00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:09 Pastor Rod's Birthday Celebration

01:37 Discussion on Obligations and Birthdays

04:02 Listener's Question on Eastern Orthodoxy

04:53 Understanding Eastern Orthodoxy

11:41 Daily Bible Reading: Leviticus and Matthew

13:40 The Significance of the Cross and Atonement

14:09 Exploring the Mystery of Azazel

16:04 The Centrality of Leviticus 16

16:58 Regulations on Sacrifices and Blood

18:28 Jesus Before Pilate and Judas' Fate

23:03 Theological Implications of Blood Transfusions

25:56 Concluding Thoughts and Prayer

26:33 Outro and Podcast Information

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

What's up, folks?

4

And it's the day before

Valentine's Day, so there you go.

5

Love is in the air.

6

Love is in the air.

7

By the way, I was remiss on Tuesday

when we recorded because I just

8

was not thinking forward enough.

9

But as it is, as we are recording right

now, there's a significant event that

10

is taking place in these 24 hours.

11

Oh, one would be.

12

Hardly pressed to think it's significant.

13

It is massively significant.

14

It's significant for the life of

our church because it is the day

15

of birth for one of our pastors.

16

Pastor Mark's birthday.

17

No, it's not Pastor Mark's birthday.

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It's coming up very soon, but it's not.

19

In fact, if you wanna put that

on your calendar, pastor Mark's

20

birthday, it's not his is.

21

February 17th.

22

Well, hey, you know whose birthday

is five days before that, it's

23

yours as we sit here and record.

24

Happy Birthday Pastor Rod.

25

So if you have not texted Pastor

Rod, happy birthday on his birthday,

26

you can send him a belated happy

birthday text, or not at all.

27

And that's perfectly fine.

28

I will receive your love via your

good thoughts and the good vibes

29

that you're sending my way right now.

30

I feel it.

31

Ah, thank you.

32

But if you spammed him happy

birthday, that would be even better.

33

And if he filled his inbox on his

email and his phone, that would bless

34

him, that would bless his socks off.

35

I would dare to say he would

just be floored by all of the

36

well wishes that came his way.

37

So happy birthday.

38

Thank you.

39

Yeah, you're welcome.

40

Yeah.

41

You thought you got away with it When I

didn't call attention to it on Tuesday,

42

I was perfectly happy with that.

43

In fact, I was thinking, you know what?

44

That's so thoughtful of

him to not bring it up.

45

He knows I don't like to

make a big deal of it.

46

I know you don't.

47

And that was so generous.

48

I appreciated that very much.

49

Well, you know what?

50

And yet, here you go.

51

But you said the opposite.

52

This is how I afforded you

thoughtfulness and now I afford you.

53

Un thoughtfulness, unth thoughtfulness.

54

Well, this is a way that people

can store up church in heaven

55

by blessing you, by with a happy

birthday, so you're encouraging them.

56

See here's my contention with that.

57

I've been wrestling with this for

a long time now, when people feel

58

like they have to call someone.

59

Or they have to text.

60

I feel like that's just,

that's not helpful to anybody.

61

If someone wants to, remember a

birthday, they wanna reach out and out

62

of the goodness of their own heart,

they wanna say something fantastic.

63

I'm okay with that.

64

And I welcome that.

65

I'm not mad, I'm not opposed to that, but

I don't like putting obligation on people.

66

It makes me feel icky to

say like, it's bad enough.

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You ha not have to, but you're listening

to me daily and then you see me on

68

Sunday and I'm on the stage, and you

just gotta, I'm all over your life.

69

For most of the people that store

our podcast, it is, and that there's

70

enough of my, of their mental

bandwidth that I'm taking up for me

71

to say, by the way, is my birthday.

72

You gotta make sure to celebrate me.

73

I don't know.

74

It just, it strikes me weird.

75

It is totally my thing.

76

It is an idiosyncratic way

that I think about this.

77

I get that and I counsel people the

opposite of what I'm saying, in part

78

because I play a different role.

79

I'm always in the public eye.

80

That is our public, yeah, our church.

81

Yeah.

82

I am often there, so I take up a lot

of mental head space and I'm probably

83

asking for more than I even deserve.

84

So I'm okay with saying, look for my

birthday, I don't need to go at it on a

85

limb on this and make a big deal of it.

86

I'll make a big deal of others.

87

I believe.

88

I'm happy with that.

89

You've made a big deal of my

birthday on the past in the pond.

90

That's very different.

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But it's the same.

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It's not, it's how is it different?

93

You're the senior pastor.

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You've got more gray hair than I do.

95

I do that.

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Yes, that's true.

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This is whatever.

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I think people love

you, the right hand guy.

99

My guess is supposed to be the

behind the scenes guy, but I'm

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perfectly happy to play that role.

101

But we can wish you

happy birthday you can.

102

My guess is most of the people

who are listening to this didn't

103

know that it was your birthday.

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I'm okay with that.

105

So it's not that they feel

obligated, that they would've

106

loved to send you a birthday text.

107

That's not you.

108

You brought it up this time last year and.

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That and I feel good about that.

110

Ali accused me of hiding my

birthday, and I don't do that.

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I don't hide it.

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No.

113

I just don't publish it.

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And that's different.

115

I don't promote it.

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I'm willing to, like if you

said it, I'm like, oh, I'm not

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gonna, oh, it's not my birthday.

118

Don't look at me.

119

But I don't publish it

and I'm okay with that.

120

Again, idiosyncratic.

121

I don't think it's sin to do

the opposite of what I'm doing.

122

I just, it's for me in my house,

this is the way that I roll.

123

Okay, so nevermind.

124

Don't send pastor out any

happy birthday text then.

125

Well, that's not exactly what I'm saying.

126

I'm just saying I don't like

putting obligation on people.

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Okay.

128

Well, don't feel obligated to send

Pastor out any happy birthday text.

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I can live with that.

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We love you.

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We're grateful for you.

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We're grateful for your life.

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Thank you.

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We're thankful that you're here with us.

135

Hey, let's get to a question that

was sending by one of our listeners.

136

We had a question about Eastern Orthodoxy.

137

He has a friend who has gotten

involved in Eastern Orthodoxy.

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He says, this friend is quite the thinker.

139

Has interacted with Jordan

Peterson, some of the past Oh.

140

And is now in the Eastern Orthodox

Church, and that came as a

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little bit of a surprise to,

that's growing in popularity.

142

It's Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman

Catholicism, even Roman Catholicism.

143

Yeah.

144

People are finding themselves

attracted to the moral liturgical

145

style churches, and there's a

reason we think that is happening,

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but we'll get to that in a second.

147

Yeah.

148

But the question basically boils down

to there's three parts to it, but a

149

lot of it boils down to the fact that.

150

Can I treat this person

as a brother in Christ?

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He's saying he is.

152

He's saying, I got saved and now I'm

attending the Eastern Orthodox Church.

153

Can I believe that he

is a brother in Christ?

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How should I feel about him in pursuing

Christ likeness, growing in discipleship

155

in the Eastern Orthodox Church?

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And what should this look like now?

157

If you're out there and you're

wondering, okay, how do, what is the

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Eastern Orthodox Church all about?

159

You're not alone.

160

In that, the Eastern Orthodox Church is

one that we don't spend a lot of time

161

thinking about, but some of the things

that might be issues here that the Eastern

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Orthodox Church emphasizes are a different

emphasis on baptism than we would possess

163

here, as well as something that they call.

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Sation, which is initiation into

Christ reception of the Holy Spirit

165

that they believe that takes place

within the Eastern Orthodox Church.

166

They believe the Eucharist to be,

which is communion or the Lord's

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supper, to be the real participation

in the body and blood of Christ.

168

They believe in confession ord nation

marriage and anointing the sick as

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key sacramental acts, a sacrament

being something that conveys grace.

170

So it's not cut and dry for us to say.

171

A hundred percent if you're part of

the Eastern Orthodox Church because

172

they're called a church, that somebody

can be saved within the context

173

of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

174

There's certainly gonna be

baggage that comes along with it.

175

Just like we would say there's

baggage that comes along with being

176

a part of the Roman Catholic Church.

177

So it's hard for us to give a pat answer

to say, with absolute certainty, yes,

178

consider this guy a brother in Christ.

179

But there are certainly, we would

say that we have concerns about.

180

What Eastern Art Orthodoxy teaches

as far as teaching more than what the

181

scriptures teach, and even differences

from what the scriptures teach.

182

Right.

183

And I would say that every church

has her potholes and her blind spots.

184

So I'm not gonna say that we

are the perfect expression

185

and we're the true church.

186

Well, you guys know that

I trust Eastern Orthodoxy.

187

Iss a different animal.

188

They have a long history

and I guess we all do.

189

We are, we're technically

part of the Western Church.

190

If you had to trace our church history.

191

But the Eastern Church emerged out

of a lot of interesting, and when

192

I say interesting, I really don't,

interesting is a good word for it, but

193

it's not the best word I could choose.

194

Variance theology.

195

They have one of their founding fathers

of eastern, the eastern Church's origin

196

and origin had a lot of interesting

ideas about how theology worked.

197

Now he's certainly a luminary in the

church, and he has a fantastic history

198

in terms of his faithfulness and his love

for scripture, his love for the Lord.

199

But he also has a lot of quirks and a

lot of those quirks got carried over

200

into the Eastern Church of with, of

which Eastern Orthodoxy has partaken.

201

The appeal to the Eastern Church is

that they could say, look, we have,

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we can trace our lineage all the

way back, which is similar to what

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the Roman Catholic Church will do.

204

There are connections that

they have to church history

205

from the very earliest stages.

206

But not all those connections

are equally valid or valuable.

207

They struggle, they cause me to

struggle in part because they use

208

language differently than we do.

209

We ha we have a lot of similar

terminology and even the same terminology.

210

But it can mean different things.

211

I think even in the email, he

compares this to a Mormon who has a

212

profession of faith in their church.

213

And we would say, well, yes, they can

have a profession, but when they say

214

Jesus, they mean someone different.

215

They would argue with

us to say, no, we don't.

216

But we would say, yes, you do,

because we don't believe Jesus

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is the Spirit brother of Satan.

218

They're different people.

219

And at that point we would say it's enough

of a distinction to say they're different.

220

Eastern Orthodox doesn't have

anything like that but the way that

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they use language is different.

222

And so there's a lot of complexity but

that they've been around for a long time.

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And some of their theology, while it's

wildly different than ours, it has a long

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lineage and that's the best I can say.

225

It has a long history.

226

And for that reason, and in fact, lemme

go back to the, what we said earlier,

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that's one of the reasons people are

attracted to this because it's historical.

228

They can say, oh look, these guys have

been doing the same mass, the same

229

Eucharist, the same process for, hundreds

of years and they've got thousands of

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years of church history connections.

231

I get that and I appreciate that.

232

But that doesn't mean you're right.

233

Tradition alone doesn't give you a

foundation to build upon and say,

234

well, because we have 2000 years or

235

And this is why the

Reformation was so important.

236

We said, it is so critical that we

build our foundation not upon the word

237

of a man, but upon the word of God.

238

The word ad Fontis was the

battle cry of the Reformation.

239

Ad Infantis is Latin for to the sources.

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Let us go to the source to define

our doctrine for life, for theology

241

and everything else in between.

242

And that's where we're gonna have

a pretty substantial disagreement

243

between us and Eastern Orthodoxy.

244

They're very big into icons.

245

They're big into veneration

and they embrace that

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wholeheartedly, very liturgical.

247

We're not, in case you're unfamiliar with

that, we're not a very liturgical church.

248

There's a lot to say, obviously,

and I'm not even saying half of it

249

but there's something to consider.

250

Would you call them a brother, pastor pj?

251

Are they brother so-and-so?

252

Again, man that's so difficult

and I've been thinking a lot

253

about that term, brother.

254

I think even just in our common

vernacular, we throw that around even,

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outside the church, people call each other

bro and brother and things like that.

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I think I'm becoming more and more

careful about my use of that term

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because I wanna be careful to be

thoughtful and intentional about that.

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And I don't know that I could

get there because there are.

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There are big issues.

260

Their view, for example, of Christ's death

on the cross and what it accomplished.

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We hold to what's called substitutionary

atonement, that Jesus Christ took

262

the place on the cross for our

sins, died for our sins, bore

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God's wrath against our sins.

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Penal, substitutionary, atonement

for that very atonement.

265

Yeah.

266

They don't hold to that.

267

They hold to a different theory of

the atomic called Christus Victor.

268

And they also hold to this idea

that sin is not a guilt inducing

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thing, but more of a corruption

thing that we need to be healed.

270

Not necessarily do we need our sins

wiped clean propitiated expiated from us.

271

And so there's questions as far

as, okay, what does it look, what

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do I have to believe in about

Christ's death in order for me to be

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saved, for my sins to be forgiven?

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What does that look like?

275

Man the Eastern Orthodox Church

makes that hard for me to get there.

276

To say it's clear enough that this

is a biblical gospel, that somebody

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is trusting in the right things

for the forgiveness of their sins.

278

So what I call them,

brother, it would be hard.

279

I would want to have the conversation

with that person and say, Hey, unpack

280

your understanding of the gospel for me.

281

Like, gimme your testimony.

282

What does it look like?

283

What happened at the cross?

284

Asking thoughtful questions,

not in like the fifth degree.

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Let me inter interrogate

you because I'm the arbiter.

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I'm the one that decides all these

things, but more as like, I wanna

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know where your head space is.

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I wanna know what you're

actually believing in.

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What are you trusting in?

290

One resource you might wanna look at

is Gavin Orland's YouTube channel.

291

He's done interviews with Eastern Orthodox

priests and I think those are some of

292

the most helpful things that I've been

able to be exposed to, because again,

293

it's hard to wrap your mind around it.

294

There's just a different way of thinking,

and in fact, this is part of the problem

295

with Eastern thinking and Western

thinking is that we approach things.

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Differently.

297

We have different mental shortcuts

that we employ to get to a certain

298

place, and they do it differently.

299

So, if you're gonna do the work I

think exposing yourself through a

300

YouTube channel like Gavin's, which

I think is called truth unites, just

301

look up Gavin Orland, not Gavin Newsom.

302

That's a different one.

303

Gavin Orland, truth unites Eastern

Orthodox, and I think you'll probably

304

find a couple good videos about that.

305

And Gavin's book, by the way, he

writes this, he says, the heart often

306

has better theology than the brain.

307

And I think I would apply that same

charity toward Eastern Orthodoxy that

308

we might not be able to agree on some

of the particulars, especially as

309

it relates to the atonement and sin.

310

But I might say, okay I can trust

that they have better theology in

311

the heart than they do the brain.

312

Maybe you can't articulate

the triune nature of God.

313

And maybe you can't articulate the

relation between the father and the

314

son or even the two natures of the son.

315

Maybe you can't say those things, but

I think your mouth can still profess a

316

faith in the genuine Christ and be saved.

317

I think that can happen in

the Eastern Orthodox Church.

318

I think they would afford

us the same response.

319

Well, let's get into our daily

Bible reading for the day.

320

We've got Leviticus 15 through

17, and then Matthew 27, Leviticus

321

15 is gonna deal with the bodily

discharges, which is always a fun

322

chapter to get into, to talk about the

cleanliness and unc cleanliness there.

323

And again, this is ritual.

324

This is about being being right before the

Lord to be able to come in and worship.

325

And so this is where the Lord prescribed

the offerings, the sacrifices that

326

needed to be offered for these things.

327

You can read through, you can see

the various different categories

328

that are contained in there and how

they were to pursue that cleanliness.

329

And in verse 31, it says this, thus you

shall keep the people of Israel separate

330

from their uncleanliness, lest they die

in their uncles by defiling my tabernacle.

331

That's in their mist.

332

And so we can look at this and

say, man, this is, this seems.

333

Like harsh, this seems, here's a lot

of rules and regulations, and yet God

334

was doing it for their good so that

they wouldn't enter in, in an unworthy,

335

unholy manner and bring defilement

that would lead to the, their death as

336

they step into the tabernacle there.

337

So, chapter 15, bodily discharges.

338

Anything that you wanna say about

bodily dis discharges, passade.

339

Yuck.

340

Chapter 16, one of the most

significant, if not the most

341

significant chapters in Leviticus.

342

This is the Day of Atonement.

343

We were just talking about atonement with

regards to East eastern Orthodoxy and that

344

whole conversation in chapter 16, the Day

of Atonement was a significant day for

345

Israel because this is the day where these

two goats were going to be presented as

346

a symbol of what we were talking about

there with substitutionary atonement.

347

One of the goats was going to

be offered, he was going to die.

348

And again the blood needed to

be, the life needed to be given

349

for the death for the sin.

350

Why?

351

Because the wages of sin is death.

352

But in this interesting scene, the

other goat is going to have all of

353

the sins of the nation confessed.

354

And laid, transferred as

if you will, to this goat.

355

And that goat is gonna be

let out into the wilderness.

356

And it's the picture of

the sin being removed.

357

So herein you have a picture of the

cross, you have the death, and you

358

have what's known as the expiation,

which is the removal of the guilt, the

359

removal of the sin from God's people.

360

And so it's being pictured here at the

day of Atonement here, when we look.

361

Forward to what this was pointing to.

362

That's the cross.

363

And Jesus did both for us.

364

He died as well as expiated our sin.

365

He took our sin from us, not just into

the wilderness metaphorically, but he

366

literally took our sin away from us.

367

He bore himself and it

was removed from us.

368

The guilt was removed for us because

God put his son Jesus on the cross,

369

put ARS sin upon his son and thereby

removed our blood guilt before him.

370

And that's what we see the picture

in the day of Atonement here.

371

Who or what?

372

Is Azazel.

373

Yeah there's questions there and

there's a lot of unknown about Azazel.

374

Some believe this was a demon.

375

Some believe that this was a reference

just to this area of the wilderness that

376

it was being sent out into the wilderness.

377

There's not a lot of specificity

that we have access to anymore as

378

to who Azazel or what Azazel was.

379

Do you have a guess?

380

I don't, in particular, I've always leaned

more on it's being sent out into the

381

wilderness the symbolism of being cast

away from the people of Israel there.

382

Yeah.

383

More than anything else, some

podcasts we'll go into detail about.

384

The demon gods or the goat demons anyway.

385

And what that might suggest.

386

So maybe it's not worth speculating upon.

387

Some people do do that liberally,

and I think there's a lot of

388

danger inherent to that Sure.

389

To that process and that practice.

390

So be careful with that.

391

But that's a great answer though.

392

We, we don't know.

393

Yeah.

394

So that when you start having a lot

of, I don't knows and it's not wise

395

or speculate too much I think that's

a really helpful place to say, I lord

396

con constrain my heart from making too

many assumptions or assertions about

397

things that you haven't revealed to us.

398

Clearly because it wasn't

preserved precisely what this

399

is, it's not incredibly helpful

to speculate a whole lot.

400

Yeah, and that's a great point.

401

I think there are things that

are good for us to probe.

402

We should want to know more.

403

And that's a healthy thing for us

as Christians to want to go deeper

404

and to study the scriptures and.

405

We can do that.

406

But there are gonna be things where

we're like, okay, there's probably not

407

gonna be a lot of fruit gained from

exploring what a Azazel is or who it

408

was or what that looked like because

of the silence of the scriptures.

409

But we don't need to be afraid

of questioning and asking the

410

questions of the Bible and going a

little bit deeper and reading and

411

studying and trying to find out more.

412

That's a good desire within us.

413

So we're not, don't hear us

say, well, we don't know.

414

Yeah.

415

Stop asking questions.

416

Stop asking questions.

417

Yeah.

418

Just know that there's times that

we're gonna get to this place of being

419

like, okay, that's not something that,

there's a whole lot of information

420

out there on, at least not yet.

421

Maybe something in the future

we'll find something out.

422

But don't miss don't get so caught up

on the minor that you miss the major.

423

Yeah.

424

Chapter 16.

425

A lot of people will say Chapter

16 is the centerpiece of Leviticus.

426

Yeah.

427

This is the this is the piece.

428

They resist us, as the French would say.

429

Which fancy.

430

Yeah.

431

It is exactly how they say it too.

432

And Chapter 16 is meant to be

the centerpiece because it's

433

one of the most significant.

434

Offerings and sacrifices for the people

and Weem, as I mentioned previously,

435

Gordon Weem in his commentary says

that the purpose of this was to

436

cleanse the sanctuary from pollution

introduced by unclean worshipers.

437

The idea here is that even though

people went through the ritual purity.

438

Rituals.

439

Now, they still had some

kind of defilement that they

440

brought into the sanctuary.

441

It needed to be aton for and cleanse.

442

And so all of this then kind

of squares everybody up.

443

It says, we're back at zero.

444

And again, the purpose is not to put your

faith in the animal or the animals, but to

445

put your faith in the ultimate sacrifice.

446

So Leviticus 16, clutch important,

super significant because of what it

447

points to, as you mentioned earlier,

Jesus is our atoning sacrifice.

448

Chapter 17 then is all about some rules

and regulations for where you should

449

bring your sacrifice into offerings.

450

They couldn't just do this at home.

451

This wasn't a worship

from home type situation.

452

They had to go to where

God called them to go.

453

They had to go to the tabernacle.

454

This was part of making sure that they

were doing things the right way, that the

455

priests were the ones that were carrying

out the sacrifice, that they were doing

456

this as God had prescribed them to do it.

457

And then the chapter concludes with

some laws about the prohibition

458

of eating the blood of an animal.

459

Because again, the blood represented the.

460

Life of the animal.

461

And so there, there was

significance in the loss of life.

462

And I think God has pointed to that, that

anytime a life is given, it's not just

463

given for any random purpose, it's given

with a significance and weightiness to it.

464

And so the blood was to be the Lord, the

blood was to be part of the offering,

465

part of the cleansing, part of the

sanctifying work of the sacrifice there.

466

Okay?

467

I know I said you can't know a whole lot

about this, but this is worth you knowing.

468

Verse seven, take a look at this.

469

We just talked about Azazel, verse seven.

470

He says, so they shall no more sacrifice.

471

Their sacrifices to, you

see this here, goat demons.

472

He didn't want them to do that.

473

He says that they go

after them in wrong ways.

474

So it, it would not make sense for God

in chapter 16 to say, Hey, we're gonna

475

send the scapegoat out to the goat demon.

476

To the goat demon.

477

And by the way, don't

sacrifice to goat demons.

478

Right.

479

It seems like he's saying

two things at that point.

480

There's reasons that other people

think that, and that's why your

481

ESV gives you a little subpoint

that says this might be a demon.

482

There's reasons and so it's

not without any precedent or

483

without any reason whatsoever.

484

Your editors wouldn't put that in your

Bible if they didn't think it was worth

485

you knowing, but just here's a reason

why you may not want to believe that.

486

Let's flip over to our

New Testament reading.

487

Matthew 27.

488

We are in one through 31,

so Matthew 27, 1 through 31.

489

I mentioned last time that the Jews had

decided that it was time for Jesus to

490

die, but now they needed the Romans to

agree and so this is why Jesus is gonna

491

be turned over to Pontius Pilate, and

Pilate is going to oversee his trial here.

492

The scene shifts back to Judas.

493

Real quick here in verses three,

down through verse 10, where we

494

find out the rest of the story of

Judas, which is not a great story.

495

Judas feels some form

of guilt or conviction.

496

Though I would argue

this is not a godliness.

497

This is not repentance

because of where it leads.

498

And so Judas in despair.

499

Goes and takes his own life.

500

And that is gonna take place

there in three through 10,

501

but this is the end of Judas.

502

This is in fulfillment even of what the

prophet Jeremiah spoke, because they're

503

gonna go and buy the potters field

with the money that Judas returned and

504

threw back into the sanctuary there.

505

Anything else you wanna say

about the New Testament?

506

'cause I have a question about

the old before we wrap it up.

507

Oh yeah.

508

Just the scene with Jesus before

Pilate here, Pilate, is some people

509

feel bad about Pilate but you don't

need to feel bad about Pilate.

510

Pilate is not an innocent actor in this

Pilate will multiple times attest to the

511

fact that Jesus appears to be innocent.

512

He even tries to get

the crowd to take this.

513

Take Jesus back in, in by

saying, Hey, I'll give you this

514

insurrectionist, this guy that

actually is guilty of something bad.

515

And the crowd says, yeah we'll

take him, which is just the

516

vitriol that the Pharisees had

been able to whip them into here.

517

But Pilate is a player in all of this.

518

Pilate bears the guilt

in all of this as well.

519

Pilate's going to be cowardly, and

he's gonna bow the knee of the crowd

520

and he's gonna fear the crowd going to

Caesar and appealing to Caesar saying,

521

Hey, pilot's not doing his job here.

522

And so Pilate is ultimately gonna deliver

Jesus over and Jesus's suffering is it

523

doesn't wait for the cross, and Jesus's

suffering is happening right now.

524

He's being mocked.

525

He's being beaten.

526

He's in his restraint and trust

in the will of the Father.

527

He's continuing to walk in

obedience to him the whole time.

528

Amen to that.

529

And one of the things that's interesting

about this whole ordeal is that Pi Pilate

530

to your point, is a skilled politician.

531

He's not necessarily a

good one, but he's shrewd.

532

And so he knows the game.

533

He's playing with his opponents and

they're arguing over about, over against,

534

about what Jesus is going to be done

what's gonna be done with Jesus rather.

535

So he's not.

536

He's not a partial or an

impartial player here.

537

He's got an agenda.

538

His goal is to protect Roman interest.

539

Their goal is to protect

their own interest.

540

And of course, Jesus is in the middle

of this and he's willing to sacrifice

541

an innocent man whom he knows to be

innocent in order to keep the peace.

542

So he's not.

543

He's not scot-free.

544

And as we talked about her before

Pilate's wife, who church history

545

has preserved her, I, the tradition

is that her name is Claudia Proa.

546

I dunno if that's right or not, but

that's what the Eastern Church says.

547

And she's got this weird

dream about, about Jesus.

548

And she says, have nothing to

do with that righteous man.

549

Someone asked a question about this not

too long ago, but let's quickly review.

550

Was this God or the devil?

551

Telling Pilates not to engage with Jesus.

552

I think it, it seems to be because this

is all the will of God if we go to acts it

553

says this, Jesus delivered over according

to your definite plan of foreknowledge.

554

The definite plan of foreknowledge of God.

555

I think this is the enemy at work rather

than God at work, because I think the

556

enemy is maybe starting to understand

what the crucifixion is gonna result in.

557

Yeah.

558

Interesting.

559

Yeah, I think we said the same.

560

I think you said that

the last time too, right?

561

Yeah.

562

I'm not mistaken.

563

Yeah I was more, I'm ambivalent, but

I lean toward, I think God could have

564

been doing this as a way to protect

Pilate from greater sin or greater

565

error, and I think he kind of does.

566

He says this, I am innocent

of this man's blood.

567

Now he's not completely innocent.

568

From a human perspective, he could

say, I'm washing my hands of this.

569

But from the divine perspective, he

was still very much part of this.

570

'cause even scripture says

Pilate was part of this, right?

571

So he's not completely innocent.

572

Right?

573

But I think there is a sense in

which he is somewhat, slightly less

574

guilty than the other guys are.

575

Hmm.

576

Okay.

577

My question because we, I didn't

finish it in chapter 17 of Leviticus,

578

I just wanna ask two clarifying

questions about eating the blood.

579

We live in the heart of meat eating,

I think in the country, in the

580

whole country, maybe the world.

581

We eat a lot of meat here to eat meat raw.

582

Does that violate the principle

that we see here in Leviticus 17?

583

No.

584

'cause we're not under

the sacrificial system.

585

So much of it had to do with the

ritual of the sacrificial system.

586

What was happening with the

bloodletting of the animals, that the

587

blood being used in the sprinkling.

588

Of the altar, the sprinkling of the

people offering it, so forth and so on.

589

There was the visual component of

that that was representative there.

590

Christ has fulfilled

the sacrificial system.

591

The sacrificial system

was pointed to Jesus.

592

Jesus has been the ultimate sacrifice.

593

He seated the right hand of the Father.

594

And even I think that's part of the reason

why, although he doesn't talk about how

595

well done or rare it can be, why God

tells Peter a rise, kill, and eat when

596

these animals are lowered in the sheet,

there's a shift that's taking place.

597

So I think you're free to eat your

steak as rare as you'd like to eat it.

598

Oh, right.

599

Praise God.

600

Okay.

601

Secondly I know that Jehovah's

Witnesses will use passages like

602

this to defend their belief that

getting a blood transfusion is a

603

okay course for an average person.

604

And they would say, well, look, verses

like this, say you should not eat blood.

605

An Acts chapter, forgetting the

exact reference, it's in the middle.

606

So let's just call it Acts 15.

607

But I think it's further, they're given

instructions about how to not offend

608

the Lord and don't eat what's strangled.

609

In it's blood from blood,

something like that.

610

Forgive me, I didn't do my homework

here, but question is, can a Christian

611

engage in a blood transfusion?

612

Does this in any way

violate that principle?

613

Does this, is it wrong to do this?

614

Again I would say no.

615

I don't think there is

a problem with that.

616

And for the same reasons.

617

I think the significance here of this

has to do with the sacrificial system.

618

And so to give blood, to receive blood

I think is something that is part of.

619

The advent and advancement of modern

medicine that is helpful to sustain

620

life and to further, somebody

who otherwise might not survive,

621

to be able to say, yeah, blood

transfusion, that's gonna be great.

622

I need that.

623

I don't think we need to mystically

appropriate anything to someone's blood

624

such that we would say to take the blood

of another person would be somehow to

625

contaminate ourselves or vice versa.

626

Okay.

627

Fantastic.

628

Okay.

629

It was Acts 15, I just looked

up while you're talking.

630

James writes to the church,

abstain from what has been

631

sacrificed to idols and from blood.

632

Okay, so he says from blood still

raw meat, still blood transfusion.

633

Yeah, because again, what we're

dealing with there is the early

634

church trying to figure out how do we,

what's our relationship to the law?

635

So they're still trying to figure

out what do we do with the Gentiles,

636

what do we do with the Jews, and

how do we go about these things?

637

And I think they're giving

these instructions, making their

638

best approach to say, this is

how you can avoid Gentiles.

639

The greatest defense to

your Jewish brothers.

640

So I think there's more about

the Jew gentile relationship

641

there than there is necessarily.

642

This is morally a binding statement

that's going to last from here

643

on out for the church at large.

644

So when.

645

I guess here, Moses, when Moses

says, avoid this because the life

646

of the flesh is in the blood.

647

It seems like Moses is pointing to,

not to occultic practice or he is not

648

looking at other pagan believers and

saying, because they use blood wrongly.

649

He's saying there's something, let's

call it sacred about the blood.

650

And he's saying avoid it because

there's a sacred value to the blood.

651

What do we do with that?

652

Well, he goes on and he says, for

I have given it to you right after

653

that on the altar to make atonement

for your souls, for it is the blood

654

that makes atonement by the life.

655

Mm-hmm.

656

So that's where I go back and I'd

say, I think he is talking cult there.

657

I think he is talking

ritualistically there.

658

Okay.

659

As it pertains to the Old Testament

sacrificial system, which again, we would

660

say the reason we're not sacrificing.

661

Lambs outside of our church

office is because the Lamb of God

662

was sacrificed for us already.

663

He, it's finished.

664

It's done.

665

He's fulfilled the Old

Testament sacrificial system.

666

That's why we're not

still doing it anymore.

667

And so we're under a different

dispensation now where we have the

668

freedom to enjoy the blood of the animal.

669

Right on.

670

Don't do anything weird though,

like drink the blood and that's all.

671

No, hold on, man.

672

You can't say both of those things.

673

I just ordered five pints

of blood just for fun.

674

All right, let's pray.

675

It's a birthday present for myself.

676

Yes.

677

God, we are thankful.

678

Arrears for Pastor Rod's

life and his day of birth.

679

We're grateful for the impact

that he's made on our church.

680

We're thankful for your word

and we just wanna obey it.

681

We thank you that we can dive into

it, that we can ask the questions,

682

that we can poke and prod and search.

683

Lord I pray that you'd help us to be

faithful to do that in a way that is.

684

Is good and right and that you'd

keep us from error or any erroneous

685

conclusions as we do that, we

don't want to mishandle your word.

686

That is for sure, but we do want to

be good bes and good students of it.

687

So help us to do that,

I pray in Jesus name.

688

Amen.

689

Hey, keep in your Bibles.

690

Keep asking great questions.

691

Don't forget, you can always

write in podcast@compassnx.org

692

and we'll catch you again

tomorrow for another edition

693

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

694

See you.

695

Bye.

696

Edward: Thank you for listening to another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

697

We’re grateful you chose to

spend time with us today.

698

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Compass Bible Church in North Texas.

699

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church at compassntx.org.

700

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701

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702

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703

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