Ques. Would Dan. 3:18 illustrate the words of the Lord Jesus, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's"? J. T. G.
Ans. It would illustrate their faithfulness to God, and that they would not give the king's authority a place above God's. It was better to obey God than man. Dan. 6:4, 5, shows both. Daniel was faithful in the 1 business of the kingdom (the things of Caesar), at the same time he set God first, and prayed to God, though forbidden by the king to do so, thus he rendered to God the things that are God's.
Ques. I cannot get the sense of John 3:13. Jesus Himself was speaking, and was not yet crucified, yet He speaks of having ascended and being in heaven, while here on earth.
W. D. W.
Ans. Matt. 11:27 and Luke 10:22 tell us of the mystery of the person of the Son of God, whose being none can know. John's Gospel brings this much before us. He does not solve it, but counts on our faith to trust Him. Men say, "Seeing is believing." Faith says the opposite, "Said I not unto Thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see?" John 11:40. John's Gospel anticipates, and speaks as if all was done. It is as good as done in the purposes of God, which cannot fail. Who else but He could speak as being in heaven, while here upon earth? In these verses He is bearing witness to what He had seen and heard-new and heavenly things never heard of before, that God 'so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..
Ques. What did the Lord mean when He said to the thief on' the cross (Luke 23:43), "Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise"? Is that hell or heaven? Did He descend into hell to preach to the departed spirits, and was not ascended to His Father?
I believe the thief was saved, but the matter is not clear to me. Could He mean that the thief went to God, and God and Christ are one.
"I and My Father are one"? C. E. W.
Ans. When the Lord was about to die, He committed His Spirit to His Father. He did not go into the prison where lost souls are; He did not descend into (gehenna) hell, the place of punishment, but into (hades) the state of the soul absent from its body. This word is also translated "hell," and is used of Him in Acts 2:27, 31. The word "paradise" means a place of delights. In 2 Cor. 12:2, 4, Paul was caught up there; in the second verse it is the third heaven; in the fourth it is paradise. So when the Lord committed His Spirit to His Father, He was received there while His body lay in the grave; yet no corruption was allowed to touch it. (Psa. 16:9, 10 and Acts 2:27.) But this was not ascension. Ascension is where spirit, soul and body-the complete man-is taken up. David has been there with the spirits of just men (Heb. 12:23) ever since he died, but it is written (Acts 2:29, 34), "David is not ascended," but Jesus is (Acts 2:29-36.)
The rich man in Luke 16:22, 23, died and was buried, and in hell (that is hades, the state of the dead), was also in torments. That was not paradise, nor is it said to be gehenna, but it is real suffering begun. When he is raised from the dead (Rev. 20), then he will stand before the great, white throne, and, spirit, soul and body, be put into the lake of fire-judged according to his works.
The Lord did not go into prison. There never was any preaching done there. 1 Peter 3:18, 19, tells us of Christ who once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which (the Spirit) He went and preached to the spirits in prison. It means that the Spirit of Christ in Noah preached to the antedeluvians, and because they were disobedient to the preaching, they are now in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. (Compare also 2 Peter 2:5, 9). The great gulf is fixed by death; there is no discharge in that war. (Eccl. 8:8; Luke 16:26.)
The first mark of grace in the soul of the thief was seen in condemning himself and the other one, as justly receiving what they deserved, and he justifies Jesus, saying, "This man has done nothing amiss." The second mark was that he turns to the very one he reviled before (Matt. 27:44), with the prayer, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." Here his faith owns this dying man as Lord and King, and looks forward to their being raised from the dead. Jewish faith looks for the kingdom to be set up in earthly glory, but what a surprise to hear of immediate blessing before the kingdom could possibly be. "Verily, I say unto you, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise," in that joyful garden of delights, and best of all, in companionship with his blessed Redeemer. What grace to make a condemned thief, the earliest trophy mentioned in Scripture of His grace to sinners. How could He do it? Because there on that cross He bore his many sins.
There are three persons in the Godhead-Father, Son and Holy Ghost. They are one in mind and purpose. It is the Father's will, the Son's work, the Holy Spirit's power and witness, both in creation and redemption. In John 10:28 to 30, the Father and the Son go together in one mind to give eternal life, and to hold the sheep securely. "I and My Father are one." It is in mind and purpose, while distinct persons.