Thru the Bible - Questions & Answers

Guest (Male): One of the more obscure but extremely meaningful prayers in the Bible is that of the prayer of Jabez found in 1 Chronicles. Stay with us and find out more about Jabez and his prayer.

You’re listening to the question and answer program, a ministry of the Thru the Bible Radio Network with our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. Our first question comes to us from a listener in Walnut Creek, California who writes, "Could you please explain who Jesus is talking about in Matthew 25 verses 31 through 46? Are verses 31 and 32 a judgment of the world or of Christians? I’ve been told that there are two judgments: the Great White Throne Judgment for the world and another judgment for Christians according to their works."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I turn to the 25th chapter of Matthew and read verses 31 and 32 that are causing the first difficulty. It says, "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: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."

The problem that has presented itself to you is an either-or. You have been told there are two judgments: the Great White Throne Judgment and the judgment of sinners. Actually, there are more judgments than that. In fact, the Word of God mentions at least eight judgments.

The old method, and when I was a boy I can remember that I was taught that there was coming a general judgment day. It was a naive presentation that judgment day came and everybody was there, and He put some on the right hand and some on the left—the saved here and the lost there. It was as simple as that.

It’s not as simple as that because we need to see that there are at least eight judgments in scripture. Briefly, I want to mention them. The first judgment is the judgment of the Cross. That was where the Lord Jesus Christ, as your substitute and my substitute, died to pay the penalty for our sins.

He was a substitute, and He paid a ransom. He said that: "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." That was the reason that He died on the Cross. That judgment we are familiar with because that is the gospel. When we trust Christ as our Savior, it simply means that He died because we are sinners and He paid the penalty for our sin, and we do not come into judgment but pass from death to life.

Now, there is another judgment in scripture. It’s a judgment of self. That’s in 1 Corinthians, the 11th chapter, verses 31 and 32. This is for believers right here and now. He says, "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

That is a judgment that you and I can perform on ourselves. You and I have sinned. What are we to do? We are told that if we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We are permitted to judge ourselves as believers and deal with our sin.

Suppose we don’t do that? There is therefore the judgment of believers right here and now. When we will not judge ourselves, then we’re told He’ll judge us. In the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John, He spoke of the fact that He was the vine, we’re the branches, we’re to bring forth fruit, and that He prunes.

He comes in and judges us. When we don’t judge ourselves, then He’s going to judge us, and we can be sure of that. We are permitted to confess our sins, and when we do, we are forgiven our sins. But if we don’t do it, then He judges us. And we can be sure of one thing: He’ll judge us. And that has to do with the here and now.

Also, He mentions the fact that there is a chastening. The Lord chastens those whom He loves. That is a judging of us to equip us to better serve Him. And then we’re told there’s a sin unto death, that sometimes He calls us home, and that’s when He reaches in and takes off a branch that’s not bearing fruit.

Then there is the judgment of the believers' works, which is going to take place at the judgment seat of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:10, we’re told, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." We Christians. The works are to be judged to see whether we receive a reward or not.

In this passage that you’ve mentioned, there is a judgment of the nations and a judgment of the nation Israel. The 30th verse of the 25th chapter of Matthew says, "And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Many of us believe that refers specifically to the nation Israel, and they are to be judged. Joel speaks of the time that the nation Israel is to be judged. All through the Old Testament, we’re told they are to be judged to see whether they can enter the kingdom or not.

When you leave verse 30, you come now to the judgment of the nations. That’s the one that you mentioned. That judgment, as the judgment of Israel, will take place at the end of the great tribulation period to see who’s going to enter into the kingdom. The church has already left the earth. This is not a judgment of the believers in the church. This is the judgment of the Gentiles and also of the nation Israel to see who’s going to enter the kingdom.

The test that’s given here is the question that you raise. Verse 34 to 40 says, "Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand..." Who are the people the Lord’s talking to? They’re Gentiles that have come through the great tribulation period. Are they the saved or unsaved? They’re both. They will be judged on the basis of their treatment of the nation Israel, which means the treatment of the 144,000 who were God’s witnesses during that period.

If they’re unsaved, how is it they are told in verse 34, "Come, ye blessed of my Father"? They’re not the unsaved, of course. These are nations that have responded to this tremendous decision, and to stand for God would be to stand for the 144,000.

Your third question is: "Verses 41 and 46, I believe, speak of those who profess to be Christians but are not. Is this wrong?" Yes, it’s wrong because the Christians that have accepted Christ as Savior and are in the church are gone. These are the ones that have accepted Him now as Savior and King as the one that’s coming to the earth to rule. And here He has come and now they are told to enter the kingdom.

This is a separate judgment that is not to be confused with the Great White Throne or the judgment of believers at all. We have a judgment of angels that’s mentioned in the book of Jude. Peter mentions it in his second epistle.

Then the Great White Throne judgment in Revelation 20:11-15. Here is where the lost of all ages, from the very beginning down to the present, are brought to be judged according to their works. That’s the way they wanted it; that’s the way they’re going to get it. But they’re lost, and they never recognized that. They thought their works would commend them to God.

Guest (Male): Our next question comes from a listener in Mt. Dora, Florida who says, "Why do you hold to the position that Acts 2 verse 38 is not for Christians today? Is not this verse in agreement with the Great Commission?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: In answer to your question of Acts 2:38, you must remember that there is a great transition period. We hear a great deal about the great tribulation today, but there’s also the great transition. That’s what you have beginning in the gospels and continuing into the book of Acts.

There is a great transition period from Law to Grace. These first men and women were all Hebrews. The church on the day of Pentecost was 100 percent Jewish. When Peter brought this message that we have here to them, this was the thing that he’s saying to Jewish people.

This was an outward symbol that was an identification that they were no longer identified with the Temple and its worship, but they’re now identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. They are no longer followers of Moses, but they are followers now of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the reason that Peter spoke to them like this.

Now, you don’t find Peter in the home of Cornelius. He doesn’t use that method at all. If that had been the method, I’m sure he would have used it. When the Philippian jailer came bursting in, Paul should have told him that he had to be baptized to be saved if it was essential, but all he told him was "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

And yet we are told that the Philippian jailer got baptized that night. That to me is interesting. If baptism had been essential to salvation, then Paul made a big mistake in not including that. We’re in a transition period here. The gospel at this time in Acts 2:38 had not even left Jerusalem. We’re here on the day of Pentecost, and it wasn’t until sometime later that the gospel began to move out and Gentiles were saved. We’re in a transition period and not a different dispensation.

That is one of the great problems so many people have of not seeing that there’s a great transition period that took place here. Even Peter, when he came up to visit Paul—you remember the problem they had and Paul deals with that in Galatians—he came up and he began eating at the Gentile table. He’d never done that before.

But when those came up from Jerusalem, he beat it back to the kosher table. That was something that reveals that Simon Peter still followed many of those customs and a great deal of the Mosaic ritual. There’s nothing wrong in him doing that; it’s just that that wasn’t essential, as the early church soon determined it wasn't essential to follow the Old Testament ritual. When we get a view of that, that you’re in a transition period, these scriptures begin to fit into place.

Guest (Male): Moving on to our next question, this listener says, "When I read the Bible, I see an emphasis on the visible local church. When I hear you criticize and find fault with the church, I get the impression that you identify with the invisible body rather than the visible body of Christ. Could you please comment?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, you certainly have misunderstood to begin. You can’t identify with the invisible body of believers. If it’s invisible, you couldn’t see it, and nobody else could see it. But you are identified with the body of Christ the minute that you trust Christ.

"By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body." We’re put in that body of believers. That’s what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is: it puts us in the body of believers. That’s the way that you got there; that’s the way that I got there.

I am not trying to get people to identify therefore with the invisible church. The visible church is the one that I am speaking of when I upbraid the church. It has been called to my attention by a pastor. He says that you ought to make the distinction between the liberal church and the Bible church, and I agree that he is accurate in that.

I have in my own mind the distinction between the local church that’s a Bible church and the church that is the liberal church today, which I actually do not consider a church at all, though it calls itself by the name of church. I don’t think it’s really a church; they’re just religious clubs.

That’s what I’m generally talking about. There are areas in which I speak of our group—if you want to call them fundamental, want to call them conservative—all right, I’ll go along with those two terms. I don’t think we are perfect. I think we have many imperfections. And when I come to a place in scripture that I think is applicable to us today, I certainly make that application.

I’m not opposed to the local church. I urge people to join the local Bible church. We are constantly referring people that move from one place to another. They write us and say they are moving to a certain place and ask if we can recommend a good church there.

In many places, we’re able to recommend a good Bible church. In some places, I do not have the name of a good Bible church. I urge people to join a good Bible church, even with all of its imperfections. I was pastor of some very wonderful churches, but they were not perfect, and the people were not perfect.

I’ll let you in on something: the pastor wasn’t perfect either. We were all imperfect folk. And so it’s into those areas I speak. Finally, the very fact today that there are literally hundreds—I think I could say several thousand now—pastors across this country have written to us commending our program.

Many of them support our program, many of them have us on their budget, and many of them tell us that we help them a great deal. So I do not think that the general and popular impression is that I put down the local church when it’s a Bible church. I put down the local church when I think it’s wrong.

You ought to identify with a good church. Every person should do that because you can’t join the invisible church at all. You wouldn't know where to go to join it.

Guest (Male): A Wichita, Kansas listener wrote asking, "Which method of Bible study would you recommend to the average person who may have two hours a week to study?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: If you have just two hours a week to study, you could put all five of our programs in that time. You could get them taped—we have them taped—and you could begin at Genesis and go through Revelation. If you have two hours a week, you could hear a week's program. That would mean that in five years, you would have covered the entire Word of God.

I very frankly say to you that the best method of Bible study is to go through the Word of God. Not just taking piecemeal here and there, and a character here and there, or some subject, but to study the Bible.

You don’t study mathematics by just taking the multiplication table, and every year you go over the multiplication table. It’s nice to keep refreshed on it and to know what it’s all about, but in mathematics you keep studying all the different parts until you arrive at algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and then on up.

If you want to know the Word of God, how are you going to study it? You study it by beginning in Genesis and going through Revelation. It’s nice to go back and forth from Old to New and New to Old Testaments because that gives you a twofold approach to the Word of God. And that is the method that I highly recommend.

Guest (Male): Our final question today comes from a listener in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who writes, "Could you please share your thoughts on the prayer of Jabez found in 1 Chronicles 4:10?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We’re delighted to do that. In 1 Chronicles, the first few chapters deal with genealogy. In the genealogy, every now and then the writer lifts out an individual and emphasizes something in his life.

The writer wanted to call attention to something he thought was important, but the Holy Spirit of God was using that and using this man because He had a message in it for you and me. I did not allude to it when we went over it, but I would like to, and this gives me an opportunity.

I turn to 1 Chronicles 4:10, and I’ll begin reading at verse nine. It says, "And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow."

I suppose you could translate this man’s name by calling him "Morning" or—I know that some would like to call him "Sourpuss," but that would be very fallacious. His name means sorrow, groaning, or trouble. But he was not that kind of a man. It shows that always you can’t judge a book by its cover, and you can’t judge a man by his name.

Here we have this man that was born in sorrow into the world. And now this very nice thing is said about him. "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!"

That was the thing he prayed for. He wanted to be kept from sorrow and mourning and groaning that his name spoke of, and he wanted God to bless him. And we’re told, "And God granted him that which he requested."

Here is the very interesting thing: in this genealogy of literally hundreds and thousands of people that are all included in these families—it would go up into several million—well, here is one man. He could be like the average man today, Joe Doakes. He could say, "My life doesn’t amount to very much. I’m just an ordinary guy. I don’t do very much, and I don’t amount to very much."

But this man had faith in God, and he had a desire in his heart. He wanted to enlarge his coast, he wanted to do something for God, and he wanted to be kept from evil. And God heard and answered his prayer. That’s just the simple thing that we have here.

And I think that’s wonderful. It reveals that God hears and answers the prayers of these average Joe Doakes and Mary Soakes. God hears and He answers prayer. Maybe not the way it’s prayed, but He hears and answers prayer.

And it wasn’t a big thing that he prayed for. He didn’t pray for a miracle; he didn’t pray for healing, even. He just prayed an ordinary prayer. And God heard and answered his prayer. And I think that’s wonderful myself.

Guest (Male): Well, that brings us to the close of another excellent program of questions and answers. We hope that this broadcast has sparked your interest in studying the Word of God yourself. And to help you in your studies, we suggest that you join us every Monday through Friday during the Thru the Bible radio program heard on this station.

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