New Jerusalem

 I just finished a study of the book of Revelation. I’ve always been confused by the size of the New Jerusalem as described in Revelation 21. I get that it is huge. I can understand how wide and long it is, but when it says it is also says it is 1400 miles high (see verse 16), I think it is impossible!  Maybe it is figurative, like most of the symbols in this book. But now I have a different thought.  This is my own thinking, not someone else’s idea:

The New Jerusalem arrives on the scene AFTER Satan and all of God’s enemies are destroyed by a huge fire. In fact, heaven and earth are also destroyed in the fire. Then God creates a new heaven and a new earth. 

I always imagined this taking place on this earth. A huge New Jerusalem could fit on a new earth that has different dimensions than this earth. We aren’t told the size of the new earth. We don’t know much about it at all. It has no sun or moon.  It may not be constrained by the things that we have now. Gravity? Does it even spin? There is no day/night cycle. I’m seeing whole new possibilities that have never crossed my mind before. 

Questions

 I have a daily Bible reading plan. Every year I read a different translation or version of the Bible to get a different perspective on what I’m learning. I try to answer all the questions when I read a passage. 

Who?  Who is the passage talking to or about?

What?  What is the message the passage is trying to convey to the original audience ? What does it mean for my life today?

When?  When was this written and what was going on at that time?  Am I going through something similar?  Can this apply to our current time/environment?

Where?  Where did this take place?  Is it relevant to my city, family, or church?

Why?  Why was this message important?  What can I learn from it?

How?  How do I apply this to my life?

I also ask, “how do I know this is true?”  None of this even matters if God is not real or if the Bible is not truly his inspired word. I know so many people who claim to believe in God, but they think the Bible is just a man-made book of basically nothing more than fables. “If so,” I ask them, “how do you know what is true about God?”  I usually get comments about how God speaks to them. Well, even my schizophrenic patients seem to think”God” speaks to them. 

We need a reliable, unchanging source of truth by which to measure all other “truths” or we could just believe anything we want. 

I praise God that he has not left us floundering in the dark. We do have his trusted Word, The Bible, and there is so much evidence that it is true!  (Please read my other posts for some of this evidence)

Mental Health affected by COVID-19

Watch for a new class

https://www.adventistcommunity.church/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-6.29.15-AM.png

More apologetics resources

If you have enjoyed these lessons, please see some of the following sites for more in-depth study:

https://creation.com

https://answersingenesis.org/

https://davidrivesministries.org/

https://www.rzim.org/

https://www.josh.org/

Morality: Is there a difference Between right and wrong?

How do you decide if something is right or wrong?

Are there moral absolutes?  As a Christian, I believe there are.

Can you think of some things that are always right or wrong?  For one, everyone believes murder is wrong. Even in the prolife/pro choice de bate, everyone agrees that it is wrong to kill babies. The argument is over the definition of when the fetus becomes a baby.   What about lying or stealing?  Everyone believes it is wrong when it is done to them!

Do culture or upbringing have an impact on morality? Do they completely explain it?
If there are moral absolutes, where do they come from?

What do you say to the person that says:

“I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do. I’ll decide for myself what is right and wrong?”  If we all decide for ourselves, without any independent standard that we collectively agree on, we have anarchy.

Here we have two opposing world views:
Christianity says God created me. I have value. God says what is right and wrong according to his standard written down for us in the Bible.
Evolution says everything was a result of random chance and mutation. We have no value beyond existing. No law but survival of the fittest.

Who is better, Mother Theresa or Osama Bin Laden?

“The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other.”  C.S. Lewis, (1969), “The Case for Christianity”

So what standard is used?

Secular Humanism, based on Darwinism, Says our purpose is only to enjoy life, to reach our own potential, and do what is best for our own game. This Idea is popular right now.
 “Survival of the fittest” is a way to explain away selfish ambition and avoid accountability for stepping on others on your way to the top.  Whoever dies with the most toys wins!

What do you say to the person that says:

“I believe in God, but not religion. Religion is responsible for all the wars and suffering in the world.”

I have heard that line dozens of times. It simply isn’t true. In its extreme, Darwinism has encouraged people like Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, and other terrorists to push their own brand of racism and extremism, killing millions in the process.  Tens of millions have been tortured and killed by atheistic or communist regimes, just in the last century:
Communist China:  77 million
The Nazis:  21 million (non battle-related)
Communist Soviet Union:  62 million
The Khmer Rouge killing fields in Cambodia:  2 million
Religious wars have happened, but killing people and suppressing human rights is not basically a religious practice.  It is fallen, corrupted humanity acting out selfishness and greed.

What about racism?

The Bible, the Old Testament says we are all related. First from Adam and Eve, then Noah.  We were separated at the Tower of Babel. In the New Testament, all believers are children of Abraham and joint heirs with Christ.

Racism is not consistent with Christianity, and Christians should not tolerate it.

https://gleanernow.com/news/2020/06/call-for-change?utm_source=Northwest+Adventists&utm_campaign=f15669b433-NWAdventists_20200604&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8f9cae1547-f15669b433-68373894&mc_cid=f15669b433&mc_eid=dcbcd0d0eb



On the other hand, Darwin clearly believed, wrote about, and taught that some races were inferior to others, because of genetic evolution.

Darwin’s most famous book is actually titled, “On the Origin of Species or the Preservation of Favoured  Races in the Struggle for Life”

This foundational racist belief system was endorsed by Hitler and others who used this teaching to practice genocide. It was used to support euthanasia, to decrease the burden of an ill person on society.  In 1940’s Germany, 200,000 mentally ill and disabled people were involuntary euthanized, citing Darwinism and survival of the fittest to justify murder!

What about some other special human attributes?  Humans can think, plan, feel, and imagine!  We are self aware. Accidents of nature, being simple containers of chemical reactions, would not be self aware.

How could evolution explain hopes, dreams, creativity, the ability to appreciate art and music, the ability to love?

What about our ability to to work together and build a society?

Societies based on Judeo-Christian values are more prosperous than other societies and are more supportive of human rights and offer higher quality of life to all citizens, not just those who agree with those in charge.  American founding fathers knew that freedom is best afforded by putting God in the center of our decision making. This is from the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC:


 .



Finally, suicide is the leading cause of death for young people in most parts of the world, and the rate is increasing.

If you believe you are a random occurrence held up by survival of the fittest, what purpose do you find?
If you see yourself as a son or daughter of the King of the Universe, created by the God that loves you enough to die for you,  can you help stop this trend?

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”  Jeremiah 29:11

Prophecy: God Communicating with Creation (US!)

If we were created by a personal God who cares about us and is personally involved with His creation, as the Bible asserts, wouldn't we expect that God to communicate with his creation?

• Do you believe God ever communicated with humans? 
• Does the Bible show God communicating with people?  If so, in what ways?
• What are some ways that you see God communicating with humanity today, if any?  

The Bible shows us that God speaks to his people in various ways. Moses and Paul saw him face to face (or nearly). Many others had visions or dreams. To even more, God audibly spoke to them.  Prophecy is another means of communication we see repeatedly in the Bible.  Amos 3:7 says that God reveals all of his plans through the prophets.  In the New Testament, Peter explains one of the  purposes of prophecy:  (1 Peter 1:10 – 12).  This says that the prophecies regarding the Messiah were meant for us, so we would understand who Jesus really was.  How can this understanding help us in our faith?

The Bible itself says that the fulfillment of prophecy is proof of its validity, and thus the reputation of the Bible stands on prophecy. (see Isaiah 41:21 – 23, 46: 9 – 10). In the New Testament, this is repeated. (See Revelation 12:17; 19:10 – the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy). One of the gifts of the Spirit is prophecy (1 Cor 12:10; 14:1, 22), and prophecy comes from God (2 Peter 1:20).

Let's look at some of the prophecy we see in the Bible. 

The Old Testament contains more than 600 prophecies of the Messiah. We will not be studying them in their entirety today! Christians believe these prophecies were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ. The odds of one man fulfilling all of them is astronomical. Let's look at just a few: Jesus was born at just the right time. (see the 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9). The Bible tells us that the wise men from the east were searching for the new King that was to be born. When they asked the priests in Jerusalem, the priests knew exactly where to send them (Matthew 2: 1 – 12). Jesus was born when Messiah was expected and where he was expected to be born!

In Jesus' ministry, he often referred to the prophecies about the Messiah. See John 13:19 and Isaiah 43:10 (Jesus quoting Old Testament messianic prophecy). When Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). On the surface, we see Jesus feeling the weight of the sins of the whole world crashing down on him. He felt the separation from the Father. He felt forsaken. But there is more....Read Psalm 22. Look especially at vs. 8, 14-18. Those watching the crucifixion would have been very familiar with this Psalm, and would have recognized that he was quoting this prophecy of the Messiah!

 • Discussion: Some have said that Jesus just arranged everything so that it only appeared that he fulfilled prophecy. But can you think of any of the prophecies that he could not have arranged, if he were not the Messiah?
 • What if the Bible writers changed the facts after Jesus died, so that we would be duped into believing that he was the Messiah? (see lesson on Jesus; the apostles died for their faith in the resurrection and would not have died for a lie; there were too many eyewitnesses).
 • If the Bible is right about the prophecies concerning Jesus, can we trust it to be right on other prophecies?

 Lets look at some long reaching prophecies in the OT. (Read Daniel 2:28 and briefly review the statue in Daniel 2, the 4 beasts in Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 and 13). God predicted the world-dominating kingdoms that would come at and after the time of Daniel in Babylon and that after the 4th kingdom described in these visions, no other kingdom would rule the whole world until Jesus comes and establishes his kingdom forever. Not Napoleon, not Hitler; no one has been able to reunite the kingdoms of the world under one rule.

 • What prophecies can you think of that have come true, that help you to rely on the Bible as an accurate predictor of the future?

The Bible is full of prophecies that have come true, and others that have not yet come true. Prior to its exile into captivity, Israel was warned by prophet after prophet to stop worshiping idols. This is documented throughout the history books in the Bible.  Israel did not stop, and the nation was taken away by its enemies into Assyria and Babylon, just as predicted and forewarned. In the prophecies, Cyrus was even named as the leader God would use, long before he was born! (Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1.  These were written before the nation was taken away by Babylon, which was the kingdom that was overthrown by Cyrus and Media/Persia). Then, they were returned to their previous lands, just, again, as predicted by the prophets.

 • If we can trust the Bible's accuracy on the captivity of Israel and its return, on the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, can we trust it to be accurate on the details not yet fulfilled, such as the return of Christ? Prophecy is one way that we can know the Bible is a trustworthy source.

For more on this, see:

https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/study-guide/e/4995/t/right-on-time--prophetic-appointments-revealed-