ing left for him but judgment, which ends in hell. This truth applies to all questions that people raise concerning God’s dealings with those of Old Testament times who brought upon themselves the righteous judgment of God. No one is lost without by-passing Cal vary. PH Y S ICA L SA L VA T IO N Q. What does Paul mean in Phil. 1:19, “I know that this shall turn to my salvation” ? A. The apostle here refers to his bodily salvation, in his approaching trial before Nero. He was a prisoner Dr. Talbot will be special speaker at the Biola Family Conference at The Firs Bible and Missionary Con ference in Washington, August 22- 28. For reservations write: The Firs, 4605 Cable St., Bellingham, Wash. at Ceasar’s court (Phil. 1:13), willing to live or die for Christ, and knowing that, if God willed, the prayers of his Christian friends at Philippi would be answered, and he would be set free. There is nothing in the passage to indicate that Paul referred to the sal vation of his soul. This letter was written some ten years after Paul and Silas had told the Philippian jailer, in no uncertain terms: “ believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Paul had known the Lord as his own personal Saviour ever since years before he had encountered Him on the Damas cus Road. A B R A H A M A C H R IS T IA N ? Q. Why do some Christians say that the church began with Abraham and speak of Old Testament believers as “ Christians”?
A. It seems to us that they do not rightly divide the “ word of truth.” In the first place, the church began on the Day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2; and in the second place, “ the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). Those who “ spiritualize” the mean ing of all of God’s definite promises to Abraham make the prophecies mean what they do not say. They ignore fulfilled prophecy, in God’s dealings with the Jew. While they are saved, if they believe in the deity of Christ and His finished work on the cross, yet they miss one of the greatest sources of joy—to know that He Him self will one day return to put down sin. The world does not have to wait for the church to “ bring in the king dom” by the preaching of the Gospel. Christ will do that—we hope, very soon! Surely the chaotic condition of nations today, nearly two thousand years after men have had the Gospel, is not an encouraging sign that the church will convert the world! Concerning the beginning of the church much might be said. The Old Testament saints did not even know that the church, the bride of Christ, was in the mind of God. The Lord revealed this “mystery” to Paul, as all New Testament teaching proves. Again, Christ Himself said, following Peter’s great confession that Jesus was the Son of the living God, “ Upon this rock I w ill build my church” (Matt. 16:18). The rock upon which the church is built is the eternal deity of Christ, not on Peter, as has been taught erroneously by one religious system. The chuch began at Pentecost, and will continue on the earth until the last member of the body of Christ is won to Him. God alone knows the time when that will be, but when it comes to pass, then He will translate the church to be forever with Himself. Read I Thess. 4:13-18.
GOD A N D THE HEATHEN Q. Since God is the God of love, why did He tell His people, Israel, to fight against the heathen nations about them? A. These nations had had their op portunity to receive the truth of God, but they had turned their backs upon the light. They were idolaters, cor rupt in their lives, and a menace to the people of God. Time and again Israel fell into their snares, worship ped their idols, intermarried with them—all contrary to God’s explicit commands. Since the nations refused to go God’s way, there was nothing left for Him to do but to cut them off, in the interest of His chosen people. When a certain part of the human body becomes diseased, it is often necessary to amputate a limb, in or der to save the whole; and this was true in the body politic. The com mand God gave for the extermination of the depraved nations suggests the depths of degradation into which they had sunk; and in permitting them to exist, nothing would have been ac complished except the release of cor rupting influences affecting surround ing people. This act reveals God in His concern for the human race as a whole. And it reveals Him in His concern particu larly for the nation of Israel. But, some may ask, why did God choose Israel? He chose the Hebrew nation in order to give the whole world the Redeemer and His eternal Word. To Abraham God said, “ In thee all families of the earth shall be bless ed” (Gen. 12:3). Therefore, it was in the interest of the whole world, as well as Israel, that God protected them from those who would defile them. Our God is a God of love. He does not send a single soul to eternal tor ment. But He has given man a free will, and wnen man deliberately chooses to forsake God, there is noth-
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THE KIN G 'S BUSINESS
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