Scripture Queries and Answers

Q.-Matt. 12:43, Who is it that walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none—the unclean spirit or the man? If it is the man how do we rind the spirit coming back to the empty tenement, and, with his companions, making his abode there? J. G.
A.-It is the unclean spirit of idolatry which having, since the Babylonish captivity, departed from the Jewish nation, for “many days” (Hos. 3:4) still running their course, will at the close of this present period of grace, return in an aggravated form. For the Jews having rejected the Lord Jesus who came in His Father's name, will receive another who shall come in his own name (John 5:43)—the lawless one whose coming or presence will be according to the working of Satan, with every kind of power and signs and wonders of a lie. The Lord Himself gives the interpretation, of the passage, “Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (cf. Psa. 12:7; Matt. 24:34), thus showing “the man” to be representative of the Jews once “possessed,” then delivered, and finally in their last stage of continued unbelief, re-possessed with the spirit of idolatry in its most egregious form—the reception and worship of the false Messiah, the antichrist!
Q.- Luke 15:11-32. Who is represented by the younger brother t Jew or Gentile? J. G.
A.-The one who repents and returns to God, and is thus given to know the Father's joy in welcoming the poor sinner who comes as he is in all his rags and disgrace, and receives the kiss, the best robe, the ring and sandals, and shares, in his measure, the joy of the Father's heart and house. This we, believing Gentiles, have, in His rich mercy, been given to know; whilst the elder son in his self-righteousness, is like the Jew (Rom. 10:1-3), who remains a stranger to this grace of the gospel, Believing not in mercy to the Gentiles, he refuses it for himself (Rom. 11:30-32) and comes not into the blessing of those who now receive the fullness of the gospel.
Q.-2 Cor. 12:7-10. Was the “thorn in the flesh” a physical affliction? Does the term “my infirmities” refer to the same thing as the “thorn"? Is the “power” spoken of in this portion, and the “strength” physical power and strength to overcome what was a physical affliction, supposing the thorn to be such? J. M.
A.-The “thorn,” in the apostle's case, was a messenger of Satan for buffeting in order to the putting down of the flesh,” and as it would seem, was such as made him contemptible in the eyes of others, and produced also physical weakness (1 Cor. 2:3 2 Cor. 10:10; Gal. 4:13-15), “My infirmities” —or weaknesses of body—became an occasion for the special exercise of divine power and grace enabling him even to take pleasure in weaknesses for Christ's sake. Thus the excellency of the power was seen to be of God. As the Lord assured the apostle of the sufficiency of His grace, and the perfecting of His power in human weakness, so would he rather glory in his (bodily) weaknesses that this power of Christ may have its dwelling-place on him. The outer man might perish, but the inward is renewed day by day, and he fainted not. Thus our physical weaknesses are triumphed over (not renewed) by spiritual power— “the power of Christ”
Scripture Queries and Answers
Q.-Gen. 3:17. Did God curse the ground as a blessing to Adam and his seed, or as a just punishment for his sin, as it is said, “for thy sake"? In the two following verses it would seem that there was no work before this; whereas in chap. 2:5 we read, “there was not a man to till the ground,” and again, in verse 15, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Was this work or not? That is, was not the first position of “dressing” and “keeping” of the same character as the later one of “tilling the ground from whence he was taken” 23)?
E. T.
A.-That the ground was cursed because of Adam's sin is what scripture plainly states, That there was no “work” before his fall is not so stated. Man placed in the garden “to dress it and to keep it” shows that it was not God's will that His creature should be idle. But there was no “toil” or “sorrow” connected with such occupation. Now thorns and thistles were to appear, and in the sweat of his face was man to eat bread. Weariness is known, and so also the sweetness of rest after labor. Idleness was one of the iniquities of Sodom (Ezek. 16:49). It had no place in innocency, nor will it be compatible with the millennium (Amos 9:13), when “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose"; nor—may we not add?—with the eternal state (Rev. 21). Labor here is good for all, and in it there is profit. For out of evil God can and does bring good.
It may be instructive to compare the case of Levi as an instance of God making His judgment an occasion of blessing. Gen. 49:7 says, “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” But in Deut. 33:10 we see how their being thus divided and scattered is overruled for more effectually teaching “Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law.” “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”
Q.-Luke 23:45. Why in this Gospel is the rending of the veil noted as preceding the giving up of the ghost by the Lord Jesus, whilst in Matthew and Mark it is given as following Christ's death?
W. G. T. B.
A.-Luke not seldom departs from the strict sequence of time, and delights in giving us the moral accompaniments or results of the ways, words or work of the Lord Jesus. Mark more particularly, and, in part, Matthew also, furnish us with the chronological order. But in this instance neither of the three appears to afford definite marks warranting us to say absolutely whether the rending was before or after our Lord's death. The darkness past, and God's holy judgment borne, He could now say, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and then expire. The truth would not be without Luke's account, which is as necessary for us as the record of the other Evangelists. In the four Gospels we have God's full and complete account of Christ's atoning work.