WWUTT 2080 Flashback Q&A Did the Resurrected Christ Have blood, What is Modest Clothing, Does Baptism Save

Flashback Q&A on the Resurrected Body, Modesty, and Baptism

Hey, greetings, everyone. Becky and I have been under the weather the last few days, so we have not gotten around to recording a Q &A. But to stay up with the episodes, I decided to do a flashback episode.

This one is going back to 2019. And if you've been with us for a long time, some of these questions might be familiar to you. If you've just recently joined the podcast, these questions might be new to you.

So I hope you enjoy, and God willing, we'll be back on with you next week. Here is episode 1015, which aired on August 16th of 2019. When Jesus rose bodily from the grave, did he still have blood in his body?

Does the Old Testament tell us what kind of clothing is modest? And does baptism save us? The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of God, who works all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Visit our website at www .tt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

You're welcome.

Fresh in from chasing tornadoes.

Yes.

Did you enjoy yourself?

No.

We had an unseasonable line of thunderstorms roll in on us here in mid-August.

Yeah, that's really odd.

Typically, yeah, a tornado season is April, May, and June. So we don't often get them in August, but we had a watch today, and then there was a tornado on the far east side of our county.

Right.

I wasn't able to get there in time. It was starting to get too dark, kind of moved on beyond the area I would have been able to go and see it. But I took Becky with me when it was first rolling into the county.

We got to see a little funnel cloud up there.

Little itty bitty thing.

It kind of roped out once we saw it. So there you go. Becky joined me on my hobby, which I used to have before we got married and I stopped chasing.

Yeah.

After I had a family. It's like, you know what? I probably shouldn't be risking my life anymore. That's not a good idea.

I was okay though during this one anyway, because I don't know, like whenever I know the weather's bad, it gets me really nervous. And I wasn't really nervous. I just didn't want to be anywhere close to it.

Yeah, as we're creeping closer to it. She's like, now, where is this storm exactly? And I'm telling her, oh, this is like, I mean, it's a good 15 miles off yet.

Right.

But still, I've heard too many horror stories.

My wife, when we first started dating, pretty sure I told you this when we were dating. I said that I was a lightning rod.

Yes.

Lightning was attracted to me.

Yes.

And it wasn't until we were engaged and we went to a family reunion for my grandmother's 80th birthday.

Right.

I do remember that.

And there were two houses that we had rented.

Because there were so many people.

Yeah, there were so many people. I think most of the family stayed in the house with Mimi. And I know my family, along with my mom and dad, my brothers and sisters, we were all in the other house, maybe a few other people as well.

So you were in the house with Mimi. So there was one day where Becky, I think you guys had finished up breakfast and you're standing at the kitchen window and you're washing dishes.

Right.

And I'm

Perfect time for a storm.

That's right. Perfect time for a storm. Right after breakfast. I'm asleep in the next house. I'm still asleep on the couch. Jessie and I were both asleep on the couch.

Yes.

Becky is standing there washing dishes, looking at the house where I'm sleeping and she watches lightning strike it.

Yep.

I was in disbelief. I'm like, no, that just didn't happen. Surely that didn't. And there was like this little puff of smoke and like a little sizzling fire.

Yeah, embers.

And I'm like, uh, I should tell somebody.

Because I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that saw that.

So she calls my dad who is awake.

Yes.

Says, your house just got struck by lightning. But I had told her I've been so close to lightning strikes. I don't know how many times I'd been knocked off my feet by it. I felt it surge through my bed one time when it struck the tree right outside my window.

You just felt this electric ripple, like go through the bed. It was really bizarre. So I told her all these stories. I guess she was just kind of like, uh-huh. You know, yeah, lightning, whatever.

Sure.

It's by chance, you know.

Until she actually saw it happen.

No, it really has a problem. So ever since I've been like, nope, it's lightning outside. You can't go out there.

Yeah, she doesn't even let me go out now. So if the storm is coming up, I can't go anywhere.

Well, they hurt you too much.

But don't you want me to be somewhere else other than in your vicinity?

Well, now that you mention it. You can be on one side of the house. I'll be on the other.

Well, see, that happened one time. I was in the kitchen.

Yes, it did.

It was when we lived in the parsonage. I was in the kitchen and she and Annie and Zieg. We only had two kids at the time, right?

Yep, we did.

We're in the living room. And when I was in the kitchen, I saw the lightning go through the duct that was over our stove. I watched the bolt go down. Yep. It scared me to death. And it was really loud.

It was so loud.

And we're just, I'm kind of standing there in shock, no pun intended. And I said, everybody okay? And then I heard Becky call from the living room. Did you say you saw it go through the track lighting in the living room?

There was something there, yeah.

It shot out the outlets or something like that?

But I thought that time was whenever it struck over at the church and it shot.

No, this hit the stove pipe on top of the house.

That was that time. And then there was another time that it struck over at the church when you were next door. And we saw the something happened at the parsonage too, because it was connected by whatever line.

That might have been the time it went through the lighting.

That's what I was thinking.

But then the one where I was standing in the kitchen, I know it like came out the outlets or something.

Something, I don't even, I don't know. There's just been too many times.

We've had some close calls. Now everybody's going, boy, I really want to move to Kansas.

Right.

Great to be part of that Kansas weather.

Oh, yeah.

And we usually get like another surge of storms around September and October too. Kind of like a last hurrah before going into fall. There will be one more string of storms. We'll still have some more coming up.

Yeah.

Well, it's been crazy wet this year.

This has been a very wet year. This is the most humid I ever remember Kansas being.

Yeah.

This year has been very humid.

Our mosquitoes are starting to compare with those down in the south, apparently.

We're getting some bird-sized mosquitoes. They're pretty sizable.

They're not Alaska size yet, but they're definitely southern size.

Are they bigger in Alaska?

Apparently.

They're like helicopters, is what our friends would say.

We actually have an email today from somebody in Alaska.

Oh, we can ask them.

It's the last one I got on the list, though, and I kind of threw it in there as a spare in case we're able to get to it.

All right, well, let's get to it.

Let's get to these emails. Friday edition of the broadcast. We take questions from the listeners, and you can send those emails to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. This first one comes from our friend John in North Carolina.

We haven't yet met John.

No.

But we hear from him a lot.

Yeah.

So we thank you, John. I've talked to him on the phone a couple of times. We thank you for listening. He says, Dear Pastor Gabe and Becky, I cannot tell you enough how much I am enjoying this study through the book of John.

Aw, yay!

Which we'll finish this week.

Yeah.

It's hard to believe that you actually started this last September, so it won't be quite a year when I get it done. What I'm about to ask is kind of peculiar. I actually heard it from a King James-only country preacher from another part of North Carolina, so I'm definitely not just going to take his word.

You mentioned several times about how Jesus would refer to himself as flesh and bone. One of the instances is when he told Thomas to touch his wounds in his hands and in his side, and he said, See for yourself that I am flesh and bone.

This old country preacher postulates that there is a distinction between flesh and blood and flesh and bone. In Matthew 16, 17, when Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? And Peter answered him, You are the Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus told him that he was blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to him, but it was from the Father in heaven. This pastor is trying to say that flesh and blood reveal human beings because blood is one of the agents that cleanses our bodies from impurities.

And Jesus in his resurrection body was flesh and bone because he had no blood in him any longer because it was not necessary to cleanse a perfect body. He said that it is the way that we will be in our resurrection bodies in heaven after the end of the age.

He said that another proof would be the statement in Revelation 21. One says that in the new earth, there would be no more sea. He said that is because the saltwater oceans purify the water and cleanse impurities for the rain cycle to rain freshwater back down on the earth.

And on the new earth, which would be similar, there would be no need for saltwater oceans to cleanse because there would there would be none. What think ye? Sincerely, John. I hope I read all of that right.

I know that was kind of confusing. But hey, whenever you talk to those King James only guys, they tend to be kind of confusing.

Yes, they do.

Blood as a reference in scripture is to life. So consider this from Leviticus 17 11, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.

For it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. And then Leviticus 17 14, a few verses later for the life of every creature is its blood. Its blood is its life. Therefore, I have said to the people of Israel, you shall not eat the blood of any creature.

For the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. Which was why the Israelites couldn't eat something with the life still in it. It had to be cooked.

Right.

The pagans drank blood because they believed that they were absorbing the life force of the animal. Which I was gonna say whose blood they're drinking, which is blood they're drinking. It is kind of a witches thing.

Yeah, the animals blood.

Yeah, the animals blood they're drinking. Anyway, you know what I'm saying? The pagans would do that because they believe they were absorbing the life force of the creature. But God was telling the people in Israel, that's not what you are to do.

Right.

Because you're not gaining any life by drinking the blood.

Right.

And that was why that was forbidden. Rather, since the life was in the blood when an animal was killed on the altar, it was a life that was being given for a life. Because, of course, the wages of sin is death.

Roman 6 23.

Right.

So the atonement for sin was the giving of a life. It was not merely the spilling of blood. The spilling of blood was to show that the animal was dying. The animal's life was being given for the person.

Gotcha.

It wasn't enough to slaughter a lamb and just have its blood spilled out. The animal also had to die. So the life was in the blood. That's the significance of blood in Scripture. It's not that blood is a cleansing agent.

Now, when Jesus presents himself to the disciples and he says, see that I am flesh and bone. We get this mostly from Luke 24, Luke's account of Jesus showing himself to his disciples. In verse 39, it says, see my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

Touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. Now, it's a fairly common teaching for someone to say that Jesus did not have blood after his resurrection.

Right.

The Berean Call, which is Dave Hunt's website, he even says this, Christ has a body of flesh and bones, making reference to Luke 24, but there is no blood in his body because it was all poured out for sin upon the cross.

We really don't get anything from Scripture that says any such thing.

Right.

There's nothing in the Bible that says that Jesus' resurrected body had no blood in it.

I think that would be important for it to mention if that is the case.

Right. I understand the argument the way that they're making it. Christ gave his blood for our sins.

Right.

But at the same time, I didn't think blood was a cleansing agent.

Yeah, it's not.

The liver is, sure, but not the blood.

Yeah, the liver cleanses the blood, even the kidneys.

I mean, the blood transports like oxygen and stuff like that to the body.

Right.

I get that. It transports, but it's not cleansing, right?

I think it's a moot point.

One way.

I'm not a doctor.

When it comes to cleansing in Scripture, water...

I'm just really confused.

Water is what's being referenced as being cleansing in the Bible. The argument related to whether or not Jesus had blood in his body after he was resurrected, there's really not a reason to have to argue for or against it.

There really wasn't anything incredible about the blood of Jesus itself. It was human blood. There wasn't anything about his blood that was any different than any other human's blood.

Right, because he was fully human.

Right.

And fully God.

He was very man and very God. So there wasn't anything about the property of his blood that was different than any other human being's blood. If there was something different about the property of the blood, then there would be reason for us to make argument about, oh, well, did Jesus really die?

Was it something else that happened there? Like he transported himself out of the body so he didn't have to suffer there. You could always come up with some sort of Jesus not being really human if you made some sort of argument about Jesus' blood being more miraculous than our blood.

Right.

Of course, Jesus was very man and very God, but he was man and still is man.

Right.

Even according to 1 Timothy 2 .5, there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man, Christ Jesus. So he's still the God man, even seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Amen.

So therefore, it's a mood argument to be contesting whether or not Jesus had blood in his body after his resurrection. The reference to see my flesh and my bone. Okay, see that I am flesh and bone. All Jesus is presenting to his disciples is that he's physical.

He's really here.

Yeah.

He's not some spiritual apparition that they're looking at a ghost because that's what they.

Thought.

Right.

They thought they were looking at a ghost when Jesus came walking to them on the Sea of Galilee.

Yes.

But he shows to them that he has flesh and bone. He has physical property. You can touch the outside of him, his flesh, and it feels like you're touching flesh.

Right.

And he has a solidness to his mass.

Which is the bone.

Which is the bone. He's being held up by his bones. This was also Jesus communicating to his disciples. My bones are not rotting in another grave somewhere.

Ah, true.

These are my bones covered with my flesh. I'm standing before you flesh and bone. He wasn't going to show them his blood. He wasn't going to cut himself and show blood because he had already spilled his blood on the cross.

Right.

So whether or not Jesus did have blood in his body after his resurrection, it wasn't necessary for him to show them that. That's why he didn't say to them, look at me, I'm flesh and blood. That wasn't a terminology that he needed to use.

As John is talking about this guy also making reference to the fact that there's not going to be any saltwater seas in the new heavens and the new earth.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, I don't get that either. Well, in Revelation 22 5, it says we're not even going to have the sun anymore.

Right.

The night.

We won't need to.

We won't need it. The night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun for the Lord. God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever. Whatever the new heavens in the new earth are like, it's not like it's not going to be what it's like now.

Right.

We won't have a reason to have to have the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars. Earth won't be an orb floating out into space. There's a lot of that is completely mysterious. We don't know what it's going to be like.

Right.

But it's not going to be like this.

Right.

And even if we were to hear what it's going to be like, we still can't comprehend it.

Yeah, that's yeah. Paul said that very thing in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. He got to see it, whatever that's going to be like.

Right.

And he said that he got to see what no eye can see nor ear can comprehend. And so he wasn't going to be one who was going to come back and tell us what it was that he saw on the other side.

Right.

But the Lord certainly showed him something incredible that he could scarcely comprehend and put into words and even in such a way that we would be able to comprehend whatever it was he saw.

Right.

I hope that was. That was helpful for you, John. And thank you again for your question. I don't know what you're going to do with that answer.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Yeah, those.

I'm not a loss.

King James only guys, they kind of they're in a world of their own sometimes. Next question comes from Mark in Indiana. Pastor Gabe, I was hoping you could address this topic on your podcast. I have heard Exodus 28, 42 and Isaiah 47, 2 and 3 used as text to prove that showing one's thigh is considered nakedness.

I'm not opposed to women wearing pants, but it does seem inappropriate for a skirt or pair of shorts to come up above the knee. Could you clarify this, please? Thank you so much, Mark. You are setting me up to just get everybody after me online for saying anything about modesty.

This seems to be the one topic that if I touch this in any way at all, it's just like a firestorm of response.

Oh, yes.

I don't really think my critics are listening to me that closely to see what I'm going to say about this. But nevertheless, this feels like a setup, Mark. I think you're setting me up for something. I'm just teasing.

OK, Exodus 28, 42 says this. You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the hips to the thighs. Now, this is in reference to the priestly garments.

OK.

When God is telling Moses, here's what the priest garments are supposed to look like. So this reference here about covering the nakedness of your flesh, it's not necessarily saying that if you are if you're not wearing clothing that goes past the knee, then you're considered naked.

That's not really what this is saying. Any exposed flesh would be referred to as naked flesh. So here in the specifications for the priestly garb, the the wear that they have is supposed to go from hip down to I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Hip to thigh hip to thigh. OK, and that's supposed to be the the length of the garment that was specifically, you know, there were certain specifics for those priestly garments. Isaiah 47, two and three says, take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.

Your nakedness shall be uncovered and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance and I will spare no one. Of course, this reference to a judgment that God is inflicting, it's just in the in the wording of this.

Some people take this and say any uncovering of your leg would be considered to be nakedness.

Oh, OK, now I get it.

Now, I don't necessarily think that we can set guidelines according to the kinds of clothes that we should wear based on what we're reading here in Exodus 28 and Isaiah 47. That's not really what these texts are for.

Generally, whenever we we start talking about modesty, the passages we most often use are in First Timothy two and First Corinthians twelve, because in our English translations, this is where that word modesty most prominently pops up.

OK, so First Timothy two, nine and ten says women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works.

First Corinthians twelve, twenty three on those parts of the body that we think less.

Honorable.

We bestow the greater honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty. So these typically are the two verses that we use. First Timothy two more so than First Corinthians twelve to talk about modesty.

But when it comes to what kind of clothing is appropriate, there's definitely going to be some gray area. There's some opinion related to what is going to be appropriate where and what is not right. I think it's always wise to wear more than less.

Yeah, the thing that I have gotten in trouble for in the past, although I will admit I was mostly just trolling, but it was making the statement leggings are not pants. So if you're going to wear leggings, you stay at home.

If you're going to go out, put some pants on. Or cover up with a skirt, put a skirt on over it. So you're a little bit more presentable. You were listening to a podcast not long ago where some of the women on the podcast were saying something to the effect of you told me about this later.

I didn't ever hear it. But you said that the women were talking about, you know, you wear enough to cover up, but not enough to keep things interesting or something like that. Yeah, I remember that's been so long and you were really upset about it.

Yeah, but just that was pretty close. I was trying to remember exactly, but I can't.

Oh, and Becky was she was hot about it. I don't remember what I was doing, but I came in and she was like, you will never believe what these ladies just said. So the problem with that is their objective was really not to honor Christ.

Exactly.

It was like, how can I wear clothes in such a way that I can keep people kind of wondering about me or thinking about me and what it is that I wear? That's really appropriate.

And they have nothing to get after me about, but I'm interesting enough to keep their attention.

Yeah.

It's like, why? Why would you want that attention?

And that's that's not what we should be thinking about when we clothes ourselves. No, we should be even in the clothing that we wear. Be thinking about how does this honor Christ? What am I doing to honor the Lord?

Right.

I'm astounded at the number of women who are even prominent women in Christian circles that will have avatars on Twitter or Facebook, and they look like they're topless. And they may not be, but you have deliberately cropped that photo to look like that, to have your bare shoulders so that there's no indication that you're wearing a shirt.

That's a problem.

That's a huge problem.

I don't think that you're approaching that with the mindset of how am I honoring Christ with this photo? And furthermore, you're not even thinking about how I can keep my brothers in the Lord, their minds focused on Christ things and not fleshly things.

You are very deliberate in cropping your photo that way to draw attention to yourself. That's exactly the reason a person does it.

I used to be of the mindset of, you know, I'm going to dress how I want to dress and the guys can keep their eyes to themselves. But now as a maturing Christian, I won't say mature because I still have a long way to go, but as a maturing Christian, I have learned that there are just some things that I can't help as a woman.

And like the baby crying, I can't help but listen and hear the baby crying. Like there's nothing. It doesn't matter if it's not mine. There is nothing that's going to stop me from hearing that. And there's just certain things.

I'm sure there's like hundreds more, but that's just one.

An example.

Yeah.

A very short top of the head example.

How your mind can be taken away to something else because of your mothering tendency.

Yeah.

And I'm like, is that baby hurt? Is that baby needing somebody? Is that baby, you know, I mean like hundreds of different things are going through my head, even though I'm trying not to be over there.

I'm trying to be here and, you know, doing something here. I just, I can't help it.

But my brain doesn't do that. No, no, it doesn't. I don't hear babies rise and go like, oh, what's wrong with that baby?

Yeah.

So that in saying that there are many things that we have as men and well, as women, and then you guys as men, let me word that right.

Okay.

That you just can't help. You're wired that way.

Yes.

And not saying that you shouldn't take responsibility and take those thoughts captive immediately.

That is our responsibility. First Corinthians 10, 5, second Corinthians 10, 5.

The responsibility on the ladies is to help them take that thought captive immediately.

Right.

And not help put that thought in front of them and linger, you know, and keep things interesting for them. That's not okay. You're just setting people up for failure.