Question: What are the Talents of Matthew 25:14-30, and to whom are they given? Are the Talents man’s ability, or money? How are the Talents gained?
Answer: The Talents of Matthew 25:14-30 are the gifts or abilities bestowed by the Lord upon each of His own, to be used for His glory.
Question: Why did King Ahab rebuke Micaiah when he told him the same as the four hundred wicked prophets? (1 Kings 22:15-16). Micaiah had said (1 Kings 22:14), “As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.” And in verse 14 he told what the Lord had given him to say.
Answer: When Micaiah came into the presence of King Ahab, he was intimidated, and gave a false prophecy to escape the King’s wrath. But when his hypocrisy was detected by the King, he uttered the truth as the Lord had given it to him to speak.
Question: Is 1 Thessalonians 5:2 Christ’s coming for us, or with us?
Answer: It is the day of the Lord, when He comes to assert His authority, and take the Kingdom. We appear with Him. It is when He comes as a thief in the night, an unwelcome and unlooked for visitor to the wicked. (Isa. 2:10-12; Joel 2:1-2, 28-32).
Question: What is the “hour of temptation” in Revelation 3:10?
Answer: The “hour of temptation” is future. The saints will be kept from it by the Lord coming to take them to Himself. It will be during the time of “the great tribulation” after the church is gone to be with Him. “Those that dwell on the earth” are a special class who claim the earth—earthly minded (Phil. 3:19).
Question: Please explain Revelation 1:19.
Answer: “The things which thou hast seen” includes Revelation 1:12-18.
“The things that are” is the period of the church’s history on earth.
“The things that shall be hereafter,” or “after these things” is the future, commencing with the 4th chapter. The church is still on earth, and no prophecy is to be fulfilled till we are with the Lord in heaven. The wars, pestilence, famines, earthquakes, etc., that take place now, are not foretold in Scripture. We are simply told to wait for the Son from heaven. The church is being gathered now. The Bright and Morning Star may soon be ours. Till then no prophecy can be fulfilled, not even the “beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:8), do we look for.
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled. . .” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2. This is the first thing to happen, and how soon we may see Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us!