How Do We Engage with Jehovah’s Witnesses?

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Your hosts are author and seminary professor Dr. Michael Horton and Pastor atrial Sanchez call right now with your question. At 1833. The core that's 1-833-843-2673 and now here's atrial Sanchez I welcome back to another at the code of core Christianity on Pastor atrial Sanchez and I'm joining the studios always with Prof. Michael Horton were happening great time answering questions about the Bible want to hear from you, so make sure you reach out to us if you have a question and were excited about the program for today I preach through the book of Leviticus last year and one of the big takeaways for me was studying the hand leaning ritual and what a worshiper would bring a sacrificial animal to the temple. They placed their hand on his head and it would be accepted to make atonement for them were told in Leviticus chapter 1 that this was just resting your hand on the animals head.

The word actually means to lean you think about leaning on something like a wall or a cane for support sacrifice in the Bible really are mysterious for a lot of people. We got a call related to the sacrifice in Scripture.

Let's listen in on Monument John on Parsons and a question when he was on Jerusalem and be crucified, why didn't they have a glut intrigued by any sacrifices to no cattle or anything to sacrifice.

Everyone else is there to bash towards Abbott and they wouldn't sacrifice what is Judaism apostle to that. Yeah, you gotta think about that one. Well, this is the time the year when every head of the house brought a lamb without blemish to be sacrifice for sins on the first day of the unleavened bread. That's when the sacrifice happened in Matthew, Mark, and Luke were told that Jesus said to his disciples. This is from Mark 14 and on the first day of unleavened bread when they sacrificed the Passover lamb. His disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover and he sent two of his disciples and said to them go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you follow him, and wherever he enters state to the master of the house. The teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples, and he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready there repair for us and the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told him and they prepared the Passover was interesting is in none of the Synoptics Matthew Mark or Luke do we actually have have the Passover meal. John's gospel tells us the crucifixion occurred on the day of preparation for Passover which would've been the day when the lambs were sacrificed. So this is agreeable to what Matthew Mark and Luke are saying when they identify it with the first day of unleavened bread already than the disciples would've been a little confused though.

Why wouldn't they bring a lamb for sacrifice to join her on exactly the right track here, but I think the simplest answer is that no ordinary Passover Seder is happening here. But not only have they not been instructed by Jesus to bring a lamb for sacrifice. They don't even seem to celebrated the Passover meal at all, i.e., you can have symbolic echoes, but where the 4 cups of wine where the bitter herbs. What about the lamb bone on the plate.

Something seems off here but it's all easily explained. I think when we realize that Jesus was just as John the Baptist as announced, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 129 so here in the upper room stands, the one who was both high priest and sacrificial lamb instituting the new meal in which his disciples will eat his flesh and drink his blood of the new covenant so something is happening here is basically more important than anything going on outside the upper room with all the sheep bleating in the background and being taken to sacrifice and smoke going up on the altars and the temple all decked out with festive rights in this is the big day of atonement, none of that matters now. What's happening in the upper room and what will happen on the cross is what really matters is give you an example, John of Wantagh met her in John four call me back to John for you.

Remember Jesus confronted the Samaritan woman who asked him where's the right place to worship this temple in Samaria or the one in Jerusalem and Jesus didn't hesitate. Of course it's the Jerusalem Temple which God ordained as the only place for sacrifices to be offered on behalf of the people. And then in verse 23, he adds, but the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the father is seeking such people to worship him. But worship in Jerusalem is now already obsolete because it was just a copy and now the true temple is standing right in front of her so in the week leading up to the crucifixion. Jesus had pronounced his judgment upon the Temple Mount. He cursed the fig tree, he told his disciples even had faith of size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain go be cast into the sea, and it would be done. It's all basically over its obsolete because its fulfillment has arrived. The whole old covenant mediated by Moses has come to an end, not because it was wrong, but because it had done its job. It was a trailer telling us of the movie that was to come. But now we not only have the. The movie itself, but the star of the show has made his personal appearance. So I think John the way of explaining this is that it would've been blasphemous to sacrifice a lamb at this Passover on the altar in the Jerusalem Temple. When the Lamb of God himself was instituting a new meal now of fulfillment.

The lambs just pointed to Jesus, but now Jesus himself the lamb is here.

So how can they bring a lamb when Jesus was offering his own body and blood as the final sacrifice for sin. That's why I think John mentions Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation for the Passover in John 1914. Since that was the day when the lambs were sacrificed. John, thank you for that question.

We got a Facebook message from Donya. I was just listening to you and heard you talk about Psalms in Hebrew. In order to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses.

It's funny because I just had Jehovah's Witnesses at my door today and we discussed many things.

I was wondering what can I point to to help show them the truth of the gospel and of Revelation and of Jesus Christ. I very much enjoyed speaking with them and I know that they will come back and I would like to be more prepared. And I think that I and I think would love to help you be prepared as you have these discussions with some Jehovah's Witnesses. One of my go to sis as you mentioned, there is I love to go to the Psalms you open up their translation of the Bible is called the New World translation and you go to Psalm 102 and you read this. One of things I often do so.

Read Psalm 102 in the New World translation with Misys.

This Psalm of dependence on Jehovah God, and you your reading it. You just hang over and over. It's talking about Dino trusting in Jehovah and relying on Jehovah, the one who laid the foundation of the earth and and who spread out the heavens you say no with a booth at some about the sale will that's Jehovah God and if you go over to the book of Hebrews