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- Part Two:
Alleged Discrepancies Examined And Answered…
21) God caused David to number Israel (2 Sam 24:1)/ Satan caused David to number Israel
(1 Chron 21:1).
- a) How can both passages be correct?
- i) Is this not a blatant contradiction?
ii) It is the same time, same event, and same people under consideration.
- b) Likewise note:
- i) Ex 7:3, 13; 9:12; 10:1; et al.
ii) Job 1:9-19; 2:3-7; 42:11.
iii) 2 Thess 2:9-12.
- c) Consider:
- i) If someone jumps off a building and plummets to his death, can God be the said cause?
ii) Be careful how you answer.
- d) A matter of perspective:
- i) God allowed Pharaoh’s heard to be hardened by sending the request, and by causing
the plagues.
ii) God allowed Satan to cause the calamity in Job’s life.
iii) It is also fair to say that God allowed Satan to incite David to sin.
22) Jesus and God are one (Jn 10:30)/The Father is greater than Jesus (Jn 14:28). God knows all
things (Psa 139:1-8)/Jesus doesn’t know some things God knows (Mrk 13:32).
- a) Can these passages possibly be reconciled?
- i) The same beings are under consideration.
ii) Can our rules help us understand this?
- b) Consider also:
- i) Jn 1:1-14; 14:9.
ii) Matt 8:2; 4:10.
- c) The answer involves concepts which are not always easy to comprehend (2 Pet 3:16).
- i) Phil 2:6-8.
ii) He placed Himself in a voluntarily subordinate position.
iii) His fleshly limitations were not a consequence of being less than God in nature or deity.
iv) They were the result of self-imposed submission.
- (1) Just as Jesus could not be in every place at once, because the flesh is limited in
this regard.
(2) Though God, in His nature, He was man in his form.
(3) For this cause He was hungry, tired, grew, et al. (Heb 4:15).
23) My witness is not true (Jn 5:31)/My witness is true (Jn 8:14).
- a) Jesus had called on several witnesses (Jn 5:33-47).
- i) John baptizer (5:33).
ii) Father in heaven (8:18; 5:37, 38).
iii) Old Testament Scriptures (5:39).
iv) Miracles performed (5:36).
- b) Law of Moses:
- i) Dt 19:15.
ii) Heb 10:28.
iii) Pharisees were teachers of the Law, hence would understand this principle—Jn 8:13.
iv) Jesus says, then, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is of no force, according to the
Law.
- c) Jesus was still telling the truth.
- i) At a different time, recognizing what the Law of Moses stated (Jn 8:17), Jesus revealed
His own testimony as being true because:
- (1) He had the witnesses to enforce it…
(2) He was, in fact, telling the truth, and His words are truth.
- ii) Consider:
- (1) A man is framed for murder, and found guilty by a jury of his peers.
(2) During the trial he continually stated, “I am innocent.”
(3) After the guilty verdict he tells a reporter, “If the court says I am guilty, then I am
guilty.”
(4) Did he contradict himself?
(5) Or, was he speaking as a matter of perspective?
24) No one has ascended to heaven (Jn 3:13)/Elijah and Enoch ascended to heaven (2 Kngs 2:11;
Gen 5:24).
- a) Was Jesus ignorant of the Old Testament Scriptures?
- i) Was He mistaken?
ii) If so, what of Matt 13:35; 7:28, 29; Lk 2:47, et al.?
- b) Possibility #1:
- i) The place Jesus went and the place Elijah and Enoch went were not the same.
ii) Jesus went to the Father (Jn 20:17; Ac 1:9-11).
iii) Others went to Abraham’s bosom (Lk 16:19-31; 23:43; Ac 2:27, 31).
- c) Possibility #2:
- i) Jesus ascended on His will; by His own power.
ii) The others were taken away.