Ques. 131. Please explain the hours Jesus was on the cross. P. C. B.
Answer: Mark 15:25. "It was the third hour, and they crucified Him." This answers to 9 a.m. in our time. Verse 33, "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour"; that is, from noon till 3 p. m. After the darkness, Jesus said: "It is finished," and "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit"; then He died. It was near the end of the day, sundown, when He was buried, that is "even." (v. 42.)
Judging from John 19:14 john reckoned time after our standard-Roman time.
Ques. 132. What is meant by "profane and old wives' fables"? 1 Tim. 4:7. P. C. B.
Answer: The natural superstitions of the human mind produce stories of ghosts, fairies and goblins and other nonsensical things; these are all profane, they leave out true thoughts of God. We are to exercise ourselves rather unto godliness; this is true submission to God's word. (2 Cor. 10:5.)
Ques. 133. Has Luke 8:31, 32, 33, a dispensational meaning? Does it refer to any special class of people?
W. W. H.
Answer: The man out of whom the demons were cast is a picture of the believing remnant of Israel, who, after he met the Lord Jesus, was found sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind. It is also a picture of all believers.
The swine is a picture of the apostate nation of Israel, who, under the power of Satan, rush on downward to their destruction. It is also true of all Christ rejecters. Thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth verses show the believer's desire to be with the Lord, but in the meantime he was to wait in the world out of which his master was sent and there to witness to what God had done for him. (Phil. 2:12-16.)
Ques. 134. What do the Scriptures teach is the Christian's path in time of war? M.
Answer: James 4:1, 2, tells him where war comes from. The believer belongs to Christ, he is bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23.) Christ's teaching and example is for the believer. (Phil. 2:5; 1 John 2:6.) The believer is a citizen of heaven. (Phil. 3:20; Heb. 3:1.) Jesus' kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36.) The believer is not of this world. (John 17:16.) The Lord teaches him not to resist evil. (Matt. 5:39.) To love his enemies. (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27, 28.) He is to suffer rather than to fight. (Rom. 12:19-21.) He is to obey the powers that be (Rom. 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13), to pray for the rulers (1 Tim. 2:1) and to submit to them in every right thing, but if contrary to the word of God, he is to obey God rather than men. (Acts 4:19, 20; 5:29.)
In the Old Testament, Israel was God's earthly people. They were to fight against Gods enemies and to possess the land of Palestine. (Psa. 149:6-9; Deut. 8:7-10; 34:1-4.)
The Christian blessing is seen in Eph. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3, 4. He needs strength to suffer (Phil. 1:20, 29; Col. 1:11), he is to find it in Christ. (Phil. 4:13, 19.)
He may need to die for Christ (Luke 21:16, 17), but not a hair of his head shall perish. (Luke 21:18.) And the heavenly kingdom is secured for him, and he will be preserved for it.
(2 Tim. 4:18; 1 Peter 1:4, 5.)
Ques. 135. Please explain 2 Tim. 2:20, 21. B. L. S.
Answer: The truth of the Church of God as the body and the bride of Christ, and as the habitation of God through the spirit, is unfolded in the letter to the Ephesians.
First Timothy instructs the man of God how to behave in this house or habitation of God. (3:15.)
Second Timothy instructs the man of God how to walk when disorder and confusion has spoiled it as God's witness on earth. It teaches him that there is a path of faith, which is a path of obedience to God and to His word. In this epistle we find all kinds of evil have come in. but God has not disowned it: the Holy Ghost still dwells here on earth in it. In chapter 2:15, the believer is to seek the approval of God, dividing and applying the word according to God's mind revealed in the Scriptures. In verses 20 and 21 and their context, the path of faith and separation from evil is marked out. Verse 20 compares Christendom to a great house, in which is a mixture of bad and good; all is in confusion.
It is a picture of the professing church on earth. We are in it, we are not told to leave it, but the twenty-first verse calls on the believer to purge himself from the mixture; that is, to be separated from the mixture so to walk in a separate path, and thus be a vessel unto honor, set apart, and meet for the Master's use and prepared unto every good work.
Verse 22 teaches us that a right condition of soul is needed, as well as a right position of separation. So it reads, "Flee also youthful lusts." These words would teach us to judge our own hearts and ways, so that we are not allowing things inconsistent with the true character of a Christian. Next he is told what to follow-not people, but-"righteousness, faith, love, peace-practical righteousness in our ways; faith in God and His word as our guide (see 3:16, 17). Love is the divine nature in its activity, it goes out in compassion for the newly and the lost, and it embraces as one with them all the children of God; it is also love in the truth, it rejoices not in iniquity; peace, we follow peace, the Christian is to be a peacemaker, and have his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Ministering peace to the troubled heart of saint or sinner out of the fullness of the grace of God. Following thus we find others doing the same, and in the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3), we follow with them; they call on the Lord out of a pure heart. We are not called on to decide who are the Lord's and who are not, but we are to discern those who seek to follow the Lord in simplicity and sincerity, and to follow with them.