Someone wrote: “ It is better to be saved under any circumstances and at any cost than to be lost.”
gathered in the upper room one was missing. This was Peter who felt he no longer had a right to the fellow ship of the saints. Poor broken hearted man! I imagine the disci ples spoke of Peter’s failure. I can see Peter on the outskirts of Jeru salem. I can hear him say, ‘I will go to the disciples. Possibly they may have a word of encouragement for me.’ So he goes to the Upper Room. Suddenly Mary rushes in. She has come from the tomb. She shouts, ‘He is risen! He has sent word to the disciples to meet Him.’ The eleven disciples spring to their feet and rush out of doors. Just as Mary reaches the door, she sees Peter lingering. She says to him, ‘He said, Tell the disciples and Peter.’ The only one who had a special invita tion was the one who had put him self out of communion with his Lord. Peter was restored, filled with the Spirit, and became one of the great est preachers this world has ever heard. Such is the love and mercy of God. PLUCK ING OUT THE EYE? Q. Is Matthew 5:29 to be taken lit erally? Neither the eye nor the hand is responsible for wrongdoing but the heart and the mind are. Am I right? A. Yes, naturally this refers to that which is very intimate, very essen tial, very dear to a person. When bodily appetites and the spiritual na ture come into collision, let the body suffer, (be deprived) not the soul. As Matthew Henry well said: “ If the eye cause thee to offend by wan ton gazing upon forbidden objects; if thy hand cause thee to offend by wanton dalliances — if it were in deed impossible to govern them, if there is no other way to restrain them, it were better to be rid of them than to indulge them to the ruin of the soul. ‘Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh’ — this is as effectual as literally cutting off a right hand or pulling out an eye.”
TWO WITNESSES? Q. What did Jesus mean by the statement, “ I f I bear witness of my self, my untness is not true” ? Everything He said was true for He was the truth. A. Of course He spoke only the truth but legally, according the Mosaic law, the testimony of one witness was not valid. It was so stated in Deuteronomy 17:6; “ At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.” In this particular passage in John, 5th chapter, to which you referred, Jesus mentions John the Baptist as one of His witnesses (v. 33), but calls upon a “ greater witness than that of John . . . the works that I do, bear witness o f me, that the Father hath sent me” (v. 36). He goes farther and names His Father as a witness in verse 37: “ And the Father Himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of Me.” This went beyond the requirement of the law. MESSAGE TO PETER Q. Why was Peter singled out from all the other disciples by Christ af ter His resurrection? The angel sit ting in the tomb on that first Easter morning said to the frightened wom en: “ But go your way, tell his dis ciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him, as he said unto you ” (Mark 16:7). A. It should not be difficult to figure out why the Lord particularly men tioned Peter f o r a f t e r Peter’s shameful denial of Christ, he was a heartsick, repentant man. I like so much what Dr. J. Wilbur Chap man said of this occasion: “ The crucifixion scene is over. The rocks have ceased their throbbing, and after the dark, dark day; the disci ples have gathered together to com fort each other. In the company
SALVAT ION OF BEASTS? Q. In the Revised Standard Version Psalm 36:6 is translated: “man and beast thou savest, 0 Lord.” Is this to be taken literally, that there is sal vation for beasts as well as men? A. This translation typically is no improvement upon the Authorized or the American Standard Revision of 1901 both of which read: “Thou preservest man and beast.” It is the natural life of creation to which ref erence is made. In this sense God does care for the animals. We know that even the fall of a sparrow is noted by Him. What unregenerate man calls “ nature” is the providence of a personal, almighty God who preserves life as it pleases Him. We know from other passages in the Psalms that God provides meat for all in their season, and sometimes one beast is the meat of another! However, the animal creation can not be “ saved” in the sense that a man is saved. The beast has no life beyond this life and is incapable o f understanding and having fellowship with its Creator. Only man can know and walk with God through Christ. S IMON OF CYRENE Q. 7 have been told that the Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross for Jesus was a Negro. What does the Scripture say about this? A. It says nothing of Simon’s color at all. Cyrene was an important Greek colonial city in North Africa, beautifully situated on a tableland hundreds of feet above sea level. In the 3rd century B.C. many Jews went there to reside and it may have been that Simon was a Cyrenian Jew. But it makes no difference. If he were white or a colored man, he had bestowed upon him one of the greatest honors that ever came to anyone.
THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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