replied, "But the fields are so vast, I cannot reap them." The finger of the Crucified One pointed to a spot where there was one reaper at work, and that one reaper seemed to be mowing whole acres at once. He seemed to be a very giant, taking enormous strides. It was Martin Luther. "Stand by his side," said the Crucified One, "and work." He did so, and they reaped all day. The sweat stood upon his brow, and he rested for a moment. He was about to lie down, when the Crucified One came to him, and said, "For the love of souls, and for my sake, go on." He snatched up the sickle again, and on he worked, and at last he grew weary once more. Then the Crucified One came to him again, and said, "For the love of souls, and for my sake, go on." And he went on. But once he dared to pause, and say, "But, Master, the winter is coming, and much of this good wheat will be spoiled." "No," said he, "reap on; it will all be gathered in before the winter comes,—every sheaf. I will send more labourers into the harvest, only do thou thy best." So now, methinks, the Crucified One takes me to the brow of that hill, and yourselves with me, and shows us this great London, and says, "See, this great field is ripe for the harvest, take your sickles, and reap it." You say, "Lord, I cannot." "Nay," says he, "but for the love of souls, and for the sake of the Crucified One, go on and reap."

C. H. Spurgeon, "The Sluggard's Reproof," in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 48 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1902), 82–83.

And, an excellent teaching to close out with:

You must also surrender yourself at discretion to his method of operating upon you. One says, "I would believe in Jesus, sir, if I felt the horror and terror which some have experienced on account of sin." What do you demand of God that he should drag you through horrors and terrors before you will believe? Submit yourself to be saved in a gentler way. "But I read of one," says another, "who had a dream: I would believe if I saw a vision too." Must God give you dreams? Must he play lackey to you, and save you in your preferred way? He tells you plainly, "If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved." Will you believe or no? For if you do not, neither dreams, nor visions, nor terrors, nor anything else can save you. There is God's way, sinner: I ask you, and perhaps your answer will settle your fate for ever, will you follow that way or not? If you will not, you have chosen your own destruction; but if you will have it, and will submit yourself to be saved by believing in Jesus Christ, it is well with you. I know there are some in this place who feel ready to burst, for their broken hearts are saying, "I will yield at once. Oh, if he would but save me." How glad I am to hear you say so, for "he gives grace to the humble." I recall the time when I have stood and cried to God, "O God, if I must lie on a sick bed till I die, I don't care as long as you have mercy on me; if you will but conquer my proud will, and make a new man of me, you may do whatever you please with me; only save me from the guilt, the power of sin." It was when the Lord brought me down there that he enabled me to see life and salvation in Jesus Christ; and if he has brought you down to that point, sinner, then you have nothing to do but simply trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and you are assuredly saved.

C. H. Spurgeon, "Unconditional Surrender," in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 22 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1876), 71. modernized

Today's passages features a Genesis episode (chapter 40) where Joseph gets out of jail because of his ability to interpret dreams. I ALMOST did that as the focus passage for the day in order to ask the question: Does God STILL speak to His people in dreams and visions? However, since Joseph interprets some more dreams in tomorrow's Genesis passage, we will wait one more day to have that discussion. I erroneously told you yesterday that today's Job 6 passage featured more of Eliphaz's blather, but I was factually incorrect - it actually has Job's reply, which is much more solid. In Romans 10, we are reading about the incredibly glorious truth of righteousness by faith alone, and Mark 10 sees Jesus teaching about marriage and divorce, as well as challenging the Rich Young Ruler to give it all away.

We do have a submitted question to cover today, and it actually came from two listeners! As mentioned yesterday, my old friend Cortney Johnson from Birmingham wrote in and said:

"I would love for you to expand, if possible, on Mark 8 :22-26. Verse 24 has always captured my attention. There are no mistakes by Jesus, or accidents. I would love your insights on what this means and why it is in the Bible. My wife Susan and I love this podcast!"

Cortney and Sudan were the parents of some wonderful teenagers in a youth-group I pastored in the 90s. Not my first ministry job, but my first real ministry job as an adult. They were some of the best parents, counselors and leaders I have every worked with - church people like them are worth their weight in inkjet ink, or platinum, or palladium, or plutonium, or whatever material is worth at least 100 times the value of gold. They have seen extreme suffering in this life - the kind of pain that nobody should ever had to walk through. I know it has crushed them many times over, but they have stayed faithful, and hundreds of people have seen that and rejoiced and been strengthened by their testimony. I look forward to the day that Jesus returns and wipes every tear from their eyes. Maranatha! One of the hardest things in ministry is leaving one church (and the amazing people there) and moving to another. God has blessed my family to give us incredible people in every church that we've served in, but leaving behind those incredible people to move onto the next assignment, or the next state, can be heart-rending. I'm glad we have eternity to look forward to in order to see those relationships reconnected and deepened.

Interestingly, our 8 year old daughter asked me the same exact question that Cortney did on the way home from cheer-leading tonight, so I am delighted to take a stab at an answer here. It is important for me to note that 'a stab at an answer,' is about as good as we can do here, because the Bible does not explain this unique situation to us at all. To review, here is the passage:

22 They came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village. Spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?"24 He looked up and said, "I see people—they look like trees walking."25 Again Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes. The man looked intently and his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly. 26 Then he sent him home, saying, "Don't even go into the village."

Mark 8:22-26

The MOST curious thing to me is that Jesus SPIT in the man's eyes! Nobody's asked about that one, but the best answer I have heard for why Jesus would do this came from John Calvin, who suggested that Jesus healed people in a variety of ways in order to show that the power for healing was not from a specific METHOD but from Himself and His Father. The question Cortney asked, and the question that Phoebe asked, however boils down to this: Why did it take TWO times to heal this man's eyes? It is an excellent question, because this is the only two-stage healing by Jesus in the entire Bible. There are two primary theories that seek to answer this question, and I favor the second one over the first.

Theory #1, put forward by pastor Ray Pritchard, and many others, is that the blind man needed two touches to demonstrate how important spiritual vision is, and how it takes some time (not instantly!) to attain it. Pritchard connects this episode to the episode above it in Mark 8 where the disciples believe that Jesus has warned them about the yeast/leaven of the pharisees because they forgot bread. If you will remember, Jesus is frustrated with the disciples' lack of understanding and says to them, "having eyes, do you not see?!" Pritchard believes the two-stage healing is a demonstration of the way that spiritual vision develops in us. Click the link below for the whole article, but the gist is this:

It's possible to have eyes and not see very clearly. And that's precisely what Jesus was saying to his disciples. "Do you have eyes and yet not see what I am saying?" "Do you have eyes and yet not see clearly who I am?" Cloudy spiritual vision afflicts every Christian to some degree. None of us sees as clearly as we would like for now we see through a glass darkly. Or we see as if we are looking at a cloudy mirror. Eugene Peterson catches the meaning with this paraphrase: "We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist" (1 Corinthians 13:12 MSG). That applies to all of us.Squinting through a fog. Peering through a mist. That's what this blind man experienced. When he was partially healed, he saw men as trees walking. No one sees life with perfect clarity. All of us have spiritual nearsightedness to one degree or another.

https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/men-as-trees-walking/

That is certainly a possible interpretation, and one that would be accurate and not contradicted by other passages. I tend to believe that Jesus or Mark, in writing this episode, would draw our attention to this a little more clearly, but this could definitely be your answer. My answer is somewhat more mundane, but also a bit more plausible. I think our big clue is in verse 23, "He took the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village," Now that is a strange thing for Jesus to do - why did He do it?! My theory is that Bethsaida was very similar to Nazareth. If you will recall, Jesus traveled to Nazareth, His hometown, in the middle of His ministry. The people there mocked Him and rejected Him, and Mark closes the account of Jesus' visit to Nazareth with this chilling passage:

4 Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household." 5 He was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Mark 6:4-6

The general unbelief and lack of faith in a particular area, like Nazareth, somehow prevented many miracles being done in that place. Interestingly, it appears that Bethsaida was a similarly dull spiritual place. Consider Jesus' rebuke of Bethsaida in Matthew 11:

20 Then he proceeded to denounce the towns where most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent: 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago.

Matthew 11:20-21

I believe that Jesus took the man out of town before He healed him because of the lack of spiritual receptivity in Bethsaida. That two touches were needed before full healing happened seems to me to indicate that a Nazareth type dampening situation was occurring. A big objection here might be that I might be saying that there was something that Jesus could not do, and I suppose that is indeed what I am implying. Jesus was FULLY God and FULLY man while on earth - I believe in and absolutely affirm what theologians call the hypostatic union. I stand with Athanasius! That said, we know of at least two places in Scripture where there seem to be ....I struggle to get the right word here....limits? on the omnipotence of Jesus. The Mark 6:5 passage is one. "He was NOT able..." Jesus' lack of knowing the exact date and hour of His return is another. (Only the Father knows, according to Jesus)

Take this answer with a salt-shaker or two. I love this question, and am quite comfortable speculating on questions like this, as long as we are clear that we are engaging in speculating. It is dangerous to confidently answer questions like this with our opinion, or with something that we have deduced from the Bible, or something like that. I love it when Sherlock puts the clues together and solves a mystery, but this is totally different. Questions like these, which begin with something like, 'Why did God do X," or "Why did Jesus do X," must be answered with many disclaimers, because His ways are NOT our ways and His thoughts are NOT our thoughts. His ways are higher, and therefore we will NOT be able to effectively guess His motivations very well when we aren't directly told why He did something. I hope that makes sense!