with the seraphim. There are differ ent ranks and orders in the angelic hosts; the cherubim and seraphim are but two of these. The cherubim ap pear to have to do with the holiness of God as outraged by sin. The sera phim have to do with the unclean ness in the people of God. (Read Isaiah 6.) What Will Become of Israel? What w ill become of the Jewish nation after the millennium? Where w ill they dwell? They will be in the new earth. Read carefully Isa. 66:22— “ For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain be fore me, saith the Lord, so shall all your seed and your name remain.” National distinction among saved Gentile nations will pass, but Israel will remain the memorial nation. Should We Look for Elijah? Should we look for Elijah the prophet before the coming of the Lord for the Church? (M ai. 4:5.) This passage does not say that Eli jah will come before the Lord comes, but it states before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord — which is a totally different statement. The promise of God by Malachi will be fulfilled, but Christ must Himself come for His Church before the “ great and dreadful day of the Lord.” That is a distinct epoch in Scripture, the nature and event - of which will be clear if we bring together all the passages where the phrase occurs. The order of events is clearly given in 2 Thessalonians 2:1- 8:—the apostasy of the church; the taking away of the One who hinder- eth (the Holy Spirit); the revelation of the son of perdition, and the de struction of the son of perdition by the brightness of the Lord’s coming. Elijah’s ministry comes between the taking away of the Church and the revelation of the man of sin. His ministry is to Israel exclusively ac cording to Malachi 4:6. Readers are invited to submit questions which will be answered in future issues. Address questions to Dr. Talbot's Question Box, 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles 17, California.— ED.
Church history reveal that believers were baptized according to the for mula of Matthew 28:19. The question still remains as to why the passages in Acts read differ ently. This book (Acts) was transi tional in character. The main point of difference, and of controversy be tween believing Jews and unbeliev ing Jews was the Person and work of Christ. For that very reason when believers came for baptism they were baptized in the name of the one whose Lordship was in question, but which they had definitely accepted. Heathen Far An Inheritance Please explain Psalm 2:8. “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” The heathen here means the nations, and we know that some day Christ will rule as King over the earth when He comes again in person. Not Under the Law Is there any qualification of Paul’s statement in Romans 6:14 that the believer is not under the law? The answer is that the Apostle im mediately adds a tremendously im portant qualification—-“for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” God’s grace secures the doing of the will of God in and by the believer through the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:2-4). “ Not under the law, but under grace” is the gospel liber ty, and insures loving obedience— something the law never, did, nor ever can do. The remedy for lawless ness is not preaching the law, but preaching grace. The whole differ ence between law and grace is under stood only when we come really to comprehend the new ground upon which grace lifts us, and realize that life in this new realm is the spon taneous outcome of a new nature im parted through the new birth, the dominant characteristic of which is love. Cherubini and Seraphim What is the difference between the cherubim and the seraphim? The cherubim are not identical
Innocent Adults Would you say that Adam and Eve were the only adults that were inno cent? Yes. We sometimes say that babies are innocent, but this is not true. Babies are undeveloped. Adam and Eve were innocent; that is, they had a will, but before the temptation, they had no opportunity to exercise it either one way or the other. God permitted the temptation in order that they might exercise their will God-ward, and thus become right eous. Had they done this they would have been permitted to eat of the tree of life and thus live forever be yond the possibility of sin. However they failed in the test by exercising their will in the direction of un righteousness, thus becoming sinners. (Sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:9.) But God is the God of grace, as well as righteousness. This sinful, fallen state of man gave Him the opportunity of showing His grace through His matchless plan of redemption. The Universal God Was God spoken of as the universal God anywhere in the Bible? No. God is never referred to as the universal God in either the Old or New Testaments. God is only Father to those who accept Jesus Christ as personal Saviour. The Old Testament believers looked forward to the cross of Christ by faith; the present day believers look backward to the cross by faith. All are saved on the same ground—by faith in Jesus Christ as the only Saviour. (Read John 10:- 1-14.) Baptism What is your understanding of the baptism spoken of in Matthew 28:19? The plain command here is that believers are to be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You are correct in your assumption that all the references in the book of Acts indicate baptism into the name of Jesus. By this we are not to infer that Jesus is the name of all three members of the Trinity. It is the human name of the S e cond Pe rson only. Studies in
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