of utter trust and dependence upon Him. Read Hebrews 12:3-11 for God’s Word on this matter. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. . . . But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” If a man lives in sin and is not chastened, even though he may profess to be a Christian, according to this from God’s Word, that man is not a son; he is a bastard, and a hypocrite. In the November King’s Business we have said, “ Trials may embitter those who do not love God, but they burn up the dross in the Christian as he lets his all-wise Father mold and shape his life . . . Sometimes God permits one of His saints to be an example to an ungodly world of the sufficiency of God’s grace. Such was Job—an ex ample before Satan, angels, men and demons. His example has encouraged thousands to trust God, even when they could not understand why they were called upon to suffer.” Nothing gives one a more sym pathetic understanding of the need of those in sorrow than does sorrow itself. It is a training school for those who would serve others who are in distress. “ The God of all comfort . . . com- forteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Cor.l:3,4). No! Decidedly, no! The angels were created angels. We were created human beings. These represent two entirely different orders of God’s creatures. An gels are spirit-beings; we are flesh and blood. And in the resurrection, we shall be “flesh and bone,” even as the risen Christ was in His glorified body. (See Luke 24:39.) The holy angels are our servants, “ministering spirits” unto us who are the “heirs of salvation” (Heb. 1 :14)_. We are sons, members of the household of God. Our Lord Jesus, when He became a Man, was made for a little time “lower than the angels . . . that he might taste death for every man,” and “ lead many sons unto glory” to a position higher than the angels—“heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Heb. 2:5-18; Rom. 8:17). “ What a wonderful Saviour!” If we love God in this life, shall we be angels in heaven?
could it be said that he lifted up his “ eyes, being in torments” ? How could he speak of the “finger ” of Lazarus, who was in paradise ,' and of his own “ tongue” ? The spirit has a form, just as the body has a form. And the form of the spirit is, in all probability, the form of the body. It is true, the dead, whether in Christ or out of Christ, are disem bodied spirits. The Scriptures, however, imply that, while they are without a body, yet they do not miss the body. In other words, they are not conscious of disembodiment. This is implied in Second Corinthians 12:2. There Paul tells us that he was caught up into the third heaven; whether in the body or out of the body, he could not tell. If he was out of the body at the time of that experience, he was not conscious of it. This sheds a great deal of light upon the present disembodiment of the dead; and this is the explanation of the rich man’s speaking of his “ tongue” and of Lazarus’ “ finger.” It explains also the Scripture reference to the rich man’s “ eyes,” in the passage to which we refer. What is the meaning of Luke 22:32? This is a well-known passage of Scripture, and when properly under stood is full of blessed comfort to the children of God in their manifold temptations. However, the word “ con verted” often keeps a believer from en joying the intended comfort, because it is not generally known that “ conver sion” is used in the Bible not only of our first turning to God which is salva tion, but may be used also of any sub sequent turning back to God after a time of backsliding. The word is used in the latter sense here, for we are told of Peter’s salvation in Matt. 16:16, 17 and in John 1:41, 42. In these passages also it is implied that Peter was saved, for the Lord speaks of his faith, “ But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” A believer can be regenerated or born-again only once, but he can be converted many times, for every time he backslides and turns again to God he is converted to God. Peter was a backslider here and so was David in Psalm 51, and he cried to the Lord to restore unto him not his salvation, but the joy of his salvation. Peter’s experi ence here and David’s experience in Psalm 51 throw light upon each other, for both men were backsliders and needed to repent or turn back to God. James, in verse 19 of chapter 5, refers to the same experience. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Dr. Louis T. Talbot
What is meant by being “ baptized for the dead" as written in First Cor inthians 15:29? This is an important question for the Mormon doctrine is built upon an er roneous interpretation of this text. They claim that baptism is absolutely essen tial to salvation, and that if one should die unbaptized, a friend here on earth could be baptized as his proxy, the credit for this act being applied to the dead man. This is the Mormon inter pretation of the text, “baptized for the dead.” Of course there is not a vestige of Scripture in Corinthians, nor in any other part of the Bible to substantiate such a perversion of the truth of God’s Word. Paul’s argument all through the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians is that Christ is risen from the dead, and because He lives, we too shall live. The resurrection of Christ is the foun dation stone of Christianity. Without it our faith is vain, and we are still in our sins. In the resurrection of Christ God demonstrated the sufficiency and the efficacy of the redemption price that our Lord paid when He died on Calvary. There are many scriptural reasons showing why Christians suffer afflic tion. We have discussed in these columns many times, why God some times has to chasten, or “ child-train” us, but you ask why do those who live in close fellowship with the Lord some times know the depths of sorrow? As a parent should train a child through discipline, so also our heavenly Father often has to “ child-train” us. We are so slow to learn! And sometimes—not al ways—He has to allow sorrow and suffering to bring us back to the place Can you explain why some of God’s most devout children seem to have so much suffering?
If the rich man of Luke 16:19-30 was in Hades as a disembodied spirit, how
Page Six
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online