G i m e s t i o n
GOG A N D M A G O G Q. What is meant by the words, “Gog and Magog,” in Rev. 20:8? A . Ezek. 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; ‘Ma gog’ his land. The reference to Meshech and Tubal (Moscow and Tobolsk) is a clear mark of identifi cation” (quoted from the footnote on Ezek. 38:2, the Scofield Reference Bi ble). These people of Russia evidently will be the leaders of the last rebellion against God, as the passage in Revela tion plainly asserts. Th e Rapture and Those Th a t A re Left Q. Do you believe that those who re main on earth after Jesus takes away the church in the rapture, w ill know that their Christian loved ones are gone, just as we know when our loved ones die and are thus taken from us? A . Why, certainly they will know if they are sane, responsible people. The world will not be unaware that some thing has happened when Christ takes away such a multitude of believers. I believe the rapture will be secret after the fashion of Enoch’s depart ure as recorded in Hebrews 11:5: “ For by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” But the godless world which will be left to own the sway of the anti christ will have an explanation that to them will seem plausible, I have no doubt. Unbelief in the superna tural increases daily. Men’s eyes are blinded by it. Remember what Jesus said to the rich man in Hades: “ If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31)? Christ did rise from the dead and the unbelieving world rejects that
fact. When the church is raptured, doubtless that fact too will be rejected. No wonder Christ said those solemn words: “ I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if an other shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43). I believe He spoke prophetically pf the anti-christ, the man of sin, who will take over when the church is rap tured. We can hardly imagine what it will be like then. Healing and The Atonement Q. W ill you please explain 1 Peter 2:24. Does this mean bodily healing? And do the stripes refer to Christ’s scourging before Calvary? A . The answer is “ No” in both cases. I will explain. You refer to I Peter 2:24, which reads as follows: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.” This is quoted from Isaiah 53:5: “ But he was wounded for our transgres sions, he was bruised for our iniqui ties; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Here no other inter pretation could be made than that this has to do with atonement for sin, for the salvation of the soul. This is borne out by the 25th verse in Peter 2 which follows: “ For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bish op of your souls.” I think the “ stripes” here do not refer to the beating of Christ with the thongs into which pieces of lead and sharp bone were inserted and which were used as a weapon by the Romans. It was not by such suffer ings that we were saved, but by His actual death on the cross. He made the atonement during the three hours in which he hung on the cross, and when He cried out, “ It is finished!” He referred to His redemptive work. The Lamb of God had been slain for the sins of the world. I think the stripes by which our souls are healed of sin mean the whole stroke of divine
judgment which fell upon Christ, our substitute, and our Saviour; this stroke we deserved but He took it for us, and died in our room and stead. T H E ROSARY Q. 7 cannot find the word rosary in the Bible. Is it Greek or Hebrew? Is it Scriptural? A . The word is not in the Bible. It is derived from the Latin rosarium, meaning “ a garland of roses.” It is used in the Roman Catholic Church as a form of devotion to the virgin Mary, which includes fifteen decades of Ave Marias, each beginning with a Pater Noster (Our Father) and clos ing with a Gloria Patri. This was done away by the reformation when the evangelical church returned to the Word of God as the sole authority, and ceased to depend upon the “ tra ditions of men.” The Protestant Church holds Mary to be a godly woman whom God honored to be the earthly mother of His Son but that she herself needed salvation like any other human being. This she ack now ledged in Luke 1:47 — “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Mary had no more to do with the plan of salvation than any other woman. That was God’s work through His Son, and worship and adoration of Mary — Mariolatry — is not only repugnant to God, but would be to Mary herself, if she were alive. She would say as did the angel to the apostle John who fell at his feet after receiving God’s revelation from him: “ See thou do it NOT; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: xvorship God.” It is very significant that the last reference to Mary is in Acts 1:14, where she is listed with the apostles and Jesus’ brothers, as one of those awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit. She held no place of prominence. Even her name is giv en last. “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the moth er of Jesus, and with his brethren.”
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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