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

A deep discussion into the identity of the mysterious Melchizedek, King of Salem and King of Righteousness. Was the individual, whom the Bible describes as "without beginning or end." actually a appearance of Jesus Himself? Reading through Genesis 14, Nehemiah 3, Matthew 13 and Acts 13.

Today's Bible reading for January 12 is Genesis 13, Nehemiah 2, Matthew 12 and Acts 12. Our focus passage will be Matthew 12, and we are asking a big Bible question today: What is the Blasphemy of the Spirit, the unforgivable sin? SHOUT OUT TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE COMMENTED AND LEFT REVIEWS!!! On Apple Podcasts: Monte O, Kerri P, Cortney and Angel. And also people who have commented on the blog that they were listening: Angie from Knoxville, Og from Salinas, Cortney J. from Birmingham and Ms. Judy Bloom from parts unknown. THANK YOU! So - let's read our first chapter, and then get into our discussion.

What is the Unforgivable sin?? It's a terrifying reality: Jesus warned His disciples and the Pharisees that there was a sin that could be committed that was unpardonable – unforgivable for all eternity. People have speculated and worried about this teaching of Jesus for hundreds of years. What precisely is the unpardonable sin? How can we know whether or not we've done it? Let's dive in!

The Didache First century – RIGHT after the NT: Now concerning the apostles and prophets, deal with them as follows in accordance with the rule of the gospel. (4) Let every apostle who comes to you be welcomed as if he were the Lord. (5) But he is not to stay for more than one day, unless there is need, in which case he may stay another. But if he stays three days, he is a false prophet. (6) And when the apostle leaves, he is to take nothing except bread until he finds his next night's lodging. But if he asks for money, he is a false prophet.

(7) Also, do not test or evaluate any prophet who speaks in the spirit, for every sin will be forgiven, but this sin will not be forgiven.35

Michael William Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, Updated ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 263–265.

ANDREAS Andreas of Caesarea (Greek: Ἀνδρέας Καισαρείας; 563 – 637) : It is the sin of heresy, or of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which leads to death. If one man sins against another, pray for him. But if he sins against God, who is there who can pray on his behalf?

And if even after all this, our opponents are still unwilling to learn and still unable to understand, they should at least stop speaking evil. They should not divide the Trinity lest they be divided from life.82 They should not classify the Holy Spirit with the creatures, lest, like the Pharisees of old who ascribed the works of the Spirit to Beelzebul,83 they too, on account of equal audacity, incur along with them the punishment which is unpardonable both now and in the future.

Athanasius Works on the Spirit: Athanasius's Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit,

Grave-robbing, or the opening of graves, is divided into two kinds too, like theft, according to the present Canon, to wit, into pardonable and into unpardonable grave-robbing. For if the fellow opening the grave does not denude the dead person's body, thus refraining from dishonoring (for that is what is meant by the expression "sparing devoutness") the dead, but only takes the stones found in the grave, in order to use them in the building of any other work that is preferable and more beneficial to the community, though this too is by no means anything to be praised, yet custom has made it pardonable.2

St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain – 1700s, Greek Orthodox church.

Swearing is a dreadful and harmful thing; it is a destructive drug, a bane and a danger, a hidden wound, a sore unseen, an obscure ulcer spreading its poison in the soul; it is an arrow of Satan, a flaming javelin, a two-edged sword, a sharp-honed scimitar, an unpardonable sin, an indefensible transgression, a deep gulf, a precipitous crag, a strong trap, a taut-stretched net, a fetter that cannot be broken, a noose from which no one escapes.

19. Are these enough, and do you believe that swearing is a dreadful thing and the most harmful of all sins? Believe me, I beg you, believe me! But if someone does not believe me, I now offer proof. This sin has what no other sin possesses. If we do not violate the other commandments, we escape punishment; on the other hand, in the matter of oaths, we are punished just the same both when we guard against transgressing and when we transgress.

St. John Chrysostom, 300s AD St. John Chrysostom: Baptismal Instructions,

Hilary of Poitiers actually points us in a more biblical direction, in discussing the unpardonable sin: Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men, but blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven.67 With a very grave qualification, he condemns the view of the Pharisees and the perversion of those who also think like them. He promises pardon of all sins but refuses pardon for blasphemy of the Spirit. While other words and deeds are treated with a generous pardon, there is no mercy if it is denied that God is in Christ.

68 And in whatever way one sins without pardon, he is gracious to us and reminds us again that sins of every kind can be completely forgiven, though blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. For who is so completely beyond pardon as one who denies that Christ is of God, or repudiates that the substance of the Spirit of the Father resides in him

Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew, ed.

Spurgeon – Nobody knows what that sin is. I believe that even God's Word does not tell us, and it is very proper that it does not. As I have often said, it is like the notice we sometimes see put up, "Man-traps and spring gun set here." We do not know whereabouts the traps and guns are, but we have no business over the hedge at all. So, "there is a sin unto death;" we are not told what that sin is, but we have no business to go over the hedge into any transgression at all. That "sin unto death" may be different in different people; but, whoever commits it, from that very moment, loses all spiritual desires. He has no wish to be saved, no care to repent, no longing after Christ; so dreadful is the spiritual death that comes over the man who has committed it that he never craves eternal life.

C. H. Spurgeon, Pictures from Pilgrim's Progress: A Commentary on Portions of John Bunyan's Immortal Allegory (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 73–74.

Billy Graham:

The sin of the religious leaders, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, was a refusal to accept the witness of the Holy Spirit to who Jesus was and what He had come to do, and then submit their lives to Him… Once again, the unpardonable sin is not some particularly grievous sin committed by a Christian before or after accepting Christ, nor is it thinking or saying something terrible about the Holy Spirit. Rather, it is deliberately resisting the Holy Spirit's witness and invitation to turn to Jesus until death ends all opportunity.

Billy Graham is echoing the Augustinian (300s AD) view: Now the man who, not believing that sins are remitted in the Church, despises this great gift of God's mercy, and persists to the last day of his life in his obstinacy of heart, is guilty of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, in whom Christ forgives sins.

Augustine of Hippo, "The Enchiridion," in St. Augustin: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises, ed.

Augustine was reflecting the Origen view (early 300s): The Spirit dwells in those who live by faith. But those who once having been counted worthy to share in the Holy Spirit and then having finally and decisively turned their backs from grace are by this act said to have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit (ORIGEN Who, then, is not amazed at the exceeding majesty of the Holy Spirit when he hears that he who speaks a word against the Son of man may hope for forgiveness, but that he who is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has no forgiveness—either in the present world or in that which is to come. Origen

What then is it? The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven. – John Piper. Lee ann penick MODERN: There is only one "unpardonable sin" that can separate us from God for eternity. It is the ongoing, willful refusal to accept Christ as Lord and Savior and the forgiveness He offers.

Jacob Arminius defined it as "the rejection and refusing of Jesus Christ through determined malice and hatred against Christ".

Nancy Hardesty "Ultimately the refusal to allow women to fully use their gifts in the church and in the world is a form of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit."

Pope John Paul II writes "'blasphemy' does not properly consist in offending against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to accept the salvation which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross", and "If Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven either in this life or in the next, it is because this "non-forgiveness" is linked, as to its cause, to "non-repentance," in other words to the radical refusal to be converted. This means the refusal to come to the sources of Redemption, which nevertheless remain "always" open in the economy of salvation in which the mission of the Holy Spirit is accomplished.

SO – What is The unforgivable sin?? – is it, as Origen, Augustine, Billy Graham, Pope John Paul 2 Lee Ann Penick suggest – the rejection of the Holy Spirit/not becoming a follower of Jesus?? Is it, as John Chrysostom claimed, swearing oaths? Is it the robbing of graves in a thieving manner? Is it not letting women use their spiritual gifts in the church? Is it Heresy? Is it, as Athanasius and many other church fathers declared, being wrong on the Trinity and calling the Holy Spirit a created being, rather than God Himself? Is it testing prophetic utterances of prophets?? (NO! – 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 Don't stifle the Spirit. 20 Don't despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good.)

Confused? You should be!! People talk about this issue all of the time, but it doesn't appear that all of them get their views from the Bible, so let's begin there in seeking our answer.

Matthew 12:24 24 When the Pharisees heard this, they said, "The man drives out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."

25 Knowing their thoughts, He told them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, who is it your sons drive them out by? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 29 How can someone enter a strong man's house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. 30 Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters.31 Because of this, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come.

Mark 3: 22 The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul in Him!" and, "He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons!"

23 So He summoned them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished!

27 "On the other hand, no one can enter a strong man's house and rob his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he will rob his house. 28 I assure you: People will be forgiven for all sins and whatever blasphemies they may blaspheme. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"— 30 because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

Luke 12: 8 "And I say to you, anyone who acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God, 9 but whoever denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.10 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

So, I see two major ways we need to answer this question. Contextually and grammatically. What does the CONTEXT of the usage of 'unpardonable sin' tell us, and what does the grammar/word meanings tell us?

We find a massively important clue in Mark 3:30, where Mark tells us precisely WHY Jesus warned the Pharisees and Scribes about this sin. "Because they were saying, He has an unclean spirit." The exact same situation is described in Matthew 12:31 "31 Because of this, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven" The scribes and pharisees are accusing Jesus of doing miraculous things – specifically driving out demons – by the power of Beelzebul rather than by the power of God.

Therefore, we know at least this: Ascribing something like an exorcism that is factually done by the power of God and His Holy Spirit to Demonic influence is AT BEST dangerously close to Blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and could, in fact, be blaspheming the Holy Spirit. (Jesus does not make it crystal clear that the scribes and pharisees were actually committing this sin, or merely getting close to committing it. It would seem like the latter is the best option.)

Practically speaking, what does this mean?? It means we need to be extremely careful about stating confident opinions on spiritual matters that we don't have 100 percent clarity from Scripture on. Let me give a couple of examples:

1. Pushed over at Brownsville.
2. Charles Carrin praying for us at GVAG.
3. Flamboyant preachers on tv wadding up their coats and throwing them on people, who pass out. Blowing on people, who pass out. Etc. Most of this is probably fraudulent, some of it horribly so. BUT – we should be incredibly careful about pronouncing opinions on what God's spirit would do, and wouldn't do. For instance, there was a revival going on in the 90s that became very well known and reached a lot of people. I heard about some of the things going on at that revival that were disturbing, and sounded – quite frankly – ridiculous. So, I assumed that the movement wasn't of God, but was just flaky people doing flaky things – at best. HOWEVER…a few years later, I met the leader of the movement, and spent some time with him. He struck me as a genuine follower of God – a man who loved Jesus, and who was humble. I still don't know what to think about that revival. God does, and I leave it to Him. It's outside of my realm of influence. According to Jesus – there is grave danger in ascribing the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan. You better be 100 percent sure you're right before doing such thing…and you'd better ask the question – HOW Do i Know FOR SURE that my opinion is right on this matter? If you can't answer that question with extreme clarity, then be careful saying what the Holy Spirit will or will not do, and be careful saying whether or not something is of Satan, or not. Contextually, that is at least a large part of what blaspheming the Holy Spirit is about.

What is blasphemy, exactly? More on that in a moment….

Side question – is Beelzebul = Satan?? It's a great question, and I have a fairly lame answer…'maybe.' Beelzebub ("Lord of the flies") and Beelzebul ("Lord of the skies/heavenly realms") both refer to the same entity.

In the Testament of Solomon, 1st century, non-Scripture, pseudoepigraphic text. Beelzebul (not Beelzebub) appears as prince of the demons and says (6.2) that he was formerly a leading heavenly angel who was (6.7) associated with the star Hesperus (which is the normal Greek name for the planet Venus (Αφροδíτη) as evening star). Seemingly, Beelzebul here is synonymous with Lucifer. the text describes how Solomon was enabled to build his temple by commanding demons by means of a magical ringthat was entrusted to him by the archangel Michael.

The Bible reference comes from 2 Kings 1: 1 After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. 2 Ahaziah had fallen through the latticed window of his upper room in Samaria and was injured. So he sent messengers instructing them: "Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will recover from this injury." 3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?' 4 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: 'You will not get up from your sickbed—you will certainly die.'" Then Elijah left.The name also appears in Luke 11, where we can see the clearest connection between Beelzebul and Satan: Luke 11:14 Now He was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon came out, the man who had been mute, spoke, and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, "He drives out demons by Beelzebul,the ruler of the demons!" 16 And others, as a test, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. 17 Knowing their thoughts, He told them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, who is it your sons drive them out by? For this reason they will be your judges. 20 If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

So, Jesus mentions Satan and Beelzebul in the same context, but not in a way that indicates that they are the same entities.

My best guess is that Beelzebul is a separate entity from Satan, but I confess that I do not know, and my guess is based on the fact that the Bible never clearly identifies the two as the same entity.

What exactly is Blasphemy?

Luke 12:10 points us in the right direction – anyone who 'speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven.' but the one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Matthew 12:32 makes it even more clear: 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come.

Similarly: Isaiah 37:23 Isaiah 37:23

Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Who have you raised your voice against and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

The Word itself, Greek Blasphemos, is a combo of two words. Blaptō, which means, 'to HURT' and Pheemay, which means fame, report, or something like 'reputation.' So, etymologically, the word has a root meaning of injuring somebody's fame, or good name. The word can mean 'defame' or 'revile' and isn't always used of a deity. Paul speaks of being 'defamed' or blasphemed by people for being an apostle. Paul commands the church in Titus 3:2 not to slander/Speak evil of (or BLASPHEME) any person, which is a command that Christians would do well to take far more seriously than we do. 2 Peter 2:10 and Jude vs 8 both warn against blaspheming angels, demons, and other spiritual beings.

So- blasphemy is speaking evil of someone. Hurting them with your words, harming their reputation. Thus, blaspheming the Holy Spirit is speaking evil of Him, reviling Him, defaming Him, seeking to harm His reputation. The Pharisees and Scribes were doing that – or coming dangerously close – when they said that it was Satan/Beelzebul empowering Jesus, when it was factually the Spirit of God Himself.

R.C. Sproul: Their statements were directed against Jesus. So, He said to them: "You can blaspheme Me and be forgiven, but when you question the work of the Spirit, you are coming perilously close to the unforgivable sin. You are right at the line. You are looking down into the abyss of hell. One more step and there will be no hope for you." He was warning them to be very careful not to insult or mock the Spirit.

Is it really unforgivable, and WHAT IF I HAVE COMMITTED IT?!

AUGUSTINE: It is not that this was a blasphemy which under no circumstances could be forgiven, for even this shall be forgiven if right repentance follows it

Thomas C. Oden and Christopher A. Hall, eds., Mark, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 48.

I'm worried that I have committed the unforgivable sin??

Graham: Many Christians have heard that there is an unpardonable sin and live in dread that something grave they have done before or after conversion might be that sin. Their fears are unfounded. While there is an unforgivable sin, it is not one that a true believer in Jesus Christ can commit.

Sproul: Humanly speaking, everyone who is a Christian is capable of committing the unforgivable sin. However, I believe that the Lord of glory who has saved us and sealed us in the Holy Spirit will never let us commit that sin. I do not believe that any Christians in the history of the church have blasphemed the Spirit.

As for those who are not sure they are saved and are worried they may have committed the unpardonable sin, I would say that worrying about it is one of the clearest evidences that they have not committed this sin, for those who commit it are so hardened in their hearts they do not care that they commit it. Thanks be to God that the sin that is unpardonable is not a sin He allows His people to commit.

I don't share Graham and Sproul's assurances, though I respect them both deeply. The Bible NEVER says a believer is unable to commit the unpardonable sin. Jesus NEVER indicates that, and I see no other passage that promises such…just a sober warning.

I think Piper strikes a better balance when talking about it:

Piper: The fact that there is an unforgivable sin — that there comes a point in a life of sin after which the Holy Spirit will no longer grant repentance — that fact should drive us from sin with fear and trembling. None of us knows when our toying with sin will pass over into irrevocable hardness of heart. Very few people feel how serious sin is. Very few people are on the same wavelength with Jesus when he said in Mark 9:43, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire."

Instead, many professing Christians today have such a sentimental view of God's justice that they never feel terror and horror at the thought of being utterly forsaken by God because of their persistence in sin. They have the naïve notion that God's patience has no end and that they can always return from any length and depth of sin, forgetting that there is a point of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power, leaving them never able to repent and be forgiven.

They are like the buzzard who spots a carcass on a piece of ice floating in the river. He lands and begins to eat. He knows it is dangerous because the falls are just ahead. But he looks at his wings and says to himself, "I can fly to safety in an instant." And he goes on eating. Just before the ice goes over the falls he spreads his wings to fly but his claws are frozen in the ice and there is no escape — neither in this age nor the age to come. The Spirit of holiness has forsaken the arrogant sinner forever.

Another of the devil's fiery darts is this, "You have committed the unpardonable sin." Ah! this arrow has rankled in many a heart, and it is very difficult to deal with such cases. The only way in which I argue with a person thus assailed is to say, "I am quite certain that, if you desire salvation, you have not committed the unpardonable sin, and I am absolutely sure that, if you will now come and trust Christ, you have not committed that sin, for every soul that trusts Christ is forgiven, according to God's Word, and therefore you cannot have committed that sin."

C. H. Spurgeon, Pictures from Pilgrim's Progress:

My close – God the Holy Spirit is all powerful. Tremble:

I don't want to blunt the warnings of Jesus with false assurance. It is likely that – if you are worried you've committed the unpardonable sin, that you haven't because only the Spirit's work in your life would make you fear the Lord. But the way that Jesus addressed this is with the highest level of seriousness…so must we. This passage RIGHTLY inspires fear in us, and that's ok, it should. It is obviously recorded in the Scripture for that purpose.

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 2:5

you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 10:27

The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.

Rev 14:6 6 Then I saw another angel flying high overhead,(I) having the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.(J)7 He spoke with a loud voice: "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."

The word for fear there has the same meaning as our word fear. It means FEAR.

Luke 12: In the same breath that Jesus speaks about the unpardonable sin, He says this:

4 "And I say to you, My friends, don't fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5 But I will show you the One to fear: Fear Him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the One to fear! 6 Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God's sight. 7 Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows!

Treat the Holy Spirit with great – remarkable sobriety – fear and wisdom. Fear the Lord, as Jesus said, and don't be afraid to trust Him – He who knows all of the sparrows and numbers our hairs, counts us as of great worth and Loves the World enough to send His son to rescue it.

Here's the good news: GREEAR: False gods mutilate us; the true God mutilated himself for us.

The prophets of Ba'al begin by dancing around their altar. They end by slashing at themselves until their blood runs (1 Kings 18:28). False gods always push us toward destruction: "Work harder. Do better. Obtain more. You still aren't getting my attention. Slash yourself!" So we slash at our bodies by going through crash diets to attain that perfect figure. We slash at our families by overworking to make extra money. We slash at our souls by compromising our integrity to get someone's affection.

False gods push us to mutilate ourselves, because we desperately want to win their approval. But only one God was ever mutilated for us—Jesus Christ. This story ends with a magnificent fire coming from heaven, but as Jesus himself points out to his first disciples, the fire was not intended for sinful humanity (Luke 9:51–56). It was ultimately intended for him: of all the characters in this story, Jesus is not Elijah, calling down fire; he is the sacrifice who receives the fire of judgment.

At the cross, Jesus took into his body the fire of God's justice so that we could take into our lives the fire of God's love. Other gods demand dancing, slashing, mutilation. But Jesus Christ is the only God who was slashed and mutilated for us. As Tim Keller has said, "Every other god will make your blood run; only the true God bleeds for you."

Discusses Jesus' teaching of the blasphemy of the Spirit. Can a Christian commit this sin? What does blasphemy actually mean, and why is this sin so serious?

Let's celebrate! We've made it through 10 episodes, and have FINISHED OUR FIRST BOOK TOGETHER. Great! Today we are reading Genesis 12, Nehemiah 1, Matthew 11, and Acts 11 together. We will start with Matthew 11, because something very significant and almost unsettling happens in that passage. The focus is on John the Baptist, a cousin of Jesus who has risen to incredible prominence in Israel as a preacher of revival. God had given John a tremendous ministry and a huge impact on his country, preparing for the public ministry of Jesus. John was a man of uncompromising righteousness and passionate pursuit of God. Whether he was asked about it, or not - we don't know - but at some point, John proclaimed his view - solidly grounded in Scripture - that Herod the Tetrarch (essentially the president/political figurehead in Israel) was sinning by having intimate relations with his brother Phillip's wife. This infuriated Herod, and he wanted to kill John, but he didn't have the courage to do that, so he simply had John arrested and jailed instead. And that is where we pick up our reading today.

Before we get back to John the Baptist and doubts, one thing that I think will be helpful for us is to do a very brief summary of every book that we finish. So here is a brief summary: Ezra was a scribe, priest, and zealous expert in the law. The time period covered by the book is right around 450 B.C. and records the return of the Jewish people to Jerusalem after a 70 year exile in the Babylonian area. Chapters 1-6 of Ezra are about the return of a small advance group of Jewish people that are sent to secure Jerusalem and prepare for the building of the temple. Unfortunately, the enemies of Jerusalem mount a campaign to prevent the rebirth of that city, and there is quite a bit of back and forth between them, the advanced Jewish preparation team, and the government of King Darius and King Artaxerxes. Ultimately, the Persian government sides with the Jewish people and orders the work on the temple and the walls to continue.

Interestingly, Ezra is not actually one of the advance scouts, and does not appear in his own book until chapter 7, when he is introduced to us by way of a brief genealogy. Ezra leads a team returning to Jerusalem with literally thousands and thousands of pounds of treasure (and no military guard!) and praises God upon his safe arrival. Later, Ezra discovers that many of the people of God have disobeyed His commands and married foreign wives; a situation that Ezra resolves by calling for the sending away of all of those foreign wives. And that is Ezra - an interesting guy with a passion for God and great faith who solves a thorny problem in quite a controversial way.

Back to Matthew 11 and John the Baptist. John is in jail, and apparently feels like he has misunderstood God's plan, or that something has gone wrong. So he sends his followers to go ask Jesus what's up. John is going through what appears to be a significant crisis of doubt - and who can blame him? He is in a dank and dark dungeon and basically just awaiting his execution, which will come fairly soon. It is worth remember here that Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest human being ever born in history (or, at least, in a tie for first place with that title according to Luke 7:28, "I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John. " And here we see the GREATEST ever struck by a massive wave of doubt. Which brings us to a question that lots of Christians have, but rarely voice. And that question is this: Am I the only Christian that wrestles with doubt? And the answer is - OF COURSE YOU AREN'T! Here is John the Baptist, conceived in a miraculous way, the one who heard God's voice and saw the heavenly dove descend on Jesus at His baptism - the greatest human ever....and he is struggling with doubt. And sometimes I do too. And if you are being honest - I'll bet you get hit by waves of doubt too! How do we handle them?

I love this letter from one of my writing heroes C.S. Lewis, because it is so honest and transparent:

Dear Sister Madeleva Thank you for your most kind letter. I will direct Fabers to send you a copy of the little book, but it may shock your pupils. It is 'A Grief Observed' from day to day in all its rawness and sinful reactions and follies. It ends with faith but raises all the blackest doubts en route. Since my wife's death I have been very ill myself and last July I was, while unconscious given extreme unction. It would. have been such an easy death that one almost regrets having had the door shut in one's face—but nella sua voluntade è nostra pace (In His will is our peace) I am now retired from my work and live as an invalid, but am quite contented and cheerful. I am afraid laziness has more to do with this than sanctity! All blessings. Yours most sincerely C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, ed. Walter Hooper, vol. 3 (New York: HarperCollins e-books; HarperSanFrancisco, 2004–2007), 1460–1461.

In this letter, written about a month before Lewis was to die, he mentions his book "A Grief Observed." Which is about his battle with doubt and faith that came when he watched his beloved wife H. Joy Gresham die of cancer. C.S. Lewis, as I mentioned, is one of my heroes, and probably the biggest reason for that is because he was not a hollow Christian brimming with empty positivisms, fake smiles and repacked religion, but he was a man of full and deep thought about the things of God and Jesus. This book is a stunning display of that reality, and it deals with grief and doubt on a level that is so real and visceral that one can't read it and think that the author was anything less than a genuine person. In his introduction to the book, Lewis' stepson (and the son of Lewis' wife who had died, the object of his grief) writes this:

"C. S. Lewis, the writer of so much that is so clear and so right, the thinker whose acuity of mind and clarity of expression enabled us to understand so much, this strong and determined Christian, he too fell headlong into the vortex of whirling thoughts and feelings and dizzily groped for support and guidance deep in the dark chasm of grief. How I wish that he had been blessed with just such a book as this. If we find no comfort in the world around us, and no solace when we cry to God, if it does nothing else for us, at least this book will help us to face our grief, and to "misunderstand a little less completely."

Douglas H. Gresham, "Introduction," in A Grief Observed (HarperOne, 1996), xxx–xxxi.

So - if doubt can grip Lewis and doubt can grip John the Baptist, then you can be sure that it can grip normal folk like you and me. John the Baptist, in his great moment of despair, looked to Jesus for answers, and you and I can do no better. We have no records of his longings, griefs and lamentations as he awaited death, but we do have the words of Lewis as he went through the valley of the shadow of death, and I'll read them here so that they may comfort and encourage you who are dealing with grief and doubt at the moment:

"Feelings, and feelings, and feelings. Let me try thinking instead. From the rational point of view, what new factor has H.'s death introduced into the problem of the universe? What grounds has it given me for doubting all that I believe? I knew already that these things, and worse, happened daily. I would have said that I had taken them into account. I had been warned—I had warned myself—not to reckon on worldly happiness. We were even promised sufferings. They were part of the programme. We were even told, 'Blessed are they that mourn,' and I accepted it. I've got nothing that I hadn't bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not in imagination. Yes; but should it, for a sane man, make quite such a difference as this? No. And it wouldn't for a man whose faith had been real faith and whose concern for other people's sorrows had been real concern. The case is too plain. If my house has collapsed at one blow, that is because it was a house of cards. The faith which 'took these things into account' was not faith but imagination. The taking them into account was not real sympathy. If I had really cared, as I thought I did, about the sorrows of the world, I should not have been so overwhelmed when my own sorrow came. It has been an imaginary faith playing with innocuous counters labelled 'Illness,' 'Pain,' 'Death,' and 'Loneliness.' I thought I trusted the rope until it mattered to me whether it would bear me. Now it matters, and I find I didn't....(DOUBT!) Bridge-players tell me that there must be some money on the game 'or else people won't take it seriously.' Apparently it's like that. Your bid—for God or no God, for a good God or the Cosmic Sadist, for eternal life or nonentity—will not be serious if nothing much is staked on it. And you will never discover how serious it was until the stakes are raised horribly high, until you find that you are playing not for counters or for sixpences but for every penny you have in the world. Nothing less will shake a man—or at any rate a man like me—out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself. And I must surely admit—H. would have forced me to admit in a few passes—that, if my house was a house of cards, the sooner it was knocked down the better. And only suffering could do it....The terrible thing is that a perfectly good God is in this matter hardly less formidable than a Cosmic Sadist. The more we believe that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use in begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed—might grow tired of his vile sport—might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless. But is it credible that such extremities of torture should be necessary for us? Well, take your choice. The tortures occur. If they are unnecessary, then there is no God or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary. For no even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren't."

C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (HarperOne, 1996), 36–38.

Sometimes when tragedy strikes, all we can do is respond like Job:

20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, 21 saying: Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.22 Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.

Job 1:20-21

Reading through Genesis 12, Nehemiah 1, Matthew 11 and Acts 11. Discusses the doubts of John the Baptist and how a Christian should deal with doubting. Also features the story of C.S. Lewis and his marriage to Joy Davidman that would end in tragedy when she died of cancer. How did Lewis cope? How did he overcome his doubts? His book A Grief Observed documents his journey.

Today's big Bible question comes from a biblical situation that our British friends might call a 'sticky wicket,' which means a difficult situation. The scribe and priest Ezra has discovered that some of the Israelite men have disobeyed God's command and intermarried with Canaanite women, and he is very disappointed, ultimately calling on those men to send their foreign wives away. Which brings up our big question: Is interracial marriage unbiblical? Does mixed-race marriage displease God now and did it ever displease God? (By the way, if this discussion interests you, you might want to read my book The Bible and Racism, what the Bible REALLY says about racism.)

Today's Bible reading on the podcast will seek to correct a mistake I made yesterday. If this is your first time here, then this is our plan: To promote DAILY Bible reading. We are doing that by reading through the Robert Murray M'Cheyne Bible reading plan. His goal was to lead his congregation to read the entire Bible through in one year, and his plan allows that to happen when followed daily with the added bonus that you'll read the Psalms and New Testament twice. I'd love for you to read the entire Bible through in a year with us, but that is not the goal of this podcast (or the Bible 2020 initiative at our church.) Again, my goal is to help lead you in DAILY Bible reading. That means that you can pick up this goal in early January, or the middle of Summer, or late October, or whenever...and be successful! If you miss a day's reading only go back and do it if you have the time and if it won't compromise your Bible reading for today. The goal is DAILY BIBLE READING. For the church I'm pastoring, I'd love for us all to be reading the same passage on the same day - if we miss a day...no big deal! We'll make it up...or not - the goal is to forge ahead and develop a daily Bible reading habit.

That said, yesterday I made a mistake, and left out Genesis 10, which we were supposed to read. I'll read it today for the sake of completeness. But first, let's read Ezra 10....

So, Ezra the scribe discovered in chapter 9 (yesterday's reading) that the Israelites had disobeyed God's commands and intermarried with the Canaanites. This upset him so much that he tore his clothing and pulled out his hair AND pulled out his beard hair. As the possessor of a beard, I can tell you that pulling out your beard hair hurts like crazy. What was the problem? Well, the problem was that God had forbidden the Israelites from marrying the woman of Canaan. (Note: Not ALL foreign women) Here's the passage:

3 You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and he will swiftly destroy you.

Deuteronomy 7:3-4

SO - you see the point here, I hope? The children of Israel could not marry the people of the promised land area (Identified in vs 2 as, " Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you " because they would turn the hearts of the Yahweh following Israelites towards other Gods. This was NOT a race issue. I note here that the Israelites were NOT white and the Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, etc. black. I guess in modern parlance, they would all be brown, or whatever, but these are people all from the same part of the world, and they are all directly descended from Noah's sons. I'll say again: This was NOT a race issue, or a skin color issue. All of these people would almost certainly have looked the same and have been of very nearly the same race. Keep in mind that Abraham, the father of the Israelites, was himself from Ur of the Chaldeans/Tell el-Muqayyar which is in modern day IRAQ. So - the children of Israel are basically ethnic Iraqi people.

So -some rapid fire questions:

1. Are Christians still forbidden from marrying people from Canaan? Answer - In the New Testament, Paul commands Christians to not be "unequally yoked." in 2nd Corinthians 6. Based on the full context of the verse ("Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?" 2 Corinthians 6:14) Christians have long taken that as a prohibition on a Christian marrying an unbeliever, and I agree with that interpretation. This does NOT forbid interracial marriage, but interfaith marriage.
2. Is interracial marriage wrong, according to the Bible? ABSOLUTELY NOT - NOT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. The Bible does NOT speak out against interracial marriage - only interfaith marriage. Moses, the most prominent leader of the Israelites, was married to an African/Cushite woman that was almost certainly black-skinned. Were you aware of this? Were you further aware that Miriam, Moses' sister, criticized him for this marriage? Well, let's take a look at Numbers 12:

12 Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman). 2 They said, "Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does he not also speak through us?" And the Lord heard it. 3 Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth.4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "You three come out to the tent of meeting." So the three of them went out. 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. 7 Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my household.8 I speak with him directly,openly, and not in riddles;he sees the form of the Lord.So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" 9 The Lord's anger burned against them,and he left.10 As the cloud moved away from the tent, Miriam's skin suddenly became diseased, resembling snow.

Numbers 12:1-9

SO- TL;DR: Miriam criticized Moses for marrying a black woman. God came down and defended Moses and gave Miriam a skin disease until Moses interceded and prayed for her to be healed.

Further, the book of Ruth is about a Moabite woman named Ruth who marries a Jewish man named Boaz. Ruth, the Moabitess, is in the genealogy of Jesus. There are other examples of this in Scripture as well. In sum, NO! The Bible does NOT forbid interracial marriage. Here's John Piper with more on the subject.

3. Final question: Did Ezra do the right thing in making the Israelites divorce their foreign wives in Ezra 9-10.

This is a thorny question to me, and an answer is difficult to come by. We should note here that there is no indication in the text of Ezra 9 or 10 that God COMMANDED Ezra to tell the Israelites to put away their foreign spouses. Ezra is definitely trying to please the Lord, but we don't see any Scripture where God commands this to happen, and the book of Ezra does not include God telling Ezra for this to happen. I note that Malachi 2:16 tells us that God hates divorce. I also note that Paul addresses this issue with extreme clarity in 1st Corinthians 7:

If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce her husband. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.

1 Corinthians 7:12-14

I am honestly not sure if Ezra commanded the Israelites to do the right thing in divorcing their foreign wives in this situation. I'm not sure if that was the way to repent, or not. I am sure of this, however, Paul's command that I just read is crystal clear. If a believer is in a marriage with an unbeliever, the Christian MUST NOT DIVORCE their spouse.

Reading in Genesis 10-11, Ezra 10, Matthew 10 and Acts 10. Big question: Does the Bible outlaw interracial marriage? It does NOT! Was Ezra correct when he forced Israelites to divorce their foreign spouses?

If you've grown up in church - and maybe even if you haven't - you've probably heard of the conversion of Paul the apostle. Initially, as the story goes, Saul was an enemy of Christians and had them arrested. He was even at the murder/martyrdom of the deacon Stephen, and was apparently the government official there that signed off on his impromptu (and likely illegal) execution. So far, so good - all accurate. Then, later on the Damascus Road, as Acts 9 tells it, Saul meets Jesus, and becomes a Christian. For the rest of his life after meeting Jesus, Saul is now known as Paul because Jesus has not only changed his heart, but changed his name! Great story, bro, but... is that what really happened? Actually, it isn't. But - before we discuss Saul/Paul and biblical names, let's read Acts 9 together!

Fantastic testimony! Saul is such a notorious enemy of Christians that when God directly tells the prophet Ananias to go pray for him, Ananias has the temerity (or perhaps, the foolishness) to try and tell God that He was mistaken about sending Ananias to go and pray healing for Saul. God convinces Him that He's right, and Ananias is wrong - duh - and then Saul is healed and delivered. And then, Ananias gives him his new name - right? Actually, no. Saul is still Saul. In fact, in Acts 9:19-20, we see that Saul has become an evangelistic dynamo:

"Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time. 20 Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: "He is the Son of God."

But...his name is still Saul! Later, Saul goes to Jerusalem to try and join the church there, but they are still afraid of him, so he decides to change his name to something more Jewish sounding, right? Actually, no - he remains Saul...and Saul is a Hebrew name! Then we take a Saul break for a couple of chapters to let Peter eat some goats and pigs and such. At the end of chapter 11, the focus turns back to Saul, who has been sort of exiled to his hometown of Tarsus partially because Christians are afraid of him, but mostly because people that aren't Christians are after him. But - praise God! - good old Barnabas, the son of encouragement, comes along, and takes Saul (that's still his name) to the church in Antioch, which is a Greek/Gentile city that would be in modern day Turkey. At Antioch, Saul becomes a valued member of the church AND IS STILL CALLED SAUL.

Finally, we get to Acts 13. The Gentile church at Antioch is flourishing, and filled with seasoned prophets and teachers from many different nations, including at least two Africans: Lucius of Cyrene and a guy named Simeon the Black (which is a pretty cool name, if you ask me). The Holy Spirit sets apart two of those prophet/teachers for an evangelism mission, and calls them out by name: Barnabas and SAUL. Yes, God Himself calls him Saul years after His conversion. And then we get to the changeover - blink and you miss it!

9 But Saul—also called Paul—filled with the Holy Spirit

Acts 13:9

And after that its Paul, the whole Paul and nothing but the Paul. Following that verse, the only time we hear the name "Saul" in the Bible is when Paul is recounting His testimony on the Damascus road. In every other instance, he is simply called 'Paul.' So - our big question: Why did Saul become Paul? And the answer is - HE DIDN'T! Saul is both a Roman citizen and a Hebrew citizen, and as such, he would have two names - a very common practice in the first century. I have a good friend with Mexican origins who is called Johnny by most people here in Salinas, California, but his real name is Juan. Something very similar is happening here with Saul/Paul. (Read more about dual names here) Some dual names came about because a person had an encounter with God, and God changes their name. Abram becomes Abraham, and Jacob the deceiver becomes Israel the overcomer. But in Saul's case - Saul was his Hebrew name, and Paul his Greek/Gentile name, and that is what he went by once God called him to take the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles. I have no doubt that if one of Paul's old Hebrew friends had seen him, that he would have hailed him as 'Saul.' and Paul/Saul would have answered without batting an eye.

One last little rabbit trail about names. Let's say that you and I encounter a certain dashing British fellow (or lady, as is the case at the moment) who is a Doctor, but not the medical kind. And this Doctor has a an interesting blue police box that is larger on the inside than on the outside and - HOLY COW! it can go back in time. If our Doctor friend asks me where to go - I'd immediately ask to go back to first century Jerusalem - I want to see Jesus!

Here's the sort of interesting thing. If I could speak Aramaic - which was the dominant Jewish spoken language at the time - I would have a very hard time finding Jesus, no matter how many people I asked. They would probably look at me like I was crazy, and tell me they had never heard of a 'Jesus!' What if I asked for Saul, or Paul or Luke, or Matthew, or Peter? I'd get the same response! Why - because those people are myths that only appear in the Bible? NO!! Because Jesus wasn't called Jesus when He was here, and neither was Saul/Paul called Saul/Paul, or Luke called Luke or Matthew called Matthew or Peter called Peter! Confused yet? Well - don't be. Those names are ENGLISH - and English was not a language in the first century A.D. Saul's name would be pronounced more like "Shaul." (with an SH!) His Greek name would have been Paulos. How about Peter - you mean Petros (Greek) or Shimon Ben Yonah (Hebrew) or Keephah - the apparent Aramaic transliteration of the word 'stone.') Luke would be Loukas, and Matthew would be Levi or Matthean. What about Jesus? Well, most likely, he would have been Yehoshua Ben Yosef, which was later shortened to Yeshua Ben Yosef. Both are shortened forms of Joshua, son of Joseph, and the Hebrew name means "YHVH is salvation." Jesus name in Greek is apparently a transliteration of the Hebrew, and is " Iesous" which is pronounced sort of like Ee-ay-soos. Our English word 'Jesus' comes from that via a complicated bit of etymology that would be somewhat boring to non word-geeks. Here's a bit of a stunner if you haven't realized it yet: the name 'Jesus' and the name 'Joshua' are the same names in terms of meaning and origin. Joshua is an anglicized version of Yeshua and Jesus is an anglicized version of the Greek Iesous. (note: anglicized means " make English in form or character. ")

We will talk at length about the name Jesus/Iesous at some point in an upcoming pod, but for now it is good to simply remember that Jesus/Peter/Paul/Luke/Mark, etc. are Anglicized versions of Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic names.

Reading Genesis 9, Ezra 9, Matthew 9 and Acts 9. Discussing Saul's conversion, why he began to go by Paul, and the spread of the gospel in the first century. Also discussing Jewish/Aramaic/Greek Bible names and how they were likely different from what we might expect.

Today's reading is fairly meaty - big, important and theologically rich passages in Genesis 8, Ezra 8, Matthew 8 and Acts 8. However, because the last two episodes of the Bible Reading podcast went long, today's big Bible question is an important one that will be fairly short. Does God care about animals? I suppose a subset to that question - one that we will cover in depth at a later date - is a very common biblical question: Will there be animals in Heaven? Before we dive into that, however, let's read our passage for today - Genesis 8.

John Owen was an interesting fellow. A nonconformist pastor, theologian and writer in the 1600s in England, he was also an MP and an Oxford Academic. He was a bright mind and a lover of Jesus and had an interesting take on today's Genesis passage, and how we might apply it to our lives in 2020. As I write this, it looks possible that the U.S. - my home country - might be about to go to war with Iran. Australia is on fire, and other things have people in a very disquieted, alert and heavy state of mind. Owen asks and answers a question about how Christians should live and trust God when going through such dark and difficult times. Listen to his answer:

What is our duty with respect to dark and difficult dispensations of God's providence in the world?

The fourth and last peculiar duty which I shall mention is, to hide ourselves. And how shall we do that? The storm is coming; get an ark, as Noah did when the flood was coming upon the world: which is stated for a precedent of all judgments in future times. There are two things required to provide an ark,—fear and faith:— (1.) Fear: "By faith Noah, being moved with fear, prepared an ark." If he had not been moved with the fear of God's judgments, he would never have provided an ark. It is a real complaint; we are not moved enough with the fear of God's judgments. We talk of dreadful things that can befall human nature, and expect them every day; but yet we are not moved with fear. "Yet were they not afraid," said Jeremiah, "nor tore their garments." Nor do we do so. Habakkuk, upon the view of God's judgments, was in another frame, chap. 3:16, "When I heard," saith he, "my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble." This is the way to find rest in the day of God's judgments.... (2.) FAITH We cannot well provide an ark for ourselves, unless we be guided by faith, as well as moved by fear. "By faith, Noah prepared an ark." How many things have you heard of that encourage faith;—the name of God, the properties of God, and the accomplishment of the promise of God. By virtue of all those properties, encourage faith in providing an ark. But you will say, "We are yet at a loss what this providing of an ark and hiding of ourselves is. 'A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself.' God calls us to enter into the chamber of providence, and hide ourselves till the indignation be over and done. If we knew what this was, we should apply ourselves unto it. I will tell you what I think in one instance:—give no quiet to your minds, until, by some renewed act of faith, you have a strong and clear impression of the promises of God upon your hearts, and of your interest in them. If it be but one promise, it will prove an ark. If, under all these seasons, moved with fear, acted by faith, we can but get a renewed sense and pledge of our interest in any one promise of God, we have an ark over us that will endure, whatever the storm be. Think of it, and if nothing else occur to you, apply your minds to it, that you may not wander up and down at uncertainties; but endeavor to have a renewed pledge of your interest in some special promise of God, that it belongs unto you, and it will be an ark in every time of trouble that shall befall you. (slightly modernized)

John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 9 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 397–398.

You probably caught the verse that triggered today's Bible question, because it was the first verse we read: "God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark." (Genesis 8:1) So - God was thinking about Noah AND the wildlife and the livestock in the Ark. There are several indications in Scripture of God's love for animals:

9 Then God asked Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?""Yes, it's right!" he replied. "I'm angry enough to die!"10 So the Lord said, "You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. 11 But may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?"

Jonah 4:9-11

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your judgments like the deepest sea. Lord, you preserve people and animals.

Psalm 36:6

He causes grass to grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, producing food from the earth, 15 wine that makes human hearts glad— making his face shine with oil— and bread that sustains human hearts.

Psalm 104:14-15

28 Don't fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Aren't two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's consent. 30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:28-31

So - Yes! God cares about animals, and watches over them. God knows when animals die and cultivates the earth to preserve their lives. We might also mention Proverbs 12:10 here as well, "Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel." But - could animals have eternal life? That's a different question entirely - one we will spend quite a bit more time on in a future episode. We do know for sure that there are horses in Heaven, because Jesus is riding on one in Revelation 19. Isaiah 6 also gives us the tantalizing idea that eternity will indeed have animals:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 6:9-10

More on that later. Thanks for reading!

Until tomorrow, Godspeed!