Correspondence: Dan. 3:18; John 3:13; Luke 23:43

Daniel 3:18; John 3:13; Luke 23:43  •  5 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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Question: Would Daniel 3:1818But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3:18) illustrate the words of the Lord Jesus, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”? J. T. G.
Answer: It would illustrate their faithfulness to God, and that they would not give the king’s authority a place above God’s. It was better to obey God than man. Daniel 6:4, 54Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. 5Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. (Daniel 6:4‑5), shows both. Daniel was faithful in the business of the kingdom (the things of Caesar), at the same time he set God first, and prayed to God, though forbidden by the king to do so, thus he rendered to God the things that are God’s.
Question: |iI| cannot get the sense of John 3:1313And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:13). Jesus Himself was speaking, and was not yet crucified, yet He speaks of having ascended and being in heaven, while here on earth. W. D. W.
Answer: Matt. 11:2727All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:27) and Luke 10:2222All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. (Luke 10:22) tell us of the mystery of the person of the Son of God, whose being none can know. John’s Gospel brings this much before us. He does not solve it, but counts on our faith to trust Him. Men say, “Seeing is believing.” Faith says the opposite, “Said I not unto Thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see?” John 11:4040Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? (John 11:40). John’s Gospel anticipates, and speaks as if all was done. It is as good as done in the purposes of God, which cannot fail. Who else but He could speak as being in heaven, while here upon earth? In these verses He is bearing witness to what He had seen and heard—new and heavenly things never heard of before, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
Question: What did the Lord mean when He said to the thief on the cross (Luke 23:4343And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)), “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise”? Is that hell or heaven? Did He descend into hell to preach to the departed spirits, and was not ascended to His Father?
I believe the thief was saved, but the matter is not clear to me. Could He mean that the thief went to God, and God and Christ are one.
“I and My Father are one”? C. E. W.
Answer: When the Lord was about to die, He committed His Spirit to His Father. He did not go into the prison where lost souls are; He did not descend into (gehenna) hell, the place of punishment, but into (hades) the state of the soul absent from its body. This word is also translated hell, and is used of Him in Acts 2:27, 3127Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 2:27)
31He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. (Acts 2:31). The word paradise means a place of delights. In 2 Corinthians 12:2, 42I 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. (2 Corinthians 12:2)
4How 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), Paul was caught up there; in the second verse it is the third heaven; in the fourth it is paradise. So when the Lord committed His Spirit to His Father, He was received there while His body lay in the grave; yet no corruption was allowed to touch it. (Psa. 16:9, 109Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:9‑10) and Acts 2:2727Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 2:27).) But this was not ascension. Ascension is where spirit, soul and body—the complete man—is taken up. David has been there with the spirits of just men (Heb. 12:2323To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23)) ever since he died, but it is written (Acts 2:29, 3429Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. (Acts 2:29)
34For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, (Acts 2:34)), “David is not ascended,” but Jesus is (Acts 2:29-3629Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 34For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 36Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:29‑36).)
The rich man in Luke 16:22, 2322And 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 16:22‑23), died and was buried, and in hell (that is hades, the state of the dead), was also in torments. That was not paradise, nor is it said to be gehenna, but it is real suffering begun. When he is raised from the dead (Rev. 20), then he will stand before the great, white throne, and, spirit, soul and body, be put into the lake of fire-judged according to his works.
The Lord did not go into prison. There never was any preaching done there. 1 Peter 3:18, 1918For 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: 19By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; (1 Peter 3:18‑19), tells us of Christ who 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 (the Spirit) He went and preached to the spirits in prison. It means that the Spirit of Christ in Noah preached to the antedeluvians, and because they were disobedient to the preaching, they are now in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. (Compare also 2 Peter 2:5, 95And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:5)
9The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: (2 Peter 2:9)). The great gulf is fixed by death; there is no discharge in that war. (Eccl. 8:88There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. (Ecclesiastes 8:8); Luke 16:2626And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. (Luke 16:26).)
The first mark of grace in the soul of the thief was seen in condemning himself and the other one, as justly receiving what they deserved, and he justifies Jesus, saying, “This man has done nothing amiss.” The second mark was that he turns to the very one he reviled before (Matt. 27:4444The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. (Matthew 27:44)), with the prayer, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” Here his faith owns this dying man as Lord and King, and looks forward to their being raised from the dead. Jewish faith looks for the kingdom to be set up in earthly glory, but what a surprise to hear of immediate blessing before the kingdom could possibly be. “Verily, I say unto you, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise,” in that joyful garden of delights, and best of all, in companionship with his blessed Redeemer. What grace to make a condemned thief, the earliest trophy mentioned in Scripture of His grace to sinners. How could He do it? Because there on that cross He bore his many sins.
There are three persons in the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Ghost. They are one in mind and purpose. It is the Father’s will, the Son’s work, the Holy Spirit’s power and witness, both in creation and redemption. In John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28) to 30, the Father and the Son go together in one mind to give eternal life, and to hold the sheep securely. “I and My Father are one.” It is in mind and purpose, while distinct persons.