Question: Would you say it is wrong for women to preach? Please explain Joel 2:28 and 1 Timothy 2:12. A. V.
Answer: Joel 2:28 is a prophecy concerning Israel. It will take place when Israel will be restored, that is, in the great and terrible day of the Lord. It concerns Zion and Jerusalem in that future day when the Son of Man comes to reign. The apostle Peter quotes it to show that it was the coming of the Spirit of God to dwell in the believers that made them preach the gospel in languages which they had never learned. The people thought they were drunken, and he adds “this is that,” meaning that it was of the same kind (Acts 2:15, 16). The wonders in verses 19, 20 have not come yet.
It was the beginning of the church, and Paul, led by the Spirit, wrote 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34 which tell us that in public, women are not to speak. One goes against God’s Word who does preach or teach man in spiritual things. God has used women in Scripture to help in the gospel (Phil. 4:3), also to carry a message (John 20:17), and in other ways, (also Acts 9:36; 18:26; 21:9), but there were no women preachers or evangelists.
Question: Is Christendom the great house? P. T.
Answer: Christendom is the kingdom of Christ in profession—all who have been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. (Gal. 3:27).
This vast professing multitude containing both real and nominal Christians, is compared in 2 Timothy 2:20 to “a great house,” wherein is a mixture of vessels—all in confusion. The Christian who seeks to walk with God, though he cannot get out of it, is told to purge himself from these, that is: the mixture—to walk in a clean path, which is pointed out in 2 Timothy 2:22.
The Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost, and dwelt in the House of God on earth. That house was composed of people, believers, who were sealed by the Holy Spirit, and though millions have professed Christianity who do not know their sins washed away by the blood of Christ, the Holy Spirit still dwells in every true believer, and will do so till the day of redemption, by the power of Christ, when our bodies are changed like His glorious body, so that it is still true, “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit,” and each individual is told, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” (Eph. 2:22; 1 Cor. 6:19).
Question: What is the difference in the scriptures—Isaiah 1:18; Revelation 1:5 and Revelation 7:14? G. C. D.
Answer: Isaiah 1:18 is God appealing to the sinner to take his place as such before God to have His pardoning grace, that could make the scarlet sins all disappear, and the crimson also—stains of deeper dye would be removed leaving the soul whiter than ever it could be in innocence, for the pardoned sinner is clothed with the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Revelation 1:5 is the saint bursting out in praise at the mention of Jesus Christ’s blessed name, Who by dying on the cross and there making atonement, had cleansed all his sins away.
Revelation 7:14 is the elder describing the faithful who in the great tribulation will be faithful to the Messiah, and will claim Him as their King and Savior. These are saved Gentiles who are faithful to Christ during the great tribulation, in separating themselves from those in rebellion against Him. This is how it is said, “They washed their robes.” These are earthly saints, blest on earth. We, in this day of grace, are heavenly.
Question: What is meant by “Let the dead bury their dead,” as found in Matthew 8:22? W. C.
Answer: In Matthew 8:19 to 22, and Luke 9:57 to 62, we find discipleship—that is, following Christ. In these scriptures we are taught to put Christ first in all we do, in our business, and in all our relationships in life, as Paul said in Philippians 1:21. “To me to live is Christ.” The Lord instructs in caring for our husbands, our wives, our children, our parents, our servants, and our masters. (See Eph. 5:22 to 6:9; and Col. 3:18 to 4:1). Our duty to the Lord is caring for them all according to His Word.
This man in Matthew 8:22 did not want to follow the Lord till his father was dead and buried. So the Lord answers, “Follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead.”
Unconverted men are dead in trespasses, and sins; they are spiritually dead; they cannot do anything to please the Lord; they put their own interests before the Lord’s interests; they are the dead that bury their dead without desiring to please the Lord? for they do not know Him.