“ Thus saith the Lord, About mid night I will go out into the midst of Egypt . . .” “ The Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt . . .” PASSOVER CUSTOM Q. What was the “ sop” used at the Passover, mentioned in John 13:26? A. The literal translation of this passage by Joseph Bryant Rother ham clears this up: “Jesus there fore answereth — That one it is for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it unto him. So dipping the morsel he taketh and giveth it unto Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. And after the morsel then entered Satan into that man. Jesus therefore saith unto him, What you are doing, do quick ly!” (vv. 26, 27). It was a mark of honor for the host to give a portion to one of the guests who then dipped it into the gravy or sauce. JUDAS THE TRAITOR Q. Why is everyone so hard on Judas, particularly at the Easter time? A. I do not believe anyone can be too hard on Judas Iscariot. His very name has come to stand for treachery of the vilest type. He had an honor granted only a few, of being day and night with the Lord Jesus Christ, for three and one-half years. He saw His miracles; He heard His words; He witnessed His sinless life. Yet he re jected the Saviour and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. John 12:6 tells us that he was a thief. Jesus Himself said that Judas was a “ devil” (John 6:70, 71) and “ the son of perdition” (John 17:12). He performed Satan’s will: “ the devil having now. put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him” (John 13:2). Judas was lost, for Acts 1 :25 states plainly that he “went to his own place.” Do not waste any sympathy on him. He had every opportuunity to love and
follow Christ but apparently his god was money. We should heed I Timothy 6:9.
THE FOUNDATION STONE Q. Will you please explain Matthew 16:16-19? I know the church was not founded on Peter, but cannot give a satisfactory explanation to others. A. This entire passage centers about the two Greek words used. It begins with a confession by Peter of the deity and Lordship of the Son of God. Peter says to Jesus: “ Thou art Christ,” etc. The Saviour responds with the expression, “ Thou art Pe tros.” This is the Greek equivalent of the Aramaic word Cephas which Jesus used in a previous interview with Peter, described in John 1 :42. Although used as proper nouns, these words do not lose the meaning of the common noun, which is a piece of rock, a fragment. Jesus, looking directly at Peter, calls him a piece of rock. He is not the rock. The wonderful part of this passage is that in verse 18 “ this rock” is an other word, the Greek word petra, a stone, a rock, not a piece, or a frag ment, but a foundation kind of stone. To say this referred to Peter would be ridiculous. It refers to the confession of Christ’s deity and Lordship which Peter had just made which certainly is the foundation of the church. DEATH ANGEL? Q. 1 hear people refer to the “ death angel” who slew the Egyptian in fants at the time of the passover but I do not find that reference in the Bible. Didn’t the Lord execute that sentence Himself? A. You are correct that the “death angel” is not referred to in the Scriptures. H ow ever, angels are mentioned in several places in con nection with the execution of the enemies of God. So it has been sup posed that an angel carried out His orders that night. But in both Exo dus 11:4-6 and 12:29-30 where the event is described, it is stated:
MENTAL DERANGEMENT Q. A friend of mine has become mentally deranged. He is now con fined in an institution. Before this, he gave every evidence of being a truly born-again Christian. How on earth could this happen to him? A. You may depend upon this dear man's Heavenly Father to take care of him, and finally to present him faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. This is what the blood of Christ does for us. We cannot explain the WHY, but we do know the WHO. Do not look upon this as a spiritual declension. Sometimes it is true that those who become lax in their spiritual lives do become mentally unbalanced. But it is as real an illness as is tuberculosis or cancer or smallpox and the victim should be considered ill. Sometimes even Christians are not cured. But God does not forsake the child He SLEEP OF THE SOUL? Q. 7 have been brought up to believe in soul sleep but lately 1 have been troubled about the passages that say “ absent from the body, present with the Lord" which certainly seem to teach that the soul does not sleep in the grave. Then how do you ex plain the expression in I Thessaloni- ans U:1S “ them which are asleep” ? A. Sleep in connection with death in the Word of God always refers to the body, not the spirit. When Jesus comes for His own, those whose bodies are laid in the grave will be resurrected bodily, but their spirits will be brought with Christ when He comes as explained in the passage you have quoted. Body and spirit will be reunited. has redeemed.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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