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THE K I NG ’ S BUSINESS
DR. TALBOT'S QUESTION BOX
The beloved President of the tos Angeles a n s we r s
Bible Institute of your Bible Questions.
a disease of the mind; and God will surely, in His wisdom and justice, hot hold a person responsible who is men tally sick to the extent that he has lost his reason. Gn the other hand, many who do not know Christ do de liberately plan suicide. Of course, they will be held responsible for rejecting Christ as their Saviour, as well as for taking_their own lives. Therefore, if a born-again soul loses his reason and takes his life, then he goes to Heaven; he belongs to Christ. If, however, a man rejects Christ, he is a lost soul, whether he plans deliberately to commit suicide, or whether, in a moment of insanity, he takes his life. Always one’s eternal salvation or his eternal condemnation is determined by his answer to the question: What will you do with Jesus, who is called Christ? ^ QUE .: How would you har monize the doctrine of Christ’ s deity with John 5 :1 9 ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son o f God; equal with the Father. However, I find it difficult to understand this verse: “ The Son can do noth ing o f himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things so ever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” The words which you quote express one of the strongest affirmations of the deity of Christ in the Bible. Christ is here affirming that He, the Son, is in full union, in complete identifi cation, with the Father; that He does nothing without the Father; but all He sees the Father do He does also. These words of the Lord Jesus do not mean limitation, but attest the complete, perfect unity which is be tween the Father and the Son. .In His relation to the Father, the Son can do nothing independently or sepa rately from the Father. If the Son acted independently of the Father, then He would be another God, which is an impossibility. When the Lord said, “The - Son. can do, nothing of himself,” He was stating that He would not act. differently from the Father. ^ QUE.: I re cen tly heard a Bible' teacher state that the anti christ will be the re-incarnation of
Judas Iscariot. He supported his argument by linking John 1 7 :12 , where Judas is called “ the son of perdition,” w i t h 2 Thess. 2 :3 , where the antichrist is described in the same words. Please explain. I do not think these two verses necessarily refer to the same person. It is speculation to say that Judas will be the antichrist, ^ QUE .: My pastor says that God has fulfilled His promises to the Jew, and that, when He speaks o f Israel in the New Testament, He means “ spiritual Israel,” or all who love Him. What is the correct view in this matter? One of the best answers to this question is the Jew himself. If any other people had been persecuted, martyred, hated, as has Israel, that people would have been annihilated or assimilated among other nations of the world ages ago. But what do we see before our very eyes today? Russian Jews, Spanish Jews, German Jews, Austrian Jews, English Jews, American Jews,—everywhere, in every nation, the sons of Israel are a sep arate people. And God alone is re sponsible for keeping His chosen peo ple a separate nation. Why? Because He promised to do it. He promised to give Israel a King, even Jesus; and His Word cannot be broken. The Jew has rightly, been called “ the mir acle of the ages.” Why people can be so blind as not to see it, is but one Of the tokens of Satan’s power over unregenerate men, as well as those who do not accept the Scriptures for what they say. In the eleventh chapter of Romans it is stated that God will again deal with Israel as a nation. Now I realize that many devout Christians, postmillennialists, do spir itualize these promises of God, made' to Abraham and his children. But let me .say, in all kindness, that I think they are missing some of the most precious and comfortihg truths in all the Bible when they try to explain away the “ promise of his coming" to bring order out of chaos, and to fulfill His covenant with Israel. We must learn to divide rightly the Word ■ of truth, (See 2 Tim. 2:15.)„
^ QUE.s How may I know the will o f God for my life? Whole volumes have been written on this vital subject. Let me outline a few brief ways which are considered fundamental by Bible-loving Chris tians in determining the will of God: 1. By the prayerful, consistent study of His Word. 2. By definite, earnest prayer. 3. By doing well the thing at hand to do, trusting God to open doors, or to close doors according to His will. 4. By taking into consideration the responsibilities and duties God has placed in your path. These may hinder your going to the foreign field, for instance, or the lack of these may indicate a call to go. 5. By heeding an urgent desire to respond to God’s call1to some fiéld in foreign lands or in the home land. This may be the result of listening to. another tell of the need for the Gospel message. 6. By asking the prayers and coun sel of a. godly saint, who may be able to advise, and who certainly can pray. 7. By being willing—yes, glad—to follow the Lord, wherever He may lead. t There are many precious promises of definite leading for the child of God who seeks His will. We can quote only one and give a few references here: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye” (Psa. 32:8). See also Ex. 33:14; Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:9; Psa. 37:3-5; Prov. 3:5, 6; Isa. 30:21; 41:10; Matt. 18:19; Rom. 8:28. QUE. : Can a Christian com mit suicide? A Christian might be mentally un balanced and take his life when he is not in his right mind; but I can not believe that a Christian could deliberately, in his right senses, com mit suicide, Mental derangement is
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