 Welcome to Hard Questions. This is where we gather pastors together to take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Bible. I'm Tom Hollis, the moderator, and today our panelists include. Dr. Weimar Glaze, Bethany Baptist Church in Pittsburgh. Pastor Joel Guinen, middle school pastor at Cornerstone Ministries in Murraysville. Pete Giacalone, senior pastor, South Hills Assembly guy church, Bethel Park PA. J. Anthony Gilbert pastor from another level in the North Hills area. We're all from somewhere around here. It's a place in Pittsburgh. That's right. Well, today on Hard Questions, we take on those confusing questions from the Old Testament. I love this kind of discussion, pastors. Thank you so much for being here with us. Let's start on this one. Exodus 2411 states that the nobles of the children of Israel saw God. What did they see, Joel? All right, well, let me read that passage really quick. It says Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel went up and they saw God, the God of Israel under his feet was something like pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright as blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against the leaders of Israel and they saw God and they ate and drank. So to me, when I see this, I don't think they were fully transported into heaven but it's almost like a transfiguration of the elements around them to be in very heaven-like. You see that the ground literally transforms under them and becomes heaven-like. Part of me wonders if this is Jesus himself showing up on the scene as kind of a proto-evangelism, or proto-evangelism where he comes before he actually shows up on the scene in the gospels. And so I would imagine maybe it's even Jesus, a transfigured version of Jesus sitting down and dining with them as a precursor to what they're going to see, the foretaste of what they'll see as we have the marriage supper of the Lamb some day. Oh, that's cool. That's great. Any other thoughts? What I discovered in the commentaries was that they didn't say exactly what he looked like but they talked about the surroundings. You know what I mean? So some say they use the word, it resembles you know what I mean? But didn't come out and actually say that because all the description has nothing to do with a body, nothing to do with a face, but the atmosphere, the ground. That brings up a good question about this. The Bible says no man has seen God at any time. Isaiah though says, I saw the Lord sign, lift it up. What do we do with things like that? And you know, we've had this question before. And I've got in trouble. I've got in trouble, but I'm going to say it again. We will not see God. God is invisible. You can't, he's a spirit. You can't sing. You will see a manifestation of God. What did Isaiah? Isaiah saw a manifestation of God that when God decided to reveal himself to Isaiah, he revealed himself as one who filled the temple. You know, and that's the glory. That's what Isaiah saw. Yeah, we're not going to see God. He's a spirit. You can't see something that's invisible. You know, Paul talked about the invisible God. So I know. But again, we'll see the, yeah, come on, that's it. Yeah, come on. I have a question. No, I have a question. In regards to then how is it then he says, you can see my, you can't see my face and live. And are you talking about just now, or even when we get the glory we still won't be able to see him. We'll see a manifestation of it. You can't see a spirit. But you just said in it, but we thought this would be known even as we're known. That we'll be, you know, wake up from face to face. With his presence, right. So I won't know if it's God or not. What do you mean? Well, I mean, he has a face. I mean, his face will change. That's anthropomorphic. That gives God human qualities. Hand. You know, hands, you know, in Psalm 90 it says that, you know, God will bite under his feathers. Does that mean God is a big chicken? You know. If you see his face and live, that's not a bad analogy. Right. Yeah, but I'll just say a face. What did that mean? What would you see then? I mean, if it's a. His glory. You will see his glory. So you think the glory is the face? Yeah, his presence. Well, you know, when it says that they left the face of God, that's the presence of God that, you know, there's God has a presence, his, his glory. You know, again, I mean, if somebody can show me that you can see a spirit, then I'll say we'll see God. We'll see a manifestation of God. I think, I think we look at the scripture, it says we will see the fullness of the God had, what bodily in Christ. So the fullness of God is going to be. In Christ. In Christ. Right. Just stop right now. We'll see Christ. We'll see Christ. I love it, man. I'm not. I'm not. I like that. I respect Dr. Glaze. Like anything. I don't think I'm going there. All right. All right. Well, can you say a spirit? I sure can. We will be spirits. So that means you can see us. We'll have bodies. All right. Everybody. Okay. We need the whole show for this one. I'm the moderator of this here panel. We're going to move on. Okay. Question number two, Leviticus 23, 27. On the day of Atonement, the Israelites were told to afflict their souls. What does that mean? Are we still called to do that today? Pastor Jack. You know, we probably could have worked that last question a little more because this is very simple. Afflict your souls simply fasting. That's all that it really is. It's a way of humbling yourself before the Lord. It's a way of putting your flesh into subjection. Are we still called to do it today? Of course. As a matter of fact, I think one of the things that has been lost in the body of Christ is fasting. You know, it's a matter of fact, Jesus did not say when you fast or if you fast rather, he said when you fast. And people want to know a lot of times when is it the right time to fast? He said, when the bridegroom is removed, you have to have a close enough walk with God. There are times that he commissions you to fast. And I don't think you should only fast in times when the church calls it every day. Well, 21 days beginning of the year, you're fasting. Fasting should be a part of your life. In some capacity, it should be a part of your life because there are seasons in my life that I know, I'll be like, man, I want to go to that next level. I want to shift. I think there's somebody even watching right now, you'd be wondering, man, I need to go to the next level. I need things to shift in my life. I don't understand. I feel like God isn't there. I don't have the push in my prayer of the way. Everything's changing. It's because the purpose of fasting and humbling yourself is to take you from one level to the next to take off the old wine skin and to put on a new wine skin. So I believe it's a part of still today. And back then during the day of atonement, he required them to do some things which was a form of fasting in order to get themselves prepared for what God was getting ready to show. So that afflict word, we're talking about fasting there. Doing something with the flesh. Is that how we're saying this? Yeah, right. I just did four or five, maybe even six weeks on fasting. And many people thought, why is it relevant? And then the testimonies of divine intervention has been out the wazoo. It's been amazing how God is just. Out the wazoo. Okay. What Jesus said, some things don't happen. Some things don't happen. Amen. There's something powerful about fasting. Well, let me ask you about that. Let's talk about that for a little bit because we see all different kinds of things about fasting. What is the purpose for fasting? Is this not the fast I've chosen? Isaiah will tell us to tear down the strongholds, to let the captors go free. So there's an exact definition. He says, is this not the fast that I have chosen? So, and like you said, Jay, there's times when you know when God is later on in your heart to fast. We've had people supernaturally just in the last couple of weeks saved by God. I mean, supernaturally. Well, you know, and I think that fasting, what is that doing? You're giving up something. You know, you're giving up food, you're giving up TV, whatever it might be to do what? To get more of God, right? So when you fast, you know, you should be getting more of God and understanding his will, his purposes for your life. That's good. Absolutely. It's sacrificing the physical so that we can become more in tuned with the spiritual. You know, in this verse that they're quoting in Leviticus, I believe they're talking about Yom Kippur and setting up for that. And it's to remind them of the spiritual component of that, it's that spiritual reminder where they were all taken a break and zeroing in their attention as a nation to be incinerated and focused on God. And the spiritual element of their wandering through the wilderness and their wandering toward the promised land. And that's what we should be doing as well. And us as people, as believers, us as a nation, we should be slowing down our focus and then refocusing on the spiritual and on God so we can be re-centered on his purpose and direction. So it's not like you're making sacrifices, not you're bargaining with God or anything like that. You're setting aside, you're closing down like something's part of the physical side. It's definitely not a negotiation. Opening up to the spirit. It's a forced hunger. And because he's a good shepherd, he has to feed it. So what we do is we say, all right, normally I sustain myself by things of this planet, of this world. We cut part of that off for a season to say, God, what I need right now is from you. And so it's just a dynamic that he gave us that we can place a demand upon crucifying what kept us out of the garden, which is the flesh. So we can open ourselves up to receive the spiritual inheritance. And whatever form he chooses to bless us in the moment. Love that, great discussion. Well, stay tuned. We'll be back in just 60 seconds and ask, was the Lord using magic to determine if a wife was unfaithful? We'll be right back. Welcome back to hard questions. We've got a couple more questions in this segment, some really good ones. Here's the next one. What were the importance of all the feasts in the Old Testament? And why don't we celebrate them today? Pastor Glaze. All right, I'll give you three reasons why they were important. The first of all, they're in the Word of God and they give us insight into the will of God. Second, the feasts are pictures of God's character and his plan of redemption. You know, all the feasts pointed to something which is a third point, the feasts pointed to the Messiah. So, you know, they all had some new Testament significance, you know, in Leviticus 23. It talks about the seven feasts. They all pointed to Christ. And so, you know, why don't we celebrate them today? Well, I'll be honest with you. I think that if you, if God so leads you because they weren't necessarily the feast of Israel in Leviticus, it says they were the feast of the Lord. So if they are the Lord, that means that they are timeless. Now, we don't necessarily have to celebrate them because Christ fulfilled them. And so we can look at the fulfillment in Christ. But if we wanted to recognize them in order to help us to have a deeper reflection of who Christ is and to understand who Christ is, then I say, by all means, celebrate them. But I know there are some people that are very adamant about not celebrating them because they think that you're going back to, you know, the law and, you know, into the Old Testament. But I don't agree with that. You know, I think that they are all reflective of some New Testament reality, especially fulfillment in Christ. And that if you keep it in perspective in your heart, I don't see anything wrong with celebrating them. And remember, as Dr. Glaze said, God said, these are my feasts and to reiterate, to celebrate the divine goodness of God's deliverance, the divine provision of God, the divine protection of God, and the divine prophecy of a future and a hope in Christ. So those feasts were very prevalent for that time and looking forward. And we have one more feast that we're going to be looking forward to and that's the marriage separate of the Lamb. So it's gonna be a great one. Yeah. I believe that it depends on why they're celebrating too. Right. You know, like to your point, if they're celebrating because they're still trying to attain or get something, then they've done it wrong. If you become legalistic with it, then I think that's an issue. But I love how you shared what you said about, you know, their deeper representation helps us to see what Christ did in the three Highlands you have Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, which two of the three have been fulfilled. Tabernacles is yet to be fulfilled. Well, a lot of people believe that Christ's return will happen during the Tabernacle season. So because that's the time when everybody came together and dwelled and that's why they had no roof, you know, reminded them also of what they went through of being slaves, but also it's a direct line of communication between them and God, you know, all these things that, you know, it's almost like being raptured up and being into his presence. So, so I'm, I think they're great to be studied. I think they're great. We do Passover. I'm sorry, not Passover, Seder dinner. There's so much in the Seder. It's great. Oh, I love it. I love it. What is that the, the aphi, alfie, cohen, where they hide the, the cakes. And they hide it for the kids? Yeah. Well, there's what three, three matzah in a, and they take the middle one out, the center one, the son of God, they break it and then they wrap one half in a white cloth and hide it. Just incredible imagery of Christ. Yeah, Joel. Yeah. Well, I agree. I think there's such a beauty to the different, to the different feast. I like what Paul says in Romans. You can see that he's not staking, you know, too much or too little on it. He's kind of taken the middle road and he's saying one person considers one day more sacred than another and another considers every day alike. Each one of them should be convinced in their own mind. And so whoever regards one day a special does so to the Lord. And so I really liked what Dr. Glaze said was, you know, if you feel convicted, like I need to celebrate this, I need to really zero in on this than you should. But if you also feel, you know what? It's great. It's beauty that it led to, you know, pointing towards Christ, but it's not for me to feel obligated to celebrate. That's just as blessed as well. And I think that's okay. You quote all my favorite verses about that. It's let everyone be convinced in their own mind. I appreciate that verse. Well, that's great. I enjoyed that and enjoyed that discussion. Let's go on to this next question that I think is one it's so unusual to us. Numbers chapter five versus 11 through 29 is instruction from the Lord about how to determine if a wife has been unfaithful to her husband. But when I read it, it seems like a bunch of voodoo magic. It wouldn't hold in a court today. Why was it acceptable then? That's the question that was sent in. So we're gonna start this off. And if you haven't read it, you should get your Bible and read it because it's really an unusual thing in numbers chapter five. Pete, why don't you start us off? Numbers five, 12 through 14, speak to the children of Israel, say to them, if any man's wife goes astray, behaves unfaithfully toward him and a man lies with her carnally and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband. So it's called the law of jealousy that if a man suspects it but can't prove it and she's not gonna fess up to it, then they had this concoction that a woman was to drink and they were to speak over her. And if she lied, then her thigh would rot. And I don't know if this is a type of cancer and that she would, I think, actually die from this. So the result of this is the best thing for, if it is true, the best thing for her to do is to confess up. Now again, we read this and we look at this and we think, oh my gosh, it sounds more like voodoo than anything else, but this was a practice that they actually practiced. So the power of God was present for this thing to work. Right, right. It wasn't voodoo. Well, you know, and God is sovereign. I think Jay said it earlier, why does he do what he does? Why did he put this in there? We can sit down and speculate and try to reason why this is in there, but God evidently knew that this was the best thing to be done at this time. Do we have to do it today? No, you know, as the writer, caller, say it, it's not gonna stand up in the court of law, but that's where God was working in that economy at that time. And so, you know, we just have to submit it to him and say, you know, God knew what was best. He knew what he was doing and who are we to, I mean, we can question it, but what does that, you know, what does our questioning mean? I think, you know, some people say, well, this is terrible to women. No, it's actually, it was actually, if they were not guilty, then it was proof that they were not guilty and the husband couldn't just send them off, you know? Yeah, it's almost to me, it's almost like a, almost a form of like discernment back then, you know, a gift of discernment, but that's what they use. You have to remember that the spiritual gifts weren't in operation at that time. So, you know, so that was kind of a way, like you said, that God just chose to say, well, this is what I'm gonna do. You're gonna have her go through this process and it's not like it's just a curse that came on her. She had an opportunity to fess up, you know? And it shows us also how much that God hollows the unity and the union of marriage and how he protects it. And I believe that even now, whether they're the truthful or not, if you are in infidelity and you're cheating on your husband, you are right away. I mean, you may not need to do all that stuff anymore, but that stuff will still come upon you because God still watches over his word and you watch over it. I think that was just a way that he chose to exercise this type of thing. And I love what you said, is this also proved innocence? You know, it removed guilt. And then also what you guys said about this was, God was sovereign over this process. So while this isn't a process that we use today, we have to understand that God was in the midst of it and God was using it like a tool. The same with getting, laying out a fleece, same with the men on the ship, casting lots and figuring out, yep, it's Jonah, you know, see ya. You know, all those different things, you know, is that how God always wants to, what God always wants to use or prescribe? I don't think so, but did he use it for a season? I think so. Yeah, yeah, that's good. That's a great point. And this always brings me to a question. I want to, Pastor Glaze, I know you've commented on this before. What are we supposed to do with the Old Testament? We're supposed to obey all of everything that's in there, all the laws and everything. Are we supposed to obey none of them or are we supposed to obey some of them? I mean, and how do we figure out what that is? Well, you know, especially when you look at the five books of Moses, you know, there were the civil laws, there were the ceremonial laws, you know, civil laws were, you know, how you were to treat your neighbor, your ceremonial laws were, you know, like the feast and, but then there were the moral laws. You know, you look at the Ten Commandments, you know, the owl shall not kill what we're talking about here, not committing adultery. Well, you know, the moral laws, you know, definitely are ones that you want to follow. And then I would say some of the other ones, you know, you want to use discernment as far as the civil laws are concerned because there may be some civil laws that are still applicable for today that, you know, that will be beneficial. So I would definitely say, you know, as we look at the Old Testament, you know, and we look at the stories, there's morals being taught in the stories, there's teachings that are moral. So we definitely want to take the moral part out of the Old Testament and apply it to us today. But not the shellfish one. Right. We're gonna have some life there. I'm not, I'm not. I'm not, I'm not some moral one. All right, well, great, great discussion. We're coming up in 60 seconds when we ask, why did God choose the people of Israel? We'll be right back. Welcome back to hard questions. So we've got another question that I think is so important for us to understand. Out of all the people of the world, why did God choose the nation of Israel to be his people? Are they still his favorites today? Pastor Pete. Deuteronomy seven, six through eight. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more a number than any other people. For you were the least of all the peoples, but because the Lord loves you. And I think that, and I know we may have difficulties. God fell in love with Israel. It's as simple as that. Because the Lord loves you and because it goes on to say he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers. And then we're looking at the covenants that he swore to your fathers. The Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from a house of bondage from the hand of a pharaoh king of Egypt. So God fell in love with Israel because he fell in love with Israel. But does that mean God loves Israel more than he loves you, Tom? Or Jay? Or Joel? Or Dr. Clay? I know there's people out there tell you that God has favorites. I don't believe it. I believe for God so loved the world and it means the entire world. Did he love Israel as a special treasure above all the other nations? I believe he did. And I still believe there's a place in the heart of God. Look at Israel. Small little Israel which he sits today then has to tell us and they are a world superpower? Explain that to me. The only reason why they're a world superpower is because of Jehovah Jireh. I think they're the third most powerful, they have the third most powerful army or whatever it is, military power in the world. I'm not mistaken. So let me ask you, Jay, what's your take on this? Why, why do you, it doesn't, it's not very clear why he chose Israel and are they still his chosen people favorites today? I do believe they're still his chosen people. Well where's that put Christians then? They're grafted in. And that's where we go to Romans where he talked about because remember those, that whole, speaking of that too, that whole replacement theology. If you're hearing that, get rid of that. That is not right. That is not right at all. He chose them. Replacement theology is what? Is when basically God used the church to replace Israel and the children of Israel and all that nation is no longer important to him. And now the church has been replaced with him. Now, of course we do know the story where Jesus came and he said, I would love to have gathered you. He said, now you're not going to see me until blessed he that comes in the name of the Lord. Which is why you still have a lot of Orthodox Jewish people still looking for the coming of the Messiah which gives room to the Antichrist to be able to come in because he's going to be the imposter of that. So that whole piece is there but God is still going to do something powerful. Remember at the end of the seven years of tribulation we're going to have the millennial reign. When he's going to establish everything out of Jerusalem and the 144,000 and all of that are coming together. So he saw as a great plan to bring Israel back to the place where it was back in Genesis. We said, I'm going to make you and through you all nations are the earth are going to be blessed. That's all going to happen during that millennial reign. They are going to be the centerpiece of all of that. So God's still going to redeem them and he still had a place for them and he still got his eye and everything revolved. The center of the world is not America. It is Jerusalem and Israel. Amen. Great. Yeah. I think just always remembering that God had a special plan and a purpose for Israel and that plan was to reach the nations. You know, when you see God get really upset and when he exercises judgment against Israel it's constantly because they're looking more like the nations around them and then they're losing their purpose. They're losing their first love and it's every time they start to look like the world he redirects them back to looking more like him to fulfill that purpose. You know, Jesus, when he comes he gives a sermon on the Mount. He's speaking to a Jewish crowd when he's saying, you're a city on a hill, you're a light, you're a light to the world. You know, no one should put you under a basket. Nobody should hide that. You know, where they were becoming, you know, isolationists at that time trying to shield themselves from the world. Jesus wanted them to be a light to them and a witness and he's always had that special longing. I love the verse that you quoted where Jesus said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I've longed to gather you as a mother hand gathers her chicks but you were unwilling. You know, that deep desire, that deep love to have his precious chosen child. One quick other thing to that. The next time Jesus comes back, what will it be for? The thing that brings him back is that Israel will be in trouble and he's gonna place his feet back on the Mount of Olives, I believe it is, and split that in two in order to come back for them. That's how important they are to him. That's grace. Well, you know, and I don't know that we really answered the question, why did God choose Israel? I don't think we have that answer, do we? And I would back up and say, he chose a man first. He chose Abraham and he said, I will bless them that bless you and you know, and curse them that curse you. So actually, you know, he chose Abraham, you know, and I just have to go back to God's sovereignty. You know, I mean, why, you know, how come he didn't choose people from Iran or Africa? You know, he chose his sovereignty, you know, his ways are not always, his thoughts are not our thoughts. And I don't know that there's an answer to that question. Why did he choose Israel? You know, just his sovereignty. Yeah, yeah, why did he choose Abraham? Cause he chose Abraham, there's really not a whole lot of other answers to that. Well, we want to close with this. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. That's from number 60, Aaronic Blessing. Well, we hope you've enjoyed today's program. Please let us hear from you.