Joseph’s mother had already died (Gen. 35:19) when Joseph received the dream in Gen. 37:9-11. Joseph’s other dream (in Gen. 37:5-8) came true (Gen. 42:6), so it seems likely that this dream — including the part about his mother bowing down to him — will also come true. If this is so, it means the [...]
Answers about resurrection
The resurrection of Christ is critical to the Christian hope because:
- it proves that God is all powerful
- it proves that death is not the end
- Jesus is the first, and we can be like him
These points come out of 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul is addressing believers about claims that Jesus hadn’t been raised. [...]
When people die their bodies begin the process of turning to dust (decomposition) and they cease to be concious — i.e. their existence, including their mind, ends.
…the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their [...]
This is a quite complicated question, not least because of the very nature of the book. The Bible is often described as a library of books and this is very true. It was written over a period of about 1500 years with around 40 different authors making contributions. So to answer the [...]
Q: If it is true that in the original Greek there “was no punctuation”, and different translations place the commas in different places, then that changes the understanding of the meaning of what is being said here. Holman, CEV and others place the comma in a way that implies that Jesus had already risen, before [...]
No, cremation is not wrong. The Bible does not give instructions about what to do with a body after someone has died.
When someone dies they eventually decompose and turn to dust (just as God said would happen — Gen. 3:19. Also see Ps. 104:29; Eccles. 3:20; 12:7). Cremation simply speeds this process up.
At the resurrection [...]
The ‘keys of death and hades’ (Rev. 1:18 (ESV); ‘keys of hell and death’ (KJV)) are a metaphor for authority over death and the grave.
Sometimes in the Bible ‘keys’ represent authority. For example, in Isaiah 22:22 God says the following about Eliakim:
…I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He [...]
Beyond simple surprise that Jesus was alive again (hardly an expected outcome — unless they had been listening), it seems that Jesus prevented them from recognising him:
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized [...]
It was actually the cloth that covered Jesus’ face:
John 20:6-7
Then Simon Peter came … and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
The significance of the face [...]
Luke 23:42-43
And he [the thief] said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” {43} And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
It’s probable that Luke 23:43 should read as follows:
And he said unto him – Verily, I say unto thee this day: [...]
