I had a dream of the Lord last night.  He called me to Him and held me in His arms for a while.  I could even smell His hair in my dream.  He said to me that the lion will soon lay down with the lamb.  Could you explain that?

Sincerely,
Sheepish

Dear Sheepish,

The days of dreams and visions have passed.  In the past, God spoke to various people through dreams, visions, and prophecy, but today He speaks to us through His Son, Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1-2).  Now that we have the complete and perfect Bible – there is no need for God to give people individual dreams or visions.  It is through the Word of God that we learn how to live faithfully (Rom 10:17).

We are sure that your dream means something, but it doesn’t mean anything supernatural or prophetic.  What you had was not a vision.  Prophets have visions, and there are no more prophets since we have the perfect and complete Word of God (1 Cor 13:8-10).  The human mind is a complex and wondrous thing (Ps 139:14).  It is perfectly normal for our minds to make mental connections as we pray, study, sleep, etc.  Those mental images aren’t visions; they are just your own thoughts as your mind meditates upon what you have said, read, or heard.

Is communion to be offered weekly or monthly?

Sincerely,
Day Runner

Dear Day Runner,

Christ told us that whenever we take the Lord’s Supper, we should do it in remembrance of Him (Lk 22:19). In the book of Acts, we see how often the church observed the Lord’s Supper. In Acts 20:7, we see that christians ‘broke the bread’ in remembrance of Christ on Sundays. That is when they did it, so that is when we do it.

Paul says that we are to take the Lord’s Supper when the church is gathered together (1 Cor 11:20). Taking the Lord’s Supper is an act of worship done by every congregation of the Lord each Sunday. When we take a look at all the teaching on the Lord’s Supper, we get the truth (Ps 119:160). Christ commands that we do it in remembrance of Him (1 Cor 11:23-28), the church gives us the example of doing it on the first day of the week, and Paul teaches that we should do it when we are assembled as a church.

     I'm confused.  The people of Israel were once God's "chosen people".  Jewish people see Jesus as a prophet, not as the Son of God.  The way to the Father is through the Son (Jesus), so does that mean that Jews will not get to heaven?  What have they done to no longer be "chosen"?

Sincerely,
Not Picky

Dear Not Picky,

All those who reject Christ are lost (Jhn 14:6)… including Jews.  Paul used to visit the synagogues to preach Jesus to them (Acts 18:4).  The Jews are not Jesus’ chosen people; the church is.  Jesus says that Christians are His royal priesthood and chosen race (1 Pet 2:9).  Under the Old Testament, the Jewish people were God’s nation (Deut 7:6).  The Jewish nation was warned that if they rejected God’s Son, they would be rejecting God, and God would make a new nation out of those who believed in Christ (Jesus explained this to the Jews in the parable of the vineyard – Lk 20:9-19).  The vast majority of Jews didn’t believe in Jesus, and therefore, they never became a part of Jesus’ kingdom.  Jesus’ chosen people are those that love Him and keep His commandments (Jhn 14:15).  The Jewish people rejected God because they decided to keep their traditions instead of accepting God’s Son (Mk 7:9).

      What is the meaning and relationship between Christ and "the order of Melchizedek" in Hebrews 6:20, 3:1?

Sincerely,
Seeking Order

Dear Seeking Order,

Heb 3:1 says that Jesus is our high priest, but a special type of high priest.  The high priest was the one man in the nation of Israel who had the ability to go to God and ask the Lord to forgive the people of their sins (Heb 9:7).  The problem was that under the Old Covenant, Jesus had no right to be the high priest because He was from the tribe of Judah, and all high priests came from the tribe of Levi (Deut 18:1).

Jesus was from the tribe of Judah – the tribe that kings came from (Gen 49:10).  However, before the nation of Israel existed, there was a king that was also a priest named Melchizedek (Gen 14:18).  Heb 7:1-3 says that Jesus is a king like Melchizedek.  Jesus is both king and priest under the New Covenant.  Jesus changed the law from the Old Testament to the New Testament and became forever both king and priest to the church (Heb 7:17).

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one.”

How then can anyone justify the hate of gays, gay marriage, Muslims, Jews, etc.  Are we not all God's children?  Should we not treat all of these people as our equals, respect their beliefs, and engage them with love?  Similarly, how can Christians be against gay marriage "because the Bible condemns it"… yet the Bible does not condemn slavery (Exodus 21:2-6), however we know that it is wrong.

Sincerely,
Full Of Love

Dear Full Of Love,

The Bible does teach to love, and there is no justification for hating homosexuals, Muslims, Jews, etc.  However, the Bible also says that love rejoices in the truth (1 Cor 13:6).  Biblical love doesn’t find happiness when people are lost and living lives of sin.  The Bible teaches that those who don’t accept Jesus as the Son of God are lost (Jhn 14:6), and it teaches that homosexuality is sinful (Rom 1:26-27), and it teaches that the only moral definition of marriage is between one man and one woman (1 Cor 7:2).

People have always used the Bible to justify hate and wickedness, but that doesn’t make it right.  In like manner, people who simply say, “Love and forget about the rules” are wrong, too.

As far as slavery, the Bible doesn’t condemn slavery, but it does condemn abuse, and it does say that it is better to be free than enslaved (1 Cor 7:21).  God also deals with how people can live in a world where slavery does exist… hence, verses like Col 3:22.  Slavery was, and is, a reality in many parts of the world, a reality that doesn’t go away once people become Christians.  How a slave should behave toward their master is a down-to-earth, practical, moral question for many, many people.  The fact that we Americans don’t have to deal with such dilemmas anymore is a blessing, but the Bible wasn’t just written for Americans.