Transcript

American Family Radio takes your Bible questions live on American Family Radio

>> Bert Harper: The Bible. It's the word of God. Sharper than any two edged sword. This sacred book is living and active and contains all that's needed for life and godliness. Stay with American Family Radio for the next hour as we study God's word and take your Bible questions.

Alex McFarland and Bert Harper discuss Isaiah 36 on American Family Radio

Welcome to Exploring the Word.

>> Alex McFarland: Well, good evening everybody. Welcome to Exploring the word. Alex McFarland M here along with Bert Harper. You're listening to the American Family Radio Network. And this is the show where we study God's word. And we're going to get into Isaiah 36 today. But, I've just got to read again the last verse of chapter 35, verse 10 of Isaiah 35. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy. Upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Bert, if ever there was a Bible verse that was encouraging about our future with the Lord and in Christ, Isaiah 35, 10 is a very, very uplifting verse, isn't it?

>> Bert Harper: It really is. So what you need to do, is the last part of verse 9 and the first part of verse 10 to make sure you're in that group. The redeemed shall walk there and the ransom to the Lord shall return. So, Alex, that price has been paid and we have been redeemed. And what a hope we have. And that's exactly, what Isaiah is sharing. And it really introduces chapter 36. Now chapters 36, 37, 38 and 39, is ending and beginning now what it's going to do, 36 and 37 end the, Assyrian threat. And then it comes to 38 and 39, it brings on the Babylonian. So these are very important chapters here after they get that promise that you were talking about that Isaiah would put in there. And so chapter 36. Now again, we're going to be talking about King Hezekiah. And, I had not noticed this until I noticed it as I was doing the research. Except for David and Solomon, no king of Judah has been given more attention or commendation in Scripture than Hezekiah. He's mentioned in 11 chapters now. 2nd Kings, 18, 20, 2nd Chronicles, 29, 32, and now here in Isaiah, ah, 36, 39. And so Hezekiah, ranks up there, with the great, great kings, of Judah. Alex.

In chapter 36, Assyria tries to overtake the cities of Judah

So, so here in chapter 36, there's a king that thinks he's bigger than God. And I just want to tell you ahead of time, he's going to find.

>> Alex McFarland: Out he's not exactly amazing. Well, Sennacherib, this is a, ah, Babylonian king. And his name, it's terrible. but Sennacherib, his name means quote the God little, G. And he, he certainly wasn't deity, I assure you that, think about this. He killed his brother to get to the throne of Babylon. Isn't that something? And, so he unsuccessfully tries to overtake the cities of Judah. But here's the thing. 185,000 of his people would die. And this is almost identical to the Six Day War in 1967 when, a number of Arab nations tried to overtake Israel. Israel had 20,000 soldiers and had 1500 casualties. They were invaded by like 220,000 Islamic soldiers that suffered nearly 190,000 casualties. And this, by the way, is also recorded in 2 Kings 18 and 19. but what's amazing to me, Bert, is this. Isaiah 35, attack and the defeat of Sennacherib. It's almost a mirror image of what happened to Israel. And again, Israel prevailed.

>> Bert Harper: In 1967, the odds were completely against them. All of Judah had fallen. Assyria had come and taken control. And now only thing that stood was Jerusalem. And they were shut up. But it was a remnant that God had promised. I am going to see you through. I'm going to bring you through. And Assyria, it's going to get its upcoming, it's going to be punished. And so here it is starting in chapter 36 again, I'm covering it like this. there's three men that represent King Hezekiah, and they're dealing with men that, Zanacherib has sent. And they're talking back and forth. And so Hezekiah will say something and then they, they'll share that, and then they'll take it to Isaiah and Isaiah will tell, Hezekiah, yes, God's going to see you through. And then Hezekiah is going to take it before the Lord and even in the temple and lay it out before him. And again, Hezekiah comes strong. I'm not saying his faith did not. Okay, what do I do? But he stuck with the guns. I'm using that term. He stuck to what God had told him to do. And the victory does come. Alex, what's more powerful, A, promise from God or an army of 185,000?

>> Alex McFarland: Oh, boy. A promise of God. The Bible says, the, the horse is a vain thing for safety. And a nation is not saved by numbers of armies. But it's the promises and the faithfulness of God, isn't it?

>> Bert Harper: It really is. And let's look at verse four, if you don't mind, because we've kind of set it up, and it's hard for me to pronounce this word. It's really not his name. It's a position. He's a commander. Rabshakeh, said to them, say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria. What confidence is this in which you trust? I say you speak having counsel and strength for war, but they are vain words. Now here's the question. Here it is. Now, in whom do you trust that you rebel against me? Alex? Who you going to trust? That is the question. And they'll talk about trust and faith all through here. And it's the enemy talking. Who you going to trust? Who you going to have faith in? And, these, Hezekiah stays with it. Verse 6. Look, you're trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt. Now, that's true. Okay, yeah. but the other part on which, if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh of Egypt. Now, verse seven, and I'll throw it back to you. But if you say to me, we trust in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high place and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and said to Judah and Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar. Now, they thought that those high places and those places of worship on the mountains was a, worship to God. They, again, they are making a bad judgment here concerning who God is and where he's to be worshiped, aren't they?

>> Alex McFarland: Well, they really are. And you know, you'll see in the Old Testament, sometimes references to high places and whether it's, you know, like some altar to a false God, this is identity idolatry. And, so this Rabshaka, he anticipated the response of the leaders of Judah. And, you know, the, the leaders might be saying, you know, we can't trust in Egypt. And so that's right, they shouldn't trust in Egypt or, or, any foreign alliance. They should trust in the Lord God. Now, Hezekiah had been a good king, and he had helped get rid of the idolatrous places. And again, this is recorded in Second Kings, chapter 18. And Bert, see, one of the things that God had just strongly prohibited Israel from doing in the most emphatic terms was being idolaters.

>> Bert Harper: True.

>> Alex McFarland: You know, that's the first Commandment, you know, you shall have no other gods, only, the true and living God. And so, do you get the implication that there's almost this accusation? Rab Sheka is basically saying that this is what's causing us trouble. Hezekiah has, you know, done all these things and people used to go and worship. But see, you don't worship God at the high places. You don't. You don't worship the true God in false ways. I guess we should say that. And Hezekiah's reforms aren't what caused the trouble, were they?

>> Bert Harper: It was not. And here again, misunderstanding.

Alex: The enemy is threatening Christianity from the inside, aren't they

And we have that today. Concerning what we trust. We trust the Lord God. We really do. And, they. Okay, you can't do that. And again, the enemy, you know, they don't have the full story. They don't get the full picture. It is, let me say this. It is spiritually discerned, and they have none of that. So therefore all that they can see is that which is idols. That's the reason idols were worshiped, because our eyes can see it. And, so here it is. They continue talking. listen, to this, if you would, Alex, and see what you think. Verse 11. The three guys that was sent to Rakesha, whatever, please speak m to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it and do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are in the wall. and again, it's a hiddenness. It's something that they, are trying to negotiate and get in there. They want the people to get discouraged. Okay. they want, the enemy wants the, say, the regular people to be discouraged and even come to the point of overthrowing Hezekiah as king. So they're threatening from the outside and they're trying to, take down them from the inside as well, aren't they?

>> Alex McFarland: They really are. You know, I've got to say this. This kind of reminds me, Bert. I'm doing some consulting for a church that, It's a great, great church and it's turned a corner in a good way. But they, two years ago, pulled out of a very, very, very liberal denomination. And so, you know, we're trying to help them get, in the growth mode again. And it's happening. But some of the people that I've called to invite them to church, they said, well, all this trouble came, about because we left the denomination. And I said, well, really, look, the deity of Christ, the salvation through Jesus, morality, gender, the authority of God's Word. Painful as it is, those things are worth fighting for. And just like Hezekiah is getting blamed because he took down some of the idols, sometimes people who stand for truth get blamed. But there are some things that, that are worth taking a stand for. And, the true and living God, the one and only savior, the infallible Holy scriptures, these are things that we just cannot compromise on. It was true, you know, 3,000 years ago, and, it's true now.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Skip down to verse 14. And this is what he's saying. Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you, nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, the Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Syria. Do not listen to Hezekiah again. it's blasphemous that they're saying this is a, ah, tirade of anger. And here, they're really speaking to their demise. They do not know how great God is. And secondly, they don't know Hezekiah. Now I'm going to jump ahead and I'll throw it back to you. They go ahead and say to them, listen to verse 18 and following. Beware, lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, the Lord will deliver us. Has any one of the gods, little G of the nations, delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? And then he goes on and lists them, and then 20. Who, among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand? The problem was they were not really God, they were idols. Right, Alex?

>> Alex McFarland: Exactly. Yeah. The gods of the land could not deliver people from the Assyrians because they weren't gods at all. And, see this, rabshake? He's making threats. He's a bully and he's trying to intimidate the people. But it's going to come. Hezekiah, is going to hear all this. You know, kind of reminds me of, you know, when R.C. sproul, somebody said, what's the difference between the gods of the other religions and the God of Christianity? R.C. sproul said, well, the God of Christianity exists.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Hey, we're going to get back and see what God does. don't go away.

It's not always easy to grant forgiveness to people who ask for it

It's not always easy to grant forgiveness to people who ask for it. But Dr. Tony Evans says that when they don't ask and don't deserve it, well, that can be especially tough. He'll tell us about a personal experience today as we spend two minutes with Tony.

>> Jeff Chamblee: I remember the time, someone ran into my car and then sped off. I didn't get their license plate. I didn't know who they were. Don't even remember the make of the car. All I know is my car had a dent in it. They hit my car, didn't pull over, didn't say I'm sorry. And wouldn't you know it, every time I saw that dent, I was reminded about that offense that they did to me. You know what I had to do? I had to go get the dent fixed myself. Lest I live with anger about something I couldn't change and stay mad at a dent. When Stephen was being stoned to death, In Acts chapter 7, verse 60, Stephen said, Forgive them and do not hold this to their account. They were killing him. They were stoning him to death. And in the middle of being stoned to death, even though they ever asked for forgiveness m he claimed their forgiveness. He looked up and saw heaven open up and Jesus standing on the right hand side of the Father. Why? Because forgiveness m gives you a new level of access to God. So don't let the fact that the person who has hurt you has neither asked for forgiveness, desired forgiveness, don't care about forgiveness because you're not willing to be held hostage. And therefore, by an act of your decision, you release them so you can keep going to your destiny. Because nothing will hold you hostage to your detours like unforgiveness.

>> Bert Harper: Check out the latest edition of our half hour daily program and sign up for Dr. Evans free weekly email devotional when you visit tonyevans.org and be sure to join us next time for Two Minutes with Tony.

Burt Harper asks you to join Preborn in protecting life

This sanctity of life month, we honor the over 66 million babies whose lives have been tragically ended through abortion since Roe. Sadly, with the abortion pill accounting for over 60% of all abortions, babies lives are at even greater risk now. But in the midst of this darkness, there's a light that shines, and that's preborn. PreBorn's network of clinics have rescued over 300,000 babies from abortion and have prayed with over 80,000 women to come to Christ.

>> Caroline: When I heard her heartbeat, I decided to keep her. And now my daughter's about to be three.

>> Alex McFarland: I don't know where my life would be without her.

>> Bert Harper: An ultrasound doubles a baby's chance at life. This is Burt Harper asking you to join PreBorn in protecting life. One ultrasound session costs $28 and $140 will sponsor five ultrasounds. Any gift will help. $100 200 1000. To donate securely dial pound 250 and say the key word baby. That's pound 250 baby. Or go to preborn.com that's preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afR.

>> Caroline: And I say because I'm happy and I sing because I'm free. All his eyes on the spell and.

>> Alex McFarland: I know he watches me.

>> Bert Harper: Hallelujah, what a song. I hope you were enjoying that. The only part about bringing this in is we can't listen to the whole thing sometimes. And that is a beautiful thank you. Brent. Alex, PreBorn, I remember Dan Steiner coming to Tupelo years and years ago and I was invited to meet him and he was introducing to us afa, AFR to PreBorn. And we have become partners over the years and what a difference preborn is making in the lives of people.

>> Alex McFarland: Amen. Well, it really is a great ministry. It really is a great ministry. And right now we want to hear some stories about how preborn has touched your life. If you have a preborn story, we would like to hear that. And so I want to give a number, I'm going to give it a couple of times. But and this is not for Bible questions today, but this is if you've got a testimony related to preborn, 877-876-8893. That's 8778. Call if you would and share for about a minute, minute and a half or two. And your testimony or story about preborn might be heard on the radio during the preborn campaign that's coming up.

>> Bert Harper: Yes, that always occurs in January. This year it is between 19 and 23rd of January. And you will hear that. And so we're excited about partnering with preborn. That's what AFR does. We partner with individuals to help carry out the Great Commission. And you say Great Commission PreBorn. You better believe it. Many of those women who are abortion minded and they go to preborn and they see that ultrasound and guess what happens many times, most of the time, 80% of the time, first time pregnancy, they decide to have the baby and during that time they, the witness of the Lord Jesus Christ is given to them and many are saved. Not only is the baby's life saved, but the woman who has come is born again. So preborn. Listen, if you have one of those testimonies, we would love to hear it again. That number 8, 7, 7 8, 7, 6. 8, 8, 9, 3. Just like we partner with preborn, partner with us in sharing your testimony about what God has done through that ministry.

>> Alex McFarland: Amen. Amen.

We're going to segue into Isaiah, chapter 37

Well, we're going to segue into Isaiah, chapter 37. And as 36 concluded, then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah, with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. And so, you know it. Walls have ears. You ever heard that old saying? Yeah, you know, so they tell Hezekiah, all these threats and all these. These just over the top bombastic things that Rabshake was saying. It came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it, that he. He tore his clothes, he rent his clothes. And that's, of course, as everybody knows, I'm sure, a sign of anguish and, anger too, really. He tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz. And they said to him, thus saith Hezekiah, this day is a day of trouble. Rebuke and blasphemy. For the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. And in other words, we're being blessed by God, and, that could be derailed. It may be that the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to reproach the living God and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard. Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. You know, whenever you're on the eve of trouble, they. They're doing the right thing. They're calling for prayer. And that. That's what they did. That's what everybody should do when you're, you know, we should pray and praise God at all times, but especially if you're in a time of great distress and trouble. Corrie Ten Boom said this. When life knocks you to your knees, well, that's a good place to pray.

>> Bert Harper: Amen. Amen.

Alex: Assyria had wiped out all the land around Jerusalem

Alex, notice the remnant that is left. now again, we want to set this up. Assyria had wiped out all the land around Jerusalem, captured it and done damage to the crops. Cause later on, it's going to say, you haven't got anything to eat. What are you going to do? You better give up. We'll take you to a new land where you'll have land and you can do it. You have nothing there. In Jerusalem, you're going to starve. But the prayer of the remnant that is left, sometimes it is a small group that is left. It's a small group that turn things around. And here it is. They're going to the right place. They're going to Isaiah to find out what the man of God has to say. And they came to Isaiah. Start in verse six and read that.

>> Alex McFarland: Yeah. And I think it's just fascinating that, in verse two, though, they went to Isaiah the prophet. Now, this is Isaiah writing, but he is recording the word of God. And you know, Isaiah knew that he was a, prophet of God. And so, you know, he kind of name checks himself in this because he's, he's getting the words of God. and it wasn't, you know, boastful or arrogance or anything, but this is his role. He is a prophet of God, and it's recorded in his book.

>> Bert Harper: But continue verse six. And Isaiah said to them, thus shall you say to your master. This is what the Lord says. Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard. That which the servants of the king of Assyria has blasphemed. Me. That's the capital M pronoun, God. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, little less. And he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I'll cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Now listen to this, Alex. Here's the promise. And, he said, I will send a spirit upon him. I think it's spirit of fear and everything. And he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I'll cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Now, the own land is really important here. In other words, I have set aside Jerusalem. Yes, all of Judah has fallen except Jerusalem. But you're in the place that I am protecting. I'm going to do that. And so, Alex, this is what the Lord said to Isaiah. And Isaiah shared that with these and share it with Hezekiah. And it starts out, do not be afraid. that phrase occurs a lot through the Bible.

>> Alex McFarland: Doesn't really does. And what's interesting is that, Hezekiah is going to pray. And very often, you know, God promises deliverance, to the Israelites, of course, and he gives it too. But here, God is going to personally rebuke, rabbishech, or however you pronounce it. And, that, you know, the deliverance from Sennacherib is going to happen. It's kind of lengthy. I don't know that we'll be able to read all these verses of chapter.

>> Bert Harper: I think verse 14 is really important. What do you think? Would you. Yes. Is that all right to go there? Because the rest of it is going back and forth. Yes. verse 14. And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, o, Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim. You are God. You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth incline ear, O Lord, and here open your eyes, O Lord, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent reproach to the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria, have laid waste all the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. Now, therefore, O Lord, here it is. Our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord and you alone. Alex. That's, some of the, I think, some of the greatest scriptures and prayers and testimonies in all the Bible.

>> Alex McFarland: This is a beautiful, beautiful intercessory prayer, to God. And it kind of reminds me of some of the praying that I've been doing in, recent years about various elections, you know. But, therefore, O Lord our God, save us. And what a great prayer. Wouldn't it be good if church and Christians everywhere were interceding like this for our nation? But it goes on, and, God promises deliverance. Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent unto Hezekiah, saying, thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel. Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised the and laugh thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee. In other words, Sennacherib and Assyrians. You don't scare us because we're protected by God.

>> Bert Harper: Amen.

Hezekiah knew where God, his Shekinah glory dwells

Real quick, I just got to do this. In verse 16, the one who dwells between the cherubim, I just again, over in chapter 30, 6. Oh, the enemy was saying, you've torn down the high places and all those places. And he's saying, there's only one place to worship. Well, here it is. Hezekiah knew where God, his Shekinah glory dwells. Go ahead.

>> Alex McFarland: The Shekinah glory of God. Because on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, the cherubim and God's presence would come and, you know, consume the sacrifice, you know, and so the, the Shekinah glory of God. verse 24. By thy servants has thou reproached the Lord and has said, by the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars thereof and the choice fir trees thereof. I will enter into the height of the border and the forest of his Carmel, Mount Carmel. Well, they're not going to do that. They're not going to come in and overtake Israel. and that there. Verse 27. Their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field, the green herb, the grass on the housetops, and his corn blasted before it is grown up. Not that word there really means as corn is withered. But God has undertaken, for them. it talks about a remnant going out of Jerusalem and being escaped. But here's where their salvation is and really their hope. Verse 32. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. You know, that term is used of Jesus, really. The zeal of the Lord of hosts would proclaim this. God is zealous, committed, really. we often think of the word zealous, zealous, you know, enthusiasm. But it's really commitment. And God is committed to fulfill his promises. not one jot or tittle of his word will ever fail and God's plans will be realized. And Satan and his minions are always trying to derail God's plan and God's blessing. But God's commitment and zeal and power always make his will get fulfilled ultimately.

>> Bert Harper: Preach it, brother. Amen. I've got to do this contrast. Verse 28. Okay. when God says, I know your dwelling place, talking about, you know the enemy. I know your dwelling place. I know you're going out and you're coming in and you're rage against me. Okay? He said, I know where you are. Now if you would go down to verse 33. Therefore, Thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria. He shall not come into this city. Shoot an arrow there. Come before it with shield nor build a siege against it. Now, Alex, what a contrast. Okay. Hey. You think you're powerful, O King Assyria? Listen, I know your dwelling place. I know your comings and your goings, and I know your rage against me. You're going to pay the price. Okay. But that those people that you're trying to destroy, you shall not even come into that city. There's no way you're going to shoot an arrow. You're not going to commit with a shield nor siege against it. Listen, Alex, being where you need to be when God's placed you there is vital. He knows where you are. He knows where the enemy is and when he has marked you and he has you there again. I'm not going to say certain things are not going to happen. But I'd say this. You're where you're supposed to be. God's blessing is upon you.

>> Alex McFarland: Amen. verse 35. I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. This is God speaking here. And so Jerusalem, and really Israel itself, Judah, will be defended. Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians. A hundred and four score and five thousand. So 185,000 of the Assyrian soldiers die. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, there were all dead corpses. This is a supernatural, taking of the lives of 185,000. So Sennacherib, King of Assyria, departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch, his God, that Adremi, Adramalech and Shahrizer, his sons, killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the hand of Armenia and Escaradon, and his son reigned in his stead. You know, it's so sad for these unsaved people. Sennacherib killed his brother to get the throne of Assyria, and now these sons kill him. the Bible says the way of the transgressor is hard. That's true, isn't it, Bert?

>> Bert Harper: It is verse seven, and that said was going to happen. You come to verses 35 and following. It does happen, just like God said. The number, Triple 858-98-8840.

AFA action takes attacks on the family seriously

We'd love your Bible question today. AFA action takes attacks on the family seriously. The enemies of the family constantly employ new tactics to try to sneak past our radar. They know if we stand together, their.

>> Alex McFarland: Evil plans will fail. Your gift to afa, action allows.

>> Bert Harper: Us to stay vigilant against their onslaught.

>> Alex McFarland: And if you give this month, you'll.

>> Bert Harper: Receive access to the Cultural Institute video.

>> Alex McFarland: When youn Faith is Illegal by Frank.

>> Bert Harper: Harbor on AFA Stream as our thanks.

>> Alex McFarland: You can make your gift [email protected] you.

>> Caroline: Are strong and mighty. There's no one else like you.

>> Alex McFarland: You are, great and powerful.

>> Caroline: no one can do the things you do.

>> Alex McFarland: You're the beginning and the end.

>> Caroline: You're the peace I find within.

>> Alex McFarland: Amen. God is a great God and He loves you and he has a plan for your life. And that plan begins with you putting your faith in Jesus Christ the Savior.

This is the part of the program where we take your questions

Well, welcome back to Exploring the Word. This is the part of the program where we take your questions and we have a couple of calls coming in and we have a couple of lines open. So if you have a Bible question, you'll get through, I'm sure, in the number. Here's the number toll free for, Bible question, triple 858-98-9840. Triple 858-9840. And we would love to hear from you. And by the way, if you ever want to email us, you can email word fr.net w o r d wordfr.net and, Brett, Austin and Bert and I will do our best to get to your, your question. Hey, one last thing before we go to the phones. we haven't said this in a while, but we have a very, active Facebook page for exploring the Word. And, if you haven't, followed us on Facebook yet, do that. Bert, Last year we were praying to get to 10,000 followers and we did. And, Brent posts a lot of things on there. So if you're a Facebook person, like us on that, if you.

>> Bert Harper: Would, yes, do that. We love it. And Brent gives us a report and a lot of times it's questions and sometimes it's praises, but we love to hear about it, man.

AFR family prayed for grandson who went back to school today fully healed

>> Alex McFarland: Well, let's, let's begin in Mississippi with Terry. Terry, thanks for calling Exploring the Word.

>> Caroline: Oh, thank you. brother Burt and brother Alex. I'm not. Y' all pray. Y' all prayed for my 6 year old grandson about a month ago. The AFR family prayed for him and he was in children's hospital in Pensacola. He'd been in and out of the hospital since before Thanksgiving. And that child went back to school today fully healed.

>> Alex McFarland: Praise God.

>> Bert Harper: Hallelujah. hallelujah. amen. Well, we're going to, you know what We. We prayed for him to be healed. And now, Alex, I believe it'd be appropriate for us to thank God for that healing, don't you?

>> Alex McFarland: Amen. Amen. Well, we rejoice with you, Cheri. Burt, why don't you pray and thank God for this good news?

>> Bert Harper: I will, Father. Thank you for Cheri, so many times. Father, we do not follow through the way we should concerning a lot of answered prayer. but Cheri has. And we come alongside her today praising your holy name for what you have done. That. That child now is in school today. And, Father, I've seen you do it. And again. And we give you praise, glory and honor. And, and we say thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Alex McFarland: Amen. Praise God for that.

>> Bert Harper: amen. Thank you, Terry.

Alex: I'm looking for a devotional that's on audio

>> Alex McFarland: let's go to Missouri. Dennis in Missouri. Welcome to Exploring the Word.

>> Caroline: Well, good afternoon, gentlemen. Blessings to you both to your families and to your ministry. I like to listen to you and learn what I can learn. I'm, in my 70s and I'm legally blind, and the vision is getting worse. But what I'm trying to find is. I'm trying to switch. I have Bibles, but it's hard to read them. I'm looking for a devotional that I can. Whereas it gives you the devotionals and the Scriptures and then explains what they mean. But it needs to be an audio. Is there any place out there that has a devotional? It's audio.

>> Alex McFarland: let me jump in on this because, Angie and I are big, big, big devotional book people. We love devotionals. And one that's just been great for years and years is Our Daily Bread. And Dennis, I think, in fact, I'm certain of it. Our Daily Bread has audio online. And, you know, on the computer you can listen to audio. one other thing that I would mention that I'm going to throw it back to you, Bert. renewing your mind. This was the I m mentioned earlier, R.C. sproul. And, now it's deep. Renewing, your mind. That's Ligonier Ministries and the late R.C. sproul. it's pretty deep theological teaching, but they have a daily devotional that's on audio. And, it's pretty good. I like it because, Bert, I love biblical worldview and apologetics, but, I think you. You will not be disappointed. Brother Dennis.

>> Bert Harper: Alex. Our Daily Bread. I thought it was. And that was on my mind. You mentioned it. Ligonier. I thought of that. And, Brother, did you. Yeah, I could not agree with you more. And, Dennis, thank you for not saying, oh, I can get by without it. No, we need it daily, don't we, Alex?

>> Alex McFarland: We really do. We really do. Thank you. And let me encourage you, folks, read through the Bible. I'm getting those certificates ready. And, Bert and Tim and I, Tim Wildmut, we're going to sign the certificates this month. So, 12 months from now, folks, you can be one of the ones that read the Bible in 26, read it completely, and we'll send you a certificate next year. But the people that read the Bible completely in 20, 25, I'm getting their certificates ready even as we speak. But, something else. Read devotions every day. Have a quiet time with God. Steve in Oklahoma. Steve, welcome to Exploring the Word.

>> Caroline: Thank you very much.

Alex: I have a question about Bible translation. And my question, uh, is in Amos chapter 7

And my question, is in the book of amos, amos, chapter 7, verses 7 through 10. And this is where the, The Lord is showing Amos a vision. And Amos sees the Lord and he's holding, most of the translations would say a plumb line, but I used a new English translation. Our church uses that, translation of the Bible. And that translation talks about the Lord having tin in his hand, the metal tin standing by a tin wall. And then the Lord says that he will place 10among his people. And he's getting at the idea of judgment here. But I have a hard time making a connection between the metal tin and the judgment that is. That is coming. And was curious, as to your take on it. And I will say that the net says the scholarship and that the use of the word tin is more accurate than it would be when referring to a plumb line or something that was likely weighted by lead.

>> Bert Harper: Okay, Alex, I had not. I have not come across that translation. So I have no response to that that I can think of.

>> Alex McFarland: you know what? the. The word in Hebrew is word anak, a N, a K. And I'm looking at, a couple of concordances. Now. Strong's concordance is one of them, and it says plumb line. And this is one of those things. and let me give you a little bit of kind of in the weeds about Bible translation. There's the donor language and the recipient language in Hebrew and Greek, Old Testament, NewSong Testament. That's the donor language. And there is. For a lot of words, there are the. The most most common likely meaning. For example, if I'm just pulling something out of thin air here, but if I said, truck. Now, most of you would assume a pickup truck. Rightly so. But also, do you know the wheels under a railroad car are called a truck. so somebody translating this show 100 years now might say, well, that is a possible meaning. but what is the more likely meaning? And in this case, while there could be, for this word anak, ten or something like that. But Bert, I'm looking at four, five concordances right now. And they all say that word means plumb line. And really also one last thing. Given the context of looking at a wall, here's the, God in Amos 7, 8 says, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. a measurement. How straight are you in relation to God's revelation and God's righteousness? I think the context would mandate the more common meaning of the word anak.

>> Bert Harper: Which is plumb line, verses 7 and 8. Notice it says stood on a wall made with, you know, with a plumb line. what. This is what you're going to do. I know this. As you said, Alex, the plumb line is accurate for the context of what we're looking at. How straight is it? You know, God. And it's really a standard. Okay, this is the standard I go by. You don't deviate. No, you build it straight. The standard. So hope that helps. Hope, that helps. Steve.

Charles in Mississippi has a question about the difference between heaven and paradise

>> Alex McFarland: Let's go to Tennessee. Mary in Tennessee. Welcome to Exploring the Word.

>> Caroline: Yeah, I had a prayer. Some prayer requests, and also a question too. I've got a couple friends that are dealing with pneumonia, bronchitis, and then I found out from the eye doctor yesterday that I'm, dealing with astigmatisms and cataracts that are getting worse.

>> Alex McFarland: And I've also had problems right now.

>> Caroline: With like being sick myself with a sore throat and congestion as well. So. And the question I had was, what's the best dictionary to use with the Bible? First I find words, I don't understand what they mean.

>> Alex McFarland: Bible dictionary. Well, let me encourage you to, obviously there's a lot of resources online and one is BibleHub.com if you want to be online, BibleHub.com another that I think is great is Bible Gateway. But if you're going to buy a book, there's a couple of books that I love to recommend. Zondervan put out a Bible dictionary. Zondervan Publishers is a well known Christian publisher. And, it's just called a Bible dictionary. And there's a list of hundreds and hundreds of words. And when some of the publishers that I think are very dependable, like Tyndale and Baker and Bethany House and Zondervan. you'll not go wrong with those publishers, as far as I'm aware, Bert.

>> Bert Harper: Well, again, having a good Bible dictionary, it really, really will help. And for serious Bible study, because you just used that word, the Hebrew word Anak, and how it's been used. And a, good Bible dictionary, because there's going to be times even with you using the King James version, like yesterday, we were talking about the porcupine and ostrich, you know, and it was a completely different term in the King James and the new King. Yeah. And so having a Bible dictionary, let me recommend that in a concordance, Hub and Gateway. Yes, they are. But having a hard back or something like that, a good concordance, good Bible dictionary, they are very helpful.

>> Alex McFarland: I'm, I'm old school and I believe in acquiring a good library of actual books.

>> Bert Harper: I like, I like it as well.

>> Alex McFarland: in, I believe it's Mississippi. Charles? Charles in Mississippi. Are you there? Hey, Charles.

>> Bert Harper: His question is the difference between heaven and paradise. So I'm asking that far. Charles. Ah, Alex, go ahead. What's the difference?

>> Alex McFarland: Well, you know, the word paradise is, very often associated with, Abraham's bosom, being right there close to the heart of Abraham, the father of the Israeli people. And like in Luke 16, Lazarus the beggar was taken to paradise. Now, Bert, as I understand it, paradise prior to Christ's resurrection, the realm of the saved dead, believing people that died, they were in paradise. But Christ, when he died on the cross, he led captivity, captive. In other words, those that were in paradise were taken to heaven proper, which is the abode of God.

>> Bert Harper: And he told the thief, on the cross, today, you will be with me in paradise. And that very day it talked about, he descended into that holding place for the saints, for those that were, and then he would lead them captive. So you could say the difference is paradise was taken into heaven. And, you know, when you see it described, you do see it as paradise. I don't think it would be a bad thing to say, man, I'm going to go to paradise or heaven. You know, Alex, I don't think that's, you know, that's not a severe difference, is it?

>> Alex McFarland: No, no. You know, maybe a good trivia question would be, what, believer spent the shortest amount of time in paradise? And it might have been, the penitent thief. This is in Luke 23.

>> Bert Harper: That's good. Hey, I'm going to Be on Trivia Friday pretty soon. I might use your question. We'll see. Go ahead.

>> Alex McFarland: Let's go to Arkansas. Joe in Arkansas. You're going to be our final caller today on Exploring the Word.

>> Caroline: Yeah. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to talk to both of you, to listen for a long time. I'll try to be.

>> Alex McFarland: Thank you.

>> Caroline: Just, coming. Coming from a little bit more of a traditional Christian background, I have a take.

Alex: The Protestant church does need more structure, brother

I just wanted to run by you on something because y' all were talking about Isaiah. I'm not a Bible scholar, but, I take a lot of interest in Isaiah 22:22. And, and what I. What we see is like a parallel to, the Gospel of Matthew. And, just real quick, you know, he says, I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder. What he opens, no one will shut. And what he shuts, no one will open. And my, understanding is the Old Testament period, the Davidic king appointed a chief steward, I think, called like the Al Habayat or master of the palace, for while he was away. And so this shows God removing Shedman and installing Eliakim. and he gives. He gives him the key of the house of David and says what exactly? What Christ tells Peter in Matthew 16:18, about, you know, getting the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And, so I often hear, you know, on, evangelical radio shows and whatnot, have a reference to the word church in covetous, more of an abstract kind of a loose way. And I was just curious what Yalls thoughts are on, you know, maybe the necessity to have a more, structured, you know, type of thing where, if Christ indeed gave those keys for, for a steward while he left his kingdom, you know, Isaiah 22:19 describes a steward as having an office and a station.

>> Bert Harper: Okay, Joe, I think we got. Alex, can you give a quick answer? About 50 seconds left, brother.

>> Alex McFarland: God bless you. You know, those words there in Isaiah 22:22 are very reminiscent of the words, in, like, Matthew 16, where Christ said he would build his church. We're going to have to do more about this later, but I want to say this. The Protestant church does need more structure. You know, it's almost like we've reformed. Priesthood of the believer has sort of become militant autonomy. It's almost like we've reformed out too far. And I hear you, brother. We need more structure. And I think that begins with living by the word of God.

>> Bert Harper: amen. We'll be back tomorrow with more of the Book of Isaiah.

>> Alex McFarland: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.