not bear fruit, says, in substance, “ Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well [or, to paraphrase, ‘so far so good’] : the devils [demons] also believe [that God is one], and tremble.” And why do they tremble? Because they know that their doom is sealed, and that they will one day be cast into the lake o f fire with the devil and all his wicked angels. Theirs is a head knowledge, but not a heart knowledge. The same might be said o f any hu man being who knows that there is one God, yet refuses the atoning work o f Christ on the cross. He trembles at the thought of judgment — unless Satan has so blinded him that he has deceived him into a false sense o f security. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the demons recognized Him as “ the Holy One of God.” On one occasion “ they cried out saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son o f God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Matt. 8 :29 ). Here they express a knowledge o f certain doom. When the Lord Jesus “ suffered them not to speak” o f Him as the Son of God, it seems as though He would not receive this testimony from de mons. How have “ all families of the earth been blessed” in the descendants o f Abraham? Christ was a Jew “ according to the flesh” ; and unto the Jews were “ com mitted the oracles o f God” (Rom. 3 :2 ). So that Christ and the Bible • came through the nation o f Israel to bless the whole world. During the reign o f Christ on earth this promise o f God to Abraham will be fulfilled completely. Then the Gentile nations will seek the God o f Israel; and through His chosen people blessing will flow to all families o f the earth. Why are some of the words in our English Bible put in italics? All words in italics in our English Bible have been added by the trans lators to make the meaning clear. Sometimes it is difficult to express in the English language the meaning o f the Hebrew and the Greek. Some Hebrew words, for example, are so freighted with meaning that the translators found it necessary to sup ply words, in order to bring out the richness o f the original text. There fore, all words in italics in our Eng lish Bible are not found in the orig inal Hebrew and Greek. Often they do clarify the subject matter; but we need to be careful at times, lest they obscure the meaning. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Dr. L. T. Talbot
Is it not a plain fact that the Euro pean countries are already lining up, seemingly in readiness fo r the Anti christ, the tribulation period, and the battle o f Armageddon? We can see how easily a confed eracy o f nations could be formed by the peoples occupying the territory of the old Roman Empire. Once many ridiculed the prophetic Word o f God, saying that such a thing was impos sible; but what student o f history to day would be so bold? The return o f the Jew to the land o f Palestine is the most startling sign today, and this makes all other events very significant. The prophets fore told that Israel would return to her own land— not all o f the nation, but part o f the people; and that they would go back in unbelief. Another remarkable circumstance in world events is the situation in the East. The “ kings o f the east,” literal ly, “ the kings that come from the sunrising” (Rev. 16:12), will play a significant part in world events in the last days. During the last half-century the Orient has been compared to a waking giant, being roused from a long slumber. The time will come when East and West and North and South will meet on the plains o f Me- giddo, for the last great war. Pales tine is the geographical and political center o f the world, and has always been in the mind o f God. The Bible says so, in Deuteronomy 32 :8 : “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons o f Adam, he set the bounds o f the people according to the num ber of the children 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 ex pressly told us not to do that. He did give us these “ signs” whereby we might know that His coming draweth Page Six
nigh, that we might be ready for His coming. Does the Bible tell us how Peter died? In John 21:18, 19 the risen Lord said to Peter: “ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands [this suggests cruci fixion], and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God.” This is all the Bible tells us of how Peter died. Tradition says that he was crucified with his head down, for he felt unworthy to be crucified as was his Lord. But that is only tradition. It may or may not have been so. My pastor said that the chapter and verse divisions of the Bible were added by men, long after the Bible was written. Is this so? Yes. The first Bible to have chapter divisions was that translated by John Wyeliffe in 1382 A.D. The first to have verse divisions was the Geneva Bible, a translation made by the Puritan Party. These divisions have been used of God for our convenience in locating passages. Often they are logical and true to the real divisions of the sub ject matter. But sometimes it seems that a better division might have been made ; as, for ekample, the twelfth chapter o f Hebrews is but a continuation of the eleventh chapter. However, we are grateful to those godly men who rendered us this defi nite service. Please explain James 2:19, “ The devils also beUeve, and tremble.” If you read the context, you will see that James, in writing to the man whose empty profession o f faith does
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