Matt Slick Live: September 30, 2024

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Matt Slick Live (Live Broadcast of 09-30-2024) is a production of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry (CARM). Matt answers questions on topics such as: The Bible, Apologetics, Theology, World Religions, Atheism, and other issues!  You can also email questions to Matt using: [email protected], Put "Radio Show Question" in the Subject line! Answers will be discussed in a future show. Topics Include: CARM Ministry Items// Matt Teaches on The Deity of Christ September 30, 2024

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The following program is recorded content created by The Truth Network. It's Matt Slick Live!
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Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at karm .org.
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When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live! For answers, taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877 -207 -2276.
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Here's Matt Slick. Hey everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick, and you're listening to Matt Slick Live!
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I hope you're all having a good day, and I hope you all had a good weekend. I went out to about 100 miles away and heard a friend of mine preach, and went out to the
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Shoshone Falls out in Twin Falls, Idaho area. It was nice, it was good, and good fellowship, good time.
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And so there you go for that, and as always, I'm busy working, and I want to hear from you.
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So if you want to give me a call on this last day of September, September 30th, if you want to give me a call, the number is 877 -207 -2276.
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And you can also email me, and that's easy to do. Just direct your emails to info at karm .org,
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info at c -a -r -m dot o -r -g, and we want to hear from you. So you can do that, and put a subject line, radio comment, or radio question, and that should be fine.
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And then we can get to them. We get lots. We have a lot of people who send in questions.
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In fact, there is, I hate to look at it, I'm afraid to look at it, we have on the site, we have a question, a feedback area, and I've just got so much to do,
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I just can't get to it. But there's lots of questions, like 200 or 300 in there. So they come in over months and stuff like that, people just ask, and I'm sorry,
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I just can't keep up with it. It's what it is. We need a lot of help. You know, we're not like other websites where you have 100, 200 people writing articles, and then it just comes in.
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We are very, very, we're strict here in that, I'm not knocking other sites,
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I just, here, we want to make sure that the writers are theologically precise, and that they know how to write succinctly, and very biblically, and on a variety of topics in the areas that they would be interested in.
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So we are looking for, hey, you know, that reminds me, you are looking for writers, so if you are interested in maybe writing, maybe you, you know, you have to know your theology though.
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This is what's interesting, is I've had people over the years contact me, say, yeah, I want to work with Karim, and help be a writer, and I say, well, okay, let's talk, and we'll do that, and 90 % of the time, they can't pass a basic doctrine test.
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Now, you know, if you're going to write for this ministry, you have to know your doctrine, you know, what's the Trinity, the Hypostatic Union, Communicatio, Idiomatum, Justification, Sanctification, Imputation, Propitiation.
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These are the basics, and I want them to know what they are, and how to integrate them together. That's it. It's not that hard.
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And most people don't know. You know, I ask, why was Jesus baptized, or what's another one?
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Is he a man right now, and things like that. And so a lot of times, they don't know, and you know,
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I say to them, tell you what, take my doctrine course, and go read, go study, and then contact us again, and then 90 % don't.
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It's not an easy job. In fact, something interesting, this has happened more than once, where people, you know, they go, okay, here we go, and we're going to be, we're going to be, you know, have, do emails.
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Usually we'll start them off with a few emails, and we check how they respond in the emails.
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It's nothing big. We just want to make sure they're okay, and doing all right. And we usually warn them. Well, not usually, we always warn them.
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I say to them, look, if you're going to work with this ministry, just be ready to come under spiritual attack, and they go, yeah, no problem.
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And about half of them, when they get that far, half of them just take, after a couple of weeks, they say,
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I'm done, uncle, they give up, and I said, what happened?
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It hit the fan, just, and I said, I warned you, you know, and about the other half, they say, man, nothing, no big deal, you know, it's okay, great, no big deal.
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So it's just whatever. But anyway, you can pray for this ministry, too. We certainly need it. And hey,
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I want to let you know that we stay on the air by your support. Please consider supporting us. That's easy to do. Just go to karm .org
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forward slash donate, c -a -r -m dot o -r -g forward slash donate, and everything you need's right there.
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And you know, because no one's calling right now, so this happens about this time of the year, so it's okay.
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Is that we have three schools. Now, let me just tell you that, you know,
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I've been doing apologetics, teaching theology, debating it backwards, forwards, left, right, and a couple of different angles.
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I mean, I have been really doing this a lot over the years. So I started in 1980.
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So that's 44 years of really studying and debating and knowing what needs to be said and what the essentials are and how to present them.
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And so when I wrote those schools, that's what I did, a school of theology.
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I put in so much of what people need to know, and I included it because of so many things and so many discussions.
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I've had hundreds and hundreds and thousands of discussions. So when people read through this stuff, they don't realize a lot of times, no big deal, they don't realize that the reason those comments are made or I wrote about those particular topics is because of hundreds of hours of experience.
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This is why this is important. So people are getting good stuff there, and the lessons are written easily.
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So you can understand them quickly and easily. And we charge $33 for them, just to let you know.
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If you're interested, just go to learn .karm .org or go to the Karm home site, go to the
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Karm home page, and you can go there. And on the Karm home page is a link on the right -hand side.
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In the middle, that's right, eLearningKarmOnlineSchools, you can click on that, and go there, and we have that stuff right there.
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It goes into that by checking it. I'm going to fix a couple things there to make sure it's easier.
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But it's learn .karm .org, and here's what we say, we do charge for them because it helps keep the lights on and pay the missionaries, but if you want them and you can't afford them, all you have to do is email us at info .karm
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.org and say, Matt said on the radio, he said, if you can't afford the schools but you want them, just ask, get them for free, and we go, yep, we've done it many, many, many, many times.
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And there's no shame, we don't question, we don't quiz you, we just say, okay, good enough, you know, and we do that.
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So we want people to learn their theology and learn what the Christian faith is.
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A lot of times people just do not know. Which reminds me, just before I got on the radio here,
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I jumped in to Clubhouse as I was getting ready to prep and stuff like that, and to get on the show,
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I've got to do a couple things with some different platforms to get it all ready, and I went into this room and they're attacking the
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Doctrine of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ. So what I thought I would do here a little bit is go through a couple of odd, not oddball, but a couple of interesting ways to deal with the
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Deity of Christ that most people really aren't quite familiar with.
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And they're really cool, they're good ways to do it, and I think what I'll do is that. Now in the meantime, if you want to give me a call, please do, 877 -207 -2276.
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I want to hear from you. Give me a call. All right, now I'm going to show you something. Check this out. This is one of the ways, there's different ways, many ways, but I'm going to show you one of the ways to show the
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Deity of Christ. And then what I want to do after the break is go through Hebrews chapter one. But I'm going to show you something.
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Check this out. If you were to go to Isaiah 40 verse 3, now this is for those who are listening who don't believe
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Jesus is God. Okay, I know that there's people who do listen to me who don't affirm that.
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But this is what it says in Isaiah 40 verse 3, a voice is calling, clear the way for Yahweh.
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That's his name. Clear the way for Yahweh in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our
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God. So that's really interesting. It says a voice is calling, clear the way for Yahweh in the wilderness.
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Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Well check this out.
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In Matthew chapter 3, this is what it says. Verse 1, now in those days
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John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
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Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. So that was a prophecy, a voice is calling in the wilderness.
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That's John the Baptist. And what is he saying? The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of Yahweh.
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Who's it referencing? Jesus. It's referencing Jesus. Make ready the way of Yahweh.
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Make his path straight. That is really interesting. Also in Mark chapter 1, in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold
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I send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way. Interesting.
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The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the
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Lord. Make his path straight. So that's who was preaching was
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John the Baptist in the wilderness and he was making the way of the Lord, the way of Yahweh. Making his path straight.
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Because that's what it says. Clear the way of the Lord. Clear the way for Yahweh in the wilderness.
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Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. What? Make his path straight.
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Make in the desert and make his walking, his going, that's what it's saying. Interesting stuff, isn't it?
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So there you go. I think that's good stuff and I like things like that. Here's another verse.
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I was in this chat room where they were denying that Jesus Christ is God in flesh and someone mockingly said, if only there was one verse that said that Jesus was
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God and I said, you know, Hebrews 1 8 and it says, but at the sun he says, your throne, oh
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God, is forever and ever. And it was interesting. I'm going to get to this after the break. I'm going to do a little teaching on Hebrews 1 because it's really good stuff in there.
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One of these antagonists to who Christ really is said, you've got to read the
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Old Testament. It's in the Old Testament. That's what you got to read. And I said, yeah, I get it.
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It's in the Old Testament. I saw 45 verse six, but the writer of Hebrews applies it to Jesus. And I said, that's a fact.
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Read it. And there was no response after that. So he's called God. In fact, that reminds me,
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I once flew out to Texas at the behest of a single father to have me talk to his daughter, who was in a cult, the
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Christadelphians, and I said, yeah, I'll go. And I did just to talk to one person.
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And I said, the conversation will probably be very quick and it won't happen.
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She won't come out because that's how it doesn't work like that generally. But she said, he said, please try it. I did. And she was not receptive.
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But, you know, you plant seeds. But I remember this one woman and I got in a conversation and she said, show me where it says
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Jesus is God in the Bible, because they deny he's God. And I said, Hebrews one, eight, and I showed it to her in the
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Bible. But of the son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. It stopped her dead in her tracks.
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She'd never seen it. So you never know, you know, why you go someplace and what's going on to make something, make it clear and understandable to people, you know, the truth of God's word is there.
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This is why you need to know it. This is why you need to speak it.
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This is why you need to be ready to be used of God. And if you're not being used of God, you've got a problem.
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Because he says, make disciples. He talks about us doing this. You're to do that in whatever capacity you're in, wherever you are, ultimately it's for the glory of God.
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And you need to look for opportunities to spread that faith and spread the gospel message. You don't want to be stupid about it, but you definitely want to be clever.
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This is one thing you're supposed to be doing. All right. All right. All right. Hey, there's the music. When we get back, I'll teach out of Romans, excuse me, out of Hebrews one a little bit.
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It's a great chapter. It's great. And we'll go through that. So hold on. Be right back, folks, after these messages.
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Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick Live!
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Taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick.
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All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it's easy. All you have to do is dial 877 -207 -2276.
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All right, now, what I want to do is go through Hebrews chapter one a little bit.
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Might as well do some teaching. Okay. I love doing this. So it's a lot of fun for me. And I want you to understand something because the book of Hebrews is really interesting.
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Now, we'll go through it, and hopefully you'll recognize there's a lot more than most people have kind of, you know, you just read, you go, yeah, yeah, there's good stuff, and you go on.
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Check this out. This is Hebrews chapter one, starting at verse one. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets and in portions and in many ways.
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Now, right there, he spoke long ago to the fathers. The fathers would be the, you know,
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Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those greats of the Old Testament period and people, Moses and stuff like that, and the prophets.
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So through the Old Testament is what he's saying, that he spoke in different ways, many portions and in many ways. He spoke a lot to the prophets in the
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Old Testament. Now, in these last days, he's spoken to us in his son. Now, the term last days occurs five times in the
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New Testament. Now, what's interesting is that in Acts chapter two, starting at verse 17, it says, and it shall be in the last days,
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God says, I'll pour forth my spirit on all mankind. And so he's talking about the last days, which is now.
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So God, after he spoke long ago in the prophets. In these last days, he's spoken to us in his son.
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So the Old Testament was the way God communicated to us before through the prophets. But now it's through Jesus.
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Real simple. And this is interesting because in Mormonism, for example, they claim to have prophets today.
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And they had Joseph Smith, you know, you're supposed to have restored the true church and all this stuff.
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You know, it's whatever. Islam, Muhammad was the greatest of all the prophets.
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And so but notice what the Bible teaches. The prophets were in the Old Testament sense.
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But now we have Jesus because the law and the prophets were until John, Luke 16, 16.
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Anyway, in his last days, he's spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things.
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Now, this is interesting because he appointed heir of the father, appointed
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Jesus heir of all things. Well, people say, well, if he's God in flesh, why would he have to be appointed heir? Because Jesus made under the law,
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Galatians 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, he was made under the law and Hebrews 2, 9, made for a little while lower than the angels.
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So in that sense, under the law, he would be an heir because an heir, h -e -i -r, is someone who's inheriting things, who's benefiting things legally.
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That's what's going on. And notice what it says. He spoke to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, all things through whom he also made the world.
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This is really interesting stuff. And what I think I want to do is I need to, yeah,
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I'll get to it, that's okay. So when we go to Colossians, check this out,
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Colossians 1, 15, it says, Jesus, he is the image of the invisible
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God. Now, remember this because we'll get to it again in a little bit. He's the image of the invisible
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God, the firstborn of creation. It doesn't mean first created, firstborn is a transferable title.
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For by him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.
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He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. So this is who
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Jesus is. By him, all things were created. And we go to John 1, 1 and verse 14, incidentally, we go there, we see similarities.
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In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, and he was in the beginning with God.
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All things came into being through him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being.
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Wow, it's interesting. So in these last days, Hebrews 1, 2, God, his father, has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world.
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So God made the world through Christ, right? But that's before the universe existed, talking about this person of Christ, which means he had to preexist.
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When you go to Isaiah 44, 24, it says this, thus says
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Yahweh, your redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, I, Yahweh, in the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by myself and spreading out the earth all alone.
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Wait a minute. God specifically says that he does it by himself alone.
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That's what he's saying. He does it by himself alone. All right, so we go back and we look at those other verses, but in particular now we look at verse 2 of Hebrews 1, it says through whom,
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Christ, whom he also made the world. Through whom? Well, Jesus, God says he did it alone.
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So how does he make it through him? What does that mean? This is elevating the person of Christ to the level of creation maker.
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He's the creator. He's not a created being because he is the one appointed by God as the heir of all things by whom and through whom all things are made.
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Now if anybody, if you're a Jew, listen to this, it's written in the Hebrews, this is going to blow your mind because you're like, what the heck is being said?
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Get this. Look at verse 3. And he, that's Jesus, is the radiance of his, that's the father's, glory.
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He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. What? The exact representation of his nature.
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Now in Greek it's charakter, charakter. That's what it is. But we get the word charakter and it means like an engraver who puts an impression of a signet ring in clay.
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It's the representation. It's the exact form of that. And that's the kind of a thing that's being said here, that he is that impression of God in flesh, that's
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Jesus. Now I like to always think about the
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Hebrews when they're first sitting down in the synagogue or wherever they are and this is read to them.
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The first three verses are going to, I mean, it's going to take a month to get over it because it's just so powerful.
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So he, Jesus, is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature.
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That's God's nature. That's what it's talking about, the very first word of Hebrews is God. So Jesus is the exact representation of the nature of God.
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That can't be the case if he's an angel, cannot be, as Jehovah's Witnesses teach. And get this, and he upholds all things by the power of his word.
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How does he uphold all things by the power of his word? Because it says in Colossians 1 .17,
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Paul says, he, Jesus, is before all things and in him all things hold together.
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Wow. So, I believe Hebrews was written by Paul, that's my opinion, I could be wrong, but that's what
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I believe. And when we get back from the break, because there's the music, I'll continue with this, but I would like some feedback to see if you like this teaching.
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I want you to continue to do it because it's good. Oh, Joanne says the line's maybe down, maybe it is, maybe not.
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Okay, the number is working, good, that's what they're saying. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned.
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It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276, here's
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Matt Slick. Alright everybody, welcome back to the show, hope you're enjoying the teaching. And if you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 877 -207 -2276,
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I want to hear from you, give me a call. And I just want to let you know that we do stay on the air by your support, please consider supporting us, and we always like that and appreciate that.
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Alright, alright, alright, now let me get back on here and start, continue teaching on this, because I think it's good stuff, okay, and what
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I'm going to do now is I'm going to share this screen so that people can follow along in the text there, alright.
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So, this is what it says, let me get back to Hebrews chapter 1, because, oh man, good stuff.
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Alright, so, I was in verse 3, and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature, alright, and upholds all things by the word of his power.
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Now, I have odd habits, I like studying stuff like quantum physics,
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I do, and oddities, it's just me. And one of the things that is a question within quantum physics and just normal stuff on the molecular level, level of, excuse me, not molecules, but atoms, where does, for example, where does the electron get its energy to spin?
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It's a question that they don't have answers to yet. Also, in the nucleus of atoms, they have neutrons and protons, and neutrons have no magnetic, no electrical charge, but protons are positively charged.
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Now, if you've ever taken magnets, where they have the North Pole and the North Pole, two different magnets and put them together, you can feel that very strong force that is repelling each other.
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Why is it that protons are grouped together in a nucleus, when they should be repelling, but they're held together and are bound?
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So, my answer would be, they're held together by the word and power of God. Now what's interesting is that when you look at this, and I think it's 2
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Peter 3, 10, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
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So they find out that when you destroy, break apart these nucleus of atoms, that incredible heat and incredible energy is released.
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Interesting, if God is holding every atom together in the universe by his exertion, by his will, whoa, there's roughly 10 to the 80th atoms in the universe, something like that, particles, that's just insanely huge.
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Anyway, I think this stuff is interesting. All right, so, he is the radiance of his glory, and the exacerbation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power.
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When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
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So what does this mean, purification of sins? Well, when you look at the issue of what
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Christ did, that the blood of Christ is the one who is offered to God because he offered himself as a sacrifice.
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So, Jesus bore our sin in his body on the cross, 1 Peter 2 .24. So this is when he made purification of sins, because he is the blood sacrifice by which our sins are atoned for.
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Now, this is found in Leviticus 17 .11, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I've given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your sins, or for your souls, for it is the blood by reason of a life that makes atonement.
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So this is fulfillment of the Old Testament law. He made purification of sins, in that he cleansed us.
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Now, purification of sins is an interesting phrase because it deals with the Hebrews, who would need purification of themselves through ceremonies in order to have sacrifices offered and things like this.
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And then it says in verse 3, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So the right hand is the place of authority, the place of power.
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And we see this reflected in Acts 7 .55 -60, because there is where Stephen was being stoned.
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And he says in verse 55, but being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
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So at the right hand is that place of power and authority, and that's what
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Jesus has. So when he made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
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So to the Jew, this would mean that he had authority, that he is the exact representation of the nature of God, and he sits down at the right hand of God, the
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Trinitarian essence. Now here's a question to think about. Why would the writer of Hebrews be speaking like this?
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Were the Jews absolute strict Unitarians in that they taught that God was a single person, a
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Unitarian sense, and that's all? Not necessarily. Some people just assume that.
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Let me take you a little bit of a ride here. This is Deuteronomy 6 .4, my bad.
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Oh, hero is the Lord our God. The Lord is one, and that is a hard in Hebrew, and it's used in many places to demonstrate composite unity, like one cluster of grapes, one group, and it means that kind of thing in it.
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Now, also what's really interesting is that in Genesis 1 .26, God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness.
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So God referred to himself in the plural three times. Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.
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That's very interesting. Also check this out. You go to Genesis 19 .24,
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and it says, whoops, it says this. It says, then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.
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Yahweh rained fire and brimstone from Yahweh. What? Isn't that interesting?
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And then when you go to Amos 4 .10 and 11, all right,
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God is talking. He says, I sent a plague among you after the manor of Egypt. I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses.
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I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils. You have not returned to me, declares
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Yahweh. I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
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Wait a minute, wait, wait, what? So Yahweh is speaking, and he says he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah the way
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God did it. But yet when you go to where this is referenced in Genesis 19 .24,
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where it says the Lord Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven.
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This is really interesting stuff, at least it is to me. So now if we go back to Hebrews, he said that the right hand of the majesty on high.
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This is really impressive. It's really showing who Christ is. And now let's go to verse four, having become as much better than the angels as he has inherited a more excellent name than they.
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Now remember, this is critical. I will. I've said this so many times that I've taught. You've got to remember in context like this.
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Remember Hebrews four, four, I mean, it's going to be, um, uh,
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I've done it so many times. Uh, oh my goodness. I just quoted it.
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He's made under the law, Galatians four, four and Hebrews two, nine. He's made for a little while lower than the angels.
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So in Galatians four, four, he was made, he was made under the law under the law means he has to keep the law requirements.
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So therefore he will inherit things according to that law. This is what the mindset of the
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Jews would understand, right? He's become much better than the angels as he has inherited a more excellent name than they.
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Now this is where it gets even more interesting, at least to me, it does for, to which of the angels did he ever say that he here is referring to God, the father, or we would just say
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God, who's introduced into the beginning of verse one, which of the angels did he,
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God ever say, you're my son, an angel, isn't God's son in Jewish thought.
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A son is, you know, it's like his father just, but not his father. You are my son today.
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I've begotten you. And again, I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me.
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And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, and let all of the angels of God worship him.
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Let's spend a little bit of time on this verse because it's really important for us to understand this term, firstborn.
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So when we get to the issue of firstborn, firstborn is a transferable title, all right?
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Because what we find in scripture, what we find is, uh, for example, with Ephraim and Manasseh in Genesis 41, 51 says, and Joseph called the name of the firstborn
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Manasseh and the name of the second he called Ephraim. But in Jeremiah 31, 9,
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Ephraim is called the firstborn. And then David, you know, David and Goliath, David was the youngest, but he was also called the firstborn in Psalm 89, 20 and 27.
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Firstborn is a transferable title. Okay. And we get back to break.
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We'll get through this more. Please stay tuned. Be right back after these messages. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276.
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Here's Matt Slick. All right. Welcome back to the show. So what I'm going to do is continue on.
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It looks like they are having some phone problems. We've had a couple of people say they called and that no one was picking up.
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So something's up with the, with the phones. What I'm going to do now, what I will continue to do is continue to go through the book of Hebrews here and get into this.
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I love this stuff. It's good. So as I said before the break, firstborn is a transferable title.
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It does not mean first created. So that's important. Now, let all the angels of God worship him.
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Now, the word here is proskuneo. And it can mean to do obeisance, to bow down before.
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Now, the Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, in their false Bible will say, let all the angels of God do obeisance to him because they deny that Jesus is
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God in flesh. But this is what is going on because it's a quote from the Old Testament in Psalm 97.
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And it says, worship him, all you gods. So this one phrase that is being spoken of here, the issue of worship, that's what it means in the
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Hebrew, is used as the writer of Hebrews is referencing the
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Old Testament as it relates to Jesus and pointing out to Jesus as the one who's fulfilling all those things.
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So he is to be worshiped by the angels. Now, this is important because in the
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Jewish mind, the angels are pretty significantly powerful and important. They were even means by which
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God communicated in the Old Testament. As I said earlier, you know, the Lord rained fire and brimstone from the
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Lord, Yahweh from Yahweh. And God is one doing this. Well, there's many places where God is seen in the
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Old Testament, you know, as Adam and Eve were walking with the Lord. But you also have Exodus 24, 9 through 11, where it says
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Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel went up and they saw the
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God of Israel. And there's lots of stuff like this. You go to Exodus 6, 2 and 3, where God spoke further to Moses and said to him,
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I am Yahweh and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God almighty. So he's saying these things and God sees them.
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And a lot of times what they would do is say it was an angel of the Lord, a special representation of God.
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This was how they would deal with it a lot. So notice what Paul, I believe Paul saying the writer of Hebrews is saying that all the angels of God worship him.
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Oh, interesting. From Psalm 97, 7. So what is going on?
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The listener who's a Hebrew is going to really be forced to consider what the
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Old Testament says. And then it goes on to his end of the angels, he says, who makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire.
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But of the sun, he says, your throne. Oh, God is forever and ever.
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And the righteous scepter is a scepter of his kingdom. Now, notice what this is going on. Now, sometimes people say, well, he says, isn't there.
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Yeah, you're right. It's not there. It's in the previous verse. And it's just borrowed. That's how you write in Greek sometimes, you know, and of the angels, he says, who makes it?
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And of the sun, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So it says your throne.
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Oh, God is forever and ever. Now, that's a quote from Psalm 45, verse six. Now, this is important because I get a little bit of Greek here for you.
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In Greek, the nominative and the optative are the same spelling.
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So it's like saying, oh, my. It's optative.
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And the subject of something. God was walking. God is the subject.
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Well, there's both spell the same Omicron Sigma ending. And so your throne.
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Check this out. Thronos is as an O .S. ending.
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And God is also an O .S.
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ending. And so what we have here is something really interesting, because what we're looking at is the issue of is it nominative or optative?
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And the reason this is important is because you can legitimately translate this as God is your throne forever and ever.
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That's a legitimate Greek translation. The problem is this is a quote from Psalm 45, verse six.
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And you don't do that in Psalm 45, verse six. In Psalm 45, verse six, your throne.
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Oh, God is forever and ever. That's what is being said. So false groups, they alter the word of God to make it fit what they want.
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All right. So it says your throne. Oh, God is forever and ever. And the righteous scepter is a scepter of his kingdom.
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So he's being called God specifically. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.
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Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you. Now, what a lot of times people do is they will only go to verse nine, and they'll say,
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God, your God. They'll say, that's God the Father, anointed Jesus. So he's not
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God. And they forget the rest of it, that he's worshiped and that he's called God in verse eight.
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And that he's the representation, the exact imprint of God. And he himself is upholding everything by the exertion of his will.
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How does a creature do that? Because a creation, a creature, doesn't hold all the particles together in the universe.
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God does that. Okay. So, therefore, God, your
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God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions. So what the writer of Hebrews is doing is exalting the person of Christ.
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And you, Lord, or Yahweh, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth.
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And the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you remain.
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They will become like a garment. And like a mantle, you will roll them up like a garment.
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They will also be changed. But you are the same. And your years will not come to an end.
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And notice what it says. But of the sun, he says this, and you,
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Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation. The overall context is in verse eight that God is speaking of the sun.
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Then he says and, and he's saying this. Now what the cults do is say that the word and there then changes the subject back to God.
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They have to say that because they're cults. But nevertheless, you, Yahweh, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth.
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And the heavens are the works of your hands. But yet in the previous part, it says that he upholds all things by the word of his power.
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And that's it. It just this is amazing. But he's saying Christ is OK. They will perish, but you will remain, etc.
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And like a garment, they'll be changed. Verse 13. But to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make you your enemies a footstool for your feet?
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Are they not all ministering spirits as the angels sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
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So the writer of Hebrews here understands that the angels are the servants of God.
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And that they serve in the capacity to minister to the people of God, the chosen ones, particularly the people of Israel.
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And now it's expanded to others. That's other stuff later on because of the priesthood of who
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Christ is and his offices. So this is what's going on. The book of Hebrews, chapter 1, is a clear declaration of the deity of Christ, his godness, his
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God quality, that he's above the angels and that he upholds all things by the exertion of his will.
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This is a claim, an assertion of the deity of who
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Christ is, his magnificence, his awesomeness. That's who it is.
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All right. So, okay. Well, I'm not sure which, you know, the standard number.
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Yeah, we're in contact here with the people. They are having phone problems there.
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So he's going to check out to the IT guys. They didn't have much calls last Friday, I think it was.
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Something similar. We don't know. I don't know. It doesn't matter. So look, I hope that was interesting to you. I hope that kind of stuff is good.
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Because when you go verse by verse and you start going through slowly, particularly in Hebrews, chapter 1, you start seeing the importance of who
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Christ is. He is God in flesh. Now let me show you something else here. I'm going to do this.
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I'm going to take a little bit of time. I'm going to go to a couple of verses. I'm going to go to Exodus 6, starting at verse 2.
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God spoke further to Moses and said to him, I am Yahweh. I am the
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Lord. I am Yahweh, is what it is in Hebrew. And I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty.
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But by my name, Yahweh, I did not make myself known to them. All right. So what this is saying is
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God is saying that he appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. Now I've had many discussions with people on this.
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And they like to say that it's an angel that was appearing who has the name of God and will speak for God.
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And so my response is, okay, but you know that the word angel doesn't necessarily mean created being.
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It's a messenger, right? They don't like admitting that, but the average person who criticizes this verse about the deity of Christ, I'll show you how, they will admit that.
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They will. And I say, so let me get this straight. So what you're saying, when it says God spoke further to Moses, it really was not
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God. He says, I am Yahweh. It really was not Yahweh. So what you're saying to me is that an angel is claiming to speak for God and says that I am
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Yahweh. So an angel is going to say, I'm Yahweh. And even though the text says it's God, is that what you're saying?
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Now this is where they have problems, obviously, for obvious reasons. Now why am I bringing this up? Because there's something really interesting here.
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See, God spoke to Moses and said, I am Yahweh, and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God almighty.
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Now there's different places where we can see that, but you can go to Genesis 17. One pretty quickly.
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And it says there, when Abraham was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to him and said to him,
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I am God almighty. And that's what it says. It says Yahweh appeared to him. But wait,
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God can't be seen, right? Because you go to 1 Timothy 6 .16. We don't have time to go through all of this to pray slowly.
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But it's talking about God and Jesus. And it says in verse 16, who, well, in verse 15, and he will bring about at the proper time, he who is the blessed, the only sovereign, the
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King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.
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And I say to people, see, in 1 Timothy 6 .16, God can't be seen.
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And they'll say, that's right, man. That's why it's not Jesus. He's not God. They think they have me. And I help them out a little bit further.
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I say, go to John 6 .46. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who's from God. He has seen the
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Father. Now that's one who's from God is Jesus, okay? So he has seen the Father.
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So no one has seen God the Father. And I get them to admit that, right? And they say, yeah, that's right.
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But yet they were seeing God Almighty in the Old Testament, because of what God says in Genesis 17 .1 and Exodus 6 .2
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and 3. So if they were seeing God Almighty, but it was not the Father, who else is
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God Almighty who's not the Father? And that is when we get some really good discussions, as they paddle upstream, trying to make sense of things.
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And the depths that they will go to twist God's Word, away from what it clearly teaches, is amazing.
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There are so many people who hate the person of Christ, and they deny who he truly is.
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They deny that he's God in flesh. And so they are, ultimately, the spirit of Antichrist.
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That's what 1 John 4 talks about. The spirit of Antichrist is the one who denies that Jesus has come in the flesh.
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And who's that talking about? Jesus, who is God in flesh. Amen and amen.
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Okay, there we go. May the Lord bless you, and by his grace, we'll be back on air tomorrow. Hopefully the phones will be fixed by then, and we can talk.
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And I hope you have a great evening, everyone. God bless. Bye. Another program powered by The Truth Network.