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

Why in the world did Abraham have his servant put his hand under his thigh to swear an oath? What did this mean, and is something rather strange (and uncomfortable) going on? Also - a key to praying: being thankful when God answers.

If this podcast were written and recorded by my precious wife, it would be vastly different - more sober-minded, serious, and a good bit shorter. It would have the same Scripture passages, but you would never have an episode about cavemen and dung. However, this podcast is not by my wife, so today's episode is on cavemen and dung.

I suppose it is a bit silly headed of me to attempt to tackle three questions in today's episode, but they are all interesting, and all worthy of an answer, so hopefully it will work out for us. As a bonus, we have special guest Charles Spurgeon with us to answer the best and most important question, so that will be a big help, I'm sure. Today's passages are Genesis 23, which is about the death of Abraham's precious wife Sarah, and his attempts to find her a burial place. Nehemiah 12, which mentions the Dung Gate and also has about a thousand Hebrew names for me to stumble over. Matthew 22 which features Jesus' awesome (and unsettling!) Parable of the Wedding Banquet, and finally, Acts 22, which gives us the story of Paul's salvation on the Damascus Road from Paul's own perspective. Let's start with Genesis 23, then Matthew 22, then some commentary, then the rest of the passages. Slightly different order on the podcast today.

I got a question a couple of weeks ago from podcast listener Sherry, who asked where cavemen fit into the biblical timeline, and whether or not most humans lived in caves at one point in time. Great question! I think many of us picture there being an era of history (or prehistory) on the earth where the majority of humans lived in caves, and were thus cavemen (or cavepeople, if we are being inclusive.) With an understanding that I am a history major, but not an archaeologist or anthropologist, let's tackle this question with a few facts about humans and cave-dwelling:

1. Yes! Humans have, over the years, lived in caves. However, there was never a time when the majority of humans on the planet lived in caves for the following three major reasons: 1. There just aren't that many caves around! Some regions are blessed with a plethora of caves , but most areas of the earth lack caves, or only have a few. 2. Caves are dark and dank, and not usually ideal places to live because humans need sunlight and they need LIGHT to see, and even very large caves only have a small amount of livable space that has light. I was a spelunker for a long time, and I can tell you that caves are DARK - like darker than you can possibly imagine. 3. Caves tend to attract non-human dwellers like snakes, bears, hyenas, wolves and Captain Cavemen, all of which are a threat to humans. So - while humans did use caves, and bury their dead there, and camp there from time to time and draw art there, most humans of a given society did NOT live in caves. (Though some did, certainly.)

   2. There are some modern people who still live in caves, or houses built into caves. I would love this! Google "Amboise Troglodyte" home, and you can find an Airbnb for a Cave house that you can RENT for only $89 a night the next time you are in France's Loire Valley.

   3. There were people in the Bible who lived in caves! Job mentions them (see Job 30:6) and suggests that desperate people and outlaws lived in such caves. I, for one, am tired of stereotyping cave-dwellers. Get with the times, Job, you Boomer - it's 2020!

The Dung Gate in Jerusalem Before it Was Enlarged.

Question #2 - One of my all time favorite middle school jokes is appropriate for today: What's brown and sounds like a bell? DUNG! More importantly, what was the Dung Gate of Jerusalem? And the answer is that, at least in Nehemiah's time, it was about what you'd imagine it to be - an entrance/exit from Jerusalem where trash, refuse and human and animal waste were taken outside of the city. Sha'ar Ashpoth is the Hebrew name of used in Nehemiah, and it means 'Gate of Garbage.' During the days of the First temple in Jerusalem (before Ezra and Nehemiah), most of the refuse and ash and leftovers from sacrifices were taken out through this gate to a nearby dump-like area. Today's Dung Gate in Jerusalem is likely in a far different place than the original was, and serves as one of the main entryways into the oldtown area.

And here's the top four verses about dung in the Bible. (Yes, there's more than just these 4!)

Don't you know that ever since antiquity, from the time a human was placed on earth, 5 the joy of the wicked has been brief and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment? 6 Though his arrogance reaches heaven, and his head touches the clouds, 7 he will vanish forever like his own dung.

Job 20:4-7 Zophar the Naamathite

Because of all this, I am about to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam:I will wipe out all of Jeroboam's males, both slave and free, in Israel; I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone!

1 Kings 14:10

24 Some time later, King Ben-hadad of Aram brought all his military units together and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. 25 So there was a severe famine in Samaria, and they continued the siege against it until a donkey's head sold for thirty-four ounces of silver, and a cup of dove's dung sold for two ounces of silver.

Siege in Samaria 2 Kings 6:24

7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.

Philippians 3:7-9

Well, I hope you are as fascinated by Scripture on dung as I am! 5th grade Chase would be proud that 40 something year old Chase recorded a podcast about dung. I'm not sure that is a good thing or not. What is a good thing, however, is this explanation by friend of the show Charles Spurgeon on the Wedding Banquet Parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 22:

This is the glorious rule of the gospel still. Those who were first called to the great wedding feast were the Jews; they would not come, and therefore, Jerusalem was destroyed. Now the gospel is preached to all nations, and all sorts of people in all nations; yet the same sinful rejection of the invitation is constantly being repeated. You, who hear the gospel from Sunday to Sunday, are called by it to come to the great supper; and, as some of you will not come, God, in his infinite mercy, is sending his gospel to the poorest and the vilest of mankind. Many of them do come, and thus the Lord provokes you to jealousy by a people who were not a people; and astonishes you as you find that many come from the East, and from the West, and from the North, and from the South, and sit down in the kingdom of God, while you, who reckoned yourselves to be the children of the kingdom, because you have long been privileged to hear the gospel, shall be cast out. The king's servants "gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good." The best gathering into the visible church is sure to be a mixture; there will be some coming into it who should not be there.

And when the king came in to see the guests, For whom he had provided luxurious garments suitable for the wedding,—for, as we provide what is supposed to be appropriate array for mourners at a funeral, so, in the East, they provide, on a much larger scale, suitable apparel for wedding guests.

He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: He might have had one, for it was provided. The fact that he had not one was as great an insult to the king as a refusal of his invitation would have been. He was not bound to provide himself with a wedding garment; he could not have done it, for he was probably one of those swept up out of the highways. But there it hung, and he was requested to put it on; but he refused, and he had the impertinence to sit there without the indispensable wedding garment. If he could not show his contempt for the king in one way, he would do so in another; and he dared, in the midst of the wedding feasters, to defy the authority of the king, and to refuse to do honor to the newly-married prince.

And he saith unto him, Friend, how did you come here not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. He could give no reply; the king's presence awed him into silence.

Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and grinding of teeth. You may manage to get into the church even though you are not converted; but if you are not trusting in Christ, you are not saved, and your false profession will only make your destruction the more terrible. Woe unto us unless we are found wearing the righteousness of Christ,—unless our lives are made holy by the gracious influence of his blessed Spirit! These are the wedding garments which we are to wear. If we have them not, our presence at the festival will not avail us in the great testing time that is coming.

For many are called, but few are chosen. All who hear the gospel are called, but the call does not come with equal power to every heart. And with some, the power with which it comes is not that which saves; it only convinces the intellect, so that an outward homage is paid to the Word, and the inward obedience of the soul is not rendered to the Lord. God grant that each of us may have on the wedding garment when the King comes in to see the guests!

C. H. Spurgeon, "Faith: Life," in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 48 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1902), 599–600.

3 big questions are asked today: 1. Did people used to live in caves during biblical times? 2. What is the Dung Gate (bonus! What are the best Bible verses on dung?!) 3. Why did God throw out a man at His Wedding Banquet?

Today marks three straight weeks of doing DAILY episodes of the Bible Reading Podcast. I've literally been podcasting off and on since early 2005, and have never tackled a daily podcast. It is an interesting experience, to be sure. Each episode takes around 2.5 hours from start to finish. This includes:

1. Reading over the day's Scriptures earlier in the day, and considering which chapter should be the focus chapter, and what Bible question should we tackle.

2. Actually writing the episode out in manuscript form (as a blog post) and doing some research in commentaries and in books of Godly teachers and writers. I primarily use Logos for this step, because I've heavily invested in it over the years, and can quickly find relevant to the passage information from people like Charles Spurgeon, John Piper, David Platt, Jonathan Edwards, C.S. Lewis, Hudson Taylor, George Muller, Martyn Lloyd Jones and hundreds of others. Logos is incredibly helpful for this type of research!

3. Using the unpublished blog post as a rough draft, I record the show on Audacity - a free, powerful and somewhat complicated audio editor and recorder.

4. After recording the show, I go through the recording and edit it. I need to remove every cough and sniffle and loud intake of breath - every time I pause to take a drink, or my chair creeks to loudly AND, worst of all, every time I misspeak or get something out of order and have to restart. That means I get to look at 25-40 minutes worth of audio waveforms, as depicted in the screenshot below:

5. After editing the show in Audacity, I export it as a large .Wav file, and then upload it to Auphonic, which is an audio editor. Auphonic polishes up the audio and makes it sound a little better. That process usually takes about 20 minutes. After that, I download the completed audio file as a 96KBPS .mp3 file and go to the final step.

6. The final step is to upload the completed mp3 to this Wordpress site, and insert it into my blog post via a plugin made by my podcast host Libsyn. I have to manually fill in all of the details by hand (name of the show, subtitle, show number, show season, description, etc., and also insert a picture for the artwork. When this process is complete, I then press the publish button, and choose what time I want the episode to go live. (I usually post it at 3:30 AM Pacific Standard time so that those on the East coast can have it in their podcast app by 6:30 AM.

And that is, more or less, how you make a podcast! WAKE UP! It's time to get to the meat of the show, and here is our main Bible question of the day: Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son?!

As the beginning of an answer to this difficult question, I'd like to start in the New Testament - at the very end of the Gospel of Luke. In that passage, Jesus has been crucified and has risen from the dead, but most of His disciples and followers aren't aware. Two of them, Cleopas and an another unnamed man are walking down the Emmaus road when Jesus encounters them, and asks them what they are debating about. I'll pick up in Luke 24 for the rest of the story:

So they said to him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. 21 But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it's the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb, 23 and when they didn't find his body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn't see him."25 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!26 Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?" 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.

Luke 24:19-27

So - this is our big clue #1 - That the Old Testament Scriptures point to Jesus. This passage in particular is a foreshadowing of the ministry of Jesus. Consider all of the parallels between Isaac's almost sacrifice and Jesus' actual sacrifice (Courtesy of Gotquestions.org):

The Old Testament story of Abraham is the basis of the New Testament teaching of the atonement, the sacrificial offering of the Lord Jesus on the cross for the sin of mankind. Jesus said, many centuries later, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). The following are some of the parallels between the two biblical accounts:

• "Take your son, your only son, Isaac" (v. 2); "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…" (John 3:16). • "Go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there…" (v. 2); it is believed that this area is where the city of Jerusalem was built many years later, where Jesus was crucified outside its city walls (Hebrews 13:12). • "Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering" (v. 2); "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3). • "Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac" (v. 6); Jesus, "carrying his own cross. . ." (John 19:17). • "But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" (v. 7); John said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). • Isaac, the son, acted in obedience to his father in becoming the sacrifice (v. 9); Jesus prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39).

https://www.gotquestions.org/Abraham-Isaac.html

Do you see there the parallels between Isaac and Jesus? Picture young Isaac trudging up the hill, heading towards the sacrifice with a heavy weight of wood strapped to his back and weighing him down. And then hundreds of years later, Jesus, the only begotten son of God, trudging up a hill in a similar area (maybe the same hill!) with the wood of the cross strapped to His back - heading to His own sacrifice. In both cases, the father is leading the son to his death, and in both cases, the son obediently follows.

Would Abraham have followed through with this, and actually killed his son? It certainly appears so...but do recall that Abraham confidently told his servant at the bottom of the mountain that he AND Isaac would return. Recall also that Abraham, in faith, told Isaac that GOD would HIMSELF provide the sacrifice. I don't believe Abraham was deceiving Isaac - I believe he was trusting in God to spare Isaac OR EVEN RAISE HIM FROM THE DEAD! (" He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead " Hebrews 11:19)

So - the almost-sacrifice of Isaac is a picture to us of the very real sacrifice of Jesus. Our astonishment (and even offense) at the seeming audacity of God to grant Abraham a child, and then shortly after demand his sacrifice, shows to us the worth of Isaac, and the worth of a child, and the depth of a father's love. We, those of us who are parents at least, can sympathize with Abraham on a deep level and began to fathom the cost of giving up a child. And that is precisely the point. That Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac showed Abraham's level of trust in God - it showed his deepest feelings towards God. Likewise, God's willingness to sacrifice His one and only begotten son shows us the depth of feelings that He has towards His people.

The beautiful exchange that happens atop Mount Moriah - when the ram is substituted for the beloved Isaac, looks forward to an even MORE BEAUTIFUL exchange that will happen in the future when WE are the one's scheduled to be sacrificed on the cross for OUR sins (and deservedly so!) but God rescues us through His son at the last minute, and HE is sacrificed in OUR place. HE is the sacrificial ram that saves the life of us in the same way the ram caught in the thicket gave his life for the life of Isaac. Allow me to close with some excellent thoughts on this episode from Glen Scrivener, writing on the Gospel Coalition website:

So the whole episode concludes: "Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided" (Gen. 22:14). Notice the future tense. God will provide. What will he provide? The Lamb of God, the Offspring of Abraham, the Beloved Son, the Hope of the World. One day, on that very mountain, God would provide the ultimate atonement. And many knew it. For centuries afterward they would point to that hill and say: "The true sacrifice is coming, and that's where he'll be provided." God didn't ask Abraham to go through with the sacrifice. But one dark Friday, God would provide. The beloved Son of the Father would walk willingly up that hill, carrying the wood on his back. And there he would be slain to save and bless the world. If we attempt to read the Bible primarily as a rulebook, it crumbles between our fingers. With such a mindset, Genesis 22 is a scandal and a barrier to faith. Yet when Scripture is read as intended, we see it as a testimony to Christ. Suddenly we realize that all the Bible, and all believers in every age, are fixed on the one truth that towers above all others: "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/abrahams-sacrifice-genesis-22/

Years and years had Abraham and Sarah waited for God to fulfill His promise to them that they would have a son. Shortly after God made His promise sight in the birth of Isaac, God commanded Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him, only to spare the life of Isaac at the last minute. Why did God command such a horrific thing, given that child sacrifice was completely forbidden in the Bible?

Today we are reading Genesis 21, Nehemiah 10, Matthew 20 and Acts 20. Way before my time, there was a TV show called, "I Love Lucy," which I occasionally watched in my childhood on syndication. If you aren't familiar with the show, it followed the crazy antics of Lucy Ricardo. Lucy was an extremely impulsive and creative woman, to put it mildly, and she was always getting into trouble in one way or the other. Lucy's husband Ricky, the far more sensible one in the marriage, would often ask her for an explanation of her disasters, saying things like, "Lucy, 'Splain!" (Interestingly, he never said the catchphrase often contributed to him, "Lucy, you have some 'splaining to do!" Nor was 'Beam me up, Scotty" every heard on Star Trek nor "Just the facts, ma'am, on Dragnet, and Mr. T. Never actually said, "I pity the fool" on the A-Team." but I digress.)

Sometimes as our family reads through Genesis, I feel like our kids come to me with the equivalent of, "Dad - you've got some 'splaining to do!" about this or that happening in Genesis. Why did Lot try to give his daughters to a band of bloodthirsty rapers? Why did Abram try to pass off his wife as his sister - so much so that another man married her?! Why did Lot's daughters...ok, you get the point. The fact of the matter is that Genesis is not the story of God's best saints, nor the story of upright and mighty heroes, but rather the story of weak-willed, foolish and sinful people who do not deserve sainthood and who are not moral exemplars. In fact, I was thinking about Genesis in the shower last week, and especially thinking about what a jerk Lot was, and how strange it was that God chose to save him. In the midst of those thoughts, another voice broke into my mind and said, "Lot didn't deserve to be saved!" And, as I considered those words, my first thought was, "He sure didn't - it's ridiculous! Lot didn't deserve to be....oh....yeah...I get it." That's really the whole point of Lot and the other sinners in the Bible. They don't deserve to be saved. WE don't deserve to be saved - that's what grace is! Grace is UNEARNED, UNMERITED, UNDESERVED favor. We are Lot.

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8 THIS IS THE GOSPEL - THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS.

Today's focus passage is found in the teachings of Jesus from Matthew 20. It is one of the shorter, and more offensive teachings of Jesus; it is also one of His most profound teachings, and a truth we MUST grasp!

25 Jesus called them over and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. 26 It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Matthew 20:25-28

The fact of the matter is that we consider servants and slaves to be a position that is so low that it is actually offensive. Yes, there is slavery in the Bible. The kind of slavery in the Bible is more akin to what we would call indentured servitude than what most Western people think when they hear the word, 'slavery.' The kind of slavery practiced by America and other Western countries up until the 20th century is an abomination, a horror, and an indefensible moral outrage. The kind of slavery practiced in the Bible is different, in many ways, but still not good. It needs to be said that the people of God in Israel were enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years, and there were many other instances of slavery in the Bible, and, quite clearly, nobody particularly enjoyed being a slave, or aspired to continue being in slavery. And yet here we have Jesus saying this horribly offense (and beautifully profound) statement: If anybody wants to be great in MY Kingdom - they must be a servant and a slave to all!

And here is the sobering truth: The thing we consider to be one of the lowest practices of humanity - 'serving' somebody, is in the eyes of Jesus, one of the highest practices of humanity. Servant Greatness is one of the key themes of the Bible. I have said it before - when I see a gifted person serving, I always think to myself, "Ah-hah - That person understands the key to greatness." When I see a gifted person operating in his or her gifts and intentionally NOT serving, or even seeking to BE served themselves - I wonder if they've understood the call of Jesus rightly. The greatest pastors, leaders, apostles among us must always serve.

Thinking about Karl Marx's charge against religion: First, I don't grant that Christianity is religion. Religion is all about working to please God and earn salvation. Christianity is about the work that has been done on your behalf by God in order to please God. But, I'll humor Marx just this once: If religion is indeed the opiate of the masses, why follow the Jesus Way? Why go lower? Why sacrifice? Why submit? Why be humble? Why seek to serve others more than yourself? Why give radically? Understand that Jesus says the way to greatness is to SERVE. This is not an opiate – this is like smelling salts. Religion puts you to sleep like opium. The teachings of Jesus stir you to life with their power. I can see how somebody might say that about sunshine-pumping prosperity preachers who promise you wealth, and health and the blessing of God and that all God wants for you is your best life now, but that is not biblical Christianity, that is something else entirely, a twisted shell of biblical Christianity. The Jesus way is the way of serving. Tribulation is promised in this life, but the rewards of following Jesus and living life as a servant are eternal greatness, life everlasting, and blessing literally beyond our ability to comprehend! Consider this encouraging word from Charles Spurgeon on Serving:

"I have spoken of meekness towards God; but those who are truly meek are also gentle towards their fellow-men. I wish that all Christians had this character, and that they might not be rough, over-bearing, proud, and hectoring, as some are. There are some who seem to think that nobody would esteem them if they did not kick everybody as they went along. They seem to fancy that all other people as well as themselves are made of iron, and that their power will not be known unless they dash themselves against all who come near them; but it should not be so among the children of God. Oh, that we might learn that holy courtesy which is one of the true marks of a Christian! Oh, that we might have a tender regard for other people's feelings, because we have a fellow-feeling with them, and that we might pass through the world, not anxious to be noticed, but rather to be unnoticed, not desirous to be great, but willing to be little, eager rather to wash the saints' feet than to have them crown our heads, desirous not so much to be ministered unto as to minister, for true greatness lies in the sacrifice of self for the good of others! Remember how our Lord said to his disciples, "Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant." This is always the rule in the Church of Christ, God makes it to be so, though it seems not according to the usual bent of human nature. The Lord takes great delight in those who are of such a meek, and quiet, and humble, and lowly disposition."

C. H. Spurgeon, "'Beautiful for Ever,'" in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 43 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1897), 124–125.

Four keys to being a Great Servant:

1. Romans 14: Be wary of Judging: 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

2. Serve people, put them above yourself, but you are not to be a people pleaser. Galatians 1:10 - 10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

3. Don't argue, but be gentle! 2nd Timothy 2: 23 Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,

4. Watch out for titles! Matthew 23: 8 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Finally, we would do well to remember Philippians 2:5-8 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature[of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself

In Matthew 20, Jesus gives His disciples the definition of greatness - and it is all about being a servant. This contrasts greatly with a prosperity view of Christianity and also with Karl Marx's view that religion is the opiate of the masses.

Happy Lord's Day to you, friends and family! Today is episode 19, and we are reading about Sarah's rescue from Abimelech in Genesis 20 (because Abraham lied again!); The great prayer of confession from Nehemiah 9 (that makes TWO amazing prayers in this book!); The Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19, and a botched exorcism in Acts 19 that leaves the would be exorcists naked, bleeding and profoundly embarrassed. Those people who say the Bible is boring have most likely only skimmed the surface - so let's dig into the depths!

Today's featured passage is Acts 19, and the main topic we are focusing in on is the attempt by the foolish sons of Sceva to exorcise a demon. It's a very funny story in many ways:

13 Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!" 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. 15 The evil spirit answered them, "I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?" 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. 17 When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem.

Acts 19:13-17

I've been in few fights in my day, and I've seen a few more, but I have never in my life seen somebody beaten so badly that they run from the fight NAKED. When I was a kid, one of my earliest memories was of a dream that happened over and over and over again for several years. I lost track of how many times it happened because of the fog of age, but I recall this dream haunting me for an inordinate amount of time. In the dream, I would be in my bed, and Satan would come up into my room - usually through my closet, because we all know how scary closets can be! He would come through my closet, pick me up, and start to take me away. The whole time, I KNEW WHAT I HAD TO DO. If I could only utter the name 'Jesus,' I know I would be rescued! But, each time, Satan would take me down my non-existent closet stairs into Hell, and my voice would absolutely fail me. No matter how hard I tried - in my dream - I could not say the name 'Jesus.' I still get a shiver of terror thinking about that dream.

In Acts 19, we have a real life version of a demonic encounter where these impostering sons of Sceva vainly try to imitate Jesus and Paul the apostle. They encounter a demon possessed man, and try to...control the man? Cast the demons out? It's not very clear in the text, but they try to challenge the wickedness with the name of Jesus...and presumably, they are able to pronounce the name just fine. BUT THE MERE SAYING OF THE NAME OF JESUS DOES NOT HELP! What gives?

And the answer is this: The name of Jesus is not magical, in and of itself. I still remember the shock I had as a child when I pulled out a Jesus Alou baseball card from a Topps wrapper, and thinking how horrid that a family had named their child Jesus, when there should be one and only Jesus! Of course, it turns out that the name Jesus is actually quite common in Latin America, and the name Jesus (Hebrew Yehshua) was extremely common in the first century in Israel - there were literally hundreds of people in Israel named 'Jesus' during the ministry of Jesus Christ, son of Joseph and Mary. And thus we see here why the mere mention of a name that is quite common did not have the power to control a demonic entity...because it is not the NAME of Jesus (i.e. the word 'Jesus') that is powerful, but it is the PERSON of Jesus that is powerful. Yes! At the NAME OF JESUS, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, but read that whole passage in Philippians 2:

For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11

See how in verse 11 - the reference is to a PARTICULAR Jesus. Consider Acts 4 - a person is miraculously healed in the NAME of Jesus:

8 Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders: 9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved."

Acts 4:8-12

What is the difference? The sons of Sceva knew the name Jesus, but Peter KNEW JESUS. Not just the name, but the specific Jesus - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The power in the name of Jesus is not about the KNOWLEDGE of the name it is about the KNOWING of the person. Thus was Paul able to cast out a demon in Acts 16:

Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out right away.

Acts 16:18

He did not merely know the way to pronounce the name of Jesus - HE KNEW JESUS. It is not mere knowledge that has power, it is in the KNOWING of Jesus. Facts have no power over dark spirits, and no power to accomplish spiritual work. This is why it is possible to go to seminary, learn the Bible, and have great knowledge, but no fruit...because it isn't about knowledge it is about the knowing of Jesus. Consider the chilling words of Jesus in Matthew 7:

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?' 23 Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!'

Matthew 7:21-23

More positively, consider His description of Christianity in John 17:

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 17:23

Christianity is not about knowledge, it is about Jesus in us, and we in Him - "Christ in us, the hope of glory", as Paul describes in Colossians 1. There was no Jesus in the sons of Sceva - they knew the name, they did not know the person, and therefore there attempts fell flatter than flat. May that not be true of us! Allow me to close with these great words of Charles Spurgeon:

We long to see the people saved; but in order to that, they must be born again, and this we cannot accomplish ourselves. Change a stone into flesh! Try that at home with a piece of stone on your table, before you attempt it with the hard hearts of men. Create a soul between the ribs of death! Try that in a charnel-house before you pretend to create within a sinner, dead in sin, the spiritual life. Of regeneration we may say, "This is the finger of God." If our religion be not supernatural, it is a delusion. If the Holy Spirit be not with you, you are like Jannes and Jambres, attempting to work a miracle without Jehovah's aid; and you will be baffled, and detected for an impostor. You will fail, like the seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, who tried to cast out devils: the devils do not know you; they would know Jesus; they would know the Holy Spirit; but at your idle efforts they mockingly laugh. Only those people who never do any spiritual work talk about what they can accomplish. When you get into the sacred service, you find how great your weakness is; you feel out of your depth when you come to deal with souls, and you must have the Holy Spirit or fail. We must not conclude that because so many good people give their time to God's work, that necessarily the work is done. No, there is nothing done unless the Holy Spirit does it. We never personally go a step towards heaven, and we never lead another one inch on the way, apart from the Holy Spirit. We must have the Holy Spirit, and if we have him not, all our machinery will stand still; or if it goes on, it will produce no effect whatever.

C. H. Spurgeon, "'Is the Spirit of the Lord Straitened?,'" in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 37 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1891), 433–434.

In this episode we discuss the seven sons of Sceva, who attempt to case out a demon by the name of Jesus, and fail spectacularly, ending up fleeing naked for their efforts. What happened? Why wasn't the name of 'Jesus' effective in this situation? Is there real power in the name of Jesus?

Genesis 19, Nehemiah 8, Matthew 18 and Acts 18

One thing I'm learning as we venture through reading four chapters of the Bible together every day - there will always be something important to talk about - way too many important things to talk about, given that this podcast tries to stay under 40 minutes per episode. Because we will be reading the New Testament together twice in 2020, I'm generally preferring Old Testament passages at this point in the year. That means we will miss out (for now) on deep discussions about servanthood being the key to greatness, Jesus' method for conflict avoidance and peacemaking, the absolute necessity of total forgiveness and the first appearance of Apollos. No worries, we will hit all of those topics at some point this year! Today's topic is a surprising one and unexpected topic - at least, I hope it is. Many people consider Christians to be stoic, staid, stern, stodgy, and stolid. (I pretty much exhausted my 'st' adjectives there) There is most assuredly a call for Christians to have a sober and aware mindset, as Peter tells us:

Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

1 Peter 5:8

But our reading in Nehemiah also show us that sometimes, God's prescription is unmitigated joy and celebration.

"This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, "Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength." 11 And the Levites quieted all the people, saying, "Be still, since today is holy. Don't grieve." 12 Then all the people began to eat and drink, send portions, and have a great celebration, because they had understood the words that were explained to them.

Nehemiah 8:9-12

You might have the impression that Jesus was a kind of dour guy. I remember my first exposure to seeing Jesus portrayed outside the Bible was a movie made in the 70s called "Jesus of Nazareth." I don't remember hardly anything about that movie, except that Jesus had long hair (which He almost certainly didn't have in real life) and He was incredibly somber. While it is absolutely true that Jesus was a man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3), I believe that was not a description of Jesus' entire life, but rather a description of His death on the cross (read the passage in context.) In His ministry, we see much evidence that Jesus was a man of joy, kindness and love. I don't believe a sour and somber person would be the type to tell the disciples (multiple times) to allow the children to come and see Him up close! This is one reason why I am such a huge fan of the word for word from the Bible Matthew videos, produced in the 90s. That portrayal of Jesus showed joy and warmth, which is precisely what I see in the biblical portrayal of Jesus.

SO - are to party all the time, and ALWAYS be overflowing with joy, so that no grief is ever seen on our faces - as the people were commanded in Nehemiah 8? And the answer is - of course not! Jesus Himself wept - which means we will weep. If you think the Christian life is to be free from suffering and weeping, then you have probably bought into the kind of fake Christianity that is pedaled by some popular Word-Faith preachers on T.V. Jesus promises His followers that they WILL HAVE tribulation in this world. (John 16:33 - note also His assurance that He has overcome the world!) We are also told that God will wipe the tears away from every believer when Jesus returns for the second time - a comforting truth which indicates that some of us will be crying up until the Second Coming. As the book of wisdom Ecclesiastes teaches us, our lives will sometimes contain weeping and mourning, and sometimes be filled with dancing and laughing. Embrace both!

a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;

Ecclesiastes 3:4

I love the wisdom that Paul gives us in Romans 12, and that is a good place to conclude this discussion (for now!)

Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another.

Romans 12:15

We are called to be people of HARMONY. This means that we will sometimes be weeping, sometimes rejoicing, but - in the Body of Christ and filled with the Spirit of Christ - NEVER alone!