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Answering More Big Questions You Asked

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In this week’s post we will answer some more of the questions that were submitted during the Big Questions series. 

What is Selah?
In a number of places in the Old Testament Book of Psalms (and also the Book of Habakkuk) you will see the word “Selah.” It is not a translation of a Hebrew word, but rather a transliteration; that means it is just the letters in Hebrew moved over into English as we have no clear English equivalent. So. what does Selah mean? We know it is some sort of musical term as this appears in these poetic sections, but we are not 100% sure what it means. The two most common explanations I have heard is that it is some sort of increase in sound (like a crescendo) or it is a rest, a break. The Greek translation of the Old Testament translated it to taking an intermission or break. It seems most likely to me that it is some sort of break or marker that should cause us to stop and reflect — even the fact that it is a bit mysterious is a good reminder that we are called to stop and reflect as we praise God, looking to Him and also thinking about what we are saying.

Is Judas in Heaven?
We know that God can forgive any sins we commit and that He restored and transformed Peter even after he had denied Jesus (and had earlier rebuked Him). In fact, we see Jesus ask for forgiveness for those who crucify him (see Luke 23:34). Therefore, it is possible that Judas would be in heaven, that he came to a saving faith. However, when you read the narrative of how Judas responds to what he has done, I do not think we see genuine repentance. In Matthew 27:3 Judas “changes his mind” and has some remorse and regret after betraying Jesus, but it should be noted that this is not the usual meaning of repentance but probably something that means “seized with remorse.” This remorse does not lead him to turn to God in restoration or ask for forgiveness. In fact, we might see Judas as an example of worldly sorrow as opposed to the godly sorrow that brings repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). All that said, we do not know Judas’s heart and he may have had genuine repentance and faith but was in a pit of despair. I would never want to venture to make a declarative or definitive statement about someone’s eternal condition. We can only examine what we see in terms of words and actions, which does not lead us to believe that Judas had faith in Christ. In fact, we see statements in John 17:12 that call Judas the son of prediction, which could refer to his fate (but may not), and the words about him from the lips of Jesus in Mark 14:21 and Peter in Acts 1:25. Therefore, there is nothing that would lead me to answer this question in the affirmation, but only God knows. 

In John 14 Jesus says, “I go to prepare a place for you”.  What needs to be prepared? If Jesus is talking about heaven, isn’t it already prepared?
The imagery draws upon Jewish customs, as in a marriage the groom would go back to prepare a place (room) in his father’s house to bring his bride. Like many analogies, this may not be designed as much to be taken literally as to make a certain point. So here the imagery is less of the idea that heaven is not ready for us, but rather that he is going to make a way for us to heaven. Through Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension, he prepares us to enter into heaven by making a way to the father. If you will, he carves a path so that we can dwell with God in heaven. Therefore, the disciples’ hearts (and our hearts) should not be troubled, as because of Jesus’s death and resurrection, we have a home in heaven. 

If Jesus is God, and God cannot die, how was Jesus able to die on the cross?
This question was actually often discussed in the early church, as some said God died or the Father died on the cross (the technical terms are theopassianism and patripassianism). These ideas were rejected because it changed the nature of God; God upholds the world, so if God dies, the whole universe collapses. We believe that Jesus died on the cross, but we also have to remember that He is fully God and fully man. It is the human nature who died on the cross and experienced death, not God. As the Heidelberg Catechism notes in Q & A 17, Jesus “by the power of his divinity, might bear the weight of God’s wrath in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.” Therefore, one can say the God-man died on the cross, but it would be incorrect to say God died on the cross because – as you note – God cannot die.

 If Jesus is God, why does the Bible say that only the Father knows when end times will be? Not even the son knows. How can God the Father know something that God the Son doesn’t?
This question refers to Mark 13:32: “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (also see Matthew 24:36). It would seem while the Son took on human flesh and lived on this earth, even he did not know the time of his return — this would seem to be a way in which Jesus had become a servant as opposed to clinging to his rights as God (see Philippians 2:6-8). This does not mean that the Son has lower or lesser knowledge than the Father or is a lesser God, but as we see throughout his life and ministry, Jesus speaks about saying and doing the will of the Father. As a reminder of this, Jesus tells us, “Be on guard, keep awake.” In his humanity, Jesus did not know the hour of his return; this means that we should be leery of any who predict when the end is coming, and we should be ready for it now, living each day as if it could be the end. 

How can we determine what parts of the Bible still apply to modern day society vs. those that no longer apply?
This is a big question that large books seek to answer, so I will do my best to give some brief principles here! One thing I always try to highlight when we read the Bible is that we have to understand it in its original context before applying it to our lives – the Bible can’t mean what it never meant! Therefore, step one is to make sure we understand the intended response of the original text. Then we apply it to today and see what that response looks like in our time and place, seeing what is similar and what is different from the original audience of the text or the command. Things to keep in mind include where we stand in terms of the history of God’s saving plan, as we see God give laws to the people of Israel for a time but then as God’s plan unfolded to not just call a nation but people from all nations in Jesus, many of these regulations no longer apply because they are civil laws (and we no longer live in a theocracy), had ceremonial purposes (sacrifices – as Jesus is the final sacrifice), or were meant for a season (as Jesus says the food laws no longer apply to all). We can also look at the reason for the command — is it tied to creation (for example, like we see in Exodus 20 and the Sabbath command) or tied to some particular cultural manifestation? Another thing to think about is what the command meant in that culture and if it means the same thing in our culture or if we have some sort of different parallel. For example, the churches in the New Testament are commanded to greet one another with a holy kiss. Some cultures kiss when they greet, but others don’t; it does not seem that God is commanding the kissing as much as the principle. If carrying out the action commanded would have a greatly different significance in our culture, that is likely a sign that we apply it in a different way. Hopefully this is a good starting point in answering this question.  

My five year old daughter asks: “I believe that Jesus died for me, but it’s hard for me to believe that the spirits of God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) have lived forever. How could God have never been born?” This is a hard one to wrap my mind around, too, so I’m not sure how to answer.
Kids can ask the most challenging questions that make us think! One thing to recognize is that God is different from us, so not all of the categories we apply to humans can be applied to Him. A rock doesn’t have a favorite color. An animal doesn’t have a life motto. And God does not have a beginning and was never born. This can be difficult to fathom, but there is something that starts at the beginning by its very definition. Some people believe it is the universe that is uneternal, that is the uncaused cause, but the Bible teaches that is God. He was there in the beginning because He has always been.

Questions about the Bible or theology? Email them to Pastor Brian at Theology@WeAreFaith.org. You can also request to receive weekly emails with our blog posts by filling out the information on the right side.

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