No One, It Seems, Believed Them Quiz

Answer: 8

Eight people survived the flood that engulfed the word by taking refuge in a gigantic ark Noah built. The eight people were Noah and his unnamed wife and their three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth and their three unnamed wives. For details about the flood see Genesis 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Answer: Potiphar's wife

Potiphar's wife was attracted to Joseph and when the young Hebrew slave refused her advances she became furious. As a result, she falsely accused him of attempted rape. No one apparently believed Joseph when he said he was innocent of the charge and he was locked up in prison.

It was while Joseph was in prison that he gained a reputation for interpreting dreams and eventually he was called upon by the Pharaoh to interpret two dreams he had. The rest, as they say, is history.

For details about Joseph's amazing life story, see Genesis 37 to 50.

Answer: Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem

Nehemiah had lots of adversaries when he announced plans to re-build a wall around Jerusalem. In fact, it seemed no one, apart from Nehemiah and his followers, believed the project would be seen through to fruition. The most vehement opponents, according to Nehemiah 2:19, were Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab.

In short, Nehemiah states in the NKJV his adversaries "laughed at us and despised us."

Nehemiah and his followers, however, would have the last laugh as the re-building was completed despite a number of obstacles.

Answer: Babylon

The army of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquered Judah and took the people into captivity, just as Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 25:11-12. 2 Kings 25:1-21 tells of the Babylonian conquest of Judah and the brutal treatment of the people, notably the leaders.

For example, the passage tells of Zedekiah, king of Judah, being forced to witness the deaths of his sons. It would be the last sight he would see as the Babylonians then gouged out the king's eyes and bound him with bronze fetters before taking him captive to Babylon.

Answer: Micaiah

Micaiah told it the way it is and didn't pull punches. Micaiah was so well known for telling the truth, Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, wanted nothing to do with the prophet of God. In fact, Ahab is quoted as saying in 1 Kings 22:8 in the NKJV he hated Micaiah because "he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil."

When four hundred false prophets were consulted to determine if Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, should go to war against the Syrians they were told they would encounter success on the battlefield. To be on the safe side, however, it was agreed Micaiah should be brought in to get his view if the kings should go to war. And true to form, he did not have good news for Ahab. "The LORD has declared disaster against you," Micaiah told the king.

Ahab was infuriated with the response and ordered Micaiah be thrown into prison. Bound and determined, Ahab refused to listen to Micaiah and went into battle with his army. However, as an extra precaution, he did not put on his royal attire when he went into battle, not wanting to draw any attention. Shortly after the battle started, Scripture states an enemy soldier "drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor." Later in the day he would be dead, just as Micaiah had prophesied.

For complete details, see 1 Kings 22:1-40.

Answer: Ahab

Ahab was a wicked king of Israel and his wife Jezebel was even worse. They were both committed to killing all the prophets of God in Israel, but try as they may they couldn't remove Elijah from the scene.

1 Kings 17:1 tells of Elijah proclaiming a drought to Ahab and it's highly likely the king didn't pay any attention to what he said. The verse, in the NKJV, quotes Elijah as saying, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word."

It rained in Israel only after Elijah defeated four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal in a showdown on Mount Carmel, as per 1 Kings 18.

While the Old Testament does not say specifically how long the drought lasted, Luke 4:25 quotes Jesus as saying "the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a great famine throughout all the land."

Answer: Athens

Acts 17 tells of Paul preaching an eloquent message to residents of Athens in the area of the Areopagus. Scripture states the people were initially curious and wanted to hear more about Paul's Gospel message, but there was a point when many thought he had gone too far and started to mock him. Verse 32 states when he talked about resurrection of the dead, people started to mock him while others were more polite, simply stating, "we will hear you again on this matter." Knowing that he was not making much headway, Scripture tells of Paul departing and going to Corinth.

However, Paul's trip to Athens was not in vain. Verse 34 states some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris.

According to Wikipedia, the Areopagus is a prominent rock outcropping northwest of the Acropolis in Athens.

Answer: Peter

Peter, one of the original Twelve Disciples, had just made a miraculous escape from prison and was frantically knocking on the door of the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Inside the house was a group of Christians who were fervently praying for Peter's safety and release.

Acts 12:5-19 tells of Rhoda, a young servant girl, going to the door to see who was knocking, and when she heard Peter's voice she was filled with uncontrollable excitement and ran back into the house to tell the good news to those who were praying. Ironically, those who were praying for Peter's safety and release refused to believe Rhoda's report.

"You are beside yourself!" they told Rhoda in the NKJV. And when she kept insisting Peter was at the door, they brushed her off by suggesting "It is his angel."

A few moments later, when someone finally went to the door to let Peter in, the house was filled with total joy.

Talk about prayers being answered!

Answer: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James

Luke 24:1-10 tells of Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James going to the tomb of Jesus very early in the morning and, to their puzzlement, they saw the stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. Then to their complete amazement, two angels appeared and told them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'"

The passage goes on to tell of the women returning to the disciples and telling them what they had seen. However, according to Verse 11 their words "seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them." Despite this, Peter ran to the tomb and "stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened."

Answer: All four Gospels

Jesus is quoted in all four Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- as saying that He would be put to death and then rise on the third day. Such statements were made to a wide variety of people, ranging from His Twelve Disciples to His arch enemies, the Pharisees. No one believed Him. And when Christ did rise from the dead, even the likes of Thomas refused to believe the reports. Only when Thomas was able to examine Christ's resurrection wounds did he finally believe. After examining the resurrection wounds, Thomas had all the proof he needed and cast all doubts aside, proclaiming, "My Lord and My God!"

In response, Jesus is quoted in John 20:29 in the NKJV as saying: "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

In other words, Christians today are blessed because they believe although they have not seen in the manner Thomas did.