Questions and Answers, Part 12
Selected Scriptures
Tonight we're going to have a little time of question and answer and this is always a enjoyable time. I hope you look forward to it as much as I do. We want you to have the opportunity to ask whatever question might be on your heart and I'll do the best I can to answer your questions.
And I always like to say at the very beginning that the Bible tells us in the book of Acts that Paul reasoned out of the Scriptures. He reasoned out of the Scriptures. And the word used there when he was, of course, in Berea in the book of Acts is the word dialego; he dialogued. And I think that's very important. I think that you have the right to be heard and to share what's on your heart.
One of the things we find in our radio ministry is that people write us all the time and ask Bible questions. And, of course, that's the part of them I like. I never get out of here on Sunday without answering umpteen Bible questions. And anywhere I go, you know, I'll be going into the market with my wife and somebody will corner me in the cornflakes and ask me to explain the kenosis, you know. So, that's just part of life, but that's the way it is. When you get into the Word of God, people have questions. So we want you to have the opportunity to ask those questions. The only thing I ask is that you speak clearly and give your name first, okay, so we can get acquainted with you. Let's start right over here.
TOM: My name is Tom. What's the significance of Moses and Elijah being on the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ? And by that I mean, why was...of anybody to be there with Him, why was it Moses and Elijah? And why did there have to be somebody there?
JOHN: The Bible tells us that when the Lord was transfigured, you remember in the New Testament that there appeared with Him in the Mount, Moses and Elijah. And normally, the reason that most scholars feel they were there is because it is a representation of the kingdom. In other words, Jesus was giving them a preview of His coming kingdom. And in the coming kingdom there will not only be Peter, James and John, who I believe are representatives, as it were, of the new covenant, right, because they were redeemed. Certainly, they were true Israelites, but after the cross and resurrection, they became part of the church of Jesus Christ. So they represent the church. Moses and Elijah represent the Old Testament saints. And it gives to us the picture that in the kingdom there will be the combination of the church, the redeemed church, and the redeemed out of the old covenant. And, of course, in many ways, the two leading individuals in the old covenant were Moses and Elijah, one representing the law and the other, what?... the prophets.
So I think that's probably the best way to look at that, that they are representative of the Old Testament saints who will appear in glory in the coming kingdom, which Christ was portraying there, or previewing, and that they represent the law and the prophets. Okay?
ALLEN: Hello, my name is Allen. I have a verse here I've been having a little bit of a problem with.
JOHN: Okay.
ALLEN: In Genesis 10, verse 5, it refers to the descendants of Noah and the settling in the certain areas and I'm not having a problem in the verse by itself, but I'm coming to my problem after the verse that says they were "divided in their lands; every one after their own language or tongue." I think that's referring to language, "every one after his tongue." And then we went down to verse 20 and it's talking about the sons of Ham and they were divided "after their tongues," and in verse 31, "after their tongues." The problem I was having with this is it appears to me that this all takes place before Babel.
JOHN: Mm-hmm.