For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

• Matthew 5:18 (NIV)

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

• Matthew 5:18 (NKJV)

Sorry, but I often remember verses from the days when I mainly read the KJV.  Before I could ask myself the question about what the quiz should be about this week, the KJV version of this verse popped into my head.  And then I wondered what familiar Bible verses would look like if one letter was missing.

I may write another of these quizzes without the hint, but for this first one, I will replace the missing letter with an asterisk (*).  If you solve what the missing letter is for each verse, the missing letters will spell something related to the theme of this quiz.  Thus, the verses will not be in biblical order.

Remember that when working a hidden message quiz, you might get enough answers correct to solve the rest of the puzzle.  Then you can feed those missing letters back into the verses that you did not solve.  The secret message is a three-word message.  The first word has an apostrophe.  I did not want to leave out that little tittle.

Oddly, I chose twelve verses that spoke of making things new.  I took the twelve verses in the order that I received them.  Each, in that order, had at least one of the letters that I needed to complete the secret message.  As it stands, the verses average five and two-thirds asterisks.  There are two verses that only have one asterisk.  They might be easily solved by simply reading the verse and filling in the gap with what seems right, since the verses are commonly quoted.  But, two verses have 13 asterisks.  With that many, there are more chances of figuring out what one single letter might make words in English.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has *one, the new is here!
2	F*r I kn*w the plans I have f*r y*u,” declares the Lord, “plans t* pr*sper y*u and n*t t* harm y*u, plans t* give y*u h*pe and a future.
3	but those who hope in the Lor*     will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;     they will run and not grow weary,     they will walk and not be faint.
4	There i* no fear in love. But perfect love drive* out fear, becau*e fear has to do with puni*hment. The one who fear* is not made perfect in love.
5	Praise be to t*e God and Fat*er of our Lord Jesus C*rist! In *is great mercy *e *as given us new birt* into a living *ope t*rough* t*e resurrection of Jesus C*rist from t*e dead,
6	He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has als* set eternity in the human heart; yet n* *ne can fath*m what G*d has d*ne fr*m beginning t* end.
7	What, then, sha** we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
8	But for *ou who revere m* name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its ra*s. And *ou will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.
9	I *ill give them an undivided heart and put a ne* spirit in them; I *ill remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
10	Theref*re, I tell y*u, her many sins have been f*rgiven—as her great l*ve has sh*wn. But wh*ever has been f*rgiven little l*ves little.”
11	You* beginnings will seem humble,     so p*ospe*ous will you* futu*e be.
12	Yet to all who *i* receive him, to those who believe* in his name, he gave the right to become chil*ren of Go*—

What was Jesus saying when He spoke of jots and tittles?

A jot is the Hebrew letter Yod, which is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet.  A tittle is a little “hook”, an accent mark, a tiny pen stroke that changes the meaning of the letter.  Think of the dot that is above a lower case “i” or “j”.  In German, leaving off the umlaut, as in ü, changes the word and its pronunciation.  There are other such markings in other languages like the common accent marks like the acute, é, the grave, à, or the tilde, ñ.

Jesus is not saying that the scribes that copied everything might not make a copying error.  Those have been found, discovered, and corrected.

But what is Jesus really saying?  The LAW does not change.

But wait!  Jesus made a sacrifice, once and for all.  Thus that debt has been fulfilled if we believe and trust in Jesus.  But that blood sacrifice was made by Jesus Himself.  We should still give of our firstfruits.  We just do so through slightly modified ceremonies.  Thus the ceremonial law changed, but only because Jesus fulfilled the blood sacrifice part of those ceremonies.

The civil law might change in that we are subject to the government authorities.  We should not be compelled to violate God’s Law, but if the government does not prosecute adulterous people, we do not have the right to stone them to death as it states in Leviticus 20.  But those laws still apply with God, and He is the ultimate judge.

And the moral law does not change.  My son, who has tattoos, and I discussed, the tattoos and piercings were in the various laws of Leviticus 19.  God was setting His Chosen People apart, and the pagans did tattoos and piercings.  In those days, you saw someone with tattoos, and you knew what that meant.  These days, almost all earrings are for pierced ears and tattoos are common.  I will not get a tattoo because if God wanted a picture of an M-60 machine gun on my arm, I would have been born with one.  Incidentally, from the time my wife left the hospital at birth, she had a nickname due to a birthmark on her bottom.  Hey, that’s what her mother thought it looked like!  So, while God has not changed His copy of these moral laws, the fallen world has blurred the line a bit.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has *one, the new is here!	2 Corinthians 5:17
2	F*r I kn*w the plans I have f*r y*u,” declares the Lord, “plans t* pr*sper y*u and n*t t* harm y*u, plans t* give y*u h*pe and a future.	Jeremiah 29:11
3	but those who hope in the Lor*     will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;     they will run and not grow weary,     they will walk and not be faint.	Isaiah 40:31
4	There i* no fear in love. But perfect love drive* out fear, becau*e fear has to do with puni*hment. The one who fear* is not made perfect in love.	1 John 4:18
5	Praise be to t*e God and Fat*er of our Lord Jesus C*rist! In *is great mercy *e *as given us new birt* into a living *ope t*rough* t*e resurrection of Jesus C*rist from t*e dead,	1 Peter 1:3
6	He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has als* set eternity in the human heart; yet n* *ne can fath*m what G*d has d*ne fr*m beginning t* end.	Ecclesiastes 3:11
7	What, then, sha** we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?	Romans 8:31
8	But for *ou who revere m* name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its ra*s. And *ou will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.	Malachi 4:2
9	I *ill give them an undivided heart and put a ne* spirit in them; I *ill remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.	Ezekiel 11:19
10	Theref*re, I tell y*u, her many sins have been f*rgiven—as her great l*ve has sh*wn. But wh*ever has been f*rgiven little l*ves little.”	Luke 7:47
11	You* beginnings will seem humble,     so p*ospe*ous will you* futu*e be.	Job 8:7
12	Yet to all who *i* receive him, to those who believe* in his name, he gave the right to become chil*ren of Go*—	John 1:12

But I hope that this little exercise illustrates what mental image Jesus was making in the crowd that He spoke to on the Sermon on the Mount.

Just looking at the verses with one letter in a verse replaced by an asterisk, the verses are difficult to read, at some points impossible.

Then, that leaves the interpretation up to the person reading it.

God wants His words to be clearly understood by those who love Him and wish to keep His commandments.

My wife would often apologize for my biblical interpretations, being largely black and white.  Barring metaphors and parables, when we start inventing gray area where there should be only black and white, we are starting to remove those jots and tittles.

Remember that God has the master copy, so bringing your modified copy before God’s judgment seat will not do you much good.

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has *one, the new is here!	2 Corinthians 5:17	G Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2	F*r I kn*w the plans I have f*r y*u,” declares the Lord, “plans t* pr*sper y*u and n*t t* harm y*u, plans t* give y*u h*pe and a future.	Jeremiah 29:11	O For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
3	but those who hope in the Lor*     will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;     they will run and not grow weary,     they will walk and not be faint.	Isaiah 40:31	D but those who hope in the Lord     will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;     they will run and not grow weary,     they will walk and not be faint.
4	There i* no fear in love. But perfect love drive* out fear, becau*e fear has to do with puni*hment. The one who fear* is not made perfect in love.	1 John 4:18	S There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
5	Praise be to t*e God and Fat*er of our Lord Jesus C*rist! In *is great mercy *e *as given us new birt* into a living *ope t*rough* t*e resurrection of Jesus C*rist from t*e dead,	1 Peter 1:3	H Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
6	He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has als* set eternity in the human heart; yet n* *ne can fath*m what G*d has d*ne fr*m beginning t* end.	Ecclesiastes 3:11	O He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
7	What, then, sha** we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?	Romans 8:31	L What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
8	But for *ou who revere m* name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its ra*s. And *ou will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.	Malachi 4:2	Y But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.
9	I *ill give them an undivided heart and put a ne* spirit in them; I *ill remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.	Ezekiel 11:19	W I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
10	Theref*re, I tell y*u, her many sins have been f*rgiven—as her great l*ve has sh*wn. But wh*ever has been f*rgiven little l*ves little.”	Luke 7:47	O Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
11	You* beginnings will seem humble,     so p*ospe*ous will you* futu*e be.	Job 8:7	R Your beginnings will seem humble,     so prosperous will your future be.
12	Yet to all who *i* receive him, to those who believe* in his name, he gave the right to become chil*ren of Go*—	John 1:12	D Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

And if you put the twelve letters together you get God’s Holy Word.

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here are The Asidors with The Law of the Lord (Psalm 19).

Here is Hearts Praise with He Will Restore All.

Here is Keith and Kristyn Getty singing The Perfect Wisdom of our God.

I was tempted to add another video.  Since I was using an asterisk to denote a missing letter, I thought of a comic book my children enjoyed in Germany, Asterix and Obelix.  It became a cartoon show and even some animated and live-action movies.  Asterix takes the wizards potion to be strong and fast, and Caesar and all his army could not take that one village in Gaul.  As for Obelix, he fell in the pot of the potion when he was a baby, and he is permanently large and strong.  Hilarious, but it might spoil the mood.

We can trust God.  In fact, trusting in God is part of what saves us.  And God is the One who reveals Himself to us.  So, who are we to try to change the rules?

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.