WWUTT 440 Q&A Pomegranates Answer Miraculous Images?

What is the purpose of the pomegranates in the decorations in Solomon's temple?

Are miraculous healings still happening today? And are images of Christ sinful?

The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text. Many of the

Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the

Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty. Here's your teacher,

Pastor Gate. Thank you, Becky. And greetings all. It is Friday, heading into the long weekend. And on the

Friday edition of the broadcast, we take questions from listeners. Best way to get a question to us is by email.

The address is whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. You could also ask me a question in person.

And if I remember that you've asked me that question, I'll respond to it in the coming Friday edition of When We Understand The Text.

So the first couple of questions that I'm going to respond to here actually came from Bible study last night.

We host Bible study here at the Hughes home and we're going through the

Old Testament and we're usually right on with where we are in the Old Testament study on the broadcast as well.

So we read through the same chapters last night that we did, that I also covered in the broadcast.

And we managed to get through Bible study without incident yesterday. The week before, right when we were opening up our

Bibles to study, the tornado sirens went off. So we went out to my driveway because that's what you do in Kansas.

When the tornado sirens go off, you don't go down to your basement. You go out to the driveway to see if you can catch a glimpse of a tornado before you then have to run back into the house and down into the basement.

So we're out on the driveway looking at the storm. The tornado was really further west than Junction City, and I don't think anything ever touched down.

I think it was just funnel clouds went past Fort Riley. No damage was done, at least not that I heard of.

So we were all safe, still hoping to catch a glimpse of a pretty awesome natural spectacle as dangerous as that is as well.

And then when we got back inside, we still managed to cover the amount of our study of first Kings that I planned on covering that night.

So so last night we got through our study without any interruption and and covered the same text that we did on the broadcast.

So maybe you ask the same questions and and can relate to the curiosity being raised here.

Question number one, what is the purpose of the pomegranate? So we read in Chapter six and then also again yesterday in Chapter seven, just numerous mentions of pomegranates being carved into the stones or into the engravings, into the relief around the pillars.

So what was the significance of the pomegranate? Well, it was a common fruit in Palestine and was kind of a representative fruit of the richness of the land in the

Book of Numbers. When the spies, the twelve spies went into the land of Canaan to kind of scope it out and come back and give a report.

We often think of them coming back with a great big giant cluster of grapes, right? Well, the land was not only rich in grapes, but the text says that they also came back with figs and pomegranates.

The juice of the pomegranate had medicinal properties, so it had value in that way, as well as just being a very rich fruit.

Pomegranates could be made into wine as well as grapes, and their juices could be made into oil for lamps, and that oil could also be used for seasoning or cooking.

That oil had religious purposes also and was used in the temple. And if you've ever broken open a pomegranate before, surely you've noticed that it's full of seeds.

It's just full of seeds on the inside of the pomegranate. So in following with the command to be fruitful, the pomegranate was an ideal example of a fruit that produces much, much more fruit.

In Exodus 28, pomegranates are described as being on the robes of the priests with bells.

So because of the inclusion of the pomegranate on the priest's robe as instructed by God, and that's the way that the robe was to be tailored, this is likely why the fruit was such an ornamental part of the temple decor.

There may have been several reasons, but it was a very valuable and sought -after fruit in the

Fertile Crescent, and surely was a reminder of the blessing of God upon the people in that land to have a food that was as useful as well as tasty as the pomegranate was.

Okay, the next question here, was there a significance to the names of the pillars? So remember that Solomon hired

Hiram to do all the bronze work on the furnishings in the temple, and one of his jobs was to construct these two huge pillars that were right there at the entrance to the temple.

The name of one pillar was Boaz, and the name of the other was Jachin. And it was not uncommon for the

Israelites to name their monuments. One example that I think of is in 1 Samuel chapter 7, when

Samuel raised up a stone between Mizpah and Shenn, and he called its name Ebenezer, which means the

Lord is my help. I think also of the hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, where in verse 2 it says,

Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I've come. So by the

Lord's help, I've come this far. The Lord is my help, that's what Ebenezer means. So in keeping with that tradition of naming monuments, we have these two giant pillars, the biggest pillars there in the temple, many pillars supporting the structure, but these two were the largest.

So there were names that were given to these pillars, and it was the meaning of the names that hold the significance.

So Boaz and Jachin aren't referring to people, it's the meaning behind the name. Boaz means strength, and Jachin means established.

So in the context of the temple, you would say the Lord is my strength, and the

Lord has established. And that's what the people, and the priests especially, would remember when they looked at those pillars, walking up to or into the temple.

And built there on Mount Moriah, overlooking Jerusalem, anybody in the city would have been able to look up and see the temple, and known the significance of those pillars.

So thank you for those questions related to yesterday's study. This next one comes from Angela in Columbia, Missouri, and she says,

Dear Pastor Gabe, I thank you very much for your patient, kind coverage of Hank Hanegraaff, who has turned his back on the gospel and sound teaching for the false church of the

Eastern Orthodox. Like you, my heart was broken at the announcement of his conversion, and I pray that he will return to the true faith once for all delivered to the saints.

Amen. I agree with you there, Angela. I also pray that Hanegraaff would repent and come back to sound teaching.

At the end of that podcast, Angela goes on, you recommended not listening to Hanegraaff anymore and instead choose another resource that presents a question and answer format like the

Bible Answer Man program is known for, but you didn't provide any suggestions. If you could give me a list of programs you would recommend,

I would appreciate it. I don't think, or I'm sorry, I don't want to listen to only Q &A, but it sure does help answer some of the more difficult questions

I have about the harder to grasp issues. And it's also great to hear what kinds of questions other people are asking, so I don't feel too embarrassed when

I ask them. Well, Angela, the first program that I would recommend to you listening with a

Q &A format is this one, since we do Q &A every

Friday. But there are some other great resources as well. Grace to you, whenever they do some sort of a seminar at John MacArthur's church or some sort of conference, they usually have a

Q &A, a panel of experts up there on the stage of many of the speakers that are there at the conference.

And they'll ask them questions that come from the congregation and give answers. But those are more difficult to find.

I don't think they put those on the Grace to You broadcast as much. You have to go on YouTube to find them.

If you're talking about something that's almost explicitly audio, I would recommend the Reformation Network.

They will take some of the Q &As that are done at the Ligonier conferences and put them on the broadcast.

Either RefNet that you're downloading on your phone, that's an app that you can search for on your phone, or you can just listen to I think it's

ReformationNetwork .com is the radio station that you can just listen to through your computer.

And so, again, they do the Q &As from Ligonier conferences. And some of the experts on those panels will include

R .C. Sproul, of course, Kevin DeYoung, Stephen Lawson, Dr. Al Mohler, John MacArthur is on those panels, too.

And then there's also the Ask R .C. segment that they do on RefNet. And that's like every couple of hours or so, there's an

Ask R .C. two or three minute blip that will come up where somebody is asking a question and Sproul is giving an answer to it.

So Q &A is very common on RefNet. And that's one resource I would recommend you to. And then, of course, when we understand the text.

And I thank you for every listener that I have. I actually never have a shortage of questions to come up with every

Friday. My only regret is that I've never been able to answer them all. But I do appreciate your questions and listening to the answers that I would provide to those questions.

And sometimes those questions are going to end up inspiring what videos as well. Speaking of which, the next couple of questions that I have here come from a what video that was recently published on miraculous spiritual gifts.

So I'm going to play that video first and then we'll get to these next questions. Are the miraculous spiritual gifts still at work today?

Before asking that question, we should first have a biblical understanding of these gifts. When Jesus sent his apostles throughout

Israel, he told them to preach the gospel. They also were to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons.

When he later commissioned them to go into all the world, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they shared the gospel in other tongues or languages.

The miracles verified that the apostles were sent by God. The charismatics who claim such gifts are still a regular occurrence or not producing the kinds of miracles the apostles did.

Unlike what we read in the Bible, no serious diseases are being cured. The lame can't walk, the blind can't see, the dead are not raised in any charismatic gathering.

A person writhing on the floor is not evidence of demons being cast out. As for those who claim to be prophets hearing from God, their prophecies are either bonkers, vague or don't come true.

The tongues they speak are not real phonetic languages, it's just gibberish. If someone went to another country and preached the gospel in a language they never learned before, that would be speaking in tongues.

If you define the miraculous gifts according to the Bible, almost all the so -called supernatural manifestations of today contradict

Scripture. There are no faith healers revealing new prophecies with the gift of gibberish. So does

God not heal anymore? Of course he does. Call for the elders of the church to come pray over you and anoint you with oil.

Confess your sins and pray for one another that you may be healed and forgiven when we understand the text.

So this email comes from Cody who says, hello, thank you for fighting for the defense of truth.

I have found many of your videos helpful. However, your video on the spiritual gifts didn't really exegete any debatable passages.

It just gave your opinion without refuting the arguments made by many theologians. I'm talking like Wayne Grudem, not

Benny Hinn, who disagree with your cessationist standpoint. It also seems like you are putting

Benny Hinn and Michael Brown all in the same group as if they are the same. There was a picture of Michael Brown in the video there.

I'm curious if you really see them that way. Lastly, you said that nobody gets healed at charismatic gatherings.

I'm curious how you are so confident to confirm that. Even John Piper and Matt Chandler and Paul Washer and many others have videos on YouTube sharing testimonies of seeing miraculous things happening.

Are you asserting that they are the same as someone like Benny Hinn? I would love to hear your feedback because I respect you guys.

Well, I appreciate that very much, Cody. And permit me to section out your email into kind of the three questions that you asked.

So first of all, you say it just gave your opinion without refuting the arguments made by many theologians.

I'm talking like Wayne Grudem, not Benny Hinn, who disagree with your cessationist standpoint. And perhaps in the future,

I'll do a video that more specifically addresses a particular argumentative point that would be raised by a continuationist theologian like Wayne Grudem.

But that wasn't the purpose of this video. The point is that what are popularly referred to as the miraculous spiritual gifts are not at all what those gifts look like in the

Bible. Next portion of your question. It also seems like you are putting Benny Hinn and Michael Brown talking about Dr.

Michael Brown, all in the same group as if they are the same. I'm curious if you really see them that way.

The answer is yes, because they are that way. Dr. Brown vehemently defends the credibility of charismatic quacks like Benny Hinn, Bill Johnson, Joseph Prince, Jennifer LeClair, who's the editor of Charisma magazine.

Make no mistake. Dr. Brown casts his lot in with them. There is not a major controversial charismatic teacher that I have not heard

Dr. Brown defend. And it really troubles me that that he will go to pretty much any end to present them as credible teachers.

And his level of journalism is extremely lacking. I've listened to his broadcast interviewing some of these figures before, and there are tough questions he very much avoids.

And I've confronted him on that. Why didn't you ask this question, this question and this question? And his response to me is is always one of two things.

You can ask him that question yourself or you can call into the line of fire program and we can talk about it on the air.

That's the way he'll respond to me and often very short with me, too. Like he's annoyed that I'm even suggesting that his program is called the line of fire.

Put those guys in the line of fire, man. If they're true, if they're real, they'll be able to stand up to some tough questions.

Come on. Don't throw a softball pitches at these guys. But but anyway. Yeah. So Dr. Brown defends all of these characters.

And I have appreciated some of the work that Dr. Brown has done in the past. But he's helping to hold these guys up and he's not really doing anything to catch or to keep rather all of the charismania in check.

Those false charismatic teachers producing fake miracles and Dr. Brown defends them.

So then the last part of Cody's question here, lastly, you said that nobody gets healed at charismatic gatherings.

I'm curious how you are so confident to confirm that even John Piper and Matt Chandler and Paul Washer and many others have videos on YouTube sharing testimonies of seeing miraculous things happening.

Are you asserting that they are the same as someone like Benny Hinn? Certainly not asserting asserting that.

And you would be conflating those teachers, not I. Paul Washer would agree with every word

I said in that video. And I know that because I've heard Washer talk about this issue many times.

As for Piper and Chandler, I don't think it's that far off their beliefs either, with the exception of speaking in tongues as they both accept the incoherent babbling definition as speaking in tongues, at least based off of what

I've heard them teach. I think that they would agree that there are no faith healers. There are not men who claim to be faith healers, and God has specifically given that gift to those men to be able to heal other people.

I don't I don't think Chandler and Piper really hold that particular view. There are miraculous healings, but those healings are not being done by people who are somehow imbued with a gifting unique to apostolic affirmation.

The apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians 12, 12, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

So these miraculous gifts were unique to apostolic appointment.

They are not continuing among people today. Does God still heal?

Yes, but it is not among it's not being done by faith healers.

And I would say an even greater evidence of the fakeness of these men is not in the fact that they are claiming to do supernatural things that they're not actually doing.

It's more in their message. They are not preaching the gospel. It's either health and wealth or it's it's like a self -improvement sort of a thing or it's name it and claim it.

But it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a contorted, twisted view of the scriptures.

And that disqualifies these men more so than their insistence on doing miracles that they're not actually doing.

So anyway, I hope that offers some clarification for you, Cody. And I thank you so much for watching and for seeking that clarification.

This next question comes from McKinley in Conyers, Georgia. He says, Greetings. I am writing for a second time as I watched your latest posted video regarding miraculous healings and speaking in tongues.

I agree with the information shared, but I have a problem with the continuous usage of images of the

Christ. This is a violation of the second commandment. It is a sin and it should be discontinued.

One of the historical aspects of this is given in the Heidelberg Catechism as such. Question 96.

What does God require in the second commandment? Answer, that we in no wise represent God by images nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his word.

Well, I appreciate you writing in McKinley and his concern there in that particular video is the usage of paintings by James Tissot that I had.

Anytime I'll put together like Bible artwork in a video, I'll try to keep it consistent with the same artist.

So that means I have to use an artist that has an abundance of work. And James Tissot is one of those guys. He's got dozens and dozens of paintings of not only stuff that happened in the

New Testament, but also in the Old Testament. So I've used a number of his paintings before. And all of the paintings of Jesus in that particular video on miraculous healings are done by James Tissot and McKinley is convicted by that.

So the second commandment, I'm going to read it specifically here from Exodus chapter 20. Here's how it is worded.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image or likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

But five chapters later, God instructed Moses to construct an ark with carved images of two angels fashioned on the top.

That's Exodus 25, 18. Clearly, the second commandment is not an absolute prohibition on carved images, including heavenly beings because of the of the angels that are constructed there on the ark.

Otherwise, according to this commandment, it would have been a sin for a child to play with a doll. And Solomon sinned against God by casting images of angels and plants in the temple, which we've been reading about these descriptions of all of the ornamented decorations that are all around the temple.

The context of the second commandment is specifically pertaining to worship. The commandment goes on.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous

God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

And all of this in Exodus chapter 20, verses four through six. Jesus is truly

God and truly man, and his appearance is described in Scripture as God and as man.

Isaiah 53, one through three revelation. Chapter one. Also in chapter 19, him coming back on the white horse.

God the father is never described in appearance, nor is the Holy Spirit. So in the what videos,

God, the father and God, the Holy Spirit are never depicted, with the exception of the dove form that the

Holy Spirit takes on in Matthew three. Would it therefore then be an equal sin according to the second commandment to depict the

Holy Spirit as a dove? Anytime we are we are painting a picture of a dove, would we have to specify, hey, this is just a normal dove.

It's not the Holy Spirit, because because that would be the same principle applied to that as we would be applying to pictures of Jesus Christ.

The images of Jesus are given merely as illustration. They are not in any way presented in the videos as objects of worship.

And we have even in a what video we've made fun of at length those images being of mostly long haired white dudes.

There's the video on Jesus was white, which is making fun of that concept.

Anyway, you can look that up in our what library. Last month, my family and I visited St. Andrew's Chapel, the church where R .C.

Sproul teaches in Orlando, Florida, and in their lobby are several very large paintings portraying various stories in the life of Christ.

If you're familiar with Sproul's teaching and Ligonier Ministries, they hold very strongly to the scriptures and they recite catechism in every service.

Yet they apparently find no cause for prohibiting these paintings, according to the second commandment or Confession 109 in the

Westminster Catechism. We use such images in the what videos very sparingly.

But we understand that because there are some like McKinley who hold very deep convictions concerning these images, that they're not going to share our videos.

And I would ask you do not violate your conscience if you are convinced that sharing videos with images of Christ would be sinful.

I'm convinced that it's not. And so therefore, images of Christ will still come up in what videos, though it will be very sparingly.

And it's also only paintings. I have not put images of people depicting

Christ in any of those videos. A pastor friend of mine up around the State College Pennsylvania area contacted me this past week, and he asked me where I got the images that I used in my what videos.

And he's got a ministry in his church for the deaf, and communicating difficult theological concepts in sign language is really hard.

And so sometimes to help them understand the concepts a little bit better, he'll use artwork,

Bible artwork. And we even exchange the kinds of artists that we will use mine in the video, the artists that I'll use in videos and the artists that he uses in some of the artwork that he puts together for his ministry for the deaf.

What a great witness. And it is not a violation of the Second Commandment. All glory is being to God.

And these things are not being presented as objects of worship, which is specifically what the

Second Commandment is addressing. So thank you all for your email and questions.

And I look forward to hearing from every one of you. If you've got a story to share or a testimony about how when we understand the text has affected you, we would like to hear about it.

Because even if we don't read those emails on this broadcast, I share them with the elders of our church and with other members of the church that listen to when we understand the text and want to know how this ministry from our church is impacting people around the

United States and even around the globe. So again, I thank you so much for your support of this ministry. Just listening and telling somebody about it is more than I could ask you for.

And again, I'm grateful for every listener that I have. And all glory goes to God.

May He find me faithfully submitting to the authority of His Word and presenting it in a way that leads others in the truth.

God bless. We'll be back again on Monday, Memorial Day, but still continuing our study of the book of 1

John. This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great

Bible teaching programs on the web, and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

Find a good, gospel -teaching, Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again