25 Iconic Bible Stories with Deeper Meanings

how well do you think you know the Bible you may have grown up in church all your life and gone on to study theology or you may have only just met Jesus for the first time this year regardless we all know the famous stories of scripture like the plagues against Egypt or Jesus resurrection but we often skip over some tiny details that add incredible truths to these passages on this channel we look at the context and culture surrounding a biblical story and dive below the surface to to unravel secret details and hidden insights you wouldn't

otherwise notice today I want to take you on a journey through 25 Bible stories to test your knowledge of scripture because I'm willing to bet that even the smartest Theologian won't know all 25 of these deeper meanings I want to know how many of these secrets you knew beforehand so be sure to leave a comment of your score out of 25 and if you're blessed by this content please consider subscribing I figured we'd start at one of my now favorite passages his temptation in the wilderness before learning of the gravity of this interaction between Jesus

and Satan I found the passage somewhat pointless I just kind of assumed that there was no good reason for Jesus to even consider Satan's proposal making the Temptation somewhat easy but I was sorely mistaken this temptation remarkably mirrors a verse in one John 2:16 watch the parallels as I read this verse for all that is in the world the desire of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father but is from the world I want to hone in on this Last Temptation mentioned in Matthew's account the

devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he said to him all these I will give you if you fall down and worship me as I said before this last temptation just sounds foolish to me in what world would Jesus ever bow down and worship Satan when he knows God the Father why would he consider it at all in fact why would Satan bother wasting his time on such a useless attempt at the Son of God well I read a few verses to

investigate and discovered that I couldn't have been more wrong this may just have been the hardest Temptation a human has ever experienced in our entire history a number of verses in the Bible tell us that Satan is currently in control of our world and we do know from Revelation that in the end Jesus Will will take his place and rule the world himself but what Satan was offering Jesus was a shortcut Jesus could inherit the entire Earth without having to go to the Cross this was Satan's Las ditch effort to derail God's salvation plan by

tempting Jesus with an escape but praise be to God that he didn't fall to the devil's schemes and instead bought salvation for us all with his blood speaking of Temptation I'm sure you've been there you jump into bed start Doom scrolling on social media before you know it you've lost hours of sleep you're terrified to wake up early the next day and you've descended into some dark corners of the internet I can't believe how many people in my generation fall victim to this and thankfully I've replaced that time with meditation and prayer using the Bluetooth

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link in the description if you purchase something and you can use my code Bible all capitals to secure 10% off your order remember to use code Bible for 10% off thanks to mantis sleep for sponsoring this video now our next story takes place in Gin a gentile City apparently full of pigs what's with the pigs why did Jesus permit the demons to go into the pigs knowing they would all be drowned although this seems somewhat coincidental there's actually a very powerful message being sent by this exorcism from Jesus at the time countries were governed by

Roman Legions not to be confused us with a demon-possessed man with the same name these Legions were groups of 4 to 5,000 soldiers put in charge of asserting Roman Authority in a particular area and the Legion in charge of gines was especially brutal to its people liio X fretensis the 10th Roman legion and guess what their mascot of choice was a boore as we know I heard of two th000 pigs charged off a for their deaths 2,000 the same number of Roman soldiers in a battalion which was also referred to as a legion what Jesus

is basically demonstrating is not only his power to cast out even the strongest of demons but his power to throw the entire Roman Empire into the sea with a single word jesus' final command to the restored man was to tell the other Gent cities what Mercy he was shown by him as opposed to his usual response to the Jews of secrecy I'm sure we all remember the challenging passage about money where Jesus says it's easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God which

we know is impossible so is Jesus saying that it's impossible for the rich to make it full stop or maybe we've got the passage wrong altogether see the I is actually referring to the gates of the cities in jesus' time at each gate there were two large doors and a smaller door called the eye of the needle intended for pedestrian passage only if the larger Gates were shut a camel would have to squeeze through the smaller door by shedding its load bowing its head and squeezing its way through a difficult task but not impossible this

meaning brings so much depth to Jesus seemingly impossible command in order for any of us to enter the kingdom of God we must be willing to leave behind what we're carrying bow our head in submission to his will one passage that always puzzled me was jesus' command to his disciples to buy swords before his arrest I always wondered why the disciples would need swords and in a seemingly perfect moment to use them Jesus condemns Peter for slashing off the ear of the high priest's servant even the disciples were confused as the guards closed into to

arrest Jesus they said Lord should we strike with our swords so why did Jesus asked them to bring swords if he was just going to stop them from using them the truth is when Peter sliced off the ear of malcus the servant of the high priest he was guilty of committing a capital crime for which he would have been executed when Jesus healed the ear he removed any evidence of Peter's crime meaning that even though he still tried to kill the servant the evidence that would have brought judgment upon him was raised and what followed

was jesus' own arrest and crucifixion Calvin and others in history have strongly affirmed that Jesus was referring to spiritual swords in the earlier verses but a theory can be made that Jesus planned this scenario to leave us with a beautiful example of his atoning work for us on the cross okay let's finally talk about John 20:7 we know that every verse in the Bible is there for a reason so what's the reason for the verse after jesus' Resurrection reading and the facecloth which had been on Jesus head not lying with the linen cloths but folded

up in a place by itself why does it specifically mention the facecloth of all things well in Hebrew tradition the master of a banquet would always have a facecloth handy while he ate and when he needed to leave the table he would leave the face cloth folded to signify to his servants that he had not yet finished and was coming back some speculate that by taking the time to fold his face cloth in the Tomb Jesus was sending a very clear message to his disciples I am coming back a truth we know is Promised throughout

all the New Testament [Music] scriptures in Matthew Jesus calls Christians to be the salt of the earth and there's much debate over what that salt actually represents regardless of which one you hold to the last part of the verse is oddly specific he says that once salt loses its saltiness it's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot this may be referring to the Roman practice of salting the streets anyone from Canada will know that salt is used to cover the roads in winter so that Vehicles can use them without

slipping off I did of course confirm this with a Canadian myself it's possible that Jesus is saying that once we lose our salt we've backslid and are tossed onto the road to be trampled so that others who walk the path don't make same mistake as we did and slip off before jesus' Ascension at the start of the book of Acts he mentions a phrase we often Overlook his parting words to his disciples include the first locations the gospel would be spread Jerusalem Judea Samaria and the ends of the Earth now if we flip from chapter

1:8 to chapter 8:1 we find something very intriguing after giving an incredible Spirit-filled speech to his adversaries Steven is the first Christian to be martyred here is where we are first introduced to Saul the persecutor of Christians but check out what the very next verse has to say on that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria this verse alone ticks off three of the locations mentioned by Jesus by name not even halfway into acts the gospel is being spread via this

persecution to all the right places but that's not all in the very same chapter Philip baptizes an Ethiopian unic a very rich and influential Gentile who undoubtedly took the gospel message back to his hometown in Africa right at the edge of the Romans occupation which would have been considered by many the end of the Earth and also could be the location of one of the first and oldest churches to ever exist So within one chapter the gospel had reached all the locations Jesus specified to his Apostles I discovered something I think you find quite interesting

about the armor of God specifically The Shield of Faith the passage tells us to take up the shield of Faith so that we can extinguish the flaming arrows of the devil on the surface it seems to make sense protecting ourselves from spiritual attack but when we understand it in its ancient military context we get a far more detailed picture from the enduring word commentary Paul here is describing not a small round Shield but a large oblong one designed to protect the whole body at the start of the battle Great Waves of fiery darts were fired

not to injure the soldiers but to throw them into confusion and panic because of the fiery nature of these darts the shields would often Catch Fire tempting the soldiers to discard their Shield leaving them open for enemy spear thrusts The Shield of faith not only blocks the flaming arrows of the enemy but extinguishes the them dissipating the chaos and panic entirely meaning that the shield of faith is both a reliable defense and a means to advance upon the enemy jesus' Resurrection launched our world into what we call the church age but have you ever asked

the question what is the true purpose of the church is it a place of Fellowship for believers is it a place of learning the scriptures from the pulpit or is it something much much much bigger Ephesians 3:10 is a verse that is so frequently skimmed over by readers but might actually answer the question on a scale you've never imagined before we know the church has had an unquestionable impact on our realm but have you ever taken a second to consider the impact the church has had on the Unseen Realm of the spiritual World a few

chapters after this incredible verse which I'll read in a moment we get a glimpse into a dark side of the Heavenly realm one dominated by rulers and Authority and spiritual forces of evil it seems these forces are hellbent on not only undermining God's wisdom and Authority but also trying to destroy Humanity but this is where Ephesians 3:10 changes everything his intent was that now through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the Heavenly Realms God's ultimate purpose in creating the church was not to provide

a community for the Christian not to teach the believer through the pulpit but to use it as a pedestal to prove his wisdom to the rulers and authorities in his completed salvation plan the product being the Gathering of millions of diverse Sinners United under God's grace undermining Satan entirely after Peter's thirdd denial during Christ's arrest we're all familiar with the infamous rooster crow that reminded Peter of the promise that he' just broken well that's what I thought until I read this comment which stopped me in my tracks claiming that the roosters weren't allowed in the

city of Jerusalem of course I had to research it and what I discovered was that this dude is actually on to something the mishna is the earliest record of the Jewish oral law and it states that roosters or chickens may not be raised in Jerusalem due to Purity concerns they feared that the chickens would bring impurities from the streets in contact with the sacrificial meat rendering it impure so if roosters were not permitted in Jerusalem does that mean this story is incorrect well the missioner again describes activities that went on in Jerusalem's temple one of

which was the morning routine of the Priestly family on duty whoever was responsible for clearing the ashes from the previous day would rise early and begin preparations for the Temple's daily visitors this time was called cockro because it was typically aligned with the roosters crow but this is where things get interesting at cockro they blew a sustained a quavering and another sustained blast meaning that two trumpet blasts were blown to signify the start of the proceedings which is what we find in Mark's gospel this means that Jesus was referring to a specific time in the

morning which Peter would have understood and also symbolizes the trumpet sound that started jesus' death the ultimate high priest who would ultimately cleanse the world of sin Jonah probably the most memorable of the Minor Prophets many of us have read the tale of his 3-day journey in the belly of a fish but have you ever paused to analyze his prayer from within some of the language he uses in this prayer suggests a more profound miracle in this story than we might anticipate some of the things he mentions in this prayer such as being in the

belly of sh being barred inside the Earth being brought up from the pit or his soul fainting within him leads us to ask a few more questions there's no doubt that Jonah was depressed being eaten by a giant fish would do that to you but if you think about it maybe it would do a little more consider this Jesus was asked in Matthew 12:38 for a sign to which he responded a wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah so what is this sign

being swallowed by a huge fish doesn't seem to happen to Jesus but he does does go on to explain that for as Jonah was 3 days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish so the son of man will be 3 days and three nights in the heart of the earth when this verse is jux supposed with Jonah chapter 2 and jesus' death and Resurrection is compared to the experience of the prophet Jonah some might say a grave oversight comes to life it's heavily implied that Jonah in fact died in the belly of

the fish due to Christ directly comparing Jonah's experience with his own resurrection that will happen after the cross Jonah's own words seem to testify to this fact showing that God raised him to bring Salvation to the Gentiles like God raised Jesus which would bring Salvation to All Nations this next one is going to blow you guys away so many of you will know that if you lay out the first 10 men recorded in the biblical genealogy their names actually create a secret message now I won't go into detail now but if you're interested let me

know and I can include it in a future video anyway I wanted to focus on one among their ranks Methuselah of course most of us know Methuselah as the oldest character in The Bible possibly of all time but as I researched him I found a great deal of debate over when his death actually was was it sometime before Noah's Arc or did he sneak his way on and survive the global flood it wasn't until I looked into the deeper meaning behind his name that it all started to unravel Methuselah is a combination of two two

Hebrew words the word MTH meaning death and the word cell meaning forever Hebrew scholar Dr John Gil suggested that Methuselah's father Enoch named him intentionally under the spirit of Prophecy for telling the flood by his name and considering that Jude calls Enoch a prophet there may be some significance to that but that's not all even the Greek meaning for his name listed in Luke's genealogy translates when he dies there shall be an Mission the strongest evidence however is hidden in plain sight when we examine the age of the Patriarchs listed in Genesis we can trace

that Methuselah actually died in the year the flood began meaning that this guy alone held back the global flood just by existing two of the coolest Old Testament characters have to be Elijah and Elisha you might recall the passage where Elisha requests a double portion of Elijah's spirit this is a Biblical concept cep where often the eldest son would receive a double portion of the inheritance from their father Elijah basically responds by saying that his request is difficult however if he Witnesses him being taken up to heaven then he will receive it sure enough mid

conversation Elijah is taken up to God and Elisha inherits his Spirit but this is the part you might not be aware of Elisha quite literally received a double portion of Elijah's spirit because he performed twice the number of mirac Miracles and most of these Miracles either fulfill complete or succeed Elijah's in some way or another but that's not all during their lifetimes both Elijah and Elisha were responsible for raising the dead once 2 Kings 13:21 records an event after Elisha's death where a corpse was thrown into his tomb and once it made contact with Elisha's

body it sprung back to life meaning Elisha not only performed double the amount of Miracles but he raised twice as many people from the dead anyone who attended Sunday school growing up would have learned about the great power of God on Egypt but just a few days ago I learned something about those plagues that took the story to a whole new level each one of the 10 plagues ushered in by God corresponds to an Egyptian god or goddess turning this story from a battle between nations to a battle between Gods the drama starts with Moses

and Aaron per forming an initial sign turning a staff into a serpent but we read that Pharaoh called his magicians and they were able to replicate the miracle using sorcery this inclusion may seem unusual but proves that this was a spiritual Battle of light versus Darkness good versus evil God versus Gods each one of the plagues sent by God is meant to symbolize defeat to the top Egyptian deities for example the plague of blood was against happy and Osiris the gods of the Nile the plague of the Dead livestock was against AIS the god of

livestock and the plague of Darkness was against Rah the god of the sun each plague dealt a devastating blow to the Egyptians beliefs causing many to question their understanding about God of course it was no mystery that God had the victory secured all along as in the initial Miracle of the serpent Aaron's staff consumed all the other staffs symbolizing God's dominance over the egyp eyptian Pantheon when it comes to the biblical judges none may be more famous than Samson known for his unrivaled strength and unruly attitude Samson seemingly had free reign to do whatever he

wanted with God's spiritual power but it turns out there actually were some rules before Samson was born his mother was visited by an Angel saying that her child would be a Nazarite that no razor would come upon his head and that he would deliver Israel from the Philistines number six outlines what was involved in a Nazarite vow a man or woman dedicated to the Lord in this way would dedicate themselves to a period of separation for the Lord they weren't allowed to eat grapes or drink wine they weren't allowed to cut their hair and they

weren't allowed to touch any dead bodies pretty familiar sounding right these vows get interesting when compared to Samson's life firstly Samson is described as getting engaged to a Philistine woman from timna on the way there we read that a young lion came towards him roaring then the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him and although he had nothing in his hand he tore the lion to Pieces as one tears a young goat but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done but not only that in verse 8 it says that after

some days he returned to take her and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion and behold there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey he scraped it out into his hands and went on eating as he went and he came to his father and mother and gave some to them and they ate but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion he knew how profoundly wrong it was to eat something unclean as a Nazarite and to share it

with his parents making them unclean also but he didn't seem to care he didn't care about his vow he didn't care about his parents he didn't even care about God the Bible states that Samson prepared a feast there for the young men used to do so there was almost certainly drinking involved at these Feasts this along with Samson's propensity for chasing after women suggested he didn't take his vows too seriously all except one Samson refused to cut his hair and as long as he respected the sanctity of this vow God seemingly was still with him

we know about Delilah and how her constant pestering caused Samson to reveal the secret of his hair to her but I posit that it wasn't really about his hair at all this was just a sign that his separation for God had come to an end number number six goes on to explain that when a Nazarite is defiled he shall have his head shaved and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering Samson had been defiled by renouncing his final vow to the Lord the only vow he actually

bothered keeping for some time consequently Samson's eyes were plucked out the part of his body that had continually led him to chase after Philistine women the two offerings of his eyes along with his shaved head allowed him to begin another period of separ ation for the Lord Samson's Faith grew along with his hair and like any Nazarite a lamb 1y old was offered up as a guilt offering for Samson this along with his own sacrifice and death brought about reconciliation between Samson and God he even managed to fulfill the Angel's words through his death as

he killed more Philistines in his death than in his life now most of you probably clicked on this video because of the thumbnail and you probably don't believe that this actually took place but I want to assure you that this really did happen and the answers are right here in 1 Chronicles 21 at the start of the chapter Satan incites King David to take a census of Israel joab the military leader told David that it wasn't such a good idea but he was forced to do it anyway eventually David realizes what he did was evil

and repents to the Lord because of David's heart God gives him a choice between three consequences 3 years of famine three months of enemy attacks or three days of the sword of the Lord David chooses the third option hoping that God himself would show him mercy so God sends a plague on Israel and 70,000 men die but that wasn't all verse 15 says and God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem but as the angel was doing so the Lord saw it and relented concerning the desire and said to the angel who was destroying the people

enough withdraw your hand it says the angel was standing in the threshing floor of Aruna the jebusite but how do we know it was a giant Angel you might be wondering the passage continues David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between Heaven and Earth with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem there's no doubt based on that verse that this thing is enormous it stands between Heaven and Earth towering over Jerusalem with the sword stretched out across its buildings David and his Elders are absolutely terrified but what happens next

is very interesting the angel of the Lord speaks to one of David's prophets and tells him to build an altar on the threshing floor which he's standing on remember ARA well the poor guy was busy threshing some wheat when he turned around to see this t towering over him and standing on his threshing floor ARA was so scared he wanted to give David the land for free but David paid full price and even denied his offer of free animals he wanted to pay for the sacrifice with his own money after offering the sacrifice God brought

fire from heaven and the angel put his sword back in its sheath the chapter Ends by noting that David couldn't go into the high place at gibian to inquire of God because he feared the sword of the Angel of the [Music] lord we often dream of having superpowers as kids but never really consider them when looking at the Bible but did you know there was a moment in the Old Testament where God granted a certain individual super speed for a period of time it's a small verse tucked just after a major event in the life

of Elijah he had just finished his confrontation with the prophets of B where he called fire from heaven onto a soaking wet altar proving the power of the one true God before the mob of idol worshippers humiliating them in the process after slaughtering the false prophets Elijah announces an end to the famine that had gripped the land for more than 3 years because the rain was coming quickly Elijah tells King Ahab to Hitch up his Chariot before the weather stops him and that he does the sky grows dark and the rain starts to fall then

the text says something incredibly fascinating the power of the Lord Came Upon Elijah and tucking his cloak into his belt he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel Scholars estimate the distance to be over 16 M or 25 km and racing against the king's Chariot a vehicle used in war for its speed and Mobility Elijah would have been running at a ridiculous Pace not only to keep up with but overtake the Chariot which had a sizable Head Start it may seem a little random but it demonstrates Elijah's devout heart for the Lord he

raced to jezrael where the evil King Ahab lived hoping that the events that just took place would spark a religious revival amongst God's people one that Elijah would be immediately ready for the book of First Kings has another unbelievable story that will leave you puzzled I've read the story multiple times and still don't know why it's in the Bible or what it's trying to say I wanted to include it in this video to see what you guys think because I am very confused the entire chapter of First Kings 13 follows an unnamed man of God

known in some translations as the young Prophet the chapter starts with a crazy series of events I suggest you read the first 10 verses yourself but basically the king tries to seize this young Prophet after hearing quite a negative prophecy but as he reaches out his hand it starts to wither so he changes tact and asks the man to pray for his hand and it's miraculously restored thrilled with this outcome the King asks the young Prophet to stay with him and he declines saying even if you were to give me half of your possessions I

would not go with you nor would I eat bread or drink water here for I was commanded by the word of the Lord you must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came now this is the start of our story and from here things start to get weird the story introduces an old Prophet who heard what the young Prophet had done with the King he requested that his sons saddle him a donkey and he goes on the road and meets the young Prophet sitting under a tree the old Prophet invites

the young Prophet to his house for dinner but the young man declines once again saying that he must return home according to the word of God seems pretty ordinary so far but it gets much much stranger The Old Man reveals that he too is a prophet and that God told him to bring the young Prophet back to his house for a meal then the text says but he was lying to him this all seemed legit to the young Prophet so he returned with the old man and ate with him the text then says while they

were sitting at the table the word of the Lord came to the old prophet he exclaimed to the young Prophet that he defied the word of God and broke his command by stopping to eat then the old man prophesies that the young man won't be buried with his ancestors an eerie last line after the meal the old Prophet saddled a donkey for the young and he headed home now if that's not weird enough it gets even worse as the man travels home a lion meets him on the road and kills him throwing his body on

the roadside both The Lion and the donkey he rode on stood together next to his corpse Travelers passing by saw the unusual sight with the donkey and lion and reported it to the town the old prophet heard of the tragedy so for the third time he saddled his donkey and investigated the body he then takes the body home and Mourns for the young Prophet saying oh my brother burying his bones in his own tomb and telling his sons to bury his bones next to the young Prophets The text concludes with the old Prophet affirming the

prophecy that the young Prophet first told the king at the very beginning not only is the old Prophet a false false prophet in his first prophecy but he ends up being used by God to be a real prophet in the second if you have any idea what it means please leave a comment and let's have a discussion this next one is something I never noticed while reading Genesis after the famine in Egypt Joseph Reveals His identity to his starving family and they're saved by the brother they sold into slavy years prior Joseph introduces five of

his brothers to pharaoh and after learning that they were shepherds Pharaoh suggests they be put in charge of his very own sheep then Joseph introduces the pharaoh to his father I never noticed this when reading before but the text says twice that Jacob the father of Joseph blessed Pharaoh after each reference there is a footnote saying the word blessed could also mean greeted or said farewell but if it is true that Jacob blessed pharaoh there are some interesting implications Hebrews 7:7 says that without a doubt the Lesser is blessed by the greater so it's possible

that this passage is claiming that Jacob later known as Israel is greater than Pharaoh foreshadowing The Exodus and Judgment of God on the Egyptians the final story may surprise you but there is in fact multiple accounts of teleportation in the New Testament many of you will know that Jesus seemed to teleport at will in his resurrected body he teleported through locked doors to meet his disciples twice and he teleported in front of his disciples during dinner who were on the road to EMAs there's also an interesting story in Acts where Philip after baptizing the Ethiopian

unic was taken away by the spirit of the Lord to aotus an estimated 38 km away from where he was many believe this to be another account of teleportation but there's a third story that many people skim over one night the disciples were stuck in a terrible storm on the sea when they spotted a figure walking on the water they discovered this figure to be Jesus and we soon get to see even Simon Peter walking on the water as well but this miraculous sign often takes the spotlight away from the next miracle that happens as

soon as Jesus steps foot in the boat John 6: 211 says then they were willing to take him into the boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading the text doesn't explicitly say it was teleportation but whether it was a rapid increase in speed or something else this is certainly an astounding Miracle most people miss out on reading it's glimpses like this that demonstrate jesus' ultimate authority over time space and matter proving just how awesome the God we serve truly [Music] is there's a moment in the gospels where Jesus is asked

a cunning question by some opponents that was designed to incriminate him but the answer that he gives is beyond profound many will know the story of when Jesus was questioned about paying the Imperial tax to Caesar but there's a few important details in that story that I think we often miss firstly the opponents sent to trap Jesus are called spies in Luke's gospel but in Mark's gospel we get a little more insight this was a group of herodians and Pharisees two groups that hated one another due to the tension between Rome and Israel these men

set aside their anger for one another and teamed up in an attempt to get Jesus to say something that could incriminate him they asked him the question is it right to pay the Imperial tax to Caesar or not this is a closed question with two possible answers if Jesus answered yes it is right to pay the tax the Pharisees could conclude that he isn't the Messiah because he submitted to Rome instead of opposing them as they expected the Messiah would but if Jesus answered no it's not right to pay the tax the herodians would conclude

that he's inciting Rebellion against the Roman Empire and have grounds to kill him it was a lose lose situation for Jesus but the answer he gives is unbelievable he's given a Denarius and asked whose image is on the coin Caesars they replied to which Jesus answers we give back to Caesar what is Caesar give back to God what is God's this answer neutralizes the threats from both parties by acknowledging both Caesar's Authority and God's Authority but not only that Jesus turns the tables and challenges the questioners by saying give back to God what is God's

what did Jesus mean by this comment in his rebuttle Jesus used the word image because Caesar's image was in the coin the coin should be returned to Caesar and since God's image is in us we should be returned to Our Father in Heaven that means returning our entire lives to him the tribute to Caesar was an annual event that continued as long as are reigned so our returning in obedience to God of whom we bear His Image should be continuous as long as he reigns as well John the Baptist was known as the final and

greatest of all prophets Jesus himself said there was no man born of woman who was greater than John but what made John so great his life was nothing to Marvel at from a worldly standard he lived in the wilderness alone ate locusts and honey to survive and wore the skin of dead camels as clothes but maybe we've missed something about John's story something very significant John's life was very similar to the other prophets of old they were called by God not just to predict the future but to live out the words they received as a

picture to their hearers Isaiah preached God's word naked for 3 and 1/2 years as a prophecy showing how Israel would be taken into Exile Ezekiel was told to act out a Siege on a brick with the label Jerusalem on it symbolizing Jerusalem's coming judgment John the Baptist being the final prophet in a line of men acting out strange signs is no different but in his case John's entire life was one enormous Parable John taught repentance for the Forgiveness of sins but he didn't just teach it his entire life symbolized it he led a life that

embodied a repentant Spirit his home in the wilderness symbolized the rejection of his sinful secular society an essential aspect of repentance he turned away from his old life in town and lived a life devoted to God's word his filthy clothes and impoverished diet symbolized his sacrifice of comfort for the mission God had for him this Parable was so Dynamic and impacting that anyone who wanted to be baptized by John had to physically travel Into the Wilderness leaving behind their comfort and security I don't think this was a coincidence God gave John two gifts to embody

the message he preached the Wilderness symbolizing repentance and baptism symbolizing the washing of sins and forgiveness in Christ the time of Elijah was undoubtedly one of Israel's darkest eras King Ahab and his domineering wife Jezebel killed many of the Lord's prophets erected monuments to ball the false god and rejected the word of the Lord but there's a hidden meaning at the start of First Kings 17 that has to do with the false god in question B was a hugely influential Pagan God during Elijah's time he was brought into Israel from sidon the birthplace of Jezebel

and together the monarchs hired 450 prophets to facilitate the spread of the word of Bal this alongside the slaughtering of God's prophets by Jezebel made life a little challenging for Elijah but God had big plans to shake the nation of Israel by confronting the god they had committed adultery in First Kings 17:1 Elijah meets with King Ahab and decrees as the Lord the god of Israel lives whom I serve there will be neither due nor rain in the next few years except at my word the next three chapters follow the back and forth drama between

Ahab and Elijah but I was always puzzled why God decided to use a famine to punish Israel why didn't he just use enemy Nations disease or any number of the plagues he used in Egypt why was it specifically a famine interestingly enough God was doing something incredible and something he'd done before by declaring that no rain was to fall on the land except at his word Elijah was directly challenging ball who was known as the god of fertility and the god of Rain by decreeing a famine he started the competition between the Jewish god Yahweh

and the sidonian god Bal a contest that would culminate in one of the most epic moments in Biblical history every day that the famine continued proved to the people the powerlessness of Bal and the incompetence of Ahab it was said that in times of drought Bal was on a Voyage Through the underworld and when he returned storms would burst forth and restore the land this makes Elijah's taunt during the climactic standoff on Mount Carmel so much more humiliating ultimately God proved in an undeniable way that he is the only true and living God by utterly

humiliating the false god his people clung to during the time of King Ahab I've always wondered why Peter in the first chapter of Acts thought it necessary to replace Judas Iscariot amongst the 12 disciples he quotes Two Old Testament verses the first states that his place should be deserted but the second one says may another take his place of leadership seems a bit contradictory to me and why was that verse applied to this situation I read Psalm 109 where Peter's argument stems from and I found something very interesting I couldn't find this idea anywhere on

the internet but I believe it's possible that Psalm 109 is Jesus speaking through David like Psalm 22 and he's speaking about Judas there's a few verses that correlate to jesus' feelings at the crucifixion verse 4 says in return for my friendship they accuse me echoing the Pharisees accusations in John and verse 28 says while they curse may you bless echoing Jesus forgiving words in Luke but the psalm addresses someone specifically I think it may be referring to Judas for two reasons the first is Peter's use of the psalm to appoint a replacement for Judas a

seemingly random scripture plucked out of nowhere otherwise the second is verse 16 for he never thought of doing a kindness but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the Brokenhearted according to John 12: 4-6 we know that Judas didn't care about the poor in fact he used to help himself to the disciples money as he was the treasurer what do you guys think of the theory that that Jesus may have spoken about Judas in Psalm 109 there's a new testament story where a woman was bleeding for 12 years she spent all she had

on treatments from various doctors but never found a cure when she heard about Jesus and his healing powers she rushed into the crowd that was following him this story seems to be a lovely story of restoration but there's something much deeper going on below the surface according to law any woman who had a discharge of blood was deemed unclean and anyone who touched her was made unclean as well Luke says that the crowds were pushing against Jesus so before touching Jesus himself she would have undoubtedly bumped shoulders with dozens of members of the crowd making

everyone she touched unclean although this may have been somewhat minor for the members of the crowd it was deeply significant for jesus' status as Messiah according to the Jewish law this woman understood that if she touched Jesus as an unclean woman he would become unclean because of her she would have understood that this was an enormous risk but it's possible that she actually knew exactly what she was doing numbers 15 introduces a law regarding tassels strings that were attached to the corner of their garments the purpose was to remind the people to obey the Lord's

commands and consecrate themselves to him him but that's not all the tassels were also known as wings and in the final book of the Old Testament the picture starts to take shape Malachi 4:2 says for you who fear my name the son of righteousness will shine with healing in his wings it's possible that the woman grasped jesus' wings in faith knowing the healing power they contained instead of the unclean woman making Jesus and the crowd clean the exact reverse happened the cleanliness of Jesus instead made her clean this is a glimpse of Jesus fulfilling the

Old Testament law making the children of Israel clean through his lifegiving power and not being brought into uncleanliness and sin by the world he [Music] inhabited and there we go that's 25 deeper meanings in Bible stories that you probably didn't know before I am curious to see how many you did so please let me know in the comments how you went in this little quiz if you find these resources valuable and encouraging consider subscribing and even becoming a member on YouTube or supporting us on patreon it really really makes a difference in creating this Christian

content for you God [Music] bless pretend