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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
Dr. Talbot's Question Box Questions for answer in this department should be sent to the E d i t o r i a l Department, THE KING’S BUSINESS, 558 So. Hope Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
that God is a just God. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25). His righteous wrath falls upon the ungodly, and particularly upon the ungodly who reject His grace and mercy. However, we need to re member that God has placed the cross of Christ between every sinning son of Adam and eternal punishment. “The Lord is . . . not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).,God created man with an undying per sonality, and if he does not choose to identify himself with Christ and His atonement, he is eternally lost (Rev. 20:15). QUE:: You said that the chil dren of the Canaanites were de stroyed, as well as their elders, because of the sins of the people. And yet you say that children who die before they reach the age of accountability are not lost. Please explain. The children destroyed along with the elders were physically destroyed. This , does mot mean that they were lost. The fact is that God, in mercy, destroyed the children of the Canaan ites because, under the influence of the wicked people with whom they lived, they would have been under condemnation as they grew to years of accountability. So God’s act was really an act of mercy in letting them die before they had grown up to be evil men and women. QUE.: Who were the Nicolai- tans (Rev. 2 :6 ) ? The word “Nicolaitan” comes from two Greek words which mean the rule pf the people. Who they are the Bible does not tell us specifically. But we believe that the reference applies to the tendency of certain church leaders to lord it over others and dictate to the children of God, virtually assum ing sovereignty that belongs to God alone. It is this spirit that God hates. QUE.;,Do vou think Isaiah 5 :30 and 3 5 :8 refer to the present coastal difnouts and the wide
spread gasoline and rubber ra tioning? The verses read as follows: “And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof” and “The highways lie waste, the 'wayfaring man ceaseth.” These two passages of Scripture have to .do with the days of the com ing of the Lord. It is perhaps going too far to make them apply to “coastal dimouts and present widespread gaso line and rubber rationing.” It looks a little that way, however, when we read, “Behold darkness and sorrow and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.” A little girl said to me on one of the' nights that Los Angeles was blacked out: “Why do people put the lights out?” The answer was: “Because the Gov ernment says they must. It’s a black out.” “Well, why don’t they turn off the moon?” she asked, “That is God’s light. No one can control it except God.” S To me, the picture in Isaiah has more to do with the solemn thought of what God alone will do in the period of coming judgment than it does with any man-made restrictions that are being experienced today, al though one is suggestive of the other. QUE.: We are taught that “ the Lamb” is Christ, but from Revela tion 2 1 :9 to the end of the chap ter, it seems to me that the pas sages speak of Israel, although still speaking of the Lamb’ s wife. I understand that the Gentiles who are saved during this age are the Bride of Christ. Will you please explain? One of the names of Christ is the Lamb of God. John the Baptist, refer ring to the Lord Jesus, said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The Lamb of God is the One who has provided atonement (1 Pet. 1:19). [ Continued on Page 39]
QUE.: Please e x p l a i n Luke 12:48. I Our Lord holds people accountable for knowledge. One who lives in a land of light, with the Word of God available to him, With faithful min isters and teachers about him, and who then refuses to hear the truth will suffer more stripes than will the one who never has known the things of God. The heathen will be lost be cause .they have not lived up to the light they had’ However, their judg ment will not be the same as that of those individuals who had definite knowledge concerning: salvation, and who spurned that knowledge. In Matthew 11:21-24 and 12:41,42, the Bible plainly speaks of judgment that is heavier uppn those who had the light and rejected it, than it is upon those who did not have the light, even though the latter were morally the more corrupt. QUE: Why does God punish men with eternal death? One might just as well ask „why God punishes men at all. We know
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