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NASB | Hebrews 11:40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 11:40 because God had us in mind and had something better for us, so that they [these men and women of authentic faith] would not be made perfect [that is, completed in Him] apart from us. |
Subject: How are pre-Christians made perfect? |
Bible Note: Rowdy We can't put God in a box especially a box built with human hands. God in the creation Genesis 1:3 created light before he created the Sun Genesis 1:16. A God that can do that can handle all the problems you brought up. The Bible doesn’t go into the “hows” of all of this but be sure the God of creation is more than able to make it happen. The fact we don’t have exact dimensions or a complete picture of what it will look like does not mean we should only view it figuratively. Even if God provided a snapshot of the new Heavens and New Earth the questions would still be asked. I’m guessing the verse from Peter your referring to is 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. To address your question about the oxygen needed for consummation of the earth, in the fire ball of a nuclear explosion which is a burning fire and yet contains no oxygen (the oxygen was first to burn) we see things burned completely. As comets and debris are drawn close to the sun they are consumed yet there is no oxygen in space to fuel the fire. If God is able to sustain the Sun, arrange the planets, create life such as our bodies with 60,000 miles of veins and blood vessels, create the rose, and the minds that would question Him, He is able to have a fire that will consume this earth and all that is upon it. Do I expect to see streets of Gold? I expect to dance upon streets of Gold not just see them! Why is that such a stumbling block for you? I have seen gold in sheets thin enough to be transparent film on window glass. Furthermore the God that created gold is certainly able to modify the molecular structure of Gold to make it further transparent if that was the problem. But say for an instance the streets aren’t gold as we define gold but rather a material that appears as golden yet is transparent . Is this passage then just figurative or is literally describing a the golden streets of heaven? As for food we will eat of the “Tree of Life” that will produce a different fruit each month and the leaves of the tree will be used for healing of the nations. Rev 22:2 Rowdy your questions all hinge on the scientific how to’s. If you want to ponder a natural impossibility that God has performed ponder the virgin birth. In the natural there is no way for a reproductive egg to be fertilized and the woman to remain a virgin yet that is exactly what God accomplished. If we try to limit God to our physical science we fall short of understanding God. God transcends man’s science, man’s understanding and even nature. If God so desired He could eliminate gravity and still have everything as it is, with one exception we would then question how He did it. The answer to that questions He is God! Let me address one last point. While I’m not saying this is the case, let us for the sake of this discussion say all of this does take place in the spiritual realm rather than our existing physical realm. Does that make these passages any less literal? If the spiritual realm becomes our reality and if these events takes place in that reality would that not still be a literal happening? Yes it would, the venue would have changed but the event occurred as presented. EdB |