chapter twelve the antagonism of the Pharisees, stirred to its height by

his Sabbath healing, came to a terrible climax: they went out and took counsel against him _how they might destroy him_. (12:14.) This was a great turning point.” As they find no Scripture which says what they claim, they depend on assumptions and deductions, and their deductions do not agree.

A PROPOSITION: The gospel plan of salvation is the scheme of redemption foretold in promise and prophecy.

SOME QUESTIONS CONSIDERED

A brother has presented to me a few questions for my consideration. The questions are about matters that are being much agitated these days. The first question indicates that somebody thinks the Lord refused some people the privilege of believing, lest he might get more followers on his hands than he needed for future rulers! But to the questions:

1. “Was there ever a time when God refused any one the privilege to believe in Christ, as indicated in John 12:39, 40? If so, has he revealed the purpose thereof?”

The passage mentioned says: “For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart; lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and should turn, and I should heal them.” The quotation is from Isa. 6:10. In Isaiah’s day the people of Judah had become very corrupt, and were growing worse. To these people Jehovah said: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward.” (Isa 1:4.) They had reached the point where they were utterly unfit to manage their own affairs of government. The great majority were beyond the hope of reformation. They would not even consider Jehovah, and were more senseless as to their own good than the ox or the ass. “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” (Verse 3.) When people reach that stage, there is nothing to do but to hasten them on to their doom. Hence, Jehovah said to Isaiah when he sent him to prophesy to the people of Judah: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.” (Isa. 6:10.) Isaiah could do this only by his teachings and warnings. They were so determined in their rebellion that the more Isaiah warned them, the harder their hearts became. Their sinfulness resulted in the Babylonian captivity. The Jews had again become so sinful that a worse calamity was soon to come upon them. The leaders rejected the preaching of John and dogged the steps of Jesus every move he made. They were so rebellious that the miracles and teaching of Jesus hardened their hearts instead of converting them. There was no direct operation on their hearts to keep them from believing. The things that made believers of some hardened the hearts of others. The Lord never did keep any honest heart from believing. The prophecy quoted in John 12:39, 40 is quoted by the Savior in Matt. 13:14, 15 in such a way as to show that the people were responsible for their hardness of heart. When people will not believe the truth, God sends them strong delusions that they may believe a lie and be damned. (See 2 Thess. 2:8-12.) The reason there are so many fool notions believed now is because people will not believe the truth. God will have all men to be saved, but they will not.

2. “Did the crucifixion of Christ depend upon the Jews’ rejection of him?”

Jesus came at a time when everything was ready for the working out of God’s plans. “But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.” (Gal. 4:4). God was not experimenting to see if his plans would work out. He knew what would be done, and was not bothering his mind as to what he would have to do about it, if the Jews did not reject and crucify Jesus, for he knew what they would do. Then why should I worry my mind about it? I cannot entertain an idea that implies that God did not know enough to know when to send his Son, or that he did not know what would happen when he did send him. Why people raise such questions is a puzzle, for no one can do anything about it, no matter what might or might not have happened.

3. “Did God anticipate their acceptance universally?”

Suppose he did or did not, what can we do about it? People raise questions that, in various ways, reflect on God. Being the all-wise God, he knew that the Jews would not all accept Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus himself said that only a few would find the narrow way. Paul showed that the prophets taught that only a remnant of Israel would be saved. (See Rom. 10:16-21; 11:1-10.) But what gives rise to such questions? It grows out of the new speculation that Jesus came to establish an earthly kingdom, or rather to restore the kingdom of Israel, but failed in his purpose because the Jews rejected him. God knew the Jews would crucify Jesus. (See Acts 2:23; 4:27, 28; 13:27.)

4. “If they had, would he have set up an earthly kingdom?”

There is not the least indication that God did not accomplish what he intended to accomplish by sending his Son into the world, nor that the kingdom he set up was not what he intended to set up. On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that he inaugurated the very system he had in mind, and which he had foretold through the prophets. To say that his plans did not work out as he intended is equal to saying that the things he foretold through the prophets turned out to be false. If it be replied that the prophets said nothing about what some call “the church age,” it only shows that some people have read the Scriptures with little profit. The evidence is abundant that the apostles and other inspired preachers and writers taught that Christianity, or the gospel plan of salvation, is exactly what the prophets foretold. On Pentecost, Peter referred to certain prophecies as fulfilled on that day. Again: “Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days.” (Acts 3:24.) In preaching the gospel of Christ, Paul said nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come. (Acts 26:22.) Paul also affirms that the gospel which he preached God had “promised afore through his holy prophets in the holy scriptures.” (Rom. 1:2.) But why offer more proof? The apostles knew what they were talking about, or rather the Holy Spirit, who spoke through them, knew. Yet the future-kingdom advocates generally contend that the Old Testament prophecies center in an earthly kingdom, and say nothing about Christianity as revealed through the apostles. One writer said: “But the Old Testament knows nothing whatever of Christianity.” Ponder this question: If God did not set up the kingdom which they say the prophets foretold, but instead gave them something the prophets said nothing about, is it any wonder that the Jews rejected it? The wonder would be that any of them accepted it.

Pointed Paragraphs:

Notice the prayer of Asa; notice other prayers in the Bible. With the exception of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple and the prayer of Jesus on the night of his betrayal, all are very short. Notice the manner in which they addressed Jehovah. No endearing terms are used, but terms expressive of reverence for the power and majesty of God. Such expressions as “our dear heavenly Father” are not found in the Bible. Such expressions should have no place in our prayers today. Christians need to know how to pray, and a study of the prayers of the Bible will help us to pray as we ought.

“Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 18:19.) Here it is supposed that they agree on what to ask for before they pray. Would it not be a good thing for a group of worshippers to know what they are going to pray for, rather than for someone to lead out in a long, rambling prayer that is supposed to be appropriate to all occasions, and is, therefore, never appropriate to any occasion? Delivering an oration to the Lord, under pretense of praying, is not praying at all.

THE OLIVE TREE FIGURE OF ROM. 11

I wish you would give an explanation of Rom. 11. The part that I am the most interested in is the figure of the olive tree. Is there anything in this chapter, or in any other, that teaches that the Jews as a nation will ever accept Christ?—Oklahoma.

We cannot at present give space to a discussion of the entire chapter. The verses containing the olive-tree illustration read as follows:

But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree; glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that barest the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee. Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God’s goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou shalt be cut off. And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? (Rom. 11:17-24.)

Care should be used in dealing with another man’s illustrations and figures of speech. The language quoted is an illustration of God’s dealings with Jews and Gentiles. Because of unbelief the Jews had been severed from God’s favor; by faith the Gentiles had been brought into union with God. Neither Jew nor Gentile has any special favors from God; the standing of each depends on their faith. That is the point Paul is making, and to make his illustration do service beyond the point illustrated is to do violence to his language.

But what is the olive tree? It is God’s favor. Read the connection. The Hebrews had been in God’s favor all along till they were broken off because of unbelief. Their fall, mentioned in verse 12, is the same thing as this cutting off. But now, to both Jews and Gentiles alike, God’s favor is manifested in Christ, and may be obtained by faith in him.

No people as a nation will or can accept Christ. Any people as a nation must act as an organized government; those in authority determine what shall be done. But no constituted authorities can decide that the nation shall accept Christ; that is an individual matter. But even if a nation could through its proper authorities accept Christ, the Jews could not do so, for they have no one with authority to speak for the whole people on anything.

It is hard for some to see that God totally and finally rejected and destroyed the Jewish nation, but did not irrevocably reject the Jews. Paul gives himself as an example that God had not irrevocably cast off the Jewish people. That he referred to himself as an example shows that he had in mind the Jews as individuals and not as a nation. His case shows that the door of salvation had not been closed against the individual Jew. And his olive-tree illustration shows that he was speaking of the individual Jew and not of the nation. Both Jews and Gentiles were grafted into the same olive tree, and both by the same process. Paul’s conclusion—“and so all Israel shall be saved”—has been greatly perverted. The future-kingdom folks put the emphasis on _all Israel_; Paul put the emphasis on _so_. _So_ is an adverb of manner. He had been showing how the Jews might be saved, and not that the nation would be restored. He had shown that Gentiles were grafted in by faith—saved by faith in Christ. “And so”—in like manner—shall all Israel be saved. Peter had made the same point before the Jerusalem brethren: “But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in like manner as they.” (Acts 15:11.)

How many Jews may yet be converted to Christ, no one knows; but those who are converted to Christ will be in the one body with all converted Gentiles, “where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Col. 3:11.)

Pointed Paragraphs:

Much is said about preaching the truth in love, and so it should be preached. But in love of what? The preacher should so love the truth that he will not sacrifice any of it nor pervert it, and he should so love people that he will not withhold from them even an unpleasant truth. He that does either of these things loves neither the truth nor the people. We frequently fool ourselves; we think we do thus and so to spare the feelings of others, when it is our own feelings that prompt us. “Preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

ENDS OF THE AGES

What does Paul mean in the expression, “Upon whom the ends of the ages are come”?—

The dispensations are referred to as ages. There have been the Patriarchal age and the Mosaic age, and also we now have the Christian age. The ends, or aims, of both the Patriarchal age and the Mosaic age looked forward to the Christian age. Christianity is the end of the ages—it is the last. Yet the future-kingdom advocates would have us believe that Paul was mistaken; that Christianity is not the end of the ages, but there will be at least two more ages. But Paul, being inspired, was right, and Christianity is the end of the ages. And that settles the future-kingdom claims. This is the ends of the ages.

Pointed Paragraphs:

“Here am I; send me.” To know the Lord and to realize our dependence upon him makes us willing, even anxious, to do whatever he wants us to do. There is something fearfully wrong with the heart of one who inquires concerning any duty. Will it pay? Is it pleasant work? Will I be thrown with the right sort of people? Will it enhance my reputation? Is the work below my dignity? The true servant of the Lord, like Isaiah, says: “Here am I; send me.” Like his Lord he can say, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:34.) “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Ps. 40:8.)

THE FOUR BEASTS

Will you please give a scriptural answer as to who or what the four beasts refer in Rev. 4:6-9? Or give your idea as to what is meant by the four beasts.—Lee Chumbley.

The Scriptures do not tell us who or what the four beasts represent. Instead of _beasts_ the American Standard Version has _living creatures_. It could as well be translated _living beings_ or _living ones_. But that does not tell us who or what they represent. If the querist will read on through the sixth chapter, he will find some of the things these living beings did. For one thing he will find that they had the power of speech. But the person who tells who or what they represent tells that which he does not know to be true. Brother Chumbley can find preachers who will tell him, and he will also find that they do not agree.

Pointed Paragraphs:

A tragedy, to have any unity of action when played on the stage, must be planned and written by one person—at least under the direction of one person. Imagine, if you can, a play written by several men, neither of whom knew what the other was writing, or that he was writing at all. Yet the tragedy of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus was so written by the prophets. And then the play—none of the actors in the drama, save Jesus, knew that the part he was playing had been written, yet each played his part according to the record. God knew what would be done, and had the prophets to write it down.

POINTS IN REVELATION 12

A letter of some length from a good sister, Mrs. L. E. Jones, tells about some things that came up in a class of which she is a member. The teacher holds to the future-kingdom theory. The class is going through the book of Revelation. The letter mentions several things that came up in their study of Chapter 12, and from the letter I glean the following questions:

1. Is the accuser of verse 10 the devil? Is it because of this accuser that Christ intercedes for us? It was so stated by a member of the class, who also said that as God was not human, he did not know what Christ suffered. Is that true?

2. Our teacher said that God was protecting and keeping the Jews, and that he had something special in store for them (something nice). I want you to answer in the Gospel Advocate as soon as convenient.

3. Does the woman of verses 1-6, 13-17 represent the Jews? That was our teacher’s idea.

1. From what is said in the context it seems clear that the devil was before God as the accuser of the brethren; but as he was cast down from heaven to the earth, how can anyone figure out that he is now before God accusing the brethren? He is, however, doing all he can to lead them into sin. Hence, the admonition: “Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8.) He is busying himself here on earth now. Jesus is our advocate with the Father, but I would not think he was before God engaged in a talk contest with the devil.

2. As God is no respecter of persons, how can any believer in Christ argue that a Jew, because he is a Jew, is yet to enjoy blessings that a Gentile cannot hope to receive, no matter how faithful he is, simply because he is not a Jew. The theory contradicts the fundamental principles of the gospel. Those who hold to that theory judge after the flesh—a thing Jesus condemned. (John 8:15.) The theory encourages the Jew to glory in his fleshly descent from Abraham—to glory after the flesh. Such glorying Paul said was foolishness. (2 Cor. 11:17, 18.) It teaches the Jew to have confidence in the flesh, his Jewish flesh. Paul had no such confidence; to him such relationship was but refuse. Or, as the King James Version has it, he counted such dependence on Jewish flesh as but dung. (Phil. 3:2-8.) Such is your teacher’s theory. Christ died for all. (2 Cor. 5:15.) Now notice the next verse (verse 16): “Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh.” Notice the force of the word _henceforth_—from now on. Yes, the Jews are still in the world; so are the Japanese and Chinamen. So what does that prove? The person who assumes to know what God knows or does not know is about like a worm assuming to know what Solomon knew and did not know.

3. Any theory about the woman of chapter 12 is merely a guess, for the record does not say who she was. Some commentators, perhaps the majority of them, say she was the church, the dragon was the Roman Empire, and the child was Constantine. I do not know. But if the woman was the Jewish nation and the child was Jesus, then she was a very unnatural mother, for she killed her child! But that leaves the dragon out of the picture, and leaves us wondering about verse 6.

Pointed Paragraphs:

CREATING A DEMAND

Sometime ago a Christian man asked a gospel preacher: “Why do we not have great gospel sermons like those we used to hear?” The reply was: “There is no demand for them.” Do that question and answer reveal conditions as they are? Have we reached the point where preaching is trimmed down to fit the demands of the times? Is preaching thus reduced to a matter of trade?

Some factories make only those articles that are in demand. But occasionally an article is offered for sale for which there had been no demand, but the makers of such articles proceed to create a demand. They do extensive advertising; they extol the uses and virtues of their article till people want it. And cannot we in the same way create a demand for the pure gospel in communities where there is no demand? We cannot do it by dealing in religious soup. There is a demand for the unadulterated gospel, for great gospel sermons; but the demand is not as extensive nor as intensive as it should be. Even in some churches of Christ there is not as strong demand for gospel sermons as there should be. When an elder can say, as some of them have said, “So far as I am concerned, I do not care whether our preacher can preach or not,” it is time we were waking up.

QUESTIONS ON REVELATION 20.

E. B. Taylor asks seven or eight questions on the twentieth chapter of Revelation. To give answer to all these questions would require an exegesis of the chapter. For me that is impossible. The chapter abounds in figures of speech. Many have read into that chapter things that are not in it. They also make some of it figurative and the rest literal, as the needs of their theory require. With them a day in some of the prophecies is a year, but they take the thousand years as literal. Yet they will not say that the devil is a real snake, nor that the chain is a literal chain, nor that the beast is a real four-footed animal. Here are some of the things in this chapter that I do not know: Who the angel is, what the key is, the great chain, why the devil is called a snake, what the binding means, the thousand years, when the thousand years end, the abyss and how it was sealed, length of the “little time,” who sat on thrones, what judgment was given them, the extent of that judgment, what the beast is, the image, mark of the beast, the war of verse 8, Gog and Magog, the camp of the saints, how devoured by fire, the lake, the beast of verse 10, who the false prophet is, nor how there can be day and night in eternity. Yet the chapter makes some plain statements.

We may not know who the martyrs are, yet it is affirmed of them, and of no one else, that “they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” When or where this reigning is, was, or is to be, is not stated. But it is stated in verse 6 that those who have part in the first resurrection “shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” Hence, they are to be priests and to reign at the same time—a royal priesthood. It is plain that they were to reign while they were priests, but Christians are priests now. Leaving out _to be_, words supplied by the translator, Revelations 1:6 reads thus: “He made us a kingdom, priests unto his God and Father.” Being kings and priests, Christians are a royal priesthood. (See 1 Pet. 2:9.)

In 20:12, John saw the dead standing before the throne. _The dead_, not a part of the dead. This is in perfect harmony with the Savior’s description of the judgment in Matt. 25:31-46. It is argued by some that this is a judgment of nations—kingdoms—instead of individuals. But nations in the Greek is neuter; but the pronoun _them_ in verse 32 is masculine, and, therefore, refers to people, and not to nations as such. At the judgment, therefore, all—the small and the great—will stand before the throne. This is also made clear in 2 Thess. 1:7-10. There it is declared that Jesus will take vengeance on the wicked “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints.” And the last verse in the twentieth chapter of Revelations shows that some will be at that judgment, whose names are written in the book of life.

SEVERAL QUESTIONS

1. Do you believe in the “secret rapture” theory?

2. Will there be any life on the earth during the millennium period?

1. The word _rapture_ is from a Latin word that means “to carry off by force.” By some strange aberration some religious folks applied that term to the Lord’s taking saints from the earth, as if they will have to be forced to go or somebody or power will have to be forced to let them go—a sort of seizing and carrying away. But I could not believe in the “secret rapture” unless I had some evidence. That evidence is lacking.

2. I have found no evidence that there is to be a thousand-year period in which there will be no life on the earth. There is evidence, however, that there will be life on the earth so long as the earth continues. “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (Gen. 8:22.) A careful reading of 2 Pet. 3:1-14 will show that so long as the earth remaineth Christians are exhorted to be “looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” Any student can find other evidence to the same import.

But suppose one believes the affirmative of both these questions, what is practical about such belief? If you hold to a notion that helps neither your faith nor your practice, why waste time with it? Why disturb others with it?

Pointed Paragraphs:

Jesus came to save sinners, not to make sinners. People were sinners before Jesus came, and they would have continued to be sinners had not Jesus come. If people do not believe in him, they continue sinning just as they would have done had he not come.

Though Jesus was moved with compassion at the sight of human suffering, his miracles of healing were not performed primarily to relieve suffering. If that were so, he would cure all sick folks even now, or cause that no one would ever be afflicted in any way. His miracles were performed as signs that God was with him.

Jesus put a higher value on man than on animals. “How much then is a man of more value than a sheep! Wherefore it is lawful to do good on the sabbath day.” (Matt. 12:12.) There is something of vast worth in man, else God would not have been mindful of him.