HOW MANY TIMES TO FORGIVE
God manifested would be death to our human nature; and our Lord laid aside His glory—not His deity —when He was born in Bethlehem, later to take it again when He went back to the Father. (See John 17:5.) Yes we find recorded in Ex. 33:21, 22: “ And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, when my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.” There is no place to see the glory of the Lord like the cleft of the rock. If you want to see the glory of the Lord, hide yourself at Calvary. There you can sing the song of redemption: The expression “back parts” may be translated “His receding glory,” or “ the departing of the Lord.” God passed by and took His hand away, so that Moses saw the receding effect of the glory of God that had passed by him. That is all he saw. No man with eyes such as we have can look upon the face of God and live. But let us think further of the words, “ the cleft of the rock.” They take us back in thought to the smit ten rock in the wilderness journey of Israel. The people were thirsty, and murmured against Moses and against God. Then Jehovah told Moses to smite the rock on Mount Horeb. This he did, and the water gushed forth to quench the thirst of the multitude. Paul, writing many centuries later, said that Israel “ drank of that spir itual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (I Cor. 10:4). He was “ smitten of God and afflicted” for a sin-sick world— that all who drink of the life-giving stream which flows from Calvary might see “ the light of the knowledge of the glory “ Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.”
of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4:6). This is the lesson of the coming Redeemer that God was teach ing Israel in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus is, in very truth, eternal God. When He was on earth, certain disciples saw glimpses of His glory, as on the mount of transfig uration and after His resurrection; but during most of His earthly min istry He was the self-humbled One. When we get to heaven, we shall see the glory of the Triune God, there forever to be like Him, for “we shall see him as he is,” the One “ altogether lovely.” And in Christ Jesus, our Lord, “ dwelleth all the fulness of the God head bodily” (Col. 2:9). DEITY OF CHRIST Q. I was astonished to note in verses 8 and 10 in Hebrews 1 that apparent ly the Father called Christ, “God” and “Lord.” If I am right about this it certainly is a wonderful proof of the D eity of Christ. A. Most assuredly it is so. Verse 8 reads: “But unto the Son he [God, referring back to verse 1] saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the scep tre of thy kingdom;” and verse 10; And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.” Colossians 1:14-20 further corroborates that Christ was Creator along with God the Father: “ For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth . . .” (v. 16). Note also I Ti mothy 3:16 (easy to remember be cause of John 3:16): “ God was mani fest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” By no stretch of the imagination could this refer to the Father. Yet Christ is here called “ God.” He is co-equal and co-eter nal with the Father. THE KING'S BUSINESS
Q. It is very hard for me to forgive a person who has wronged me. This person has asked my forgiveness but I just say, “ You don’t mean it any way.” Someone said there was a verse telling just how many times I should forgive. Where is it? How many times? A. I suppose you mean Matthew 18:22. Peter was the one who asked Jesus, “ Lord, how oft shall my broth er sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” “ Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times sev en.” That is 490 times — quite a number! But God has forgiven us much more than that. Note those solemn words in Matthew 6:14-15 be fore you make Up your mind you cannot forgive personal injuries against you. CAN THE LORD BE SEEN? Q. How are we to harmonize Ex. 24:10 with John 1:18? A. Ex. 24:9, 10, reads, in part: “Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they saw the God of Is rael;” while John 1:18 tells us: “ No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared (or revealed) him.” A careful reading of the thirty- third chapter of Exodus will throw a great deal of light on your question. Here Moses was asking God to re veal Himself — to show Himself; and God said, in verse 20, “ Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live.” That is the point you have in John 1:18. No man hath seen the face of God, ex cept as it was revealed in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ when He be came Man. The human face could not stand it. To have the glory of is
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