Baptized for the Dead

There are many bible believing Christians that have a high view of scripture that have come to believe that Jesus did not die on Friday and also was not raised on Sunday morning. There are a few texts that they use to support this belief but the most often cited text is Matthew 12:40. The reason for this is that Matthew 12:40 clearly uses the phrase three days and three nights. If this time period began on Friday there is no way that a person could logically come to the conclusion that there are three days and three nights between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. When we take the phrase three days and three nights in Matthew 12:40 at face value we are presented with a challenge to the traditional understanding of the Friday crucifixion. How do Christians reconcile this phrase and other phrases in Matthew 12:40 that seem to indicate a different time period between Jesus' death and resurrection? To answer this question we must first look at the the different types of texts in th...

Have you ever felt judged? Did it feel good? Probably not. Why then does the bible say? For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17 Will the house of God really be judged? Will God really judge His people? The bible tells us: 14 For the LORD will judge His people, And He will have compassion on His servants. Psalm 135:14 According to this text God will indeed judge His people. But notice that the verse also says that God will have compassion on His people. How can God both judge His people and have compassion? Doesn't judgment mean something bad? After all we usually feel bad when someone else judges us, don't we? Is it possible that we don't have the right view of God's judgment? Is the judgment really something to be afraid of? King David wrote: Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart. Psalm 26:2 David...

Melchizedek is a mysterious figure in the Bible. He appears abruptly with great importance and yet his identity seems unclear. Let's see what we can discover. In Hebrews 7:1-3 it says: 1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,  2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,”  3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Hebrews 7:1-3 With this text in mind let’s look at some of the characteristics of Melchizedek. 1. He was the King of Salem. Salem means peace. He was the King of Peace. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6. It says: For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And H...

Is God described as an Angel in the bible? Let's begin in Judges 13. In this chapter we find the Angel of the Lord speaking to Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson. When Manoah realizes who the Angel of the Lord is he wants to make an offering to Him. The bible says: 19   So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on—  20 it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.  21 When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.  22   And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”  Manoah offered the goat and the grain to the Angel of the Lord and the Angel of the Lord did not refuse...

Food for thought; the bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Who then is the Lord in this passage? Well Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:6 that there is: yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. This tells us that there is only one Lord Jesus Christ. Thus when Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that the Lord will descend from heaven Paul is talking about Jesus. But why does Paul say that the Lord (Jesus Christ) will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel? Is Paul saying that the Lord is an archangel? Well first of all the only person in the bible called an archangel is Michael. The bible says in Jude 9: Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed...

Yesterday I was asked about what books or authors are appropriate for Seventh-day Adventists. My response to this question is posted below: There are two principles we can apply when deciding which books or authors are appropriate. First and foremost the authors need to have a high view of scripture. In establishing what is considered a high view of scripture there also a few things to consider: the nature of inspiration, and methods of interpretation. Seventh-day Adventists reject higher critical forms of interpretation and do not believe that we should utilize methods that impose the same critiques applied to other books besides the bible. When it comes to the nature of inspiration there are generally three schools of thought: verbal, plenary or thought, and moral inspiration. We believe in plenary or thought inspiration and therefore we could not reduce the bible to simply a collection of moral literature. While we do do not believe that the bible is literally the words of God I...

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14 Why could Jesus be sure that after drinking the water that He gives a person would never thirst? Jesus could be sure is because He is the fountain of living waters. The bible says:  O LORD, the hope of Israel,  All who forsake You shall be ashamed.  “Those who depart from Me  Shall be written in the earth,  Because they have forsaken the LORD,  The fountain of living waters.”  Jeremiah 17:13 So if Jesus is the fountain of living waters and Jesus does this mean that you and I only need to drink once or better yet does this mean that we will only want to drink once? The answer is no. The bible says:  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,   For they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 An...