D i * . T a l T b o t ’s G i n e s t i o n . B o x
count slackness; but is longsuffer- ing to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentaece.” John 4:42 gives us this truth in the testimony of the Samaritans who came to Jesus as the result of His personal dealings with the woman at the well: “Now we believe, not be cause of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” John reiterates this in his first Epistle: “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” ; “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 2:2; 4:14). See also Rom. 10:12-1; A cts 10:43; John 6:73. All of these verses and dozens of others rule out any such man made doctrine as that of a “ limited atonement,” which could cut the heart of all evangelism and mission ary effort. God has no favorites; WHOSOEVER will may come and almost the last message in the Bible is “ And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). The words election and predestina tion in the Word of God refer to the saved, not the lost. As Christians, we are predestined to “ good works that we should walk in them” ; (Eph. 2 :10 ); “ to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8 :29 ); “ to be to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:12). There is a pre-ordination for Christians and that is to service and holiness which many who are con cerned about this matter of election of the lost entirely overlook. Being born again, we should be eager to know why God has saved us besides just to take us to Heaven. The election of God is according to foreknowledge. Of course, being God, He knows everything, the end from the beginning. But He does not make the things happen, as the fatal ists believe. His foreknowledge en ables Him to write history in ad
vance, which is prophecy; but that does not mean that the terrible sins and idolatry predicted by Him were instigated by Him. The Lord does not want us to have our minds “ cor rupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). We can with confidence proclaim the Gospel of I Corinthians 15:3-4 that Christ died for our sins and the sins of the whole world, that He was buried and that He rose the third day; and that He can and will save all those who come to God through Him. RAPTURE & TRIBULATION Q. For years I have believed that Christians would not go through the tribulation but the other day I heard a preacher say that all, even saved people, will undergo it. It does not sound right to me. 1 would like your opinion. I am 79 years of age. This man said tribulations come to every one. A. Well, my brother, don’t let any one take this blessed hope away from you because it is in the Word of God. I am sure you are familiar with the description of the Rapture in I Thess. 4:13-18 which will precede the tribulation. There is a great dif ference between tribulations and the great Tribulation, when God’s wrath will be poured out upon a Christ-re- jecting world. I Thess. 5:9 distinct ly tells us that “God hath not ap pointed us to wrath.” WHAT KIND OF BAPTISM Q. Does Matthew 28:19 refer to the baptism with the H oly Spirit, or to water baptism? “ Go y e therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the H oly Ghost.” A. This verse refers to water baptism. Men do not baptize with the Holy Spirit; only God can do this, and He does it when the sinner is bom again, by faith in the finished work of Christ on Calvary’s Cross.
EVIL OR TROUBLE? Q. Please explain Isaiah 45:7: “I make peace, and I create evil." Is God the author of evil? A. Certainly not. James 1:13 dis tinctly states: “ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” This word evil has no refer ence whatsoever to moral evil, or sin. Rotherham correctly translates the Hebrew word rah as misfortune; other meanings as given in Strong’s Concordance Hebrew dictionary are adversity, affliction, calamity, etc. Jeremiah used the same word to warn wayward Israel of the conse quences of their sins, as in Jer. 42:10, “ I repent of the evil I have done unto you.” Rotherham trans lates this calamity. We must compare Scripture with Scripture to under stand its meaning, and not build a doctrine on passages which may not even mean what they seem to mean in our current English. How we need to know the full content of the Word of God! ELECTION AGAIN Q. I have been brought up to believe that God chose some for salvation before the foundation of the world; and that, whether they want to or not, they have to be saved; or if God did not choose them, no matter how much they try to trust Christ, they cannot be saved, because God did not choose them. Is this really taught in the Bible? It depresses me terribly. A. It is not. There is no such teach ing between the covers of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I Tim. 2 :3-6 states plainly that .. God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowl edge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” In II Peter 3:9 we read: “ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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