Thru the Bible - Questions & Answers

Guest (Male): Psalm 82 makes a very bold and unusual statement. It says, "You are gods." What was the psalmist trying to say here? What was God trying to point out to the Israelites? And what is He saying now? Well, stay with us and find out.

You're listening to the question and answer program with Dr. J. Vernon McGee, a ministry of the Thru the Bible Radio Network. It's time now to turn to our questions and Dr. McGee's answers. Our first question comes to us from Fairhope, Alabama. It reads, "Could you please explain Matthew 24 verses 40 and 41? I believe that this does not refer to the rapture, but many pastors teach that it does refer to the rapture. So could you please elaborate on your position?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And we are delighted to take it up and especially at this time because not only in the South where I came from, are the denominations now for the first time putting an emphasis on prophecy. They have always been amillennial or post-millennial, and I grew up in that atmosphere. I graduated from a seminary that is definitely amillennial, and I have a notion that this is a spillover from that seminary into your area in Alabama.

But this now is something that many, who never before studied prophecy or put emphasis upon it, are turning to prophecy. As we've said, the denominations largely are amillennial. There are some premillennial men in the group. Now you've asked the question here concerning these two verses in Matthew 24:40-41. Today I want to be very explicit and very thorough in answering this question. Not that I believe that the answer I'm going to give is going to settle it forever, because I know it's not.

But I do think that we need to have a thorough answer to this question because those saying this refers to the rapture apparently have very little knowledge of the gospel of Matthew and its great purpose. I'm reading now Matthew 24:40 and 41: "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left."

Now let me go back just a little and very briefly give you a resume of the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew, I consider, is probably the key to the understanding of the Scriptures. It stands at the very entrance of the New Testament. It's like a swinging door. It swings back into the Old Testament and gathers up more prophecies than any other gospel. It swings farther into the New Testament than any other book of the New Testament, including Revelation for that matter, because the Lord Jesus mentioned here for the first time the church. You don't find that mentioned in the other gospels, but it's mentioned in this gospel here.

Now this gospel was directed, as all the gospels were, to meet the needs of a certain class or group of people who have a certain lifestyle, and it's geared to them. That type of person has been in the world from the very beginning. Matthew was written to Israel and it was directed to them. Matthew was a tax gatherer and brought to the Lord Jesus. Now he writes this gospel to his people, and he's presenting the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who will be King of kings and Lord of lords.

In the Gospel of Matthew, you will find out that He is picking up these great prophecies in the Old Testament that relate to the birth of the Lord Jesus and says that they are fulfilled in Him. He opens by saying, "This is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David." That's the kingdom. "And the son of Abraham," and that is the racial connotation. So you have here in the Gospel of Matthew now, the Lord Jesus presented as a king, and this is to meet the need of the religious man, the man that is looking for something and not finding it in this life and especially in the political realm, in the governmental realm at all.

Here's the one who's born a king, lived as a king, worshipped as a king, by the way, and He gave the Sermon on the Mount, which is probably one of the most misunderstood documents in the word of God. There are those today trying to live by the Sermon on the Mount. To begin with, they are hypocritical if they say they are living by it. I think in two minutes if I could talk to the individual, I could show him that he's being hypocritical if he says he's living by the Sermon on the Mount.

It's going to be the law of the kingdom, and certainly it's the will of God if you can make it, brother, then you go ahead. I've never been able to make it with the Sermon on the Mount. There's no mercy in the Sermon on the Mount, and there's no grace there. There's no salvation there. But here you have the law, and this will be the law of the kingdom.

Then you come to another great section here and that's called the mystery parable discourse in Matthew 13. The King has been rejected. He was born a king, presented to His nation as a king, and He was rejected as a king. But He now rejects the nation, but He tells how the kingdom of heaven will fare in this interval between the time that He is absent until He comes again to this earth. That's what you have in Matthew 13.

If you keep that in mind, you won't get confused with this great, marvelous chapter of the word of God. You won't start spinning off all kinds of theories today, and you certainly won't come up by saying that leaven is something good when Scripture from beginning to end makes it very clear that leaven is evil. God did that so you wouldn't make a mistake when you got to Matthew 13.

You'd like to think that the church is just going to finally convert the world, but the Lord Jesus never said that, and the New Testament doesn't say that. My friend, after 1,900 years it doesn't look like the church is going to convert the world. I think we're going to evangelize the world, but never has there been a spot yet that's been 100% converted. The closest thing was the Hawaiian Islands, but go out and look at the paradise of the Pacific today. Instead of them coming to Christ, they are going as far away from Him as they possibly can.

The Hawaiian Islands are no different than Los Angeles, California, that is the cities and the great population that's come in there. No, may I say to you that there's no evidence that the gospel as it's being preached today will convert the world. The one that's going to convert the world is the Lord Jesus when He comes to this earth to establish His kingdom. Matthew 13 covers that interval.

Now in Matthew 24 and 25 you have the so-called Olivet Discourse and it's prophetic. It looks to the future because the apostles came to the Lord Jesus and asked Him three questions. He said the time had come when one stone would not be left upon another, and they just couldn't believe that was going to happen to Herod's temple and that beautiful area there and Jerusalem would be destroyed again, especially after He had walked there.

But Jerusalem just a few years after He was here, 70 AD, Titus the Roman did not tread in the streets of Jerusalem. He just walked over the rubble of the city, and it was in some places 15 to 30 feet deep. He destroyed it and plowed it under. That was the thing that He said would come to pass, and the Lord Jesus answered that question. They wanted to know when would these things be, one stone not left upon another, and He answered that, and you'll find that in the 21st chapter of Luke.

But Matthew's concerned with the future of the kingdom and the other two questions says, "What is the sign of your coming and what is the sign of the end of the age?" He gives them in a chronological and logical order. He gives them the sign of the end of the age, and the end of the age is to end with the Great Tribulation period on this earth. The Bible doesn't say that man in sin down here is going to be able to build a kingdom and live happily ever after. Man in sin today can't do that.

Only God can do that, and the Olivet Discourse gives the sign of the end of the age. Those signs are signs that are the Great Tribulation. I didn't think of that. The Lord Jesus said that. He said concerning this period, He said it is the Great Tribulation period, nothing like it before, nothing like it afterward.

Now in the end of that discourse, having covered the Great Tribulation period, He's going to answer the question, what is the sign of His coming? That sign, I think they'll recognize it in that day. I take it it's His Shekinah glory. It says then shall they see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. That sign I am sure is the Shekinah glory that had disappeared from the temple for so many years.

Now He concludes this by saying something concerning the fact that Israel's like a fig tree, well He puts it forth as a fig tree. Then He says this generation shall not pass away. This generation evidently is the nation Israel's not going to pass away in spite of what all's happened to them. They haven't been destroyed yet, and they've been around a long time and they're going to continue to be around quite a while yet.

Now He says something concerning the sign of His coming. What, for the rapture? Of course not. In the Olivet Discourse the church is not mentioned, and He's answering three questions of the apostle. Those three questions coming from them had nothing in the world to do with the church. At this particular time they have not even entered into the day of Pentecost. They don't know what's coming, and they're asking about what they understand from the Old Testament, the end of the age and His coming to the earth to establish His kingdom.

That's not the rapture at all. The rapture after all is not the second coming of Christ because He doesn't come to the earth. We go out to meet Him. He's coming but we're going, and we're going out to meet Him and it'll not be on this earth, somewhere out there in space.

Now when He says here, "Then shall two be in the field; one be taken, the other left," is that for the rapture? Of course it's not for the rapture. And what has He just said to them? Well He gave them a sign as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be. Now when in the days of Noah, who was taken and who was left? It was no rapture there. The ones that were taken were those destroyed in the flood. The ones that were left were left on this earth, Noah and his family.

May I say to you, this has to do with the coming of Christ to the earth. One's going to be taken, taken where? Going to be taken away in judgment. Who's going to be left? Those that are left for the kingdom. He's not even talking about the rapture of the church. Oh what utter confusion there is today about this, and too long the church neglected prophecy and they haven't been studying it for years. I know because I was brought up in all of that, friends, and I know the thinking of people like this. Why this must be the rapture? And that's the snap judgment, but when you study the whole prophetic picture, and you need the whole prophetic picture, and I merely just hit high points, and I've done that purposely because I feel like that I'd like to clarify it as much as possible, and I trust that I have for some today.

Guest (Male): We now move on to our next question from a listener in Warwick, Rhode Island. She says, "Matthew 16:28 says, 'Assuredly I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.' How is this possible when all those who were standing there are now dead and His kingdom has not yet come? Could you please explain?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But they all saw the kingdom, by the way. You see we have certain chapter breaks that actually are rather unfortunate, and this one between chapter 16 and 17 is rather unfortunate. If you have listened to our radio program or have any of our books on Matthew, you know that I make the statement that I believe that verse 28 belongs to chapter 17, that if you're going to make a chapter division.

And you have to understand that at the beginning, the Bible was not written by verses at all. Verse division has been made by man, and very candidly, I'm glad they did it and I'm thankful to them because we'd sure have trouble finding our way around through the Bible if we didn't have chapters and verses given to us. Now the verse 28 reads, "Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom."

"And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him." Then there was Simon Peter, James and John there.

Now that's a picture of the kingdom. This is the kingdom in miniature, and they saw it there on top of the mount. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ, glorified body, if you please, transfigured before them. Metamorphosis is the word. That's the same word used for that caterpillar you see crawling through the grass in the summertime, and if you wait long enough, that caterpillar's going to be flying up through the air, a beautiful butterfly.

And that's called metamorphosis, and there was the metamorphosis of the human Christ, transfigured and the light came from within Him. He's glorified. That's going to be the kind of a glorified body I think we're going to have someday, although I've had a man down in Louisiana that's been carrying on a battle of words with me about the Greek word for transfigured, which is metamorphosis and that it does not mean glorified.

Well be that as it may, it was certainly a great transformation that had taken place in Him. And there was Moses and Elijah, raised for the kingdom if you please, they were there. Peter, James and John that belong to the new dispensation. Believe me, that's a picture of the millennial kingdom, let me tell you, when it comes into existence here upon this earth someday. It's a glorious picture, and therefore they did see the kingdom coming, that is that's the way that it's going to come someday.

Guest (Male): This question comes to us from a listener in La Puente, California. He writes, "Could you please explain the intent of verses 1, 6, and 7 in Psalm chapter 82?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now I want to turn to that again. It has to do with calling, you remember, men gods. And we made a statement there, made it very clear that the Bible does not teach that everyone is a son of God by any means, and that of course is ruled out immediately.

But now we want to see on this broadcast exactly what it means. Let me read these verses to you: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods." And then verse 2: "How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?" And then 6: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." And then verse 7: "But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes."

Now may I say that the word that's used for God here is the word Elohim. It's not the word Jehovah that speaks of the essence of God, what He is in His person, but rather this has to do with His office and His power. And you will find that in the nation Israel, God gave certain powers to the judges. You see they were ruled over by judges, for Israel was a theocracy, and these judges rule for God.

And they were given the name because of their office of Elohims. They were called gods by the way, but it was speaking of their office, you see. And this psalm, Psalm 82, has been called by many "The Judges' Psalm." And what it's referring to here: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the judges," you see, the gods. And it has reference to that.

Then He goes on to say, "How long will ye judge unjustly?" In other words, God's bringing a condemnation against those who've stood in His place and should have been just in their judgment, but they were not, and God says, "Now I'm going to judge among you." And God says, "You have an office I've given. I've said, ye are gods, you're judges, and all of you are the children of the most High." Now He speaks to a peculiar group of people, these judges, you see. God says, "I've given you this office because you're my children. But He says, "You're going to die just like man because you have abused your office and have not used it wisely." Now I think that that is what is meant here in this particular passage.

Guest (Male): Now this listener in Poway, California says that she is studying in Genesis chapter 6, so she writes, "How did people live for so long in those days?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now may I say to you there, I think, is in my judgment one satisfactory answer. That is that there at the beginning sin had not had its ravishing effect upon the human family as it's had today. You see that there's channeled today in our bloodstream literally centuries of sin, and we're made subject to every disease today.

And instead of the human family getting stronger, the survival of the fittest, it's not true at all. It's not a survival of the fittest today. It is not on that basis at all. Now back yonder in the beginning, you see that sin had not channeled all of this weakness and disease into the human family. It hadn't had time yet.

And you want an illustration of that, back in those days it was possible for a man to marry in his own family. We find even Abraham marrying his half sister Sarah. Now that was not sinful in that day, but you wouldn't dare today to get that close, because even you get as close as a cousin today there is a danger of insanity.

Why is that true? Because of the polluted blood that you and I have today. You and I are living in a day when all of that's come upon us. Now there are those that explain the longevity of people before the flood, in that antediluvian civilization on the basis that there was a peculiar and particular physical condition that existed here upon this earth.

That is a field in which I have no authority to speak whatsoever, and as I take it, it's mere speculation to speak of those geological ages anyway. So I do not know whether that is true, but I do think that the satisfactory answer is found in that which I have suggested.

Guest (Male): From a listener in Haggard, Oregon comes this question, "Are the seven sins mentioned in Proverbs 6 verses 17 through 19, the seven worst sins?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: No, they're not that because we're told here very definitely that they are not labeled that way. They're labeled this way: "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look." Now I never would have thought that would have been considered a sin to be put along with murder, but he's done that.

"A lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." Now I don't know that these are the worst sins. I rather would take issue with anyone that would say that.

These are just seven things that God says He hates. And one of the reasons I think He put it like this is because in the church today, a murderer everybody avoids him, but a person that's got a proud look sometimes is looked up to and is commended. But I would say that God hates it.

And then one that soweth discord among brethren. Now that is something I have known many people in churches that did that, and did it purposely, I'm sure. I've had people come to me and said, "Dr. McGee, don't you know what Mr. So-and-so or Ms. So-and-so said about you?" Well that is told to sow discord among brethren, and especially when you find out that they really didn't say it quite like that. It's been twisted and distorted. Now God says He hates that.

Now I don't want to say these are the worst sins. No, I would not put that classification, and the writer here does not. He just says these are seven things God hates, and it's nice for us to know that these are the seven things God hates because they get by with some of these in our churches today.

Guest (Male): The scriptures have been given to us as a revelation of God Himself. As we've just heard, God has revealed the things He hates. Or in other words, He's shown us His character. He also makes known to us His plans and purposes as well as His actions and attitudes. If you'd like to know more about God, who He is, what He's doing, and where He's taking us, then you'll want to join us for Dr. McGee's study every Monday through Friday on the Thru the Bible radio program heard on this station.

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