Question:
We say that God showed that He was satisfied with Christ’s work on the cross by raising Christ from the dead. Is there Scriptural backing for this thought?

Answer:

Yes, without the very least doubt there is. “Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him” (John 13:31,32). Our Lord and Savior is here referring to His death on Calvary. He would soon be judged for sin and bear our sins in His own body. In bearing the judgment that God’s holiness required, He would put sin away from before God for eternity. Then, with that work finished, God would offer a perfect salvation to mankind based on His righteousness. Jesus Christ is glorified because He is seen as our holy and only Savior. God is glorified because He is shown as a Savior God making the way for the dead in sin to escape His judgment and have life eternal.

“I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:4,5). The holy Son of God, our Savior Jesus, is looking on to the glory He will soon enter. He looks past the cross upon which He is soon to die, for there was never a doubt that He would go there “and finish the work” that the Father gave Him to do. Now, the Man who was judged for sin and bore our sins is glorified along with the Father. He was in the glory with the Father as the Eternal Son before He came to this earth; but now, I repeat, the Man who bore our curse on the cross is glorified along with the Father.

One more important thing:In Romans 4:25 it says that Jesus “was raised for our justification.” This means that because the Lord was raised from among the dead God sees us in Christ as absolutely pure, as though no sin has ever been in us. Justification is just that:as though there never was any sin in us who are redeemed by His blood. Therefore, later in John 17 Jesus prays to the Father, “I will that they also, whom Thou has given Me, be with me where I am; that they may behold My glory.” Can it be imagined what it will be like when we are with our loving Savior and Lord in eternity, seeing and partaking in His glory?

This all shows that God was much more than “satisfied,” for both the Father and the Son are “glorified” and we shall “be made perfect in one” seeing and partaking in that glory of the Day of God when we shall enter into His rest.

Question:
Did our Savior need to be holy? Why did our Savior need to be holy? Why couldn’t a sinful human being die on the cross for everyone’s sins?

Answer:
—“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Light is the word symbol of God’s unchanging moral nature:absolute holiness.

Unholiness is darkness, which is sin. It is impossible for God to tolerate unholiness.

How could the Word who became flesh (this is Immanuel, God with us), who is Jesus, be anything but holy? “Thou art my beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22), proves Jesus was impeccably holy.

Every human being (except Jesus Christ) born into the world is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). All are “dead” before God; they are morally dead, they are worthless toward God even though there is human life in them. How could a sinful man die for the sins of another when he cannot die for his own sins, when his own guilt will bring him into God’s holy judgment?

The only Savior there could be is the Lamb who was without blemish and without spot, whose precious blood has redeemed us. It is Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God so that through His blood shed on Calvary we may have a purged conscience in order to serve the living God. How could the absolutely and inflexibly holy God accept anything, or anyone less than His righteousness required? Indeed, outside of Christ there is no salvation.

Question:
Explain what the gift of laying on of hands is and how we use the gift today (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6).

Answer:
The gift to which 1 Timothy 4:14 refers is not the laying on of hands. There is no Scripture that I know of that says the laying on of hands is a gift. The gift referred to in this verse is the spiritual gift that Christ, the risen Head of the Church, bestowed upon Timothy. The manner in which Timothy received this gift is unique, that is, we have no record in the Scriptures of anyone else ever receiving a gift in such a manner. There was prophecy from God concerning Timothy and his gift, though Scripture is silent about it except for the mention of it, so we have no way of knowing exactly what that prophecy said. Further, Paul was the Lord’s human instrument in conveying that gift to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:6) and the elders showed their fellowship with Timothy in that gift by the laying on of their hands.

Whenever we read of the laying on of hands it is always an act of approval and fellowship with the work of God on earth toward those whom the Lord has called to serve Him. It is never a bestowal of authority to or any control over the Lord’s servants, such as we commonly see practiced in Christendom today.

We can use the laying on of hands today by showing our fellowship with those who serve the Lord by the authority of His call, though a handshake is the common practice in the western world.

Question:
1 Peter 3:18-22 has led to quite a varied discussion, especially verse 19…so if anybody could explain what’s going on here….

Answer:
Allow me to quote verses 18-21, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (emphasis on verse 19).

Verse 19 is often used by those who would seek to teach that Christ, after His resurrection, went to the regions of the lost to preach to them. But what could He preach to them if this were true? The gospel? Surely this is error of the highest degree, for the Lord Jesus taught emphatically that there was no second chance for salvation if one died without it. He stated in John 8:21 and 24, “I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins:whither I go, ye cannot come….I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins:for it ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” If one does not believe that Christ is the Saviour, the Son of God, IN THIS LIFE, he will die in his sins (with his sins unforgiven) and will not go where Christ is. The Lord Jesus also taught in Luke 16:26 that there is a GREAT GULF FIXED between the saved and unsaved after they die. These two passages are enough to assure us that there is NO SECOND CHANCE TO BE SAVED FOR ANYONE AFTER DEATH, so 1 Peter 3:19 cannot be teaching us that Christ was offering the lost a second chance to be saved.

I believe the passage is simply teaching us that the Spirit of Christ preached through Noah to the disobedient [unbelievers] before the flood. They were then living men and women, but they are NOW disembodied and their spirits are in prison (the place of confinement of the lost until the Great White Throne judgment at the end of time).

Let’s look at the passage closely: By which……this refers to the Holy Spirit Who was just mentioned at the end of verse 18 (Christ was quickened by the Holy Spirit). He went……Christ went by the Spirit—it was the “Spirit of Christ” (see 1 Peter 1:11 where we read of the “Spirit of Christ” Who testified through prophets). and preached……just as Old Testament prophets testified by the Spirit of Christ, so Christ, by the Spirit, preached through Noah. Noah is called a “preacher of righteousness” in 2 Peter 2:5. To the spirits in prison……the spirits are NOW in prison, but Noah preached to them while he was preparing the ark (verse 20). They rejected his message and are now disembodied spirits in prison waiting judgment day.

Question:
Are paradise and heaven the same place? Are they the same in the Greek? Is there anything to lead us to believe that they are not the same?

Answer:
Yes, paradise and heaven are the same place, though they are not the same word in the Greek. (Paradise is the Greek word PARADEISOS; Heaven is the Greek word OURANOS.)

The word “paradise” is found only three times in Scripture, and in each instance the context confirms that the word paradise is used to describe heaven. Let us look briefly at each passage:

“And Jesus said unto him [the penitent thief], Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in PARADISE” (Luke 23:43). This promise to the newly saved thief was soon followed by these words of the Saviour to His Father in heaven, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,” and then we read that the Lord Jesus “gave up the ghost” (verse 46). Thus, it is clear that the spirit of the Lord Jesus went to the Father in heaven. So, it is equally clear that when the Lord Jesus promised the thief that he would be in paradise with Him that day, He was speaking of His spirit being with Him in HEAVEN. “How that he was caught up into PARADISE, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:4). In this passage, the Apostle Paul is describing the experience he had fourteen years before this writing when he was taken to heaven. That he is talking about heaven is made obvious from verse 2, “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell or whether out of the body, I cannot tell:God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the THIRD HEAVEN.” So here again we see the word PARADISE used to describe HEAVEN.

“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the PARADISE of God” (Revelation 2:7). The “tree of life” is part of the “new Jerusalem,” which is a city in heaven prepared for God’s heavenly saints (see Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 21:2,10, and then Revelation 22:2,14). Thus the last reference with PARADISE in it is, like the other two, used to describe HEAVEN.

I have said more than once that PARADISE is a word used to describe HEAVEN. The word PARADISE is an Oriental word for a “park” or “pleasure-grounds.” In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, the word PARADEISOS is used in Genesis 2:8 for the GARDEN of Eden. To the Oriental mind, the word PARADIESOS is equivalent to supreme bliss. HEAVEN will indeed be PARADISE (supreme bliss) for all who, by the grace of God, enter into it.

Question:
I’d like to have any information at all on what Hades, Sheol, Gehenna, and any others are all about. From what I’ve gathered so far, Hades is merely being absent from the physical body, but I’d like to know more.

Answer:
Time and space does not permit me to give the needed information on these most important terms. I will give a short definition of each, but before I do, I would like to recommend two excellent works which cover the truth as to Hades, Sheol, and Gehenna very well. They are:(1) “Facts and Theories as to a Future State” by Mr. F. W. Grant (there is also an abridgment of this book called, “Man and the Future State.” and (2) “Hades and Eternal Punishment” by A. J. Pollock. Mr. Pollock’s pamphlet can be purchased through MOMENTS WITH THE BOOK. It is an exhaustive work and it would answer the inquirer’s questions completely. I highly recommend it. Mr. Grant’s books are, I believe, out of print.

SHEOL—Sheol is the Hebrew equivalent for the Greek work, Hades. It is “the state of disembodied souls,” i.e., a condition. Sheol has no geographical position assigned to it. A condition has no geography. Sheol is never spoken of in relation to the body. The reason is obvious. It has no relation to it. It has only to do with the soul.

HADES—Hades has the exact same meaning as Sheol. It is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word, Sheol.

GEHENNA—Gehenna is the Greek equivalent for two Hebrew words signifying “valley of Hinnom.” It was the place near Jerusalem where the Jews made their children pass through fire to heathen gods, and which was afterwards defiled (2 Kings 23:10). A continual fire made it a fit emblem of the place of eternal punishment. The word Gehenna is translated “hell” nine times and “hell fire” three times. We saw that Hades is a condition, but Gehenna is a place. It is the place that the lost will dwell in (body, soul, and spirit) forever and ever. It is what the Scriptures also refer to as “the lake of fire” (Revelation 19:20; 20:10,14,15; 21:8).

Question:
When I go to heaven, will I recognize my family members?

Answer:
Though we are not told specifically that we will recognize loved ones in heaven, I believe the Scriptures definitely imply that there will be such recognition. The passages you referred to (Luke 16:19-31; Matthew 17:1-8) imply this, for, as you say, the rich man knew Abraham and the apostles knew Moses and Elias. The fact that the rich man and the apostles had never seen these men before strengthens that argument that we shall indeed know our loved ones (whom we had seen and known before in this life). See also Luke 13:28.