Andrew Musch

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Peter Brand

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Sarah Stickfort

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Is going to the doctor a sign of a lack of faith?

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Don Panchito

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THE HOUR — THE BREAD

Ought we not to observe the Lord’s Supper only at night, and only with unleavened cakes, seeing this was the case at the institution?

Of course all admit that the Lord’s supper was instituted “the same night that He was betrayed,” “while they were eating,” that is, as the passover meal was drawing to its close. This was in the evening by a definite direction of Jehovah, but no direction was given that the Lord’s supper should be observed at any special hour of the day. Acts 2:42" TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:42 and 46, where the “supper” is, I think, certainly in view, makes no mention of the evening, but simply states that “they broke bread at home” (R.V.), in contrast with the daily public meeting in the temple.

In Acts 20:7" TARGET="_blank">Acts 20:7 the first day of the week is specifically mentioned, but we are left to gather incidentally that the observance was in the evening. There is, moreover, a very simple reason, quite apart from any spiritual significance, which I have never heard attached to the hour, why the evening was probably the time usually chosen in those early days, because it was the most convenient or the only time free in the day.

The observance of a “Sunday” on which shops were shut, and work closed down as to-day among men of all creeds or no creeds, was then quite unknown. For those who stickle for an exact imitation of the institution, one wonders why they do not celebrate the feast on the Thursday, the original day of its institution. We certainly only have custom rather than direct command for the first day of the week, though I do not question that this is the right day. Christianity is not like Judaism, a religious system of “days and months and years,” worked on a time-table, but a life to be lived on spiritual principles in the power of the Spirit, and governed by the Word, but not by inferences or deductions merely. Of course believers are perfectly free to break bread in the evening, if convenient, but it is not the only time, for the Word is “as oft as ye do it,” which cannot be limited to any particular hour of the day.

As for the necessity of using only unleavened bread, there is not a hint in Scripture for making this a sine qua non. Christians, no doubt, may use it if they see fit, but they have no right to impose it on their brethren. It is mere ceremonialism. The word, “artos,” used for the bread or loaf, simply stands for any mixture of flour and water, baked. There is nothing wrong about leaven itself, though, in the Scriptures typical of evil, but its anti-type is not leaven (to interpret a type by itself is not very helpful exegesis), but “malice and wickedness” or some such defiling sins (1 Corinthians  5:8). What we are called to do, is, not, like a company of Jews before the Passover, to search for literal leaven, but to examine ourselves for unjudged sin. To be occupied with the hour of the day, or the exact components of the bread and wine is to substitute the accidents* for essentials, and human inferences for Divine commands. I would close with the following weighty words of the well-known  servant of Christ, John Wesley: “What the Bible commands is good, what the Bible forbids is evil: what the Bible neither commands nor forbids, either in plain words or in undeniable inference, is a thing in itself indifferent, and neither good nor evil. The Bible is our sole guide and our adequate guide in faith and conduct.”

Matters on which the Bible does not legislate are left to the judgment of believers. The course good for one, may not be so for another. We are “by reason of use to have our senses exercised to discern between good and evil.” If the above principle were understood, it would help us to distinguish between things commanded, things commended, and things left entirely open, like the hour of the breaking of bread, or the exact kind of bread to be used, and it would prevent the harmful habit of judging one another on matters where even an apostle would confess he had no commandment from the Lord.

W.H.

* A property or quality of a thing which i not essential to it, aa whiteness to paper, the texture of cloth, the exact composition of bread.  

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What is the application of Psalm 45" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 45? Is the Bride mentioned in the Psalm Israel or the Church? How are we to understand the expressions, “unto the king” and “unto thee” in v. 14?

In order to fully understand Psalm 45," TARGET="_blank">Psalm 45, it will have to be accepted that its principal application, so far as the Bride is concerned, is not to the Church but to Israel. The expressions, “King’s daughters,” “the daughter of Tyne,” and “the rich among the people,” etc., are more easily explained when we think of Israel in her future exaltation above the other nations, and acknowledged as Bride by the Lord, in keeping with His promises of Isaiah 54:5;" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 54:5; Isaiah 62:5;" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 62:5; Hosea 2:19, 20," TARGET="_blank">Hosea 2:19, 20, etc., than when we think of the Church. Yet there are, no doubt, one or two expressions, such as, “Forget also thine own people” and “raiment of needlework” (as compared with Revelation 1:8," TARGET="_blank">Revelation 1:8, R.V.), which appear to suit the Church better, although they can perhaps be understood of Israel also.

Of course, some take it for granted that if the Church is the Bride, Israel cannot be; and if Israel is the Bride, the Church cannot be; but this is to lose sight of the fact that the term is figurative, and there is no reason why the figure should not be used of Israel in the Old Testament and of the Church in the New Testament. This is the case with other figures, e.g., Israel is the Vine of the Old Testament (Psalm 80:8," TARGET="_blank">Psalm 80:8, etc.), while the Church in union with Christ is the Vine in the New Testament; Israel is the House in the Old Testament, while the Church is the House in the New Testament (Numbers 12:7;" TARGET="_blank">Numbers 12:7; Hebrews 3:6)." TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 3:6). Even the term, “Body,” which we usually look upon as the exclusive property of the Church, had been used of Israel in Isaiah 26:19" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 26:19 (where the italics should be omitted).
Moreover, it may be that these early pictures, like the early prophecies of the Messiah’s coming, in which events separated (as we now know) by many years, are joined together as if one—are so worded by the Holy Ghost as to include applications both to Israel and the Church, some details being more suited to the one application, and some to the other. This would be helpful in studying the Song of Songs, of which Psa. seems to be the germ.

I consider this to be a better way of looking at the matter, than to accept the view suggested in Newberry’s Bible, where he distinguishes two women, the “Queen” (Israel), to whom he applies vv. 9-12, and the “King’s daughter” (the Church) to whom he applies vv. 13-15. I could agree that the Israel aspect of the picture is prominent in the former verses, and the Church aspect in the latter; but I cannot see two separate Brides in the Psalm definitely distinguished from one another.
With regard to v. i, I think that the “unto the King” at the begin- fling of the verse, and the “unto thee” at the end of it, refer to the same person. It is only an example of what is very common in the Psalms, in Isaiah 53," TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 53, and elsewhere, that is, an abrupt change from speaking about the Lord, to speaking to Him. And this speaking to Him is continued into verse i6, which, as well as verse 17, is addressed to the King, not to the Bride, although in our A.V. it looks as if it were.

W.R.

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Online Bible Search on Your Web Site

If you manage a website or have a profile on MySpace, you can provide your viewers with a Bible search form like the one below directly from your page. Their search results will appear in a pop-up window so your web page stays on their computer screen.  They can easily return to your site once their Bible search request is finished.

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Copy the following code and paste it into the HTML code for your web page. This will provide a link to the Online Bible.

See also How to link directly to a single verse or chapter.

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Why is it said of Abram in Genesis 15:9-10," TARGET="_blank">Genesis 15:9-10, “The birds divided he not”?

Why were the animals divided, but not the birds?

We see in verse 9 that, preparatory to making a covenant with Abram, the Lord God directed him to take certain sacrificial victims—a heifer of three years old, a she-goat of three years old, a ram of three years old, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. On the slain carcases of these the covenant was to be made. Evidently God had given general directions as to sacrifices and the clean animals to be offered up, as we gather from the knowledge of such things displayed, for example, by Noah, who knew the animals that were clean, that is, fit for sacrifice, and unclean— unfit (see Genesis 7:2, 3);" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 7:2, 3); and the same with the fowls—of the unclean two would suffice, but the clean were to go in “by sevens”—as these latter would be needed for sacrifice (Genesis 8:20)." TARGET="_blank">Genesis 8:20). No doubt, too, the order to be followed was divinely revealed. The very word for covenant, “berlth, from an unused root, “barath” means “to cut, to hew”— that is, the victims were divided—he who made the covenant had to pass between the Victims. In Jeremiah 34:19," TARGET="_blank">Jeremiah 34:19, those who made the covenant passed between the calves—all typical of Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant.

According to Hebrews 9:17" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 9:17 the covenant is always made on the ground of dead things (i.e. sacrifices). I am convinced that the idea at the back of this whole passage is that of a covenant, not a testament or will in our modern sense, as the next verse seems clearly to show. If we turn to Exodus 24" TARGET="_blank">Exodus 24: , there is no thought of a will being made, but of a covenant being established between Jehovah and Israel. How then could the second covenant be a testament? The R.V., although somewhat hesitatingly retaining “covenant” up to verse 15, translates verse i: “For a testament is of force where there hath been death” (margin, “over the dead”). The word, “dead,” is plural, and therefore must, one would judge, refer to the covenant victims, rather than to the testator of a will—who is a single individual. I suppose that the reason Abram did not divide the birds is that they formed one offering in two parts-_one of which was placed on each side, representing a cut victim. To those who have a deeper appreciation of the work of Christ, the Word divides the victim even between the . . . joints and
marrow (Hebrews 4:12)." TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 4:12).

W.H.

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Bible games for a group that are online here include:

1.  Lost Bible Searchers Game .  This small group Bible game requires players to traverse the map of the Bible world collecting pages from books of the Bible.

2.  Books of the Bible Game .  This collection of six Bible games for a group uses cards with information from the books of the Bible to help students learn their order and some facts about each book.

3. Criminal Suspects of the Bible .  This Bible game for a group requires students to identify the bad guy based on a police record of his/her crime.

4. Tribulation Survivor Game .  This is Bible game for a group that should be used after teaching about the Great Tribulation in Revelation.  Participants are living the Great Tribulation with the goal of surviving great disasters, persecution of the Antichrist and famine.

For some other Bible games for a group, browse the 350 Sunday school worksheets that contain a coloring page, crossword puzzle and other activities to review a Bible story.

Use one of the puzzle makers below to create your own Bible Games for a Group. 

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