James Dyck

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Jane Aubry - I remember one day in the 1970's playing my guitar, looking up to heaven, and saying, “If there is a God, I want to know Him.” When I met Roger, my husband to be, he told me he was “saved”.  I had never heard the word before.  I had thought we could only “hope” to go to heaven. He told me how he was saved and that was the end of talking about it for a time. more...

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Becky MacLeod

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Is going to the doctor a sign of a lack of faith?

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This can be an explosive question due to the history of persecution against the Jews for being "Christ Killers".  The Pope raised a lot of eyebrows for pardoning the Jews for killing Christ.  Of course, the Pope doesn’t speak for the entire Christian world, but he attracted a lot of attention when in his book “Jesus of Nazareth Part II,” Pope Benedict XVI exonerated the Jews for the death of Jesus Christ. The Second Vatican Council forgave the Jews for killing Jesus in 1965, but this marks the first time that a Pope has personally done so.

Are the Jews guilty of killing Jesus?

There were actually many people responsible for putting Jesus to death, including some of the Jews of Jesus’ day.  The Jews who were responsible for taking Jesus to the Roman government were the current leaders of the nation of Israel.  The Roman Governor Pilate had his own guilt for permitting an execution of an innocent man.  The Roman soldiers carried out orders in their most cruel and mocking fashion.

 
Of course the early believers in Christ (not yet called Christians) included faithful Jews like Simeon, Anna, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Martha, and Lazarus.  There was tension in the early church between the believers who preferred to keep Jewish law and those who saw that Christ fulfilled the law.  Read and study the books of Galatians 1:6-24;" TARGET="_blank">Galatians 1:6-24; 2 Corinthians 3:14-16" TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 3:14-16 and Hebrews 13:10-13" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 13:10-13 to see this difference.  But there is no call in the Bible to blame the Jewish nation for Christ’s death.  The most powerful example what a Christian attitude should be can be found in the words of Christ Himself “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 23:34).

In later centuries, when the Catholic faith became the dominate form of Christianity, the accusation was raised that all Jewish people were responsible for putting Jesus to death which helped fuel anti-Semitic feelings and the horrible persecutions against Jews which have been documented throughout the last 2000 years - the targeted killings of Jews during the Crusades inspired by Pope Urban II, the Spanish Inquisition established in 1480 by Catholic king and queen Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the Nazi Holocaust lead by Adlof Hitler to mention only three.  For a Jew to become a Christian, it is more than simply a matter of reading the scriptures and seeing that their Messiah has already come.  The killings and torture done by the church against the Jews has made it an issue of “us against them”.

What does the Bible say about who killed Jesus?

It is clear from the Gospel accounts that there were religious leaders who were plotting against Jesus for a long time before he was finally crucified.  The crowds of people were manipulated by their leaders to cry “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” at the trial before Pilate (Luke 23:21)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 23:21).  They chose Barabbas, the murderor-terrorist to be freed in place of Christ (Matthew 27:21)." TARGET="_blank">Matthew 27:21). Later in a public speech, the Apostle Peter put the blame for this decision on the people in Acts 2:22-23." TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:22-23.

I am guilty of the death of Christ?

However, the Bible also tells us that the crucifixion was part of the plan of God to sacrifice Christ for the punishment of our sins.  Acts 2:23" TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:23 says the cross was in “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23)." TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:23).  God turned a wicked act into a noble sacrifice making provision for every guilty man and woman in the world to be saved.  The attitude of Jesus’ death and who is guilty then becomes a personal matter of guilt.  Galatians 2:20" TARGET="_blank">Galatians 2:20 says that “the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me”.  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21)" TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 5:21)

The leaders of the Jews were constantly trying to kill Jesus

Many times in the stories of the Gospels we read that the Saducees and Pharisees were plotting how to kill Jesus.  

Here are some of the examples:

In Mark 3," TARGET="_blank">Mark 3, we read that Jesus made the Phrisees and the Herodians angry for violating the laws of the Sabbath.

Mark 3:3-6" TARGET="_blank">Mark 3:3-6  And he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come here."  (4)  And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent.  (5)  And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  (6)  The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Luke 6:11" TARGET="_blank">Luke 6:11  But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

John 8:58-59" TARGET="_blank">John 8:58-59  Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."  (59)  So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

John 7:1" TARGET="_blank">John 7:1  After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

Mark 11:18" TARGET="_blank">Mark 11:18  And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

John 11:47-53" TARGET="_blank">John 11:47-53  So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.  (48)  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."  (49)  But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all.  (50)  Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish."  (51)  He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,  (52)  and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.  (53)  So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Matthew 16:21" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 16:21  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

John 7:19-25" TARGET="_blank">John 7:19-25  Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?"  (20)  The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"  (21)  Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel at it.  (22)  Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  (23)  If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?  (24)  Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."  (25)  Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

Matthew 26:1-4" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 26:1-4  When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,  (2)  "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."  (3)  Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,  (4)  and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Shad Sluiter

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Should the oversight meeting be open to all elder brethren of consistent walk in life, or only to a few, who “assume” the care and rule of the meeting?

I think one qualified by God for such a work would be very slow to “assume” anything; 

1 Timothy 3:1-7;" TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1: 6-9;" TARGET="_blank">Titus 1: 6-9; and 1 Peter 5:1-5" TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 5:1-5 give us the qualifications of an overseeing elder: first, he must” desire” it (or “stretch forward” to it, as the original expresses). But that is not enough; he may even be “consistent in walk and life,” and yet fail to manifest the necessary qualification for eldership. Does he rule his home well for instance? or is it a matter of common knowledge, that he is ruled in the home? An overseer of this type is a great hindrance, for sometimes it is the power in the home that seeks to rule the church by his means.

Has he a “good report of them that are without”? Does he “hold fast the faithful Word”? Has he a pastor’s heart, to feed the flock of God?

I think one qualified by God for such a work would be very slow to “assume” anything; he would be apt to do the work, show fitness for it, and have a heart for the Lord’s people, but it would not be for him to push himself into a prominent position; rather his fellowship would be sought. Elders caring for the saints should be on the look out for brethren who are manifesting any spiritual activities, and seek to encourage such, remember that age comes on apace, and that soon perhaps their work will need other hands to take it up.

W.H.

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RULE
Do the Scriptures teach that an overseer is to rule the Church?

Does “obey them that have the rule over you,” imply that we have rulers in the Church to-day?

Three words are translated “RULE” in the New Testament in reference to oversight:

(1) P0IMAINO (from POIMN, a shepherd), used by our Lord to Peter—”Feed (better, ‘shepherd’) my sheep” (John 21:16)." TARGET="_blank">John 21:16). The word in vv. 1 and 17 for “feed,” is BOSKO; but feeding, though of the first importance, is only one item of shepherding.

(2) POIMAINO also occurs in Acts 20:28" TARGET="_blank">Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5:2," TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 5:2, “feed the flock”; also in Matt. 2:6," TARGET="_blank">Matt. 2:6, “RULE”—”that shall rule (marg. feed) my people Israel.” (z) PR0" TARGET="_blank">PR0I- STMI, as in 1 Timothy 3:5" TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 3:5 “If a man know not how to RULE his own house, how shall he take care (EPIMELBOMAI) of the church of God?” This word for “take care” occurs only here and in Luke 10:34, 35," TARGET="_blank">Luke 10:34, 35, of and by “the good Samaritan.”

PROISTEMI is used too of the RULE OF THE CHURCH in 1 Timothy 5:17." TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 5:17.

(3) HGEOMAI (from AGO, to lead), to be a leader, to rule (in New Testament this latter only in present participle), is used of Barnabas and Silas—”CHIEF MEN among the brethren” (Acts 15:22);" TARGET="_blank">Acts 15:22); of Joseph—”GovEiuoR over Egypt” (Acts 8:10);" TARGET="_blank">Acts 8:10); and in Hebrews 13:7, 17," TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 13:7, 17, 24 in the expression, “them that HAVE THE RULE OVER” (marg., in two latter verses, “guides,” which seems to do well).

Overseers, then, are shepherds, feeding, guiding, tending the flock; also ruling, but not inthese]fassetiye, domineering way of a Gentile king, “not as lords over God’s heritage,” but with gentle control for the good of the sheep, whom they love, because they belong to the Chief Shepherd who has entrusted them to their care (1 Peter 5:2-4)," TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 5:2-4), and it is for the sheep to be subject to this godly rule.

W.H.

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Could our Lord have returned to heaven without going to the Cross?

This idea used to be put forward as a possible suggestion for illustrative purposes. What a wonderful ending to our Lord’s life it would have been had He gone straight up to heaven without dying! but without asserting that this was a possibility. Of later years this supposition has become an affirmation, put forward as though there was a clear “thus saith the Lord” for it. Especially have speculative teachers, who love the sensational, asserted this in connection with the Transfiguration on the Holy Mount. In reality this was the most unlikely moment for such a thing to occur, had it been otherwise within the range of God’s purposes, for such an event is never hinted at in any of the three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration.

In Matthew 17" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 17 this comes just after the Lord’s first clear announcement of His passion: “Jesus began to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things”, etc. (Matthew 16:21)." TARGET="_blank">Matthew 16:21). In Mark 9" TARGET="_blank">Mark 9 likewise the account is preceded by the words of Mark 8:31," TARGET="_blank">Mark 8:31, “The Son of Man must suffer,” etc., and so in Luke 9" TARGET="_blank">Luke 9—the reference to the sufferings in Luke 9:22" TARGET="_blank">Luke 9:22 as a necessity, is followed by a glimpse of the coming Kingdom glory.

Far then from a choice being offered to our Lord on the Holy Mount of returning to heaven without dying, I believe this prophetic view of the coming Kingdom glory was to cheer the disciples in view of the certainly coming Cross. There is an additional fact given us in Luke, namely, the subject on which Moses and Elias conversed with our Lord in the glory —“They spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.” Certainly Peter tried to turn Him from this purpose in Matt. i6, but was met with a stern rebuke.

The momentous scene in Gethsemane clearly shows, however, that the Lord was a free Agent in redemption. He was under no fatalistic necessity to redeem men, but He was “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world,” and He had said to Nicodemus, “The Son of Man must be lifted up.” Later we hear Him saying, “For this cause came I unto this hour,” and “The Son of Man came . . to give His life a ransom for many.” These two sides of truth are seen at Gethsemane. His holy human will rightly shrank from contact with sin, and the Divine abandonment involved; but as a Divine Person His will was able to say, “Nevertheless not My will but thine be done.” When Peter sought by the use of the sword to defend His Master, the latter says, in Matthew 26:52," TARGET="_blank">Matthew 26:52, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” but immediately adds, “But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”

In John 18:11" TARGET="_blank">John 18:11 we have an additional word, “The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” which, coming either before or after the other words, gives us the balance of Scripture. It was with “wicked hands”—the voluntary act of murderers—that men crucified and slew Him; but it was also with holy hands that He by a voluntary act, and by the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9)." TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 9). He could say with equal truth, “No man taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself,” and “this commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10)." TARGET="_blank">John 10). There was no fatalistic necessity for our Lord to lay down His life, but there was a moral necessity, and it is very unprofitable and unsound specula tio to assert the contrary.

W.H.

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CHRIST’S PRIESTHOOD
When did the High Priesthood of Christ begin, at the offering of Himself on the cross, or upon His sitting down at God’s right hand?

If I were to ask, at what point in the record given us in the 8th and 9th chapters of Leviticus did the high priesthood of Aaron begin, I should probably receive various replies. Some possibly would tell me that he was high priest from the very beginning of the first day of the eight mentioned in these chapters, when he was put forward, before the congregation (chap. 8. 2-5), as the one God had “called” (Hebrews 5:4)" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 5:4) for the position. Others might say that his priesthood should be reckoned from after the bathing, and clothing, and anointing, and offering (including that of the ram of consecration) on that first day had been completed. Others still might think that only at the end of the seven “days of consecration” (chap. 8. 3) could he be called high priest; while some perhaps would suggest that his priesthood did not effectively begin until he commenced to act on the people’s behalf during the transactions of the eighth day (chap. 9. 15). If I got these replies, could I say that any of them was entirely wrong? I do not think so.

Let us then see what the Hebrews epistle has to tell us about the beginning of the High Priesthood of Christ. In Hebrews 9:11," TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 9:11, after a description of the ministry of the Old Testament high priests, we read, “But Christ having (R.V.) come a High Priest . . . entered in . . . having obtained eternal redemption.” Here the expression “having come a High Priest” seems to suggest that, right from the commencement of His Activities in connection with obtaining redemption, He was acting in priestly character; and definitely so, before He “entered in.” Then in Hebrews 2:17" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 2:17 we get, “It behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become (see Greek, or Newberry) a. . . High Priest . . . to make propitiation (R.V.) for the sins of the people.” In this passage His becoming High Priest is made consequent on His having been made “like unto His brethren,” and yet it was as High Priest that He made propitiation for sins. Again, in Hebrews 6:20" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 6:20 (R.V.) we read, “Whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a High Priest”; which appears to imply that His “entering” followed immediately upon His becoming Priest. Next, in Hebrews 5:10," TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 5:10, after having “learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (this, in light of Phil 2:8" TARGET="_blank">Phil 2:8 surely including His death), and after having thus been “made perfect”; He is then “named (R.V.) of God a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek,” probably in the sense that there was a proclamation of His Priesthood at His ascension. Lastly, in Hebrews 8:4" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 8:4 we are told that His Priesthood is not “on earth,” and in Hebrews 7:26" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 7:26 that it is in a sphere where He is “separated (R.V.) from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”

In view of all this, would I be safe in setting down as wrong: (1) the person who says that when Christ offered up Himself He was Priest as well as Sacrifice; or (2) the person who tells me that His Priesthood is part of the outcome of His death; or (3) the person who states that for the exercise of His Priesthood, He required to be where He now is, in the heavenly Sanctuary? In each case, I do not think so.

W.R.

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Who are the speakers in the Song of Solomon?

Some say they are Christ and the Church; others, God and Israel. Who is the questioner In Song of Solomon 5:9" TARGET="_blank">Song of Solomon 5:9?
The Song of Songs is not, of course, a mere love-song; nor is it a song of espousals, but a marriage song. Certain companies of persons are introduced and take part in the dialogue, e.g., the watchmen, the daughters of Jerusalem; but the Bridegroom and the bride are the principals. Who are they? The Church was an unrevealed mystery in the Old Testament, so may safely be ruled out. Surely there can be no doubt that we have in this Book, a beautiful picture of the affections of Jehovah toward the true Israel, and the response of the bride. “I am married to you, saith Jehovah” (Jeremiah 3:14)." TARGET="_blank">Jeremiah 3:14). “Thy maker is thy husband” (Isaiah  54:5). The watchmen of the city seem to represent men of the world with no sympathy for the bride, while the daughters of Jerusalem may stand for nominal Israel. These distinctions being made, the inspired language of the Book fits in well with the affections of a believer to-day toward Christ, when enjoying communion with the “Lover of his soul.” The spiritual believer knows how to use the Book in this way to his own soul’s blessing and to the glory of Christ.
W.H.

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