I D r. T a lb o t ’s
1 J^¡a Gìuestion. i B o x >1
“ the trump of God” will call the church home. Perhaps it will be just the word “ Come,” even as we read in Rev. 4:1 the message to John, “ Come up hither.” This call to John is pro phetic of the call of the church when the Lord translates His bride. Every thing from Rev. 4:1 on to the end of the book has to do with events which will take place after the rapture of the church, including the seven trumpet judgments. FEAR OR TRUST? Q. What do you understand the phrase, “ The fear of the Lord,” to mean? I do not like to think of being afraid of God. A . This is an Old Testament expres sion, meaning “ reverential trust.” You are right; we need not be, and we should not be, afraid of God, if we have trusted Christ’s atoning work on Calvary for our salvation. In His death and resurrection, our Lord Jesus took away even “ the fear of death” (Heb. 2:14, 15); and death is Satan’s most powerful weapon. Adam and Eve were afraid of God because they had sinned. But God clothed them with “ coats of skins,” having shed the blood of the animal sacrifice, in order to obtain a garment for His sinning creatures to wear as they stood in His holy presence. Even so, no man can stand before a holy God dressed in his own good works, or by his own righteous acts. He must be clothed in “ the righteousness of Christ.” But having received this covering for his sins, he is no longer afraid of God; he is not afraid of death or the grave. He knows that, in Christ, he is victor over death and the grave. Yea; he longs for the “ appearing” of his Saviour, longs to see Him and be with Him— forever. There is no fear of God to the born- again soul; rather, there is a con sciousness of love and trust and wor ship and praise.
days. During the last half-century the Orient has been compared to a waking giant being roused from a long slum ber. The time will come when East and West and North and South will meet on the plains of Megiddo, for the last great war. Palestine is the geo graphical and political center of the world, and has always been in the mind of God. The Bible says so, in Deut. 32:8: “When the Most High divided to the nations their inherit ance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the chil dren of Israel.” Increased lawlessness in the earth and apostasy in professing Christen dom are two other striking “ signs of the times.” Yet we must be careful not to set dates, for our Lord expressly told us not to do that. He did give us these “ signs” whereby we might know that His coming “ draweth nigh,” that we might be ready to meet Him. THE TRUMPET JUDGMENT Q. Please explain I Cor. 15:52. Does it not teach that the church will go through the tribulation, even to the last of the trumpet judgments de scribed in Rev. 8:11? A. I Cor. 15:52 has nothing to do with the trumpet judgments of Rev. 8:11. It describes the first resurrection and the translation of the church, which take place before the Antichrist is re vealed on earth. Note the words, addressed to Christians: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twink ling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (I Cor. 15:51,52). Compare this passage with I Thess. 4:13-18, which refers to the same event, and calls the “ trumpet” the “ trump of God.” The seven trumpet judgments of Revelation are sounded by angels;
WHAT ABOUT JEWS? Q. Does Rom. 11:26 teach that every Jew will be saved? “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion a Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” A . No, Paul was referring to the national restoration of Israel, when Christ returns in glory to establish His millennial kingdom. In that age, as in every age, every man who is regenerated, whether Jew or Gentile, must be bom again by a personal faith in the death of Christ as an atonement for his sin. Many Jews will become apostate and accept the claims of the Anti christ. These Daniel describes in Dan. 12:2 as those who “ shall awake . . . to shame and everlasting contempt.” ARMAGEDDON Q. Is it not a plain fact that the Euro pean countries are already lining up, seemingly in readiness for the Anti christ, the tribulation period, and the battle of Armageddon? A. We can see how easily a confeder acy of nations could be formed by the peoples occupying the territory of the old Roman Empire. Once many ridi culed the prophetic Word of God, say ing that such a thing was impossible, but what student of history today would be so bold? The return of the Jew to the land of Palestine is the most startling sign today, and this makes all other events very significant. The prophets foretold that Israel would return to her own land—not all of the nation, but part of the people; and that they would go back in unbelief. Another remarkable circumstance in world events is the situation in the East. The “ kings of the east,” literally, “ the kings that come from the sunris ing” (Rev. 16:12), will play a signi ficant part in world events in the last
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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