Question: “But for the elect’s sake those days are shortened” (Matt. 24:22). Who are the elect spoken of here?
Answer: The Jewish remnant, who will suffer terribly in the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week.
Question: Please explain Luke 14:26.
Answer: We can only understand this to mean that Christ being rejected, those who truly follow Him must be prepared to do so at all costs, even to the breaking of every earthly tie; not that natural relationships as such are to be repudiated, but Christ must be first, and His claims set before all else, even one’s own life.
Question: Are there two “little whiles” in John 16?
Answer: Yes, He was still to be with them a little while, and He was to be separated from them a little while.
Question: Could the scripture be applied now where it told the angels at harvest time to go and first gather the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into My barn? Does the wheat apply to Israel? (Matt. 13:30).
Answer: The kingdom, in its present form, extends from Pentecost till the Lord comes for His saints.
There are many associations, both secular and religious, that might be spoken of as “bundles” of tares, but the wheat is mixed in with them. The wheat here is not Israel, but all who are the Lord’s now; those who are cleansed from their sins and sealed by the Holy Spirit. When the Lord comes, He will gather them all into His granary. After that, the angels will be called to do their work (Matt. 13:39,41,49).
The fishermen in Matthew 13:48 are the servants in the present time, who understand what God is doing, not saving the world, but gathering out of it those who compose the body of Christ. They know that the gospel of the grace of God, that is preached now, gathers these only, and these are the good who believe the gospel to the salvation of their souls. The bad, though in the net, were only nominal Christians, that is, without being born again.
Question: Please tell us about 1 John 2:7-8.
Answer: In one sense, it was not a new commandment, but that which was from the beginning. In another sense, it was a new commandment, inasmuch as Christ is revealed in a new way, by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, consequent upon Christ’s glorification at God’s right hand. Eternal life was always in Him; but now it is true in Him and in His people, because they are united to Him by the Holy Ghost. It could not have been said, “in Him and in you” until redemption was accomplished, and the Holy Ghost had come down to baptize believers into one body, and unite them to the head; but this latter is unfolded in the writings of Paul. John gives us the subject of eternal life. Paul develops the doctrine of the church.