Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to that's a Good Question, a podcast where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language.
If you or someone you know has questions, please submit them to roundthetable.co questions.
Hey, welcome back to that's a Good Question. My name's John and I'm here with my good friend Pastor Ryan.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Hey, Pastor John.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: And we are excited for more questions about the Bible. And we're also going to get into some topics that people would love to have a biblical worldview on.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Great.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Lots of those lined up. Something for everybody today. Excited to dive in. So do it. Here we go. Let's start with a spicy one.
A modern, controversial, current event type one. Here's the question.
What do you guys think about what's going on in Iran?
Many Christian churches are divided by the Zionist movement.
What do you think about Zionism?
[00:01:06] Speaker B: So a couple questions there.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:01:09] Speaker B: so the first one was about Iran.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: What's going on over there?
So not knowing exactly when this will be posted or released, it's hard because these world events that are happening right before us, it seems like every single day more information comes out and which alters and continues to form our opinions.
So what is my opinion right now is I don't like conflict. I understand that in our world, sometimes conflict is the only way to break through evil.
I will say this, I don't want to say too many details because I don't want to give away anything, but Iran has affected people in our church personally who have family there. And I prayed with someone this past Sunday who has family there, and a lot of tears, a lot of fear. But this person was telling me that their family in Iran was saying that they're not scared.
And while nobody likes the loss of life, particularly with children, because it's my understanding that at least one school was hit.
That's. That's absolutely.
That's an absolutely tragic, horrendous thing.
It's a complicated issue in the sense of kind of what we were talking about in the previous episode, that we're not privy to all the information about why certain things happen, especially on the global scale.
So what I would say is I'm praying for what's happening over there. I pray for an end to conflict. I pray for resolution. I pray for freedom for the people of Iran. I pray that God's will is done.
I don't, again, even if conflict is the necessary means in our world to break the bonds of evil, I know it will not always be that way. And so I also want us, in some ways I know people look to us for our opinions and for counsel. And so I want to point people to the gospel. But I will say I'm kind of for the whole normalizing, not having an opinion on things that you don't know enough about.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: And I want to also be humble enough to say I just don't know enough about what's going on. And again, it's all kind of unfolding before our eyes.
And you know, I could spend an extra three hours researching what's going on or I could take my son to Cabela's and buy him a pellet gun and start showing him how to shoot a gun like I did yesterday. I mean, it just, it's, it, it's at the end of the day, like we're not going to be able to have a fully formed opinion on everything that's happening. And so again, I just want to stress we care about this. I care about this because people in our church family are personally affected. I care about this because I care about people on this planet. I don't want conflict to continue. We want to pray for resolution. We want to pray for peace. We want to pray for God's will to be done. I mean, I don't want to sound.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: So we're not experts in the Middle east or in war or any of those things. Yeah.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: But the second part of that question about Zionism, there's. I think there's a couple ways you can maybe think about that question because I've heard that term used in different ways. It's a loaded term. And I think you sometimes have to ask people what, what do you mean by that? I've heard Zionism held understood in two ways. One, just simply that Israel to be a Zionist simply means that Israel that you believe Israel has a right to exist and make self determinations about their own country and people and their participation in the world.
If that's what a Zionist is, then I guess I'm a Zionist because I think Israel should be allowed to exist as a state and be allowed to make their own determinations.
If you mean Zionist in the sense that God has a special plan individually for Israel and God has sanctioned and approves everything that the government of Israel does and God will always protect Israel regardless of what they do.
That's another way that I've heard Zionism be described that I might want to have a little bit more deeper conversation about.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: Is that how you kind of understood that?
[00:05:19] Speaker A: I agree entirely. Yeah, I think so. With the Iran thing, I think, you know, we have plenty of thoughts. I have plenty of thoughts. But I think pretty much everything I think about it is couched in this. If this is true, then I think this, if this is true, then I think this, you know, it's kind of, because like you said, you know, we're, we're, we're just hearing things through the news and so we just don't know all of it. So, you know, if some of the things that I'm hearing are, are true, then I think a certain thing makes sense. But if other things are true, you know, so just, it's just hard to know exactly the whole situation. And so I think we're waiting and watching for it to play out. Yeah. You know, obviously if you're somebody who is in Congress or if you are the president or if you are a high level military official, then you have to, you are in a seat where you have to know more and have to have firmer opinions on these things. I'm not in that seat. You know, I don't have as clear of information and I don't have as firm of opinions. Mine are more just kind of, I'm hearing as it comes.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I think what I'd say is I don't think Israel should be given a blank check to do whatever they want in the entire world. If that's what you mean by Zionist, then I probably not want, I'm a Zionist in the sense of I think Israel has a right to exist, a right to be self determinant. And so that's where it goes into the. I just want to step back and say, you know, that's a very loaded term, a heated term, especially right now with Israel engaged in conflict. So let's make sure we understand what we're asking each other.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So to the Zionism part. Right. I'll.
Yeah, I think there's some lack of clarity about what is, what does that exactly mean? So I thinking more of what was that? A couple years ago I got to preach a sermon called Is Israel Special? Which was, which was a timely moment for us.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: What series was that in?
[00:07:06] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it was one of our
[00:07:08] Speaker B: question and answer series.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Yeah, some kind of tough questions series. And I talked About Romans chapter 9, Romans 9, Romans 11, Romans 9 through 11 are, is an important passage if you're going to think about this whole. What role does Israel play post Jesus, you know, in the New Testament era in the area that we live in?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: In the New Covenant era.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Yeah, New Covenant era. Yeah.
And so basically I made the point that Israel is Special in the sense that it has a really special historical place in God's work in the world. Right. God used Israel in the Old Testament. They were his people that he chose to work through that he chose to give covenant to that he brought the Messiah through Jesus.
But the coming of Jesus is the pivotal point in all of redemptive history.
And the plan all the way back since Genesis chapter 12 was that not just an ethnic Israel would have the opportunity for salvation, but all the world would have the opportunity to be saved through the Messiah. Yeah, so that was always the plan going back to the beginning.
And then in the coming of Jesus, that becomes much more clear and full.
And so we would say as people who fall in the category of what's called covenant theology, that the people of God is those who have their faith in Jesus, those who have faith like Abraham had in God's Savior, the Messiah, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. And therefore the church, which includes Jews and Gentiles, is God's people in the New Testament.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: So.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: So in that sense. So, you know, a dispensationalist, that's the other theological category in this conversation, as
[00:08:42] Speaker B: distinct from covenantal theology.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. These are the two sides of this conversation. I know those are big words, so if you don't know those, that's totally okay. But those are the two sides of the conversation. A dispensationalist, a classic dispensationalist, would say that Israel and the church are two separate peoples of God that are parallel, that are totally distinct, don't overlap.
One dispensationalist once said that it's like in the New Testament, God takes his phone call with Israel and puts it on hold, and then he picks up the phone with the church, and then the rapture is going to come and he's going to put the church phone back down and he's going to pick up the old, the. The Israel phone again. So, I mean, they're trying to make the point like these are two totally separate story lines in the Bible, whereas we would say. No, no, it's one storyline. Yeah, I think the promise to fulfillment.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Yeah. I think the other thing that is often said that I think is a mischaracterization is the notion of replacement. Sure. We're not talking about. We're not saying the church has replaced Israel. We're saying that the church or Gentiles have been grafted in to the vine of God's people, which is now found as fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And so it's made of both Jews and Gentiles. And so we would say that there's been a grafting in now. So that's, that's kind of where we would say what Romans 9, 10, and 11 are reminding us of.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: And so back to this question then.
How was how. Remind me of the question again. How is it tied into Zionism in Israel?
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Right. Just to start Iran, I mean, it doesn't say specifically. It jumps from one to the other. So I think they're. What they're saying is that they're. So the person asking the question is kind of assuming, and I think a lot of people are assuming this, that we're partnering with Israel in attacking Iran. They're saying, is that because we are Zionists? Yeah. Okay. And there's, there's the thought amongst a lot of Christians in America of, well, yeah, we would support Israel simply because that's what we should do. Because that's what the Bible says. And we're saying, actually, no, that's not.
If, if we're going to stand with Israel, it's for some different reasons. Yeah.
Having to do with our shared values, our alliance, having to do with the. Their position in the situation going all the way back to October, the October 7 attacks from a couple years ago, that they were the victim of those attacks and had a right to defend themselves.
So for us, it's not us saying we wouldn't say that we have an obligation to side with Israel or to protect.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: Regardless of what they do.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Regardless of what they do, or even for a biblical reason. I guess I would say it's more of a. This is like a geopolitical decision sort of thing.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: So. Yeah. Okay. I think that. Yeah, I think you're. Yeah. You're helping to frame some of the ways that I've heard it is that do we have a biblical obligation to support Israel?
[00:11:30] Speaker A: That's what. That's global pursuits. Yeah. That's what I see as the underlying question that Christians are asking right now. It's like, do Christians have a. Have a biblical responsibility to support Israel, the current modern nation of Israel? And my answer would be no.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I would say no, too. I'd say, you know, what America as a country decides to do in tandem with Israel is there's different ways we can have that conversation about what they should and shouldn't be doing. But to say that we have a spiritual obligation to follow the will and wishes of those in government of Israel, the nation of Israel, the state of Israel, I would say I can't make that argument from Scripture. Right. We can talk about the moral argument, about their pursuits of, you know, pursuing in the spreading of values which bring to, you know, freedom and liberty to people. But to say that we have a spiritual obligation to support Israel regardless of what the government there decides to do, I think that's. Yeah, that's not what we're. If that's a Zionism, then no.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Right. We would say you should weigh each moment on its own merits.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: You know, weigh out the situation. What is right and wrong in the situation. What is.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: I mean, how many, how many leaders of Israel in the Old Testament were seen as wicked and got called out.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: And so then it's not. It's. That's what I'd say. That's what I'd go back to say is we're not saying that we can't hold bad decisions to account.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: Right, right. Yeah. Going back to a couple Years ago, the October 7th attacks, when this conversation really got got going, I would say. Or got brought back to the front.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: We did some episodes and we said, yeah, we do support Israel, but not because we think the Bible tells us to, but simply because they are the victims of a terrible terrorist attack and they should defend themselves.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: So, you know, so we just. So judging the nation.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: On its own merits. Not saying we have that Christians have some kind of biblical obligation to always support every decision of the modern nation of Israel. All right, so our next question says this in our Bible reading this week in Matthew 16, because we're going through the Bible in a year here at Peace Church. So people are reading that, and I love that they're thinking about it hard and asking questions. All right, so they say in Matthew 16, Jesus gives orders for the disciples not to tell others that he is the Messiah. He also said that to other people after healing them. Why does he do this?
So why does Jesus tell people not to tell people he's the Messiah right away at the beginning?
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
So I think there's. Obviously he did it for a reason. I think there's a little bit of strategy in terms of how Jesus wants his identity to unfold because he knows.
Jesus knows where his path leads. It leads to the cross, but it has to lead at the right time.
And so he incrementally lets out more and more of who he is throughout his course of his ministry career. And so there's times, I think, where he withholds or asks people to not share what they've done because he's controlling how these things Progress. Because he knows what's to come, and he knows when it's meant to come.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: How would you answer that?
[00:14:35] Speaker A: Yeah. One of the things that he says a number of times in the Gospels, especially in the Gospel of John, as he says, my hour has not yet come.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: So like in John chapter two, right at the beginning, his. His mom. His mom asked him to do a miracle at a wedding.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Which is a funny moment, I think. I just always think that's kind of hilarious. I'm just picturing Jesus, the son of God, and he's at a wedding, and his mom is like, hey, we're out of wine.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Of all the miracles. Yeah.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
It's just a funny moment. And he's. And he. His. His initial answer is, mom, my time has not yet come.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: He goes on to do the miracle still. But.
But that's. That's one of those early indications of, like, hey, you know, I am the Messiah. People are going to find out that I'm the Messiah. But that has to happen in the right way and in the right timing. And so, yeah, he's careful about that. So you. Yeah. And then in other instances, like in John chapter six, the. The crowd tries to actually make Jesus king.
So positive reaction to all that Jesus is doing, and he withdraws, kind of gets away from them because Jesus, you know, those are the two opposite bad answers. Right. One response is, is people saying, jesus, you are the Messiah. We should make you an earthly political king. You know, and that's not the kind of kingdom Jesus is. Is. Is doing.
The other response is to reject Jesus and to kill him, which does happen, which is a wrong response, but part of God's plan.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Right.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: So, yeah, so it's the timing. Jesus's hour wasn't that yet there. So he tells people not to tell people about him. Then, of course, later, after his death and resurrection, you know, key, pivotal moment in historical development of history, then Jesus says, go and tell everybody.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: And that's the turning point.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Yep. In all the Gospels, there's. There's a great commission moment because then. Then it's all. All's been fulfilled in a time. Even the sermon I'm preaching on this week, when Jesus starts his ministry, he says, the kingdom of God is at hand.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Like, Jesus is intimately aware of the timing of things. And like you're saying, he said a number of times, my hour's not yet come.
So it's intentional and strategic on Jesus part as he sees his plan unfold and his mission.
Yeah.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: All right. Another Bible in a year. Question here from Matthew that I thought was really good is Matthew, chapter five. They say it talks about not swearing or taking an oath.
And they say, what does that mean?
Does that mean we shouldn't say things like, I swear on my mother's grave? Or should we even not swear on the Bible in court?
Or is it a. We shouldn't make promises at all?
What is the thing that Jesus is trying to tell us to do? And I can read part of the passage here first, just for.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: For memory. Yeah, why don't you go ahead? I. I got a thought, but want.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Go for.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: For the listener's sake, why don't you go ahead.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: Matthew, chapter 5, verses 33 and following. And I'll just read part of it. It says, you have heard it said of old that you shall not wear, swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great King. Do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply yes or no.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Yeah. I've always understood this to mean essentially that Jesus wants his followers, their word, to be true and proven true consistently. You don't need to add. I promise this is true.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: Right?
[00:18:03] Speaker B: You don't need to add. Well, I swear to you, what I'm gonna say is gonna be true. That everything we say needs to be hold the same amount of truth, regardless that we're people of integrity, that we mean what we say every single time we say it, that we don't need to add on these extra layers of. Yeah, I mean, I promise what I'm saying to you is true. It's like, well, do you not promise everything else that you said was true? So we, as followers of Jesus, we have integrity in our speech and in our pronouncements. We don't need to add those extra things. That's kind of how I've always understood it.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Totally agree. Exactly. Yeah. If. If.
Yeah, if somebody knows you, they should just know that what you're saying is true. You shouldn't have to say, I swear. Right?
[00:18:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Or I swear on my. My mom or my dad or my house plant.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And I guess, yeah, like, I've always felt, like, a little weird, and it's just part of our vernacular. Right. Like, when I'm preaching a sermon, there's. There's a part where I may say something like really dumb and I'll say like, hey, I'm going to be honest with you for a second.
And I'm not saying.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Because the rest of your story.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: He's not saying the rest of it was. No, I was trying to say is like I'm going to enter into a vulnerable space and share a little bit more of my heart. Right. But it's that sort of language, though, that is actually I don't think is really all that helpful.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: And so you don't need to say I swear or I promise this is true. Just let everything you say be sound words of integrity and wisdom.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: That you won't need to add those extra elements.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: Exactly. Totally. I. Yep. That's the command.
So I think in the question, then I think pretty much everything that they said they wondered about is true. That's. That's it. You should be careful about what you say, about what kind of promises you make, because you should always be keeping your word. You shouldn't swear by heaven or earth like Jesus says.
Swearing on the Bible, like in court.
I don't, I don't know that this verse is really telling us that you can't do that.
I think it is an interesting thing that we shouldn't have to do that.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: But I don't know that I would
[00:19:59] Speaker B: like, I'd say in our. And I guess we're talking to one another, like if I'm saying something to you, I swear in the Bible it's true.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: There's a formal process that's part of our legal system where they're saying, you're entering into a moment where what you're saying now is going on record and so you're promising to say only true things.
Maybe in a real meta sense that Jesus is. Is saying you shouldn't have to do that. Right. But in our legal sense, it's one of the ways that we submit to the laws and practices.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: All right, here's a really practical question that came in. Okay. It says this. There's so much help from the church around getting engaged and married, which is awesome. Glad to hear that.
Which is such a blessing and is much needed. However, we are now expecting our first child and I almost feel like I need the same help in regards to parenting. We all do. Amen.
They say we are committed to family worship, but what does that look like? What other advice would you have for first time parents? All right, so specifically about family devotions, family worship, first time parents. What kind of advice do we have?
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So I'll just take a step back because we just did a parenting seminar this past Sunday night at church. So I'd say watch out for those, because we do want to speak into parenting and help people to navigate the new world and how to be biblical parents.
So we just, as a ministry of peace church, we do want to continue to be intentional about creating space and time for parents to be equipped.
Now, when it comes to family devotion and family worship, what does that look like?
Here's what I'd say. And I want this to be an encouragement. It looks like whatever it looks like in your family, don't feel like you have to follow a certain script that we see elsewhere. It's not like you need to replicate a little mini church service in your home where you've got an opening song
[00:21:40] Speaker A: and then you gotta do the call to worship.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Call to worship.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: Three songs.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: Three songs, then a prayer. You know, it is. What it means is that your family gets together and for a time you're gonna collectively say, as a family, we're gonna focus our hearts on Jesus. And maybe you sing a song, maybe you read a psalm, maybe you pray, maybe just talk about how you saw God move in that day. Yeah, I would say don't worry about trying to figure out what this perfect picture looks like and whether or not your time looks like that. It looks like what it looks like in your family as your family says, we're going to focus on Jesus for a little bit here.
And you do that with every member of your family. Yeah, that's what I would say.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: Amen. I agree. For us, in my house, it looks like every night we have a very short time together where we all come together right before bed, we read a Bible story, we quick talk about what it means, we take prayer requests, and then we take turns with the four kids rotating. Who prays?
And because my sons are pretty young and a little crazy, you know, that is a much shorter time.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: Yes, exactly.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: But then my girls who are older, I will then not every night, but every couple of nights, sit down with them and we'll actually do a deeper Bible study. We'll read a passage and really get into it for, you know, a longer period of time because they're older and ready for that. So, yeah, I think it looks different at different stages.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: So my youngest is a little bit. My youngest is pushing nine. She can be nine soon. So we can have a little bit. You know, we don't have this.
Don't get me wrong, we got Squirrely times in our house, but not like you do with, you know, kids just out of toddler age. But one of the things that our family does is our kids love this, is we do, like, Bible trivia.
So we'll ask them Bible questions, and then we'll use that as a springboard to talk about that story.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: That's funny.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: And, you know, we'll say something like, whose name was originally Saul?
And they'll be like, oh, Paul, you know, what do we know about Paul? You know, like that. Because with my family, we have to work in competition with everything that we do. So that's one of the ways that we do that. It just. It's the way that our kids like to do it.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: Something I've done recently with the boys because they're a little. I feel like they have shorter attention spans.
I've been trying to pick Bible stories that are maybe uniquely interesting to little boys.
So I read them, like from Judges 3, the story of Ehud the other day, where he stabs the knife, the sword in the guy. And it's so fast. So.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: It envelops it.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:09] Speaker A: And then it says his poop spills out of the front of his belly. So, you know, they were engaged because they're little boys and they love to talk about poop and swords and stuff like that. So I've been trying a little bit of. Get a little creative.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: Yeah, great question.
Always a tough thing, but super important.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: And again, yeah, I think just distress. It doesn't have to feel like it's. It runs smoothly or perfectly.
[00:24:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
A couple more Bible questions here. In Genesis 22, there is the story of Abraham sacrificing, or almost sacrificing his son Isaac.
It's a powerful story.
So their question is this.
Why is there no talk about how Isaac felt being bound and put on the altar by his father and how their relationship survived that hardship?
That's a good question.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a great question.
Why is there no talk? Because the Bible doesn't share much about it. Yeah, it's the first thing I'd say. So anything that we would say is kind of surmising.
And there's like. There's There's a moment that happens, and we're given detail, but we're not given super intimate details about it, aside from, you know, being bound and put on the altar. But I'm saying in the sense of. The Bible doesn't tell us how Isaac responded. And so that's what I'd say. Why is there no Talk on it. It's like, well, the Bible doesn't give us a lot to talk about, so we could surmise about that or we could focus on what the Bible is saying.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
That is one of those ones where we just wonder what happened in that conversation. I mean, they hike all the way out there.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Isaac's carrying and even Isaac's like, so where's the ram?
[00:25:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
In the New Testament, too, we have kind of that hint that Abraham seems to have been expecting that he was going to sacrifice Isaac, but then maybe God was going to raise him from the dead.
So there's kind of that.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: There's a lot of faith being demonstrated here. Yeah. And faith as in trust in God.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So we. We know. Yeah, totally. I think you read Genesis 22 and you know that. Yeah, Abraham is full of faith for what's about to happen. But it's interesting when we get that insight from the New Testament, too, that he was maybe thinking that Isaac was going to be resurrected.
So there's a lot, you know, we don't know exactly what he was picturing. We don't know how much Isaac knew. It seems like he didn't know that much until the last moment.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:30] Speaker A: But yeah, the question. So their question, too is about the relationship between father and son. Hopefully it really pivoted to a conversation about between them and the Lord, that relationship.
Hopefully it was a great chance for Abraham to teach his son Isaac about trusting the Lord no matter what, 100%.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: And I would just say for the person who asked the question, we've all wondered that.
Maybe you haven't heard a pastor preach on that or guess at what Isaac was saying or feeling.
But I will just tell you, I think everyone who reads that story has wondered at one point, man, totally. What was Isaac thinking? Here's a side note. Here's a fun note. Here's a Pastor Ryan, fun fact on my AirPods. So I have a picture of a ram, the little icon of a Ram. Then 22, the numbers 22 and 13.
Because Genesis 22:13 says, and Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
And I think that's just a beautiful story of how God delivered. Delivered for Abraham. And yet we know that that story ultimately points to where God offered up his own son. And there wasn't a substitute, but his son went and was the sacrifice. Right. So it's a. It's a powerful story. But to go back to what that person asked, we've all wondered it. It's a great question.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: We just don't exactly know.
[00:27:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: So.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: Beautiful. Pointing to a father who did sacrifice his son for us. God the father.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, hey, great questions, everybody. Thanks for sending them in. Thanks, Pastor Ryan.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Thanks, Pastor John.
[00:28:11] Speaker A: Have an awesome week, everyone. We'll see you next time.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: God bless.
[00:28:16] Speaker C: Thanks for listening. If you found this episode helpful, share it with someone today.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: You can follow.
[00:28:21] Speaker C: That's Good Question and find more episodes wherever you listen to podcasts. That's Good Question is brought to you by Round the Table, a Ministry of Peace Church in Meadowville, Michigan.
