Thru the Bible - Questions & Answers on Oneplace.... - Questions & Answers 3047

Joshua was on the march, ordered by God to destroy all who lived in the Promised Land.

But why did God show mercy to Rahab the Harlot and not to the Ghibbianites?

We'll stay tuned and find out.

This is Steve Schwetz, for the Through the Bible Radio Network, and you're listening

to the Question and Answer Program with our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McKee, who for

over 30 years answered the many questions of his listeners.

We begin today's program with this question from a listener in San Diego, California, who asks,

where did idle worship begin?

Well, may I say to you, it might be a little difficult to pinpoint it and to recognize

it as such, Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord, Cain brought the fruit of the

ground.

That was the first, I suppose, effort on the part of man to offer his works and his own

labor and himself to God instead of a sacrifice, but the works of his hand.

In other words, that is the first, England, we have a humanism, which actually is a

worship of man himself.

That is the thing today that's taught by philosophy, by most of the sciences, and by psychology,

and by all liberalism.

It's known as humanism.

It's a projection of man, and what man can do or man's potential, and it worships that.

That is the God today, actually, of the world.

It's very heinous, and a very subtle, and a very deadly form of worship.

Psychology has made a backflip in the sense I stated, psychology and school almost

majored in it, and one time thought of going into that field.

Well, at that time, psychology didn't have too much to say about man that was favorable

at all, that man should recognize his weaknesses, and that sort of thing, and attempt to make

corrections.

But today, the thinking is just the opposite.

You were to think well of yourself, and I tell you very frankly to give that to the

man here in Southern California that was convicted of killing at least 11 or 12 little boys,

and he'd killed others, but they didn't convict him of those, didn't have maybe enough

evidence.

But he apparently was guilty of those crimes too, and this man killed all those little

boys.

Now, I can't imagine that psychology even would go and say to him, we want you to think

well of yourself, and that's the way that you're going to overcome this.

Well, very frankly, that's a deadly sort of thing.

Now, that's a form of idolatry.

It's like standing in front of the mirror and worshipping what you see in the mirror.

And friends, that's not a very attractive God, but the idols of the heathen have never

been very attractive.

They always have a bad notion of God.

Now we find a little later on at the Tower of Babel, actually what the Tower of Babel

was, it was not a tower to get man out of water to keep his feet from getting wet.

Actually, it was a tower, which was a rallying place for those against God.

They now are apparently going to worship the sun.

That seems to have been the thought in the heart of man then, getting away from the living

in true God, and after all, the living in true God is the one that sent the flood.

And the storm destroyed all those people.

And they're afraid of him, and so now they're going to worship the sun because the sun

is nice to them and shines on them, make them feel good.

May I say to you, that is the beginning of man's departure, of course, from God and has

been, so that we have probably the beginnings at that time.

But the pin pointed and say that the first day that a man made an idol and worshipped

it would be very difficult to pin point that day.

Paul, you remember talked about that in the epistle to the Romans, that man actually

was worshipping really when you get down to it, man was really worshipping himself.

Maybe I'll turn to that.

In Romans, the first chapter, verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified

him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations.

Their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise.

They became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made

like the corruptible man and to birds and forefooted beasts and creeping things.

Now that is the history of it, the date I could not pin point it, but it was somewhere

between Cain and Abel and the flood that came upon the earth or better still, probably

we should say the Tower of Babel.

And I hope that's close enough to date it for you.

We turn our attention now to a question from a listener in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

What is meant by the use of Rahab's name in Psalm 87?

Also what is meant by this one was born there.

Now that takes us back to the 87th Psalm, which is one of the great messianic Psalms.

The subject is the Zion, the city of God.

This is a Psalm that makes it very clear that the day will come when there will be those

who march up to Jerusalem will be able to sing.

We are marching to Zion, the wonderful city of God.

This is the Psalm of marching up to Zion.

It concerns the city of Jerusalem, the earthly city of Jerusalem and the hope that God has

given to the world that that city will become the capital of the world during the millennium.

It will be the great religious center, and the Lord Jesus is to come there, His feet

will touch down at the Mount of Olives.

Now the Psalmist here, and it's called a Psalm, our song of the sons of Korah, and it's

a Psalm, I suppose, by the sons of Korah here, and it reveals God's attitude now toward

this.

I'm taking that entire Psalm that we might get at the meaning for this individual that

asks the question, the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Glorious things are spoken of thee, all city of God, and then he says, I will make mention

of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me, behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia.

This man was born there.

You see, Rahab is not speaking of the Rahab, the harlot.

It represents actually Egypt, and if you turned Isaiah 51 and 9, which we are not turned

to today, but you'd find out that it has that kind of a meaning, that kind of a reference.

In fact, of the matter is, I may just turn over here to the Psalm and pick up something

that I think that probably ought to bring out since we are going to look at most of the

Psalm, and I'll go to Psalm 89 verse 10, where it says, thou hast broken Rahab in pieces

as one that is slain, thou has scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm, and here he's

speaking of Egypt.

And so in this Psalm, he's speaking of Egypt.

Now Egypt represents, a Rahab represents the southern power, and Babylon represents the

northern power.

Now Rahab means tumult, and Babylon means confusion.

And so here all of the tumult and confusion that is in the world is going to be brought

to an end.

And right now the world that you and I live in is filled with tumult and confusion.

And when the Lord Jesus comes, why the tumult and the confusion will all be done away with,

it'd be dissipated.

And that sort of thing will not exist in Imoa.

You remember Kipplin wrote a poem in it, he speaks of the nations of the world, the tumult

and the shouting dies, and the captains and the kings depart, still stands thine sacrifice,

and so that even Kipplin could speak of this city and the future that it holds and that

the confusion in the world is to be done away with.

Now at that time the enemy will have come up against Jerusalem, and the enemy will have

with them a great many people that actually are not in sympathy with him.

I don't think they understand it at all.

And where it says here, the thing that you've mentioned is that this man was born here.

It says, and if Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her and the highest

himself shall establish her.

Well it simply means this that those that are coming up as enemies that some of them

and Ethiopia is one of them that's mentioned here.

It says behold, Philistian tire with Ethiopia, this man was born there.

Well what does it mean?

Well he was born again.

I think that these that have come against Jerusalem have come under someone else's banner

and a crisis banner and they actually were not in sympathy with the attack on Jerusalem.

They were caught up in it.

And the minute that they have Christ, they are going to be born again.

And I think that's exactly what it's going to say.

But the verse you're referring to is Zion, they could say, well this has been our city

all along and we've been born again here also.

I think that is the thought that that is a great messianic song and one that is very seldom

used by the way.

This Grand Rapids Michigan listener wrote in asking, would you please explain what Jesus

was illustrating in the parables found in Mark chapter 2 where he speaks about a new patch

on an old garment and new wine in an old wine skin.

The basis for this in the second chapter of Mark began with a large Jesus coming to

Capernaum where he made it his headquarters and he healed a man with a palsy and then

immediately after that he called Matthew and then the enemies began to question him and

rebuke him that he was not following along after the scribes and Pharisees at all and

that he actually was not like really John the Baptist.

And so the Lord Jesus then gave them these two parables and I think that probably I should

read them there in Mark the second chapter verse 21.

No man also saw the piece of new cloth on an old garment else, the new piece that filled

it up, take it away from the old and the rent is made worse.

In other words you saw a new patch on an old garment and as a boy my mother used to sow

patches on my pants and today it's sort of in style and that day I was greatly humiliated

at those patches but the thing of it is it's bad enough to have a patch but that patch

the new part of it be stronger than the old and it would pull the old out you see the

old part of the garment would be pulled out then you'd have to put a patch over a

patch in order to be able to wear your pants.

And so that is what the Lord is saying here and meditating that which is very obvious but

he'll make application.

He says no man put it new wine and gold bottles that is old wine skins else the new wine

that bursts the bottles and the wine is spilled.

In other words that which is to be permitted to ferment why it would expand and the bottles

will be marred but new wine must be put in the new bottles.

Now what the Lord is saying to these people I didn't come to follow the scribes and

Pharisees.

I didn't come to continue trying to put a patch on an old garment trying to patch up the

old garment of the law of the most ex-system, a God-given system but it had gone to seed

and now the Lord Jesus said I have not come to sow a patch on this old garment of the

law.

I have come to present you with a new garment and that new garment is actually the righteousness

of Christ which is provided for every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's come not to patch up the old garment but to give you one brand new and that is the

interpretation of the parable as he gave it and the interpretation which he made of it.

A listener in Glendale, California writes this simple but important question would you

please explain the meaning of Daniel chapter 8 verse 14.

May I say to you that I have written a book on the book of Daniel the title of the book

I have written is delving through Daniel and I have a note on every verse in the book

of Daniel and I have a note on Daniel 8.14.

I would like to read you the verse and the note that I have in my book on Daniel will

you listen to it for it is my explanation naturally.

This is the verse and he said unto me under 2,300 days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Now here is my note on it.

The time was limited to 2,300 days.

It's well to note that there has been disagreement as to the interpretation of the 2,300 days.

Seventh day Adventism grew out of the great second Advent awakening in which this verse

was given the day year interpretation and the date for Christ coming was set for the year

1843.

William Mela and his followers among whom was Ellen G. White understood the sanctuary to

be the earth which would be cleansed at his coming that is the coming of Christ.

Mela was a sincere but badly mistaken bad this preacher.

The day year interpretation was a fragile and insecure foundation for any theory of prophecy

and history has demonstrated it to be false.

If the 2,300 days are taken as being literal 24 hour days the period would be between 6

and 7 years which approximates the time of Antiochus epiphanies.

In 107 BC he began to perpetrate his atrocities.

The priest Judas Macabeeus, the hammer, drove out the Syrian army in 165 BC.

At which time the temple was cleansed and re-dedicated after its pollution.

The cleansing is celebrated in the Feast of Lights and that feast by the way is mentioned

in the New Testament for instance in John 1022 and it was at Jerusalem the Feast of the

Dedication that is re-dedication our lights and it was winner.

May I say to you that's the note I have in my book undelving through Daniel and that

is my explanation of it.

It is something that was prophesied back in the 8 chapter concerning Antiochus epiphanies

who has a historical character now and this has already been literally fulfilled concerning

him and the attempt to bring it up and make it fit into the day year has already failed.

That rules it out of course and therefore we can dismiss it as not being acceptable at

all.

Unfortunately Dr. McGee's book delving through Daniel is no longer available but we

do have a number of resources that are available which deal with the book of Daniel.

We'll give you our contact information at the close of today's broadcast.

Our final question comes from a listener in Fremont, Michigan he writes, according to Joshua

chapter 9 the Gabyonites received Joshua in order to be spared their lives.

Most commentators say that Joshua's complacence allowed him to be deceived.

Could it not have been God's mercy that allowed Joshua to be deceived?

And the Gabyonites do the same thing that Rahab the harlot did in Joshua chapter 2?

Now the scripture that you refer me to I shall turn to in order to answer your question.

Joshua 924 reads, and they answered Joshua and said, because it was certainly told I servants

how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to

destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you.

Therefore we were so afraid of our lives because of you and have done this thing.

Now the whole point here with the Gabyonites is this, they acted out of fear and deceived

Joshua and the question of whether Joshua was lax at this point actually hasn't anything to do

with the incident at all that relates to your question. The important thing to note is that the

Gabyonites did this for self-preservation. They did not interpret this as being the hand of the Lord

in the way that Rahab did. Rahab recognized that God had done this and she needed to exercise faith

and she believed God. Actually the Gabyonites did not. To them it was just a matter of self-preservation,

but now let's go back and look at Rahab and it says concerning her in the second chapter and you

give verses nine and ten I'll probably read a little farther and she said unto the man that is

it's now Rahab speaking to the spies that have come into Jericho. I know that the Lord has given you

the land. Now there's a little difference in her language and the language of Gabyonites.

They didn't know it and she did and that your terror has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants

of the land faint because of you. You see all of Jericho believed that they were going to take

Jericho and that God had said that they would but there was only one woman who really believed

for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt

and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side Jordan,

Zion and Og whom you utterly destroyed and as soon as we had heard these things our heart didn't

melt neither did they remain any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God

he's God in heaven above and in earth beneath but the interesting thing is that they were frightened

by all this but not unbelievable God except that one woman and therefore the writer to the Hebrews

that took time in the destruction Jericho says by faith the hallet Rahab perished not with them

that believed not they didn't believe God they were afraid this could happen they were afraid

but they really didn't believe God at all in other words they really didn't have any faith at all

they were just frightened this was an emotional sort of thing for them but this woman believed God

by faith the hallet Rahab believed God that is the important thing and that's the difference

between this woman and the Gibbonites and it's between this woman actually and the other people

in Jericho they went through the same process that the Gibbonites went through they were afraid

you know a mob a crowd can be moved like that and not exercise faith that's a reason that I have

wondered and now I've come to a conclusion of why radio is so much more effective than my

pulpit ministry was I'm confident that in a great audience as we had at the church of the open

door that many people were moved because of the crowd it was an emotional sort of thing and therefore

we never could count all that would come forward or go to our prayer room we never could count all

of them as converts and I don't think in any public meeting that you could do that you couldn't count

them 100% if you get 10% you're doing well and then many it wouldn't even be 10% but we're finding

out when you're dealing with one individual why they're not moved by any crowd emotion you see

that a crowd can be motivated today and I don't know about you but I don't want to be in that crowd

on anything because of the fact it's just nothing in the world but an emotional upheaval and that's

exactly what you have here that was a big crowd in Jericho they were all scared to death this man

has crossed the Jordan River miraculously we've heard about the miracles but they didn't believe

God that's woman they have she believed God and the Gibbonites they didn't believe God they

wanted to work a ruse or some clever stratagem whereby they could fool Joshua and that they would

save their own skin because they were there in the land and they were afraid but I can't find

where one Gibbonite believed God you see there's quite a difference and today you see

since we as a nation have gotten so far away from God we're frightened when anybody says

boo to us today and we are frightened as a nation and may I say to you that is just about the

position that these people were in that they didn't believe in God the Gibbonites didn't

well with that answer we come to the close of another excellent question and answer program if

any of these answers have sparked your mind to come up with more questions then we suggest you

contact us for our resource catalog where you'll find many materials by Dr. McGee and then we'd

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