What Does The Bible Say? FAQ | TheMillennium.org

Does Matthew 11:11 mean the least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist?

Matthew 11:11 states: “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

"Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist" - In Luke 1:15-17 we read: “For he (John) will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’”

Among all the prophets of the Old Testament, God raised up none greater than John (as Luke expounds it). And as Christ said, “among those born of women (born as a human) there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.”

"But he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" – However, as great as John was (in character and in deeds) during Jesus’ day his position as forerunner was inferior to that of the least person in the kingdom of heaven. John was a great and good man, yet not perfect (Romans 3:23); therefore he, as a human, fell short of possessing the perfect righteous character of any, and all, of the future glorified saints (I Corinthians 15:53-54; I John 3:2).

This verse does not say John the Baptist will be the least in the kingdom of heaven once he is resurrected and born into the Family of God, only that as a human he could not attain to the least of the glorified saints in God’s future kingdom.

How did Judas Iscariot die?

What does the Bible say?

Matthew says Judas died by hanging himself. “Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5). However, Luke said Judas burst open. “Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out” (Acts 1:1).

Is this a contradiction? No. Isaiah the prophet mentioned an important principle regarding the Bible: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). Jesus said, “The scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).

The Bible is the inspired Word of God, and we can rely on its trustworthiness. However, it must be rightly divided (II Timothy 2:15). By putting the two accounts together we get a clearer picture of what happened. Both events are true. But both events did not happen at the same time.

Matthew wrote that Judas “hanged himself.” Luke explained what happened later: falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.” We do not have sufficient details to know whether Judas was dead before the fall. Either the hanging was improperly carried out, since it resulted in Judas falling from the noose and bursting asunder on the ground below. Or Judas was dead for some time, and his body decomposed and fell, or slipped from the noose.

How was there light on the first day of creation if the sun, moon, & stars were created on day four?

What does the Bible say?

Massive devastation occurred when God cast Satan and his demons to the earth when they rebelled (Revelation 12:4). The earth was covered by thick clouds of dust and ash. No light penetrated the earth’s atmosphere.

In recreating the surface of the earth, the first thing God did was remove the thick dark clouds to allow sunlight to reach the surface of the earth once again.

In Genesis 1:2 we read: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” Then on the fourth day, God completely cleared the atmosphere so that the sun, moon, and stars could be clearly seen.

Genesis 1:16-18 states: “Then God made [Hebrew – asah] two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.”

The word “made” in verse 16 can be translated: “made,” “had made,” or “will have made.” Any of these renderings could be correct. The correct translation must be determined in context. By looking at the context it is apparent that God “had made” the sun, moon, and stars long before the fourth day of creation, and that they were made visible again on the fourth day of the recreation week.

Are the days of creation twenty-four hours in length?

What does the Bible say?

Each day was 24 hours in length.

The account of the recreation (Psalm 104:30) shows that plants were created on the third day of the week. The sun, moon, and stars did not appear until the next day. If these days were a thousand years or more in length as some claim, the plants could not have survived without sunlight. It should also be noted that although the plants were made on the third day, insects were not created until the sixth day. Plants could not have existed for great periods of time, without the insects. Nor could the insects, such as butterflies and moths, and bees and wasps, survived for long without nectar-bearing plants.

Even a basic understanding of nature proves the days of creation were twenty-four hours in length. The Bible simply states: “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day…” (Exodus 20:11). Each day is exactly what the Scripture says, an “evening and a morning” – that is, a nighttime and a daytime (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31).

What are the Urim and Thummim?

What does the Bible say?

The breastplate held the Urim and the Thummim. These transliterated Hebrew words mean “lights” and “perfections.” Together their names may mean “perfect knowledge.”

Exodus 28:30 states: “And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually.”

Here we see the Urim and Thummim were placed in a breastplate which was worn by Aaron, the high priest, and that his breastplate was to reveal God’s judgment.

Leviticus 8:8 states: “Then he [Moses] put the breastplate on him [Aaron], and he [Moses] put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate.” Here again we see the Urim and the Thummin were put in the breastplate.

And in Numbers 27:21 we read: “He [Joshua] shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the LORD for him by the judgment of the Urim; at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, all the congregation.” In this account the Urim is used to give judgment; to show what God wanted the Israelites to do.

The Urim and the Thummim were placed in the breastplate of judgment, which was worn by the high priest, and were the means by which God’s judgment or decision might be obtained in matters of national importance. Besides these few facts, little more is known. For some historical information on this subject see (Josephus, Book Three, Section Eight, Antiquities of the Jews).

Who is the author of Genesis?

What does the Bible say?

There can be no doubt Moses is the author of the book of Genesis as well as the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (the Pentateuch).

The Jews, which are responsible for preserving the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures (Romans 3:1-2), ascribe the book of Genesis to Moses. We also have Jesus’ own testimony that Moses wrote Scripture: “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). A few verses later Jesus gave the division of the Old Testament and said: “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 27:44).

Jesus began with Moses because it was Moses who wrote the first five books of the Bible. Further proof is found in John 5:45-47 where Christ said: “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you – Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” This does not preclude the fact that Joshua and other prophets added further comments to the law that Moses wrote. Two examples of this are Genesis 14:14 where the name Dan is used instead of Laish (see Judges 18:29), and Deuteronomy 34:5-12 where we read the account of Moses' death.

Was Abraham a Jew?

What does the Bible say?

The word “Jew” is a nickname for the Israelite tribe of Judah.

The tribe of Judah descended from the man named Judah. This man was one of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob (Genesis 35:23).

Abraham was the father of Isaac (Genesis 21:3). Isaac was the father of Jacob (Genesis 25:26). Jacob was the father of Judah (Genesis 35:23). Judah, the progenitor of the Jews, was a great-grandson of Abraham. Therefore, Abraham was not a Jew, but an ancestor of the Jews. Abraham is properly referred to as a Hebrew.

Does God approve of polygamy?

What does the Bible say?

The first account of a polygamist marriage is found in Genesis 4:19 “Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.”

God never approved or sanctioned the practice of polygamy. He did permit it in the law of Moses – just as He allowed divorce because of the hardness of man’s heart (Matthew 19:8).

Nevertheless, according to the Bible, the ideal marital state is one husband and one wife who become one flesh in marriage for life. God gave Adam one wife (Genesis 2:24). Jesus also said that from the beginning it was God’s will that a man leave his parents and cleave to his wife (not wives) and the two of them would become one flesh (Matthew 19:4-9). New Testament Scripture also reveals that an elder (I Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6) or deacon (I Timothy 3:12) is to set the right example and have only one wife.

Does Exodus 34:28 mean Moses wrote the 10 Commandments on the tablets of stone?

What does the Bible say?

Moses did not write the Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone – God did.

Exodus 34:28 says, “So he [Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights, he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”

It appears the “he wrote” could refer to Moses. The difficulty in understanding this account is purely grammatical. From Deuteronomy 10 it can be absolutely proved that God wrote the Ten Commandments mentioned in Exodus 34:28.

Deuteronomy 10:1-4 states: “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. And He [God] wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me.”

Exodus 32:16 tells us the first tablets were also the work of God. “Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.” Additional proof is found in Exodus 31:16 “And when He [God] had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.”

How do we explain the apparent contradiction between Genesis 32:30 and I John 4:12?

What does the Bible say?

I John 4:12 states: “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.”

The context of I John 4 shows that John was speaking of the Father (see verse 10). No man has seen the Father in person except Jesus Christ (John 1:18; John 5:37). Therefore when Jacob explained: “…For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved,” he could not have meant the Father.

The One whom Jacob saw face to face – the One with whom he wrestled all night long – the One who blessed him and changed his name to “Israel” which means “prevailer with God” was that member of the God Family who became Jesus Christ. It was He that was “in the beginning…” with God, and “…was God” (John 1:1-3; John 1:14).