Question: Please explain the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25.
Answer: This applies to the great principle of Christian service and responsibility during the time of our Lord’s absence. It is not a question of eternal life or salvation; but simply of service according to our several ability.
Answer: The primary application is to Israel; but we may all learn a solemn lesson from it. Let us seek to be fruitful and not be cumberers of the ground. We live in a day of easy profession. God looks for reality, for diligence, for earnestness, and integrity of heart. May we be watchful, and never rest satisfied with mere head knowledge or lip profession. The Lord will have “truth in the inward parts.”
Question: I cannot understand the “Trinity.”
Answer: We are not surprised at your inability to comprehend the profound mystery of the Trinity. But let us remind you, dear friend, that though you cannot understand it, you are reverently to believe it. The Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. Did you ever hear those last words of a dying idiot? “I see! I see! I see!” “What do you see?” said a bystander. “I see three in one, and one in three, and they are all for me, for me.” Think of these words.
Question: What was the length of the “day” in Genesis 1?
Answer: We understand the word “day” in the first chapter of Genesis, to mean simply our ordinary 24 hours; and we do not consider it scriptural to believe that each of those days may include a long period of time. But we must remember that, between the first verse of Genesis 1 and the commencement of the actual six days’ work, millions of years may have intervened, leaving ample room, most surely, for all the facts of geology.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then we are told, “the earth” —not the heavens— “was without form and void.”
We are not told how the earth fell into this state; but most surely God had not so created it. And then begins the record of the six days of creation. It is not the object of the Bible to teach us geology or astrology; but we may rest assured that there is not a single sentence in that divine volume which collides with the facts of geology or any other science. We must, however, draw a very broad line of distinction between the facts of science, and the conclusions of scientific men. Facts are facts wherever you find them; but if you follow the conclusions of men, you may find yourself plunged in the dark and dreadful abyss’ of universal skepticism.
Question: Do the souls of those who have died “sleep”?
Answer: The idea of souls of believers being asleep when absent from the body, is at once unscriptural and absurd. “Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” Was this to be in an unconscious state? Has the soul of the thief been asleep for the last nineteen hundred years? “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Has that spirit been asleep ever since? “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Is this to be asleep? “Having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better.” Why not say, “Having a desire to be asleep?” Is it far better to be asleep, to be unconscious, than to be enjoying Christ, and working for Him here?
Dear friend, we cannot but express our astonishment at any man in his senses—to say nothing of a Christian with the Bible in his hands—putting such a question. We consider the notion a monstrous absurdity. Pray excuse our plainness of speech. It is not easy to measure one’s words when dealing with many of the wild vagaries of the present day. “Sleep” always refers to the body.
Unbelievers who have died do not “sleep” either, as we see in Luke 16:19-2319There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (Luke 16:19‑23). They are very conscious, and carry with them conscience and memory.