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THE RAPTURE Q. Some say that the church w ill be translated at the end of the first three and one-half years of the seventieth week of Daniel, which is just before the tribulation period. Others say that the church w ill not be translated un til after the tribulation, but w ill go through it. Please explain. A . The church will be raptured be- for the seventieth week of Daniel be gins. II Thess. 2:7, 8 is one of the clearest passages that proves this fact. The Antichrist will not be revealed until the Holy Spirit’s restraining in fluence in the church is taken “ out of the way.” And, of course, the An tichrist is to be the ruling person age of the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy. The church began on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2 ), and is now in the process of being formed. One day, perhaps sooner than men realize, the last member will be added to the body of Christ, which is His church. This is called by Paul in Romans 11:25 “ the fulness of the Gentiles,” which expression may be freely trans lated, “the full number of the Gen tiles.” When the church is complete, then God will call her home to hea ven. Not until then will the seventieth week of Daniel begin to run its course. Q. Is it true that Jesus had half-broth ers, sons of Joseph and Mary? I have heard this denied. A . Yes, after Jesus was bom in Beth lehem, Joseph and Mary had sons and daughters. In Matt. 13:55, 56 we read: “ Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?” (Cf. Mark 6:3; Matt. 12:46; John 2:12; Acts 1:14; I Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:19.) CHILDREN OF JOSEPH AND MARY
The denial that Mary had other children originated with the Roman Catholic teaching that Mary was sin less. This is called the doctrine of the immaculate conception. This teaching claims that Mary never did marry Joseph, that she was always the Vir gin Mary. This is unscriptural, Mary acknowledged herself to be a sinner needing a Saviour; she recognized the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour from sin. Moreover, Psalm 69:7-9, which is a definite prophecy of the coming of Jesus into the world to suffer for sinners, is irrefutable proof that Mary had other children. Note especially verse 8: “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my m others children.” PROPHECY CORRECT? Q. I am much concerned because I cannot find in Jeremiah any place the statement attributed to Jeremiah by Matthew. I refer to Matthew 27:9-10: “ Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.” A. This should not cause you any con cern. It is a wonderful proof of the complete accuracy of God’s Word, even in spite of all the translations through which it has passed to reach us in the King James Version. One of the miracles of all time is that we have such faithful text upon which to rest our faith. Note that Matthew does not say this prophecy was written but spoken by Jeremiah. The prophecy does not appear in the writings of Jeremiah so then we know that when he spoke (or preached) this prophecy, he was quot ing Zechariah for we read in his prophecy (11: 12-13): “And I said
unto them, if ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was priced at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” Jeremiah gave a great many mes sages that are not recorded in his name. But the Holy Spirit knew what the prophet wrote, and He also knew what He said. This same thing is true of Enoch who is quoted as having “prophesied” (Jude 14-15) but his message was not written until the Holy Spirit gave it to Jude. ANGLO-ISRAELISM Q. I heard an amazing broadcast on the radio in which the United States was identified with the Jewish tribe of Manasseh, and the United King dom with Ephraim. This was certain ly new to me. Can you explain what system of teaching this is? Is there anything to it? A . This system is known as Anglo- Israelism or British-Israelism and is a strange misapplication of Scripture. It claims to answer the question, which actually is not a question at all: “What became of the ten lost tribes of Israel?” They are not lost physically and never have been. Among its many errors, this system tries to prove that the twelve tribes of Israel were not in Palestine at the time of Christ’s earthly ministry but only Jews (from tribe of Judah) were there. This whole theory breaks down in the light of such Scriptures as Luke 2:36; Matthew 15:24; Matt. 10:5-6; Acts 2:14, 22, 23, 36; Acts 4:26-28, and many others. I think Anglo-Is- raelism is one of the “fables” re ferred to in I Tim. 1:4; II Tim. 4:4; Titus 1:14, etc.
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