4274 — PREEXISTENCE OF CHRIST
Does the doctrine that Jesus was the Son of God before He was born of the virgin Mary harmonize with Luke 1:35, last part? W. J. M. The first part of Hebrews 1 informs us that all things were made by Christ. And in harmony with this statement in Hebrews we have these words: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Col. 1:13-17. In these verses we find it stated that Christ is the first-born of every creature, and that by Him all things were created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible; and furthermore, that He is before all things. In Christ's prayer to His Father for His disciples and the church that they were to found, we find these words: "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." John 17:5, 24. It is easy to see that these verses from John state beyond question that Christ was with the Father before the creation of the earth. Speaking of the journeying of the children of Israel in the wilderness, Paul says they "did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them [margin, "went with them"]: and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:4. This text is definite in saying that Christ was the invisible Leader that was with the Israelites during their journeys in the wilderness. But the question is raised by our inquirer as to how the foregoing scriptures can be made to harmonize with Luke 1:35, which says: "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Any difficulty in harmonizing the clear statements in regard to Christ's existing before He was born of the virgin Mary at Bethlehem, and this statement in Luke, would probably arise from a failure to recognize the great condescension of Christ in submitting to His Father to be transformed from His great personage as Creator into a babe in embryo. The condescension and the love of both Christ and God in this supreme sacrifice that They made for humanity will be the science and the song of the eternal ages. As the redeemed realize what they have gained through this condescension and the sacrifice that both God and Christ made, their hearts will well up with indescribable joy; but it is impossible for humanity to explain it or describe it. Eternity will be continually unfolding the great mystery, for "without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." 1 Tim. 3:16. It is not ours to be able to understand or to attempt to explain the fathomless working of the mysteries of God in devising the great plan of salvation, but we may know by experience, and enjoy, the great facts of this inconceivable condescension on the part of our divine Father and His blessed Son, our Redeemer. 4275 — "IN PARADISE TO-DAY" Please explain the words of our Lord, "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Is this sentence of our Lord punctuated right in the King James Version? G. W. E. The punctuation and division of the Bible into chapters and verses is not inspired. In some of the oldest manuscripts the letters are all run together—there is no division of words even. All of the punctuation and the divisions have been put in by the translators. This is one of the instances where the punctuation changes the meaning of the text. The comma should be after "to-day" instead of after "thee." The fact that Christ, when He appeared to Mary after His resurrection (John 20:17), told her that He had not yet ascended to His Father, shows that He did not that day go to Paradise, which is the abode of the Father. And again, the thief's request was, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." But Christ does not come into His kingdom until His second coming. "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." Matt. 25:31. The Master's promise is that "to-day, when to all human appearances I have not power to fulfil the promise that I make, when all My disciples have lost faith in Me and forsaken Me, in spite of My seeming humiliation and defeat—even to-day, since thou hast faith to believe, I have power to promise, that thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." The Bible throughout plainly teaches the unconscious state of the dead, and the text must be interpreted in harmony with the Scriptures themselves. In other words, we must allow the Scriptures to be the interpreter of this statement of the Saviour, and not those who have some theological dogma to defend. And besides all this, those who claim that Christ met the thief in Paradise on that day hold that the spirit of Christ left His body and the spirit of the thief left his body, and together they went away to the place known as Paradise. But if Christ's spirit did not die, and only His human body went under the penalty of death, then we have but a human sacrifice. God did not give His Son to die for the sins of the world, and permit Him to pass through a make-believe experience, in which only His human body died; but the Son of God actually died on the cross of Calvary. When He said He had power to lay down His life, and "power to take it again," He meant what He said, and humanity has the strong consolation of the great fact that the Lord Jesus Christ so loved the world that He actually died, and for those three days that His body was in the tomb He was resting under the penalty of death, and was unconscious. This position is the only one that is truly defensible in the light of all the scriptures of the divine Word. 4276 — "UNTIL THE SON OF MAN BE COME" Does the coming of the Son of man, spoken of in Matt. 10:23, refer to His second coming? J. G. The scriptures both before and after that verse show that the Master is giving instruction to His disciples that was to be their guide until the end of time. The persecutions and the suffering that Christians were to endure are briefly spoken of; and while in a local way the text must refer to the fact that Christ would come after the disciples in person, on the missionary journey to the cities of Palestine upon which He had just sent them, yet the text may also include the greater statement that was made later by the Lord, that when "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness," "then shall the end come." The great objective of the gospel, and of all of the prophecies, is the second coming of Christ.