Ques. "And is baptized, shall be saved.”
(Mark 16:15.) Is baptism necessary for salvation? M. C.
Ans. There is nothing vital in being baptized. The Lord instructed His servants to go and preach the gospel, and they are instructed to baptize their converts. It was obedience in the servants to baptize them, but if those heathen converts refused baptism, and still remained on heathen ground, they would be still outside the Church on earth, and who could say that they were saved. That would be a question left to the Lord. "The Lord knoweth them that are His." Obedience to baptism is the obedience of the servants, not of the converts. They do not baptize themselves, but are to submit to it being done. It is a privilege. The eunuch esteemed it so. (Acts 8.)
Ques. Is Jesus our King? Should we call Him that? C. M.
Ans. Many crowns are on His head. He is King of kings, and Lord of lords, King of Israel, King of Nations; but to the Church, He is our Savior, our Lord, our Head, our Bridegroom. He is our Beloved.
“His scepter rules creation. His wounded hand rules me; All bow before His footstool, I but the nail prints see. Aloud they sound His titles, as Lord of lords, most High, One thrilling thought absorbs me-this Lord for me did die.”
Ques. Is Acts 1:11 Christ's coming for us, or is it His appearing? C. M.
Ans. "Shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go." The believing remnant of the Jews saw Him go, and they will see Him come for their deliverance. But at the rapture, it will be in a moment, when the shout is given, we shall find ourselves there,-the dead raised, the living changed, and every believer caught up to meet the Lord in the air, so to be forever with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:15-18.)
Ques. Please explain Job 33:14 to 30. It is taught by some that the "messenger" (verse 23) teaches healing of the body, a so-called faith healer. W. I. C.
Ans. If you take your Concordance, you will often find that "healing" is figurative of the restoration of Israel, and so it is in Isa. 53:5. For us there it is the salvation of the soul. It belongs to Israel's earthly calling.
In Job. 33, Elihu is God's messenger to interpret God's dealings with men.
Verses 8 to 11 describe Job's mistake in upholding his own integrity, for God is greater than man.
Verses 14 to 22 describe some of God's ways to make men think of eternal things, we get dreams and pain and wasting sickness with no hope, dying in darkness, to go down to the pit of destruction.
Verse 23. The messenger, an interpreter, one among a thousand, shows the man his uprightness or duty, and this convicts the sinner of his sins, for he has failed to do his duty, and he needs to feel that he has sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and is guilty and lost (verse 19 ibid). When the sinner takes this place, then God's gracious messenger comes to him, "Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom." God has in view, Christ and His finished work, and on that ground could deliver or save his soul (Rom. 3:25).
Verse 25. We now see a new man (in figure, see Col. 3:1-3). It is the new creature in Christ Jesus, where no condemnation can ever come (Rom. 8:1).
Verse 26. There we get him in communion with God in prayer, enjoying God's grace and seeing His face with joy, for God has given him His righteousness through the death of Christ His Son (2 Cor. 5:21).
Verse 27. (New Trans.) He will sing before men, and say, "I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it was not requited me." Another bore our sins in His own body on the tree, so sin is not requited to the believer in Christ.
Verse 28, continues his song. "He hath delivered my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall see the light." It is as when first we sang,
"Happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away.”
And as another wrote,
“There is no condemnation, there is no hell for me; The torment and the fire my eyes shall never see.
A Rock that stands forever, is Christ my righteousness!
And there I stand unfearing, in everlasting bliss. The Sun that shines upon me is Jesus and His love The fountain of my singing is deep in heaven above.”
In verses 29, 30, Elihu further says, God repeatedly works in those ways to save men's souls. There is no mention of healing of the body in the chapter. God's discipline was removed when Job took the place as an unworthy sinner when he said, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Chapter 42:5, 6. God put him through all that discipline to give him the, peace that he did not have before. (See chap. 3:25, 26.)