Dr. Louis T. Talbot
Moses as an Intercessor Please explain Exodus 32:32, 33. Is Moses willing to lose his own soul if God will forgive the sins of the people? Yes, you have the right opinion. Moses appears as the intercessor for his sinning people. So earnest was he in his pleading for them that he was willing to be lost himself if only his people might be saved. His cry —blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written, is echoed in the same spirit by Paul in Romans 9:3, by the martyred Ste phen in Acts 7:60 and by Jesus in Luke 23:34. What Are Gog and Magog? What is meant by the words “Gog” and “Magog” in Revelation 20:8? Ezekiel 38:2 answers your question: “ Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal”— these words plainly refer to “ the northern (European) powers, headed up by Russia . . . Gog is the prince, Magog, his land. The reference to Meshech and Tubal (Moscow and Tobolsk) is a clear mark of identification.” This quote is from the footnote on Ezekiel 38:2, in the Scofield Bible. Thus we see the people of Russia evidently will be the leaders of the last rebel lion against God, as the passage in Revelation 20:8 plainly asserts. Soul and Spirit What is the difference between soul and spirit? Turn to Genesis 2:7, and read with me: “ The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground [that was his body] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [his spirit]; and man became a living soul.” Man has a body. In this he is like all of God’s creation throughout the animal and vegetable world. The brutes have liv ing bodies, and so do the trees and plants. Man has a soul. In this he is un like the trees and plants, but he is like the lower animals. The soul is the seat of the emotions, the pas sions, the feelings, the desires, the likes, the affections and the will. All these things we have in common with the beasts.
Bodily Resurrection of Christ In His resurrection did the Lord lesus come forth bodily from the dead? ' Yes, otherwise there was no resur rection at all. Our Lord predicted His bodily resurrection in John 2:18-22. Look at His words as recorded and consider them. They are either true or false. If they are false, then He either knowingly or ignorantly told a falsehood. In either case He could be no one’s Saviour. Please make no mistake in supposing the doctrine of the resurrection to be unimportant. It is a vital part of our faith, and without it there is no faith worth mentioning. See how Paul deals with it as a basic doctrine in First Corin thians, chapter 15. Builders of Solomon's Temple Why did it take Solomon such a long time and so many men to build two comparatively small houses as the temple and his own place? In these days of modem machin ery and high-priced labor it is diffi cult for us to appreciate the circum stances under which Solomon labored in the erection of these edifices. There was no lack of labor and he had many slaves. It was a gigantic en deavor to hew down so many cedar and fir trees in the Lebanon moun tains, bring them down to the sea and convey them in floats to Joppa and then up to Jerusalem. (Read 1 Ki. chapter 5, and 2 Chron. chap ters 3 and 4.) Let us remember that “the house when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.” This was an engineering feat worthy of consid eration even in this present day of super construction skill. Great care would necessarily be required to even transport these prepared building- stones to the seat of actual construc tion. We of today are in such a rush that we can scarcely stop even to conceive the precautions necessary for the successful completion of these edifices, the ruins of which today testify to the culture and the skill of the workmen of other days.
Separation Does “ Come out from among them, and be y e separate” apply to this age? This exhortation in Second Corin thians 6:17 certainly does apply to this age, but its application is some times very difficult. God will guide His child, however, in every case if His child is willing to do His will when it is revealed to him. Was Jonah Alive? What is the Scriptural interpreta tion o f Jonah 2:1-6? I have always believed that Jonah was preserved alive throughout this experience. What about the “corruption” in verse 6 ? The very best Bible teachers dif fer on this point, some believing as you do that Jonah was kept alive all during his entombment in the sea monster. Others feel that he died and the Lord returned him to life when he was cast upon the land. In either case, God performed a miracle. Jonah’s testimony in this second chap ter does sound as if he had died, especially if you read it in the Ameri can Standard Version. There verse 2 includes this expression: “ Out of the belly of Sheol cried I,” and Sheol is the Hebrew word describing the place of departed spirits, both saved and unsaved, before the resurrection of Christ. Also verse 6 may refer to death: “ Yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God.” That would make the sign of Jonah more nearly parallel with the experi ence of Christ in His death and resur rection as described in Matthew 12:- 40 A.S.V.: “ . . . There shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale [Gk. sea monster]; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” As Christ was separated in spirit and body for that period of time, it may well be that Jonah was too.
Readers are invited to subm it questions which will be answered in future issues. Address questions to Dr. Talbot's Question Box, 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles 17, Calif.— ED.
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T H E K IN G 'S BU SINESS
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