Question #1: My question is from Revelation 6. Could you read Revelation 6:9-11, specifically verse 10 where it says, “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord,” and verse 11 where it says, “White robes were given unto every one of them.” If you could read these three verses and kind of give me your insight on them, I would really appreciate it.
Chris: Revelation 6:9 says:
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
This would be referring to all of God’s people who were martyred during the 1,955 years of the church age. We could basically understand this as being the “firstfruits.” These are the “firstfruits” who were gathered in during the church age. These are the 144,000 who are mentioned in the next chapter of Revelation 7.
Then we read in verse 10, Revelation 6:10:
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
They are crying out. If you remember, Cain slew Abel. Cain was the first child of God, and God said of Abel’s blood that it does speak. He said that it “crieth unto me from the ground” in reference to God’s justice being done and that His justice be accomplished. We know that God is about to fulfill this.
Then it goes on to say in verse 11, Revelation 6:11:
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
These “white robes” are given to every child of God because this is “the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Revelation 19 speaks of the “fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” God uses this illustration to teach us that there is no spot; there is no sinful taint of any kind. White has to do with holiness and they are made holy.
This is referring to those who died in the faith over the last 1,955 years. We can know this based on Revelation 6:11, which says:
…that they should rest yet for a little season…
This “little season” is referring to the Great Tribulation where we are right now, and so they rested because they did their work during the church age. They are now resting just for this “little season.” Remember that Satan is “loosed a little season.” This is right now.
So they are resting until God completes the salvation of His elect, which He will do next year. By then, each and every one of the “great multitude” will be saved. Then all of the people of God will be brought together. But in a sense, by being reviled, cast out of churches, and so forth, we are martyred or slain in the same way they were.
Question #1 (continued): Are you saying that the saints in Heaven know what is going on on this earth? I thought that they did not know what was happening on earth.
Chris: Well, they know that they do not have their bodies. They know that they are not complete. It says that it is the “souls of them” who are “under the altar.” This altar is representing Christ, and they are waiting.
Remember what it says in Hebrews 11 about the people of faith from past generations. It says towards the end of Hebrews 11 in Hebrews 11:39-40:
And these all…
This is referring to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others. It continues:
…having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
This is referring to the completion of God’s salvation plan when we all receive our resurrected bodies on May 21st. Those in the ground come up. They died in the past and they get their resurrected body. The only difference between the resurrection and the rapture is those who are dead and those who are living, but they are all God’s people.
Question #1 (continued): So is this what Isaiah 65:17 is talking about where it refers to what happens at the final end?
Chris: Well, they are crying out “How long?” Mr. Camping recently did a study on this. It does not necessarily mean that they are verbally doing this, that they are actually doing this.
For instance, God speaks of the sun, moon, and stars and says, “There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard,” but they are not literally speaking. He also went to Abel as an example. We read in Hebrews 11:4:
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Then in Hebrews 12:24, we read:
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Abel or his blood is not literally speaking; but from God’s perspective, it is making a statement.
Where we read in Revelation 6:9-10:
…I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain…And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord…
This is God’s will for them. He intends to give all His people the completion of their salvation at the same time, except for a few instances.
Question #1 (continued): So the saints in Heaven do not know literally what is happening here on earth.
Chris: I would think not because what is on earth but sin? They are in Heaven. There is no sin in Heaven.
Question #2: I have been thinking about what you have been talking to us about in 2nd and 3rd John about God speaking to us face-to-face. I just want to know if this just applies to people like you and Mr. Camping and speakers of this sort, or does this apply to all of us, to all of the true believers?
Chris: This applies to all of us. He speaks through His Word. So if you have an individual like Mr. Camping who has been in His Word for fifty years and who is daily in His Word for hours and hours and he is following God’s methodology of discovering truth, which he is, then, yes, we would expect him to understand much better than many others who are not putting this time in, who are not as diligent in study; and so this just makes sense. He also has the “Open Forum” where anyone can call in, and I think that he has learned a lot from speaking with people on a nightly basis for about fifty years. God has been pleased to use him, I would say mostly primarily, in seeing these things. Then he shares them and then we, the people of God, hear it and we check it out to see if it is so. Here and there, maybe we can add a little something or maybe a little correction is made; but for the most part, God has been using Mr. Camping.
Question #2 (continued): It is comforting to know that we as individuals can just learn from God face-to-face. I was also wondering if there is maybe a special day of the week where we might have better contact with the Lord than another, for example, the Sunday Sabbath?
Chris: God has given us Sunday as a day when we are to be involved in spiritual things, so it is a good day. Maybe someone is working all week and they do not have the time; but on Sunday, they hopefully do not have to work, and so they can sit down and spend some time with the Bible.
Question #3: I so some witnessing on the Internet. I ran across a female who is having a great deal of difficulty witnessing. I would like to know whether or not you have already done a study on this subject or if you can direct her to a study. My question is about the woman’s place today in witnessing in relation to the verses that tell us that women are to be silent in the church. How is a woman today supposed to approach witnessing the true Gospel when she runs up against people who have these verses ready at hand? What should a woman do in this situation?
Chris: Do you mean just on the Internet or anywhere?
Question #3 (continued): I am referring to anywhere today where a woman is trying to witness. They get stuck between being a true servant of God as a true believer, knowing that “Go ye” is a command. Then at the same time, they have to be careful when running into this kind of a problem. What is your understanding of this? Has there been a study on this?
Chris: Probably not recently; at least, not by me. But let us read 1 Timothy 2:11-12:
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
After these verses, God goes on to give us the example of Adam and Eve.
So this is letting us know that this is not to be a woman’s position. It is not God’s will that women teach as men teach. For instance, during the church age, the pastor or the elder or the deacon—anyone who was also in spiritual authority or who brought the Word of God—should have been a man, and not only a man but a qualified individual according to the Bible’s qualifications for deacons and elders that God had put forth for the church age.
But we know today that God has removed all authority from the churches. He is not commissioning anyone or giving any pastor authority to teach anymore, not within the churches and congregations.
A woman today has a good opportunity to share the Gospel, but not in a teaching setting, not in a Bible study at home, and not in a room on the Internet like Paltalk, unless she wanted it for women or children only. She could then do this, but it might be hard to keep men out of this kind of area. Also they should not be teaching in a nursing home, because it should be a man who does the teaching.
I think that women have to be careful even when handing out tracts, because someone might come up and ask them a question. They share an answer if they happen to know it. As they are doing so, someone else might come up and they might get a little crowd around them. It is then that she would need to be careful.
But to accomplish what God would have us do today, the best thing for a woman to do who really wants to share the Gospel with others is to share tracts, to share information from the Bible, but not in a way that would be teaching. God permits this.
Question #3 (continued): Is it okay if a woman just reads out of the Scriptures without an interpretation? If someone asks her a question, is it okay for her to just go to the Bible and just read a Scripture? Or would this be teaching? She is just reading the Word of God.
Chris: I would be careful. I think that Family Radio, once again, is a good example. Do we find women reading the Bible on Family Radio? This is an electronic medium just as well as Internet or Facebook or e-groups of any kind. They are all part of the electronic medium and so is Family Radio. Family Radio broadcasts over satellite. This is also electronic medium, and Family Radio does not have women announcers. If you look at “Music to Live By,” it is a man. If you look at “Nightwatch,” it is a man. If you look at “Rise & Rejoice” or “The Christian Home,” they are all men. This is because during their period of announcing, they read Scripture and they read articles that teach. Family Radio has wisely not had a woman involved in this. We do not have a woman reading the Bible. We have Henry Van Dyke, sometimes Mr. Camping, sometimes Craig Hulsebos, but not a woman.
Question #3 (continued): Yes, but Family Radio is an organized group. I am talking about people who are individually out there trying to do whatever they can to try to preach. I am just being sympathetic to different people who have asked me this question. I do not have a good answer except to say that I thought that if you are individually trying to spread the Word and to get people to read the Gospel and are telling them that Judgment Day is coming, you could direct them to these environments.
Chris: I would not say that a woman cannot share a little bit of information with someone who asks her a question, but she would have to be careful. By the way, when we are handing out tracts, it is a good thing, most of the time, not to get into lengthy discussions, because it is distracting and you will not get the number of tracts out that you would hope to. It is a safe thing, too, because you can then be focused on the task at hand.
But, you see, when God gave this commandment, He also had a spiritual teaching behind it, which is similar to God’s instructions for women in the marriage relationship. A woman should be in submission to her husband. The husband is to love the wife. But why? Why? The reason is because the woman is in a certain role and she is living out this role in the marriage of a believer as the husband is in the role of Christ.
Similarly, in 1 Timothy 2:11 where God says:
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
We are the woman and the man is God, the Holy Spirit, God Himself; and we are not to be the ones who are in authority over the Bible. This teaches us to go very humbly to the Bible in a submissive way, and so there is a spiritual teaching behind this.
God is very careful about spiritual teachings behind things like marriage. In a marriage relationship, for instance, there is no divorce because this means spiritually that God can never leave us nor forsake us or divorce us at any time; and so we also have a spiritual teaching here.
If someone thinks that this is only for the church age and not for today, this does harm to the whole teaching that God was trying to give us that we are to go humbly to the Bible. So now, what is it? Do we now not have to go humbly to the Bible because a woman is no longer to be silent?
You see, this impacts the spiritual teaching, and God is not changing this. When we see a woman sitting quietly and under the hearing of the Word of God, this is a good picture for each one of us of how we are to approach the Scriptures.
Question #4: I was wondering if you could turn to Deuteronomy 32 and read Deuteronomy 32:32-35? Is this talking about the church with their false gospels? Does it relate to the end of the world?
Chris: Deuteronomy 32:32-35 says:
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
This is speaking of the church as God is speaking of Israel here. Notice verse 28, Deuteronomy 32:28:
For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
This was true of Israel of old and this is true of the church today. Remember that God says in Jeremiah, “My people know not the judgment of the LORD.” He is referring to His own people. They do not understand “time and judgment”; likewise, the church today knows not “the judgment of the LORD.”
In relation to this language about “their grapes are grapes of gall” and “their vine,” who is the vine according to other parts of the Bible? John 15 says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman”? It is Christ. But their vine is not Christ; it is something else that produces these terrible grapes. It is like a bitter drink, because it is speaking of a false gospel.
Question #4 (continued): Could you tie this in with Jeremiah 2:22?
Chris: We read in Jeremiah 2:22:
For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord JEHOVAH.
We cannot wash ourselves clean of our sin. We have stains in our soul when we transgress the Law of God; at least, this is how God looks at it. We are dirty, we are polluted, we are filthy, and we badly need to be cleansed. We need to be washed, but only God can wash us. We have to be washed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nothing physical can ever cleanse sin; this is what this verse is talking about.
Question #4 (continued): I noticed this word “soap.” I know that the water represents the Gospel, but what does the soap represent?
Chris: Soap is a cleaning agent. I do not know. It is a cleaning agent, so it would be related somehow to those who are developing things to get themselves clean spiritually, which is exactly what happens with false teachings. Man devises a way that is not the right way. Through this, he tells people, “Here is how you get saved.” Really, he is saying, “This is how you get clean of your sin.”
Question #4 (continued): In other words, we cannot clean ourselves. We have to let God clean us, right?
Chris: Right. Remember in Ezekiel 36, it says in Ezekiel 36:25-26:
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit…
This is getting clean.
Question #5: We know that Enoch, Moses, and Elijah are in their glorified spiritual bodies in Heaven. All of the other people in Heaven are just in their glorified spiritual souls. Do the people who are in their whole personalities in Heaven have more glory?
Chris: I would not put it this way, I do not think. It is more than likely an encouragement to everyone, “Look, this is what is also going to happen with you,” as they can see Moses, Elijah, and Enoch in Heaven who do have new resurrected bodies already. It is certainly indicating for all of those souls in Heaven that they will soon get their glorified bodies.
Question #6: In Matthew 10, the commissioning of the apostles, there is a verse in there that I discovered long ago. Could you expound on Matthew 10:16? I feel that this is really a key when giving out tracts today. We especially need to apply this when on private property.
Chris: Let us take a look. We read in Matthew 10:16:
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Then the next verse is helpful. Matthew 10:17 starts out:
But beware of men…
“Beware of men.” It is a good thing for all of us to know that we should beware of men. The Bible tells us that we are Christ’s sheep. He is the “good shepherd” and we are the “sheep,” and He sends us out into the world.
As we look at it, we are almost like helpless little sheep; but He is always there as the Shepherd, guiding us and protecting us. No real harm can come to us because we cannot lose our salvation. Yet in the world, and I would say especially in the churches, there are those who would devour, like a wolf as it comes across an actual sheep.
This is the nature of the world. Today, this is especially the nature of the churches and congregations. They should have been feeding the sleep all along, but God says in Ezekiel, “Ye eat the fat…but ye feed not the flock.” This is what a wolf does, and so I would think that it would relate to this.
But where God says in Matthew 10:16:
…be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
I am not completely sure what this reference is speaking of, except we know what is in man, just like Jesus said, “For he knew what was in man.” But we are also instructed to be gentle, “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men.” I guess a dove could illustrate this.
Question #6 (continued): I was just thinking that I have visited the Wal-Marts over the years and I have been able to go in there and even talk to their managers. It does not matter who I meet, it is all about respecting them and who they are. You can get permission from them, but you have to be wise in how you approach them in their authority and leave it intact. At McDonald’s, the managers have taken the tracts and distributed them while I am there. It is just amazing, but it is all in your approach to them and showing respect for their authority.
Chris: Yes, that is right; and if they tell us, “No,” we respect that also. We just say, “Okay; alright; we will just go down here a little ways.”
Question #7: Can you explain Zechariah 7:13?
Chris: Zechariah 7:13 says:
Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith JEHOVAH of hosts:
Let us back up because I want to see the context. We read in Zechariah 7:9-13:
Thus speaketh JEHOVAH of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which JEHOVAH of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from JEHOVAH of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear…
Who is “he”? This could refer to “the widow…the fatherless, the stranger…the poor.” These are all types and figures of God’s elect who are out there in the world. In a sense, the same way that the “souls of them” who are “under the altar” are making a cry unto God, so, too, are His people out there in the world who are maybe under the jurisdictions of many churches and congregations. It is as though they are crying up to God for deliverance, in a sense. I think that this is how God is looking at this, and yet they do not hear. They do not hear the cry of the truly broken ones.
So God is saying, “Okay, there was a period of time that I was using you, and yet you did not bring the Gospel to these people. You did not hear their cry.” And so He continues on to say:
…so they cried, and I would not hear…
This will be on May 21st in 2011. The Bible tells us, “The mighty man shall cry there bitterly.” It will be the time of “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” and God will not hear in the sense of deliverance in bringing salvation. This will be because He will have departed from the earth and He will no longer be saving people.
Question #8: Revelation 9:12 mentions the three woes. Could this indicate that the first woe starts or goes forth before the second woe and that the second woe starts or goes forth before the third woe? The net result of this course is that the woes can overlap one another so that an event like the rapture in Revelation 11:12 can occur during the same period of time as the events of Revelation 9. So can you explain the third woe in Revelation 11:15-19?
Chris: No, I cannot explain this right now and I cannot get into Revelation 9:12 at this point. I do not fully understand exactly how to explain this passage, but thank you for your question.
Question #9: I am just wondering about Ecclesiastes 3:15. What does this mean and what is this talking about?
Chris: Ecclesiastes 3:15 says:
That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
There are a couple of verses that are similar that do make us wonder, like in Ecclesiastes 1. We read in Ecclesiastes 1:9-10:
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
Is this what you mean? Today, we have the Internet. We have satellite TV and radio everywhere. We have the ability to travel by plane quickly from here to any country in the world. There are a lot of things today that have never been, so how can God say that there is “no new thing under the sun”?
In one sense, look at verse 8, Ecclesiastes 1:8:
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Then He says in Ecclesiastes 1:9:
…there is no new thing under the sun.
So, basically, the same sins that men were involved with at the time that God was moving Solomon to write this are the same sins that mankind is involved with today. No, they did not have iPods. They did not have the cell phones that we have. They did not have any of this, but they sure had sin. They had sin. They had lust and they had hatred and they had lying. They had the same sins that we have today.
What we do have today is a new way of exhibiting the same old sins. At that time, they did not have television where someone could lust or do some other kind of wickedness; but today we have this ability. In other words, the sin that was going on then is going on today and all of these new gadgets are used in a sinful way, just like whatever they had at that time.
Question #9 (continued): In the latter part of Ecclesiastes 3:15, it says:
…God requireth that which is past.
Was He talking about payment for sin still being the same?
Chris: Let me read this verse again. We read in Ecclesiastes 3:14-15:
I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
I do not understand this part of the verse. I do not know what it means that He requires “that which is past.”
Question #10: Could you just offer a couple of verses that support 1988 as the end of the church era?
Chris: We do know, for instance, that they went thirteen times around Jericho and then “the wall fell down flat.” This relates to 1988 being the 13,000th year of earth’s history, and then the wall of salvation in the churches came down. Matthew 24 says, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another.” The fact that God began the church age on the day of Pentecost and then He ended it the day before Pentecost on May 21st in 1988 is very significant. Plus, the 1,955 years breaks down into very significant numbers that have everything to do with the church age. There are other things, but I cannot think of them off the top of my head.
Question #11: I have two questions. I believe that we ourselves can know that we are saved. I, personally, can know if I am saved, but I cannot know if anyone else is saved because I cannot see their heart. Do you agree with this?
Chris: Yes. We can, as individuals, know if we are saved. This is what 1 John 2 says. Let me read this. We read in 1 John 2:3:
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
So God is saying that we can know according to this verse. The problem is that there are about two billion people who think they know that they are saved, and yet they are not giving any indication of salvation because they are still in the church when God has commanded that they come out of the church, as well as many other things; and so they are not giving any indication.
The danger comes in when we are tying to be obedient to what God says about examining ourselves to see if we “be in the faith.” This is a command, “Examine yourselves.” We look at ourselves, maybe with 1 John 2:3 helping us, and we see, “Well, yes, I have been making some progress in trying to do things God’s way.” But the danger comes in when we say, “Okay. I have examined myself. I have turned from these two sins and it seems that I am making progress. So, now, I am going to say to myself that I am a child of God.”
But this is me speaking to myself and this is the danger because “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” This means that an individual does not know his own heart. We cannot properly know our own hearts.
This is the reason for God telling us to “Examine yourselves.” When we do take a look at ourselves, the end of this self-examination should be, “I cannot be sure, because I do not trust myself.”
Well, then, how do we know? We know because “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” How does He speak? To be a witness, one needs to speak. He speaks through the Bible as “faith cometh by hearing.” So we keep reading the Bible and we keep praying, “O Lord, please have mercy. Save me. Could it be that You would give me the gift of assurance.”
God gives faith and God gives repentance, God gives every spiritual gift, including assurance. It does not make sense to say that we know that we cannot muster up our own faith and that we know that we cannot repent of our own hearts, and to also say that we can turn away from some sins but that we know that we need God to turn us and then we will be turned, and then come to assurance and think that we can do this. Why would we think that we can do this?
The Law of God leads us to Christ again and again. In this case, the child of God, someone who is earnestly and seriously looking at himself in the mirror of God’s Word, is going to say, “Lord, I think that I am a true believer, but I also know the nature of man and I am a man. I do not fully trust myself. So, Lord, You search me.”
It says in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart,” because in Jeremiah 17 where it says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” the following verse says in Jeremiah 17:10:
I JEHOVAH search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
To sum this up, the command to examine ourselves finally, therefore, leads us to God to say, “I cannot conduct a complete or thorough enough examination of my heart, because I cannot know it. So, Lord, You search me.” It says in Psalm 139, “Try me…and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” In other words, we are waiting on the Lord even for this. “You convince me, O Lord. May You speak to my soul.”
Question #12: My second question is about May 21, 2011. I say to myself that if May 21st rolled around and I was left behind, I feel that I would be totally deserving of it and that I would still repent, but the Bible says that there will be no one repenting at that time. I feel that I am saved, and yet I have this little questioning of myself sometimes about what I would do if I was left behind. I do not think that I would be cursing God. I do not think that I could do this. Then, again, I do not know my own heart.
I knew that I was going to have a hard time wording this, but do you understand what I am saying? I feel that if I was left behind, I would deserve it, but that I would still ask for forgiveness of my sins. How do you feel towards this, if there is a way to answer this?
Chris: Anyone who is left behind is not a true man. They are not a child of God. Therefore, for anyone who is here once God takes His people, their mask is going to come off. I guess this is the way to put it. The mask will come off; because on that day, the Jacobs are now identified and the Esaus have been identified. Those left behind identify with Esau also in his loud and bitter cry, “Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?” It will more than likely be that anyone left behind, depending on how long they live into this period of time, will get angry that they were left behind.
Question #13: Could you please tell me if the ninety-nine sheep in Luke 15:4 were saved?
Chris: I was just reading this the other day. It says in Luke 15:3-5:
And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
We know that the lost sheep is referring to one of God’s elect people. Christ is seeking His sheep today and He will find each and every one of them. But as far as the ninety-nine, I am going to hold off on commenting on this.
Question #14: Yesterday, someone mentioned 2 Peter 1:21, which says:
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
In 1 Corinthians 7:12, God allows Paul to say:
But to the rest speak I, not the Lord…
Then Paul goes on to quote Christ from Mark 10:1-12. My question is why did God allow Paul to say this and why is he saying it?
Chris: You mentioned first the verse in 2 Peter that says, “Holy men of God spake.” Obviously, if it is in the Bible, God moved the individual to write it.
So in 1 Corinthians 7:10-12, we read:
And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
The answer is that Christ had spoken about marriage and divorce. For instance, In Matthew 19, He says, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” In the Gospel of Mark, He also said that if a divorced woman were to remarry that “she committeth adultery.”
So Jesus addressed this in His ministry, but He did not get into the following information that the Apostle Paul goes on to write about, as far as an unbelieving husband with a believing wife or an unbelieving wife with a believing husband, and so forth.
He is not saying that what he is saying is not inspired. He is just indicating that this is information that Christ did not personally deal with during His ministry that we have recorded.
Question #14 (continued): So Paul is not saying that it is him who is speaking, even though it appears to be this way.
Chris: Yes, exactly; and this is a test; it is a trap.
Question #14 (continued): So this is a snare that God set up for people who want to justify their actions.
Chris: Yes, right; and people do point to this and say, “You see, this part of the Bible is not inspired.” Their aim is to try to find just one single verse that is not inspired.
Question #14 (continued): It is interesting that God allowed Paul to say this.
Chris: Yes, but this is how God wrote the Bible in many places.
Question #15: This question is not for me. This is for someone whom I was speaking to today in this room. I understand this, but could you read Mark 13:32 and look at “the Son” again?
Chris: We read in Mark 13:32:
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
I heard a little bit more information after I made my comments and I need to check this out. I cannot check this out here. I want to check this out once I get home.
We can know these things. “The Son” is not referring to Jesus in any way, because He is the Almighty and He knows all things. So there are two possibilities of who this could be. One would be Satan. The other I need to more thoroughly check out. Is it the New Testament church or is it the believers?
This verse has gotten me so many times. I thought that I had understood this verse three different ways and felt pretty confident. I actually laid off this verse for months until I answered this again recently. Then almost immediately, I found out more things that I had not heard.
So I want to check this out. This verse is very humbling. It is very humbling, I think, to many of us.
Question #16: The question I have is in Isaiah 63:4-6; particularly, verse 5. We know that all of the work that we are doing for the Lord does not contribute to our salvation. This right here shows us that it is totally all of His work. So if you could read this and explain it to me, I would appreciate it.
Chris: We read in Isaiah 63:4-6:
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.
God is referring to His “own arm,” which is Christ. It is Christ who has brought salvation. There was none other.
This is why when Jesus died as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” it gives God all of the glory, because no one can even begin to make an attempt to try to take some of the credit for what happened before the world even began. God did the work and all of the works were finished from that point. He even rose from the dead before He created the world in order that He be “declared to be the Son.”
As far as our works, we are talking a lot about sharing the Gospel. All kinds of people are wondering what they can do. I can give money. I can take tract trips. I can go out in my own area and in my own neighborhood and hand out tracts. I can help with putting up billboards and with putting up information on park benches, etc.
Individuals are being moved by God at this time to take care of this task of bringing the Gospel to all of the world, as it says in the book of Nehemiah, “The people had a mind to work.” God is our source and He is giving us a mind to work and to work heartily as to Him, to do whatever we can do in various ways.
In speaking about work, He also gives us helpful information in Ephesians 2:8-9:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
We know that we cannot do any work in relation to this.
So if anyone is thinking, “Maybe I will just get heavily involved and just do all that I can and this will earn me something,” this would not earn them one thing. The Bible says that “man is not justified by the works of the law.” This would be the worst possible reason and the most dangerous reason for anyone to do any kind of spiritual activity. We would never want to think that it would aid us in obtaining salvation in any way. God will not have this.
Then Ephesians 2:10 says:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
This is what is going on now. He has ordained it and determined it and His people will carry out this work.
Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” Have you ever heard someone say this? But at what point in history will the harvest be plentiful? It is right now when a “great multitude” is being saved. How many laborers are there? There are few.
Churches and other individuals whom I have heard speak about this have always tried to use this in order to make a plea to people, “Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful but that the laborers are few, so will you please come help? Come on people, get involved.”
But this is not what He meant. He actually did not mean this at all. He was actually stating a fact: the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. This is because the “few” is referring to His elect people, as we read, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” God is the One who is sufficient. Then through Him, His elect people will be guided and led to do the work that must be done.
I was really encouraged, as I assume that many of you were also, by the CNN news report about Marie in Colorado. She purchased ten park benches for something like $1200.00. They really stressed when they did this report that she was unemployed. They really stressed this. She was unemployed. It was just a great video that they had. They even scrolled slowly across the printing on the park bench, “May 21, 2011—Judgment Day!” This went to the whole CNN audience that reaches around the world.
As far as I know she is an unemployed person who used her funds to get these benches out. Normally, you would wonder how many people at a bus stop in Colorado would even see this. Maybe a few hundred people or a few thousand at most would have normally seen this, but God took this and magnified it. It was not only on CNN, but many blogs and other news agencies also picked up the story. It was basically carried all over the world, and yet she only spent $1200.00.
We are thinking about a world of seven billion people and wondering how we re going to reach them! We are thinking big, like we are going to buy a spot on the Super Bowl. No, we are not. But this is what we think, and so we ask ourselves how we can reach hundreds of millions of people.
Well, I think God is really showing us that we just do what we can do; just do what you can do within your means, but do it. God is basically saying, “Do it. Go ahead. You are the laborers in this plentiful harvest, because You are My elect people. It is through you that I am going to get this done.”
It is almost illogical since God has a church of two billion. What if He had just given them the task? Would that not have made more sense? They are already all over the world and in all of these places that we would love to go. They already have churches. Why did He not just give them the task to carry this message of the end?
Well, we know that “judgment must begin at the house of God,” but He could have done it differently. He could have given this job to them. Certainly, the whole world would hear.
It is almost like Gideon when 30,000 showed up to fight in the battle and God said, “The people are yet too many.” They were told to go home. Then we read, “By the three hundred men…will I save you.” He did this with just three hundred because it gave Him the glory.
We realize that we are nobodies and nothings. We are a rag-tag group. We have no authority over us. No one is in control of anyone else. People are acting independently, from our perspective; but from God’s perspective, we are like the ant. He calls the ant a wise people and we know that “the wise shall understand.” At the time of harvest, they do work and they work diligently. No one can work like an ant or God’s people when God stirs them up. When He sets off the indicator, He lets them know that it is time to work.
Let me just go to this passage and then we will close. Luke 21 is a chapter dealing with the end of the world and our time of Great Tribulation. It is parallel to Matthew 24 and Mark 13. Have you ever noticed how Luke 21 begins though? We read in Luke 21:1-4:
And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
Then He moves on into the familiar language that we also read about in Matthew 24 concerning the end where He is answering the disciples’ question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
Well, this is strategically placed by God where it is in the book of Luke to let us know that His people will have a mind to work and, by His grace, they will give up their lives.
This is why I think that I was so encouraged by that story of Marie; because when you are on unemployment, you do not get that much money and you have bills to pay, and so forth. It really is similar to the widow casting in her “two mites.”
Let us stop here.