Author Archives: reveds

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About reveds

Occupation: Pastor, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lennox, SD Education: BS - Christian Education, Sterling College; MDiv. - Princeton Theological Seminary Family: Married, with Four children. Hobbies: Running (will someday run a marathon), Sci-Fi (especially Doctor Who and Sherlock), Theater, and anything else my kids will let me do.

Bible Exam

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Kevin DeYoung, a Pastor in the RCA, posted today a copy of the exam that is used in his church’s leadership training class.  Members of his congregation who have been nominated as Elders and Deacons participate in a 12 week class, and at the end of the course are expected to take an exam (Elders and Deacons at my church, consider yourself lucky).  The exam has long and short answer essays, as well as a series of questions on Bible Content.  As DeYoung points out, “you don’t have to be a brilliant student to serve, but we do not want our staff, teachers, and officers to be biblically illiterate.”

For fun, and for your edification and encouragement in biblical studies, I thought I’d pass alone the Bible Exam questions that were shared.  Print the questions out, and give yourself some time to carefully go through this.  Don’t feel bad if you don’g get everything right (I only got 89%).  Instead, rejoice in what you know, and study what you don’t.  Feel free to post your results; email me if you need the answers, or better still, look them up in your Bible.

Enjoy!

A.    Who did the following?
1.    Wrote the book of Acts?
2.    Appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration?
3.    Directed the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem?
4.    Killed a thousand Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone?
5.    Led the Israelites into the promised land?
6.    Was exiled to the island of Patmos where he wrote Revelation?
7.    Was going to curse Israel, but had to bless them?
8.    Became the first King of the 10 tribes that broke away?
9.    Rescued David from her foolish husband Nabal?
10.    Was rebuked by Paul for refusing to eat with Gentiles?

B.    Where geographically did the following events take place?
11.    God gave Moses the Ten Commandments?
12.    A silversmith caused a riot?
13.    Elijah had a confrontation with the prophets of Baal?
14.    Believers were first called “Christians”?
15.    The river Jesus was baptized in?
16.    The walls of the city collapsed after the Israelites marched around it?
17.    Jesus walked on water?
18.    The place where Jonah was supposed to be going when he fled to Tarshish?
19.    The place where Paul was heading when he was blinded on the road?
20.    The river Ezekiel was at with the exiles when he received a vision from God?

C.    In which book of the Bible do you find the following?
21.    Peter visits Cornelius where he learns that God accepts Jews and Gentiles?
22.    Paul asks a runaway slave to be welcomed back?
23.    Israel worships a golden calf made by Aaron?
24.    The story of Joseph and he brothers?
25.    Twelve men explore the land of Canaan, but only two trust God to give it to them?
26.    God’s judgment on Israel is pictured by a prophet as horde of locusts?
27.    A description of the armor of God
28.    The words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” in the Old Testament?
29.    A prophet marries a prostitute?
30.    The Magi visiting the Christ child?

D.    In which book and chapter(s) do you find the following?
31.    God first speaks the Ten Commandments?
32.    The call of Abram?
33.    The Sermon on the Mount?
34.    The Great Commission?
35.    The Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples in wind, fire, and tongues?
36.    Just as Adam was the head of the old humanity, Christ is the head of the new: “Just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous”?
37.    ”But these three remain: faith, hope, and love.  And the greatest of these is love”?
38.    A religious leader hears “Unless a man is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven”?
39.    Satan bound for a thousand years?
40.    The three Hebrews saved from the fiery furnace?

E.    Give the main topic or event of the following Bible chapters
41.    Genesis 3
42.    Isaiah 53
43.    Romans 4
44.    Psalm 119
45.    Hebrews 11
46.    Acts 15
47.    John 17
48.    Revelation 21-22
49.    Luke 15
50.    Exodus 3

F.    Who said the following?
51.    If I perish, I perish.
52.    What is truth?
53.    After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?…Will I really have a child, now that I am old?
54.    O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
55.    Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in the kingdom.
56.    The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
57.    He must increase; I must decrease.
58.    Am I dog that you come at me with sticks?
59.    I know my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth?
60.    Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.

G.    If you encountered the following error, to which book would you turn for help?  Choose the book that best addresses the error.  Use each  of the listed books only once: Genesis, Job, Song of Songs, Amos, John, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, 1 Timothy, James, Revelation.
61.    ”As long as you believe the right things, it doesn’t matter how you live your life.”
62.    ”I’m sure I don’t have any spiritual gifts.  Only special people do.”
63.    ”We are saved by Jesus, but we also have to do our part by obeying the law of the Old Testament.”
64.    ”If you are sick, you must have sin in your life.  Good people don’t suffer.”
65.    ”God doesn’t care about the poor and oppressed.  That’s the social gospel.”
66.    ”I know God promises to bless me, but I can’t really trust him through the hard things in life, like famine, barrenness, and imprisonment.”
67.    ”In the end it won’t make any difference who we followed or what we did with our lives.  Jesus will treat everybody the same when he comes back.”
68.    ”There’s nothing special about Jesus.  He’s just one way among many, just another prophet or good moral teacher.”
69.    ”The best way to pick your elders is by looking at how successful they are in the business world.  Next, consider how many degrees they have.  After that, popularity matters most.  Finally, if you still can’t decide, go by good looks.”
70.    ”The Bible doesn’t say anything about intimacy between a man and a woman.  That’s  too fleshly for God to care about.”

H.    Arrange the following events in proper chronological order.
71-80.
a.    The giving of the Law
b.    The atoning death of Christ
c.    Malachi prophesies
d.    The promise to Abraham
e.    creation and fall
f.    Pentecost
g.    Exile in Babylon
h.    David is King over Israel
i.    Paul is shipwrecked
j.    The Judges rule over Israel

I.    Match the verse with the doctrine it best supports.  Each doctrine from the list will be used only once: providence, atonement, election, justification, immutability, sanctification, inspiration, deity of Christ, Trinity, total depravity
81.    Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. 1 Peter 1:15
82.    God demonstrated his love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
83.    What you meant for evil, God meant for good.  Genesis 50:20
84.    He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4
85.    I the Lord do not change.  Malachi 3:6
86.    Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not count against him. Romans 4:8
87.    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1.
88.    Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19
89.    For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.  2 Peter 1:21
90.    There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  Romans 3:10-11

J.    In which Old Testament book would you find the following Messianic prophecies?  Books may be used more than once.
91.    The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
92.    He would crush the head of the serpent.
93.    He would come riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
94.    Born of a virgin.
95.    Came to preach good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, release the prisoners from darkness, proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and comfort all who mourn.
96.    Would be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
97.    Would be like a sun of righteousness rising with healing in its wings.
98.    ”They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
99.    Buried with the rich in his death.
100.    Like a lion’s cub of the tribe of Judah.

The Power of Words

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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word as with God, and the Word was God…”
(John 1:1)

I love words.  Words have rich meaning, paint beautiful pictures, carry authority and power.  The right word at the right time makes all the difference in the world.

I make my living studying and writing words.  I love the theater because it tells great stories through words acted out.  I love the Scriptures because these words convey truth and transform life.

Words have, by nature, definitions.  I know that seems obvious, but, especially today, this matters.  We seem to live in a time when words mean only what you want them to mean – marriage, morality, love, God, evil – everyone seems to be running around with their own definitions of these words.  If a word, though, does not have a clearly defined usage, then all we are left with is the chaos of Babel – we may be speaking the same language, but no one understands each other.

If, for example, I ask for a chair, hopefully you and I are both thinking of a legged piece of furniture that will support me in a seated position.  If, however, you bring me a Pineapple, I will know that there is a breakdown in our basic form of communication.

I heard, recently, a message on John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word as with God, and the Word was God.”  I had hoped for an exposition on the Word of God incarnate, Jesus Christ.  What I heard was a nebulous pondering on what God might sound like if He still spoke to us today (!?!?!), what that “Word” might actually be, and ultimately, a call to “Centering Prayer” otherwise known as Transcendental Meditation (for a good article on this click here), in which we were actually asked to close our eyes, empty our minds, and listen for God to speak to us inwardly.

(Disclaimer: 1) I did none of the above, but turned to Psalm 119 for my prayer, and 2) I should have known what was coming when the Scripture reading began with the phrase “Listen now for the word of God,” rather than “Listen now to the word of God” – like I said, words make a difference.)

How could someone stand in a pulpit and offer such an ambiguous message on the Word when words are meant to remove ambiguity, to drive away the clouds, to pull back the veil?  Whatever the message was, it was not a sermon that “convinced and converted sinners, or built them up for holiness and comfort” (WSC 89).  More to the point, never did we hear that the Word, which was with God and which is God, became flesh and dwelt among us.  The prologue to the gospel of Jesus Christ was read without anything pointing us to Jesus Christ.  The Word became flesh so that in the person and work of Jesus Christ, God could express all that we need to know for our salvation.  The Word became flesh in Christ so that in Him the love and grace of God could be perfectly, completely, and definitively revealed.

While I beat my head upon my desk in frustration, here’s a little excerpt from A.W. Pink’s Commentary on John:

Christ, then, is the One who has made in incomprehensible God intelligible.  The force of this title of His found in John 1:1, may be discovered by comparing it with that name which is given to the Holy Scriptures – “the Word of God.”  What are the Scriptures?  They are the Word of God.  And what does that mean?  This: the Scriptures reveal God’s mind, express His will, make known His perfections, and lay bare His heart.  This is precisely what the Lord Jesus has done for the Father.  But let us enter a little more into detail: –

      1. A “word” is a medium of manifestation.  I have in my mind a thought, but others know not its nature.  But the moment I clothe that thought in words it becomes cognizable.  Words, then, make objective unseen thoughts.  This is precisely what the Lord Jesus has done.  As the Word, Christ has made manifest the invisible God.
      2. A “word” is a means of communication.  By means of words I transmit information to others.  By words I express myself, make known my will, and impart knowledge.  So Christ, as the Word, is the Divine Transmitter, communicating to us the life and love of God.
      3. A “word is a method of revelation.  By his words a speaker exhibits both his intellectual caliber and his moral character.  By our words we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be condemned.  And Christ, as the Word, reveals the attributes and perfections of God.  How fully has Christ revealed God!  He displayed His power, He manifested His wisdom, He exhibited His holiness, He made known His grace, He unveiled His heart.  In Christ, and nowhere else, is God fully and finally told out.

We have the Word of God, we are no longer left in the dark without a witness.  We have the Word of God, we don’t need to quiet ourselves and listen for the whisper of God.  We have the Word of God, we don’t need to empty ourselves to find what God is saying to us within.  If we want to know God, we must turn to nothing other than the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in Scriptures.  May this be our passion, our consuming desire, our great work, to reverently, humbly, daily, dwell upon the excellencies of our Savior as they are revealed in the Bible.

I love words.  More importantly, I love the Word of God.  The Word gives life meaning and beauty, it comes with authority and power.  Christ is the right Word spoken at the right time, and has made all the difference in the world.

SDG