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much is given, of him shall be much required.” The Multitude In Revelation Q. Who is the group of people men tioned in Rev. 7:9: “ A fter this / be held, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palms in their hands”? A . In this chapter there are two com panies of people mentioned, the 144,- 000 Hebrews and this multitude. They are related to each other. The 144,- 000 will be God’s preachers for that age and the great company the har vest of souls of those who have come to know Christ as their Saviour through their ministry. You see, from v. 10, that they have not only come to know who the true God is — Je hovah, but also who the Lamb is —• Christ. “ They cried with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” The Blood of the Lamb will be message of the 144,000 so far as salvation is concerned, although they are to herald the impending establish ment of the earthly kingdom. Heaven and The New Jerusalem Q. Are the New Jerusalem and Hea ven the same thing? A. Yes. The New Jerusalem is a hea venly city in the heavens. It is to God’s universe what London is to the British Empire, the capital city, where the Queen and royal family are in residence and may be seen. In like manner, the New Jerusalem is the Father’s House. Christ went to Cal vary to prepare a place there for us. The preparation was His death upon the cross. Otherwise we would never reach Heaven. Of course, there will be an earthly Jerusalem during the millennium.
Divinity of Christ Q. Is Christ still a man? I know He is truly God as well. But now that He is in Heaven, does He still retain His humanity? A . Yes, Christ is as truly man today as He was when He was upon earth, and as you stated, just as truly God. In Him deity and humanity were united then, never to be separated. It is written of Him in His High Priest ly work and character: “ There is one mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5). Of course, in His resurrection body, He is not sustained by blood, as is a corruptible body. Note carefully what He said to His disciples after His res urrection: “ Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. “ And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. “ And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? “ And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. “And he took it, and did eat before them.” (Luke 24:39-41). It was in this same resurrection body that He ascended, as we read in Acts 1:9: “And when he had spok en, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” The God-Man is on the throne in Heaven and still bears the identifying marks of Calvary, for that surely was the reason that He called attention to His hands and feet. Oth erwise He might have said, “Just look at my face. You know me.” Prophet ically, Zechariah referred to this long before the coming of Christ to this earth: “ And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends” (Zech. 13:6). The incarnation was a permanent, eternal transaction in the determina
tion of the Trinitarian Godhead. How close it brings us to Christ to realize that there is one “ flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone” awaiting us in the glory, unless perchance He comes for us during our lifetime! Degrees of Reward Q. HoW can there be degrees of re ward for saints in heaven? Would that not be a source of envy and strife? Of course, these things cannot be in heaven. A. The Bible teaches that there are degrees of reward in heaven. (See I Cor. 3:11-15.) The Bible also teach es that there will be no envy in hea ven. Nothing shall enter there that would defile. We do not have to har monize these things. However, even with our finite minds, we can readily see that just as some have a greater spiritual un derstanding — shall I say capacity for the things of God? «— just as some let Christ take their whole lives now on earth, even so will their capacity for the enjoyment of heaven be great er. The little child who loves the Lord is as happy as can be; but sure ly the older we grow and the more we have fellowship with Christ, the greater our love for Him. I like to think of our rewards in heaven as something that shall be “to the praise of his glory,” something that will mean even greater service for Christ throughout all eternity, rather than think of rewards as some thing for our own glory. I like to think of the crowns awaiting the Christian in this light — all to show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. To me, this settles all such questions as the one you ask. Again, our Lord’s words in Luke 12:48 should cause us to think ser iously of our responsibility in giving out the Gospel: “Unto whomsoever
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