Thru the Bible - Questions & Answers

Guest (Male): Here's an interesting question: Can one who believes the theory of evolution be saved? That is, can one be a Christian and believe in evolution? Well, stay with us and find out.

You're listening to the Question and Answer program, a ministry of the Thru the Bible Radio Network with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. In our last program, we heard a letter from Southwest Africa. Well, that same listener had a second question and he writes, "Could you please speak about the rapture and the great tribulation?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the rapture pertains to the church that began on the day of Pentecost, and it does not pertain to any other group. Only believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are going to be raptured, and that means all believers from the day of Pentecost right down to the parousia, that is, the rapture. And it means people in all races, all conditions, all circumstances, all periods of time who've trusted Christ as savior. You see, we're all in one body, and that body is to be taken out of the world and presented to Christ as His bride.

Now, the Lord Jesus was the first one to mention the rapture. And it's not a subject of the Old Testament because God didn't promise the Old Testament saints they'd be taken off of this earth. He promised that there would be established on this earth the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, the heaven would rule over this earth someday. And they would be raised for that. That was the hope of Abraham, that was the hope of Isaac and Jacob and all the Old Testament saints and all Gentiles that believed.

They believed they'd be raised for right here on this earth, and this earth would be made a heaven, it'd be made the Kingdom of Heaven with heaven ruling over the earth. Now, the New Testament offers something altogether different. The Lord Jesus said in the upper room to His own, He says, "I go to prepare a place for you." That is, He's leaving the earth, going out yonder and preparing a place. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself."

Now, that place is a place that He's gone to prepare and that at His appointed time, He will come and call His church out of this world. And it's like a first-century wedding where the bridegroom would come after he was engaged to the bride, and as always, a year went by and sometimes much more. He would come after he'd prepared the place and he would shout, call his bride, and then she would respond to him.

Well, the Lord Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me." And one day, He's going to call and His church will leave the earth. That is the rapture. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4, "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first." He says that in 1 Corinthians 15, "And those that are Christ's at His appearing."

When He comes and He takes His church out of the world. Now, He doesn't come to the earth at that time. Paul says we're to meet Him in the air. And He calls that the rapture. The word "caught up" also means rapture, or to lift up, or to snatch up. And so one of these days, He's going to take His own out of this earth, lift them up, take them to heaven, the place that He's prepared.

Now, that's the next thing on the program of God. That is the next event on God's program is the rapture. And the rapture's next. Nothing else has to be fulfilled. That's imminent; could come at any time. Now, after the rapture, there'll be left on the earth two groups of people. You see, on the earth today, there are three groups of people. Paul said to the Corinthians, "Give none offense, neither to the Jew, the Gentile, nor the church of God."

Now, when the church leaves, you're going to have Jew and Gentile left, and God has a plan and purpose for them. In the book of Revelation, we're told that 144,000 out of the nation Israel are sealed to go through the great tribulation period. And then there's a great company of Gentiles that are sealed also. People seem to forget about them, and they are going through the great tribulation also.

And they will be raised—those that die—and all the saved will be raised, I think, at the end of that great tribulation period. All the Old Testament saints, all of the tribulation saints will be raised, and they will be the saved here on the earth. The church is already complete with the Lord in the New Jerusalem. And here on the earth are these. Now, there will be a reign of Christ for 1,000 years after the great tribulation.

Now, that great tribulation is a terrible period. You read the book of Revelation, you find out how terrible it's going to be on this earth. And there'll be a world dictator. There'll be trouble the like of which this world has never had. It's a period in which there will be the judgment of God on the earth. Satan will be loosed, and he'll go out to do his worst.

And also, man will be free to do as he pleases. However, he'll be doing the bidding of Satan. And that's interesting even today when men say, "I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to do my thing," and it's generally to get drunk, it's generally to break all of God's commandments. And they're doing exactly what the devil wants them to do. And in that day, you're going to see all that brought together, and that's going to make this earth a terrible place. Now, it's in enough confusion today, but just think what it'll be at that day.

Now, that world dictator, no one could remove him except the coming of Christ to the earth. So at the end of the great tribulation, the Lord Jesus will come to the earth and establish His millennial kingdom. Now, there's always been a question of whether the church is going to come here and be with Him. I personally do not think so. I think they're going to be in the New Jerusalem.

But it's not until after the millennium and after Satan is put down and put in the lake of fire, after the judgment of the lost, then you're going to see the appearance of the New Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven. And that will be the abode of the church. And that's the beginning of eternity.

Guest (Male): Our next question comes to us from a listener in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He writes, "I believe in the Genesis account that all things were created by God. But I heard a chaplain explain that one who accepts evolution does not have to throw out Christianity. Can you embrace evolution and still be saved?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I do not want to say that you can't. There is what is known today as theistic evolution. I studied that in school. And all I can say is that either you do not believe in the inspiration of the scriptures, the inerrancy of the Bible, or else you are inconsistent and irrational in your reasoning.

Because, may I say to you, it's very difficult to accept evolution and to accept this statement here and take a literal view of the Bible. Then, may I say to you, I do not know how you can believe John 3:16 is literal, that God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son. That might mean that God did something else, or it wasn't quite that way, or maybe it evolved around something and that type of thing. You could explain it away.

But I don't think that you can do that. And I think that you're totally inconsistent to try to be a theistic evolutionist and to be a Christian. There's something wrong in your thinking somewhere. Now, I can understand how a person can become a Christian who's an evolutionist and actually would not understand the first few chapters of Genesis, maybe not even know anything about them.

Because you can be saved without even knowing anything about the first few chapters of Genesis. That could be true. But I think after you studied the first few chapters of Genesis, that you'd have to give up the theory of evolution. And by the way, I think that this chaplain is very much behind the times. There are many evolutionists today that are giving up evolution and turning to something else.

And why in the world would a preacher hang on to what even some scientists today are saying very candidly that it's not proven and cannot be proven at all? So, I don't want to say that you can't be a Christian and be an evolutionist. I say that it's highly inconsistent. And I believe that any evolutionist that gets saved and knows nothing about Genesis may hold on to it for a while.

But after he studies the first few chapters of Genesis, he's bound to give up evolution. That's my understanding of it. And by the way, may I say that I went to a seminary where liberalism was taught and theistic evolution was taught. I was given a good dose of it. I think that the problem there was actually on the part even of the teachers that were evolutionists was not maybe their ignorance of evolution; they were ignorant of the Bible, and I mean ignorant of the Bible.

Guest (Male): We turn our attention now to a question from a listener who requested that we not mention where they came from. The letter reads, "How does one love Jesus? How does a man love another man? It would seem to be an unnatural emotion, yet we are commanded to love the Lord our God."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I would like to answer that. There is today this excessive emphasis which is almost abnormal that has been put upon "I love Jesus," "I love Jesus." And you hear so much of that. I sometimes wonder what they mean. And if I interpret this crowd correctly, they have missed the entire point.

And I interpret them by the songs that they sing. Actually, they are nothing in the world but love songs, the kind of love songs that you hear of the love of a man for a woman or a woman for a man, for that matter. And absolutely, I think these have been entirely wrong, and not only that, they actually they are unnatural.

Now, may I say to you that I find it very easy, and I think it is an evidence of something wonderful. For here is a strong man and here is another strong man, and these two men love each other as brothers. There's nothing sexual about that. There's nothing low nor degrading as homosexuality. That's not it at all.

I have here above my desk, in fact, it's right above my Ampex machine where I'm making this tape, and I have the picture of four men. And I have mentioned this before. These four men have all gone to be with the Lord. And these four men on the human plane are responsible for me to be in the ministry today.

One is a layman by the name of Mr. Joe Boyd, who lived in Nashville, Tennessee. He was vice president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank there. He was an elder in the church that I attended. When he heard that I wanted to study for the ministry and I was unable to because of finances, he asked me to come in one day and have lunch with him.

And I was working in a bank down the street, and he and I went to lunch. He's a great big double-fisted fellow, and he looked at me across the table and he said, "Vernon, do you want to study for the ministry?" And I said, "Yes, sir, I do. But I can't. I have not financially able. I have no one to help me." And he said to me, he said, "I am going to help you."

Now, it didn't mean that he gave me money. But he saw that I got a job. He saw that I got a loan, a job where I could work my way through school, and this man became like a father to me. And I want to say to you, as I look up right now at his picture, I can say I love that man. And there's nothing wrong in that, my friend.

Now, next to him is the pastor who led me to the Lord. And he helped me. In fact, he stayed on a year at the church waiting for me to graduate from school so I could take the church. And he became a great advisor to me, a helper. He didn't try to undermine me, but to build up my ministry. And I want to say to you, I love that man. I loved him.

Next to him is the president—and by the way, his name was Dr. S. Allen—next to him is Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, president of Dallas Theological Seminary. That's the man that recommended me to come to California. And he's the man that married my wife and myself. He's the man that talked to her because she was a school teacher and she didn't think she could be a pastor's wife.

And my, how wonderfully he talked to my wife. I want to say to you, I love that man. There's nothing wrong. Next to him is a man that when my feet was slipping out from under me because of a liberal professor, this man is the man that got a hold of me. He's probably the most brilliant man I ever met.

His name was Dr. A. S. Dudley and pastor the First Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, years ago. Great man. I loved him. Now, may I say to you, there's nothing wrong with what I've said. These men... but I want to say this to you: there was another man. He was the man Christ Jesus.

He died for me, and He lives for me today up yonder. I can go to Him anytime, go through Him to the Father. And someday He's going to take me. And I want to say to you, Peter says—and he was the big, rugged fisherman—he said to me as he's saying it to you, he says, "Whom having not seen you love."

Sure, I haven't seen Him, but I love Him. And there's nothing wrong with that. This generation has put the wrong emphasis. This has nothing the world to do with sexual love. It has love to do to somebody because of their worth, because of their merit, because of what they've done for you, because of the interest that they have shown in you. And that, my friend, is very important.

Now, let me continue on in this letter and I return back to it. It says it's written that the love of David and Jonathan for each other exceeded the love of women. "I do not think this referred to homosexuality, but I do not understand it." I understand it, and I trust I've made it clear to you. Not only by exceeding it, it's different.

It's different. There's nothing of sex involved, and it never was—never was thought of. As I look up here at these pictures, I do not think that I ever put my arm around the shoulder of any of these men. And to come to think of it, I don't think any of these men ever put their arm around my shoulder.

But I love them and I honestly believe they loved me. And I wish we could get it back on that plane today. And because it has nothing in the world to do with homosexuality. That is something that as a rabbi here in Southern California said on the TV, he not only opposed it, but he concluded by saying this: and he says, "And besides that, it's nasty."

Well, may I say to you, there's nothing nasty about this. This is on a very high, lofty plane. And the love of one man for another on a high plane, and that's what the love of David and Jonathan was. It has not this dirty way today of trying to lower it down to that is entirely wrong.

Well, that brings to an end what he has to say. Today, we need to recognize that when we love the Lord Jesus, that sex does not enter into it at all. It's a different love. "We love him because he first loved us," John says. He loved me and gave Himself for me. And believe me, friends, you don't bring sex into that. The love of a man for a woman and a woman for a man is something altogether different.

Guest (Male): Our final question comes to us from a listener in Fresno, California, who writes, "In John chapter 7, verses 1 through 10, Jesus says that it was not time for Him to go to the feast, but then later it says that He went to the feast in secret. Is Jesus attempting to be sneaky?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And may I say that I'm disappointed that you ask the question like that, whether the Lord Jesus was being sneaky or not. I can assure you, first of all, let me say that He was not being sneaky at all. And I think that if you will look at the record, you will see exactly the thing that He had in mind.

Number one, He did not want to go up publicly to the feast at this time. And the Jews were seeking Him, the religious rulers were seeking Him to murder Him. They wanted to get rid of Him. And His time had not yet come. And He would not yield Himself until His time came. You see, then He gave Himself up willingly.

He was just like a lamb led to the slaughter. But up to that time, He will not. And so going up to this feast, now let me read this for you. "After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, that is in Judah, and the Jerusalem area, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.

His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest." And gave him the argument, no man will do these things in secret, you ought to be doing them in public. Well, He knew His business and He did not want to go up with them because they did not understand Him anyway.

They never even turned to Him until after His death and resurrection. But here, He would not have wanted to go up in their company anyway. They wanted Him to display himself, wanted Him to become a miracle worker, and He didn't come for that purpose at all. And He told them to go ahead up there.

And He didn't say that He was definitely not going. He just told them to go ahead. "Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come." It's not time for me to deliver myself into the hands of the enemy. He says, "But your time is always ready. You could go up anytime. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

Go ye up unto the feast. I go not up unto this feast, for my time is not yet full come." Now He's not going up to this feast with them for the purpose they want Him to go. His time is not yet come. And therefore, when He had said these words unto them, He abode still in Galilee. Now His brethren were gone up, then went He also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

Now He did not want to display himself at the feast. And it was not until the Feast of Tabernacles was well on its way, and in the midst of that feast, we're told Jesus then went up into the temple and began to teach because at that time, He was to reveal to them who He was, not in performing miracles, but in teaching them. So you see, He's not doing anything that is sneaky here.

Now, I come to the second one. It says, "My second question comes from Matthew 21:1-7, from the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. Did Matthew make a mistake in saying Jesus rode both animals in fulfillment of scripture?" No, it's different words used for the same animal. I don't think that you'll find that that's a mistake at all.

Aren't you being just a little picky in questions like these? Then the third question is, "How can you tell when you're reading through the Old Testament whether or not it is prophecy about the Messiah, or just a prophecy about something else, or not prophecy about anything? Especially in Psalm 1, I'm puzzled."

May I say to you, I feel sorry for you if you don't see Christ on every page of the Old Testament. I must confess I don't see Him on every page, but He's on every page of the Old Testament. And you need to cultivate that. And it requires, I think, some study of the word of God. I mean you can't just turn back to Ezekiel and read about the wheels within wheels and all of a sudden have an interpretation of that, or wonder what it is.

You need to study the word of God. That's the reason that we are going through the Bible in five years, to see if we can dispel some of this tragic ignorance of the word of God. You have to study the word of God to come to a knowledge of the prophecies. That's a great theme in and of itself. And there's no rule by which you can begin reading and know everything. You have to study these things.

Guest (Male): Well, that brings us to the end of another question and answer program. If you've been encouraged by today's program to spend more time in your own study of God's word, then we'd like to provide you with some helpful information. We've got several books and CDs by Dr. McGee that we think will help you in your own studies.

Simply call or write with your request for our resource catalog or browse our online catalog via our website at ttb.org. For those of you who'd like to receive daily help in Bible study, then we suggest that you join us every Monday through Friday for the Thru the Bible program heard on this station.

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