Why did Satan decide to betray God and rule in Hell?

Wow! That’s an awesome question! In order to understand who Satan is and how he came to be, we need to look at Old Testament scripture and, in particular, the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 28. Remember that Satan was an angel named Lucifer. In fact, he was more than just an angel, he was an archangel and was literally God’s second-in-command.

 

But, pride entered Lucifer’s heart and he wanted to be like God. Ezekiel 28:17 reads, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” So because he became wicked and corrupted and because he was filled with violence and sinned, Satan was kicked out of Heaven. God expelled him BUT God did not send Satan to rule in Hell … Satan was cast down to earth. Satan is not the ruler of Hell, he rules here on earth to those who do not have Christ in their hearts. Sadly, not only was Satan cast down, so were a third of the heavenly hosts (angels) who decided to follow Satan. They are no longer angels but are called demons. Between Satan and his demons, all sorts of bad things have happened here on earth and will continue to happen. It started for us in the Garden of Eden and continues on to this day and beyond.

 

Satan wants to stop God’s plan because he knows that, in the end, he will lose against God. But, God’s greatest victory over Satan is Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection on Easter Sunday, death has been defeated and we can be assured eternal life with God in Heaven.

 

Oh, by the way, Satan will eventually be condemned to Hell where he will “reign and rule” for all of eternity, but not for a while yet.

I heard a preacher say that when Jesus comes back, dead Christian's bodies would have life again. But this isn't true.

Great question you raise! That preacher was not confused or mixed up. He was actually quoting 1 Thessalonians 4:16-16, which reads, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

When Jesus returns, all who died prior to Jesus’ Second Coming, who have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior, their physical bodies will be resurrected. Remember, we have a spiritual body (our souls) and a physical body. When we die, our spiritual bodies instantly go to Heaven but our physical bodies are still here. Anytime the Bible speaks of a resurrection, it is a physical event involving a physical body. So, those who area dead in Christ will receive resurrected bodies.

Don’t ask me how this works because it is one of the mysteries God chose not to reveal. However, we can be assured that those who died before Christ’s return will be first to ascend then those who are alive will go up to meet them. All of the believers will receive resurrected, “glorified” bodies.

How did Jonah live without food and water in the fish, and why wasn't he digested?

When Jonah got swallowed by the fish, how did he live without food or water? And after three days, wouldn’t he have already been digested?

These are awesome questions!!! The truth is that this is one of the great mysteries of the Bible and that we may never know the answer until we get to Heaven. There are lots of theories from many respected Bible scholars (people who study the Bible and Bible history) on what happened to Jonah. But we really don’t know how Jonah lived without food or water or why he wasn’t digested.

One of the most interesting theories is that Jonah was actually dead or in the process of dying when he was in the fish’s belly and that he was resurrected by God after three days. The Bible scholars use several parts of the story to support this theory:

• In Jonah 2:2, it says that Jonah cried out from the depths of the grave, or Sheol. Sheol is a Hebrew word for the “place of the dead” and is sometimes referred to as Hades. Bible scholars believe Jonah had drowned and was in Sheol.

• Jonah 2:3-7 makes it sound like he was drowning, especially where it says that seaweed was wrapped around his head and he was sinking to the roots of the mountains.

• Finally in Matthew 12:40, Jesus compares His death and resurrection to that of Jonah when Jesus says, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Now, is that a possible explanation? Yes. Could it also be that God performed a miracle and supernaturally kept Jonah alive in the belly of the fish because God had a bigger plan for Jonah? Yes.

Can we say for sure which is explanation is correct? No, we cannot. BUT, we can say with certainty that the event did happen and that God had a purpose for telling us that story.

The more important aspects of this story are that: 1) You can’t run and hide from God; and 2) God can redeem and restore you even if you try and run and hide from Him. Isn’t it great to know that we have a God who loves us so much that He’s willing to forgive us and give us a second chance?

When you get to Heaven, do you come as a … baby, kid, teen, grown up, old person?

That is a very interesting question! And, it’s also a very hard question to answer because we really don’t know! We can get an idea from reading the Holy Bible, but even then it is hard to know for sure.

Here’s what we do know: According to Paul, in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, our heavenly bodies will be very different from our natural earthly bodies. Our earthly bodies eventually die but our resurrected bodies cannot die. Also, our earthly bodies get old and weak but our resurrected bodies will be perfect!

Another big difference is that we will have a spiritual body rather than a natural body. That doesn’t mean we’ll be like ghosts just floating around; it means we will have a body like Jesus’ resurrected body (1 John 3:2). If you remember, after Jesus’ resurrection, He showed that He could be touched and that He could eat (Luke 24:37-43). We get a little bit of a glimpse of what our bodies will look like when we read Luke 9:28-36. Jesus went with three of His disciples up to a mountain. There he changed incredibly as His divine nature shone through His human nature. Moses and Elijah came from Heaven to talk to Him and their appearance was just as wonderful! In fact, the Bible says they, “appeared in glorious splendor” (Luke 9:30).

The Bible also says we will know each other. This tells us that somehow we will be recognizable. The Bible clearly shows that Jesus was recognizable after His resurrection (John 20:16, 20; John 21:12; 1 Corinthians 15:4-7) so that would lead us to believe we will somehow be recognizable in our new bodies. How that will be is uncertain. We may just know or we might look like our old selves; the Bible doesn’t really say.

Whatever our bodies look like and however we will able to recognize each other is an amazing mystery of Heaven. But, remember, Heaven is far more about God and far less about us, so maybe it won’t really matter anyway!

I heard something about God setting up a kingdom on earth … but we go to heaven! Revelation is confusing!!!

So, let’s talk about God setting up His kingdom on earth .... Okay, so this is another very difficult and often debated part of the Bible. I mean, what exactly does John mean when he says that in Revelation 21:1?!?!

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

Here’s what that means, and this gets a little confusing because the Book of Revelation was written in Greek. In Greek, the term “new earth” is kainos gae, which is primarily means a different kind than the present earth. Our English-speaking ears hears second earth and second heaven, which makes it sound like an earth and heaven created subsequent to the first one. But, John is making a distinction between two radically different orders of things based on “this age” and “the age to come.”

The current earth and heaven belong to this present evil age, where sin exists. But, this present heaven and earth are temporary and destined to perish. But, the new heaven and earth, on the other hand, belong to the age to come and are, therefore, eternal. They will never perish (have I confused you yet?).

Let me try and explain it this way: when we physically die our bodies are destined to perish. BUT, because of Jesus’ bodily resurrection, one day we will also be raised imperishable in glorified bodies. And just as our bodies will be raised without the loss of our personal identities (we’re going to know each other) the new heaven and earth will be completely re-created while maintaining some continuity to present heaven and earth. In the easiest way to explain this as possible, although the new heaven and earth will be completely recreated with every trace of human sin purged from them, the new heaven and earth will be recognizable in the same way as our resurrected bodies will be.

Why did Jesus rise three days later instead of one?

Wow. Interesting question!!! First of all, did you know that there are over 300 Messianic prophesies that Jesus fulfilled? What that means is that in the Old Testament there are over 300 verses that specifically predict Jesus as the Messiah. Of those 300 prophesies, I counted 33 that specifically addressed his betrayal, death and resurrection. Remember, that the last book of the Old Testament was written nearly 400 years before Jesus’ birth!

Unfortunately, the Old Testament scriptures don’t specifically refer to the three-day resurrection. However, Jesus, Himself, predicted that He would be betrayed, crucified and killed then rise on the third day. Take a look at Matthew 12:40, which reads:

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

John 2:19-22 says it this way:

“Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

The Apostle Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, the following:

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

But this doesn’t really answer why three days, right? And, quite frankly, I couldn’t find a compelling reason either. There are several theories and I’d like to offer you two that I believe are significant. First, back in the day of Jesus’ death, it was Jewish custom to wait three days before declaring someone dead. I guess they figured after three days in a tomb, you had to be dead and you just weren’t sleeping! So, by coming back to life after three days, Jesus proved that He truly did “rise from the dead.”

How could Jesus live without organs after He died?

Wow. That is a great question.

The Bible doesn’t say whether or not Jesus had organs. We can assume that He did because He hadn’t ascended (risen) to Heaven yet. We do know that Jesus had the scars from being crucified and from being stabbed because Thomas, one of the disciples, touched them (John 20:24-29). So, that kind of implies to me that he hadn’t changed physically. The more important thing, though, isn’t whether or not He had organs or not but that he had been resurrected. Wouldn’t a better question be, “How could Jesus live after He died?

Jesus is the only person that has conquered death (a few others, including Lazarus, did too but only because Jesus commanded it). So, how did Jesus do it? It’s because it was all part of God’s unstoppable plan. God has the power over life and death and He resurrected Jesus on the third day to because God knew we needed a Savior to save us from our sins.

Do you want to know something even wilder? God told us all of that was going to happen in the Old Testament! There were prophets in the Old Testament telling of Jesus 700 years before He was born!!! Amazing, isn’t it?