The Bible says God is a “jealous God.” Wouldn’t this mean God is imperfect?

If a man loves his wife and knows that she is having an affair, and he’s not grieved, that would be abnormal. And this is how God means He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5).

A normal, even godly, response is to be distressed by a wandering spouse. Now the defect of jealousy is when a person is being faithful, and their spouse is constantly mistrusting them. That’s actually a kind of phobia that springs from insecurity.

People are often jealous and distrustful without cause. And I’ve seen this destroy marriages and otherwise positive relationships. That is a fault—a defect in human nature. So there are two sides of the jealousy coin. On one side there’s an appropriate, normal jealousy from love and singleness of devotion. The other side is an abnormal jealousy from suspicion and fear.

In a sense, the Lord has married the church; we even take His name. And we take His name in vain when we call ourselves Christians and worship other gods. He has a right to be jealous if we decide to give our devotion to other gods after we have professed to accept Him as our husband. He wants our loyalty because we have promised it to Him through repentance and baptism.

But the other form of jealousy … where a man follows his wife around and secretly checks her mail … that’s a sickness born of mistrust.

“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” Genesis 9:3

Before the Flood, God gave no permission for man to eat the flesh of animals. The original diet laid down in Genesis 1:29 and 3:18 consisted of nuts, fruits, grains, and vegetables. This order of things prevailed until after the Flood. Then, because vegetation had been destroyed by the Flood, God allowed the use of flesh food for the first time. It was for this purpose that the clean animals had been taken into the ark by sevens and the unclean by twos (Genesis 7:1, 2). Even though Genesis 9:3 seems to be an unrestricted permit to eat any kind of animal, please note that it was not without limits. God said, “Even as the green herb have I given you all things.” In the same way that God had given vegetation, so now He gave flesh. But all vegetation was not good to eat. There were weeds and poisonous plants that could not be eaten. In the same way, God proceeded soon afterward (Leviticus chapter 11) to show that certain animals were not good for food and should definitely not be eaten. It is also interesting to note that this instruction was given to Noah immediately after leaving the ark. Since it takes two (both male and female) to propagate a species and only two of each unclean animal were saved in the ark, it is certain that God did not give license to eat the unclean animals. If He had, the unclean species would have been exterminated, and none would exist today.

“And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.” Genesis 35:18

Since it is not possible for souls to exist outside of bodies, how do we explain this apparent contradiction? The word “soul” is translated from the Hebrew word “nephesh” which has been translated 118 times in the Old Testament as “life.” The same word is used in Genesis 1:30 in reference to animals. It is never used in one single instance to denote an immortal or undying part of man.

“And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but! will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.” Exodus 4:21

It is a fascinating fact that the Hebrew word “chazaq” is translated as “hardened” in almost every account of God's dealing with Pharaoh. But when Pharaoh “hardened” his own heart, the Hebrew word “kabed” is used. Why this difference?

Actually the word “chazaq” has a literal meaning of “strengthen, courage.” For example, we read in I Samuel 30:6 that “David encouraged himself in the Lord,” but the word translated “encouraged” is “chazaq”—the same word which is translated as “hardened” in this passage. “Chazaq” is also translated as “encouraged” in the following verses:

1 Samuel 30:6; Deuteronomy 1:38; 2 Samuel 11:25; 2 Chronicles 35:2; Psalm 64:5; Isaiah 41:7; Deuteronomy 3:28; Judges 20:22; 2 Chronicles 3 1:4.

When we take the true meaning of the word, we find that God actually encouraged Pharaoh's heart to let Israel go. But when Pharaoh hardened his own heart, the Bible uses a different word—”kabed”—which means “to make heavy, harden” (Exodus 8:15).

But why did the “encouragement” of the Lord have the effect of hardening Pharaoh's heart? We might just as well ask why the same encouraging, inspiring ministry of Jesus could produce a loving John and a traitorous Judas. One was softened, and the other was hardened. The same sun that softens the wax will harden the clay. Every man is exposed in some degree to the grace of Christ (John 1:9). The Lord is spoken of as a sun (Psalm 84:11) who lightens every man.

Some reject the light and grow hard (Zechariah 7:12). Some accept and are softened. The end result depends on the response of each individual.

Based on Colossians 1:15, many say Christ was created or born. Does this mean He’s not deity?

I believe Colossians 1:15, which reads, “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,” is a very clear reference about the awesome nature of Christ, which is a belief under attack even in many Christian churches. The Messianic prophecy in Psalm 89:27 also reads, “I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth,” showing that Christ was not the firstborn prior to the creation narrative in Genesis, but rather He was to be made firstborn after the Psalmist penned his words. “The firstborn of every creature” is explained in Colossians 1:18 as “the firstborn from the dead.”

We can also use a modern-day example. In America, we call the president’s wife First Lady, but that doesn’t mean she was the first lady born. It merely designates her role in America. Colossians should be read in the same way.

The word firstborn in Greek does not mean first one given birth to. Instead, it means the one who has priority—the one who has first position. A more accurate translation might say, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the first of every creature, or the highest of every creature.”

Another thing we need to remember is all of the times Jesus called Himself infinite. You can’t ignore those Scriptures when understanding His nature! For instance, Christ said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). He also calls Himself the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8). Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting (Isaiah 63:16; Psalm 90:2). And one of the best Scriptures to explain that Christ is eternal is in the gospel of John: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (1:3). If Christ made everything that’s made, He couldn’t have made Himself. He’s always existed!

Let’s look at another verse where we find a similar problem. Many take John 3:16, which says, “his only begotten son,” and say that Jesus was begotten. Yet these people forget that when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, it was the first time that God was born as a man. Christ is the only one of the Godhead who became a man, and so that’s one way you can look at this.

Also, when we translate from Greek the phrase “the first begotten” or “the only begotten” or “the firstborn,” that word can be translated as “the one who has preeminence of every creature.” It doesn’t necessarily mean He was born. Does it mean that the Father has a womb and gave birth to Jesus? Of course, this is an utterly ridiculous idea, but it helps illustrate the trouble in taking some passages of Scripture too literally.

Jesus has always been and will always be. He is divine and one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Did Jesus use His divine power to do only good on earth?

Absolutely. However, it is important to keep the following in mind. Whenever He did use His divine power to glorify the Father in heaven, He only used that power that is also available to you and me—His people. Jesus said, “The miracles I have done, greater things than this will you do because I will go on to the Father. As the Father sent me, so sent I you.” Christ raised the dead, and His apostles raised the dead. He also healed and taught people, and He instructed His disciples to do that same.

Christ also never used His supernatural power for any selfish reasons. He could have used His power to save Himself. He could have refreshed Himself from sleepiness when He lay in the boat, but He chose to remain tired. He could have used His power while He was thirsting on the cross, but He had a greater mission than Himself.

In Matthew 4:6, did Satan tempt Christ to commit suicide?

The verse reads, “And [the devil] saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Matthew 4:6).

The three temptations Jesus faced encompass every temptation that any of us face. We find in 1 John 2:16 that there are three basic temptations: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. Eve and Adam fell in those three areas; Christ overcame in those same three areas. We’re all tempted by those three things.

The devil tempts each of us with self-destruction, which is the temptation described in Matthew 4:6. Before I was a Christian, I toyed with suicide quite a bit. Without God, life has no purpose. Suicide, for the non-Christian, is logical thinking. If there’s no God, no purpose, no eternity, and if people are unhappy most of the time, then what’s the sense in living?

The Christian, on the other hand, realizes that suicide does not usher anyone into a better dimension, but instead permanently seals any bad circumstances. If you’re struggling, suicide doesn’t make it better. Suicide seals it forever. There’s no reversing those bad circumstances.

Generally speaking, suicide is the last resort of a person who is in a faithless and hopeless condition. When such a person kills himself, all he has to look forward to is the resurrection of the damned. His next conscious thought is not a better one, but a worse one. The biggest lie of all is that suicide is going to be an escape. The Bible says sin is a transgression of God’s law, and one of those commandments says, “Thou shalt not kill [murder]” (Exodus 20:13). That would include killing yourself.

Having said this, let me hasten to add that we must be careful not to automatically assume that all persons who have committed suicide will be lost. We may be surprised to find some in the kingdom who ended their own lives when they were not in their right minds due to unusual circumstances such as mental illness, chemical imbalance, or excruciating physical pain. We can trust God, who looks on the heart, to judge fairly in these cases.

Our lives are a sacred gift from God. The devil is using a lot of methods today to tempt people to self-destruction. Sometimes people commit suicide quickly; some do it by degrees through drugs, self-abuse, or cigarettes.

As long as you’re a Christian, you’ve got hope—of new life, a new body, and eternal life. Just read your Bible and keep claiming God’s promises. He’ll get you through it.

How does one walk after the spirit and not the flesh according to Romans 8?

Christians have two natures that are at war within us—the spirit and the flesh. The selfish carnal, or physical, desires of the flesh want to be satisfied selfishly. However, the spirit strives to be pure, do God’s will, and obey His commandments. The latter is the higher nature we should aim to please.

Peter and other New Testament writers speak about this war between the spirit and the flesh. And in Romans 8, Paul is encouraging Christians to walk after our spiritual natures and not our fleshly desires. You can read how Paul describes this often-difficult battle in Romans 7. I believe there is a simple, but not always easy, solution to this dilemma.

Here is a crude but effective illustration: Imagine you have two male dogs of the same breed. You feed one of your dogs the very best dog food, and you pet and groom him for attention, take him out for walks for exercise, and provide plenty of fresh water and rest. But the other dog you chain to a post, don’t provide food, water, exercise, or attention at any time. Now imagine releasing the two dogs in the same area. Eventually, they’ll do battle for the territory. Who will win? It’s easy to guess that the dog that is well nourished and exercised will conquer the starved animal.

It’s the same with the battle between our natures. The way you win the battle is decided in advance by which nature you choose to feed. If we feed the spirit by reading God’s Word, spending time in prayer, fellowshiping with like-minded Christians, and sharing our faith, you will strengthen the spiritual aspect of your nature and make more room for the Holy Spirit. It’s exactly like a muscle that gets bigger and stronger when you use it.

However, if you choose to feed your fleshly nature with worldly amusements and sensual gratification, your carnal nature will be on the throne and your spirit will lose the battle. There are so many distractions, shock television and other amoral entertainments, to compete. And Satan will do anything to make you fail. “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now” (Galatians 4:29, emphasis added). The devil uses carnal reading materials, music, and television, often disguising it as “family entertainment,” to tempt us and numb our spiritual walk. But these instant satisfactions have potentially terrible eternal consequences. They’ll make your spiritual muscles limp and weak.

When temptation comes, whatever side we strengthen will win the battle. And every day, we’re making a series of little decisions to walk after the flesh or the spirit. Pray daily, even hourly, for God’s protection and always be mindful when investing time and resources into worldly amusements. Real satisfaction is found in the Prince of Peace, and not in the empty amusements of this world.

John 10:34 is quite puzzling. It seems to say that men are gods.

Let’s back up just one verse to John 10:33. Jesus is debating with some religious leaders about His deity. They’re angry with Christ because He says to them, “I am the Son of God.” They respond angrily in verse 33, saying, “For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” Then Jesus answers, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” I believe Jesus is referring to a quote from Psalm 82:6. Here the Lord is talking through King David, saying, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”

Now you notice that in John 10 and in Psalm 82:6, the word gods begins with a lowercase “g.” The writers of these books were not saying that men are divine. Though we were made in His image, we certainly do not possess the attributes of God. God is omnipotent (all-powerful), He’s omnipresent (everywhere), and He’s omniscient (knows all things). Humans are neither omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent—they aren’t anything like the one true God. In addition, God is self-existent and eternal, whereas man is not.

When the Lord says, “You are gods,” it means that God made man (Adam) in His own image. In the same way that God rules the universe, providing, leading, and governing, God originally made man to be the ruler of this planet. Man was to be the leader of this planet, having all the things of this world, like the fish and cattle, under his dominion. Man was made to rule this world, and God placed him here in His own image in the same way that the Father creates life. Man and woman were given the ability to procreate in their own image—out of an act of love, they can produce another human being in their likeness. In these ways, man is described as a lesser god of this world—but we certainly are not divine!

Explain the reference in Genesis 3:15 about the woman’s seed bruising the serpent’s head.

The Lord gives a prophecy to Eve, who is a symbol of the church; saying that “her seed,” (her descendant, Jesus, and His followers), would bruise the head of the serpent, but the serpent would bruise His heel.

The only way to kill a serpent is to smash its head. And the word “bruise” there means to “smash” the head of the serpent. When a person is bruised on the heel, their progress is impeded. The devil has successfully hindered the progress of the Christian church, but it has not been a mortal wound. It has not stopped the church’s motion.

I believe God was making a prophecy about a battle that would rage in our world between the serpent (the devil) and the woman (the church) from the day of mankind’s fall in the Garden of Eden until Jesus returns.

In Revelation 12 you’ll find a dragon (also called a serpent in verse 9) trying to devour a woman’s baby as soon as the child is born (verse 4). This is the same serpent, Satan, who is called “the accuser of our brethren” (verse 10) and who persecutes “the woman who brought forth the man child” (verse 13).

Although Satan has been allowed to wound the heel of the woman, the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 adds that the woman and her seed, or offspring— which is Christ—would crush the serpent’s head. At the cross, Jesus crushed the head of the serpent, the devil.

Have you ever noticed that when you kill a snake, it can still thrash around after its head has been crushed? It can still bite for a time also. The devil was crushed at the cross, but he’s still thrashing around, snapping his jaws, and squirting venom. Not until our Lord returns will the church be fully freed from the torment of this defeated foe.

Would you explain the trinity?

This is a subject that has been debated by the greatest minds in Christendom for about 2,000 years. When mortal man tries to describe God, all he can do is make his best attempt. The Lord tells us, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). If you and I could reach the stars, then maybe we could explain God. But we can’t.

The Bible does, however, tell us enough so that we don’t have to doubt. God is one unit of three persons. “God” is a family word; He consists of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In John 3:16 we see that God the Father sent God the Son in the form of a human that we might be forgiven. At Jesus’ baptism, you see these individuals again. The Father speaks from heaven saying, “This is my beloved son.” The Spirit comes down in the form of a dove upon the Son. You’ve got the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit right there.

Some people are confused because Moses says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The Bible also says that “God said, Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 2:26). We need to understand the Hebrew context of oneness. Moses wrote, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24 NKJV). Speaking of the apostles, Jesus prayed “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:21). The word “one” in the Bible doesn’t just mean one person; it can also mean one in unity, or in purpose.

Galatians 4:4–6 states: “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son … To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

Here you have God the Father sending the Son and sending the Spirit that we might reflect God the Son. There are many different titles used in the Bible for God, but there is only one God who is united in His purpose of saving you and me. That’s the trinity.

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34

In Matthew 10:34, when Jesus says, “Think not that I come to send peace on earth,” He means: “I did not come to bring political peace.” The Word of God brings division. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” Christ is portrayed in Revelation as coming with a sword protruding from His mouth—a symbol of the Word of God. The Word of God can be divisive because people take different positions. But the salvation that Christ offers individually brings peace to those who receive His Word.

Genuine Christians—true Christians who lived godly lives through history— have been persecuted. Soft Christians, those who claim His name but don’t live according to His Word, through history have been the persecutors. The Crusades that were fought, the Inquisition, and a lot of things that have happened through history—were started and carried out by “Christians” who were not really converted. They usually end up giving the genuine Christians a bad reputation. That, in turn, leads to further persecution of real Christians who have the teachings of Christ in their lives. And so in that sense, Christianity does not bring peace environmentally. It brings peace internally.

How did the Israelites have moral standards before the Ten Commandments? How did they know how to behave?

Before the Ten Commandments were written down in stone, the Bible tells us that the law was written in the hearts of the people. In addition, it was transmitted orally from father to son.

However, by the time of Moses, after the people had been in slavery under Egypt, and thereby under the influence of the Egyptian pagan religion, their memory had been somewhat corrupted and diluted.

That’s why Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, so his people would not be confused. Of course, God ultimately wrote the Ten Commandments so there would never have to be any guessing about what is right and wrong.

To prove this point: Long before Moses wrote the Ten Commandments onto scrolls, God said to Cain; “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door (Genesis 4:7 NKJV). The Bible also records, “Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my law” (Genesis 26:5). And not only did Abraham obey God’s law, statutes, and commandments, Joseph knew it was a sin to commit adultery with Potiphar’s wife. He said, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God” (Genesis 39:9). He evidently knew adultery was a sin long before the Ten Commandments were written. It had been passed on, so he knew what God’s law was.

Originally, God’s law went from Adam orally, straight out of the Garden of Eden, to become part of the oral tradition. In addition, Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, so they knew their Father’s character, which is revealed in the Ten Commandments. They passed this knowledge to their offspring, but because of man’s failing memory, they eventually had to write it down

Can a thought be a sin? Some say thoughts aren’t sins unless you put them into action, but I’m not sure.

What I or someone else thinks about thoughts isn’t worth much, but let’s see what Jesus says about it. In Matthew 5:21, 22, our Lord says, “Ye have heard that it was said … Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” He’s not actually calling someone like this a murderer, but He’s discussing the importance about thinking angry thoughts.

Now jump down to verse 27. “Ye have heard that it was said … Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Here the Lord is telling us that sin is not always an action, it’s an attitude. It’s thoughts.

In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord spent a lot more time talking about the attitude of pride and arrogance and sinful thoughts than the actual deeds, because every sinful deed originates with a thought in the mind. So if we’re going to squelch sin, we need to begin by asking the Lord to get our minds and our thoughts captive to the Holy Spirit. That’s where all sin originates.

After His resurrection, Jesus returned to heaven, and the disciples watched as He rose into the sky. The Bible says, “While they [the disciples] watched, He [Jesus] was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men [angels] stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven’ ” (Acts 1:9-11, NKJV).

Two points stand out in these verses. First, the Jesus who returns to Earth the second time is the very same Jesus who lived here on Earth with us and went back to heaven following His resurrection. And second, He will return to Earth the same way—“in like manner”—as He went back to heaven. How did Jesus go to heaven following His resurrection? Did He go secretly? No. The disciples watched Him rise, literally, bodily, into the air until a cloud hid Him from their sight. So these verses tell us that Jesus will return to earth the same way—not secretly.