tribulation is a period of judgment by God upon a God-hating, Christ-reject- ing world. It is not a time of judgment upon the church. The purpose of the tribulation is for judgment upon the world. Why men want to make true believers to go through the tribulation is beyond understanding. We are rath er, “Looking for that blessed hope, and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Q . Glendale, California — “How could Moses h a v e written Deuteronomy when his own death account is includ ed in it? A. The last eight verses of the 34th chapter give us this reference. The question has been put forth by destruc tive critics of the Scripture. Whether Moses did or didn’t write the account does not reflect upon the Mosaic au thorship of the book. Many great men have written their ow n autobiog raphies, and yet the account of their last days has been written by close friends or historians. Our Saviour said, “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ.” Here au thorship is attested to. It is possible that God did not have Moses write of his death. The last eight verses could have been added by Joshua as a post script. On the other hand Moses was allowed by God to predict the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). Could not the Spirit of God allow Moses to predict or to foresee his own death? The span of years was far less encompassing. The entire matter of prophecy is whether you believe God can foretell the future or not. Prophecy is not a shrewd political guess, it is a miracle of events. Q . Los Angeles, California — “I’ve been asked to resign from my Sunday School class where I have been teach ing for many years. Should / demand my rights or ju st take it lying down?” A. There are no doubt various back ground problems connected with this particular situation. In all probability
Panel Discussions (continued) actions of wicked men and nations. The Moabites burned the bones of the king of Edom. They did not allow a corpse to remain intact. Complete in dignity was heaped up those who were slain. This was the consummating in iquity of Moab against Edom. We do have cases of cremation in the Bible but usually it is in places of plagues with accompanying slaughter and car nage. The Bible rather shows that peo ple gave proper honors to the bodies of loved ones. Godly men bewailed their losses. The normal Scriptural position seems to be against cremation because of the high dignity placed upon the Christian’s body. It is true that in the course of time the body will disinte grate, however, to put indignity upon it does not appear in harmony with the Bible. Q. “What are the Scriptures providing us with the doctrine of the return of Christ before the tribulation?” A. There are some definite Scriptures as well as portions which definitely imply the return of Christ before the tribulation. I Thessalonians 1:10, “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” In the sixth chapter of Revela tion the people hide their faces from the kings of the earth. “And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come” (Revelation 6:16, 17). This refers to the time of God’s judgment upon a God-hating, Christ- rejecting world. The portion in I Thes salonians tells us that we are delivered from the wrath. The church does not appear after the end of Revelation chapter three. The church is in heaven during chapter four and five of Revela tion. From chapter 6 on, the church remains in heaven. There are no ref erences whatever indicating that the church is here upon the earth during the latter portion of Revelation. The
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs