Questions and Answers
Understanding our part and responsibility regarding the work of God is a pivotal issue for those who claim to follow the Christian faith! The fact is that there is great confusion about exactly what the work of God means. To truly comprehend what Jesus taught about the work of God, we must consider not only the verse in John, but, additionally, we need to compare other references in God’s Word. First, here is the text in question: “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’” (John 6:29). Consider the specific context of this statement by Jesus. Multiple thousands of people who followed Jesus had recently been miraculously fed (compare John 6:1-14). Some continued to seek Jesus—even to the point of getting into boats and crossing to where Jesus had gone, as recorded in verses 22-25 of John 6. It is quite revealing to read how Jesus responded: “‘…Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of… In our last Q&A, we discussed the fact that God is creating His holy and righteous character in man, as it is His purpose to reproduce Himself in man–to enlarge His God Family through man. The same cannot be said about angels. There is no indication in Scripture that it is–or has ever been–God’s purpose to enlarge the Family of God–presently consisting of God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ–through angels. Rather, angels are created beings; they are all “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). God tells us that He “has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels” (Hebrews 2:5); rather, this potential is given to man (verses 6-9). And so, we read that Christ did not take on the nature of angels, but He took on the nature of man (Hebrews 2:16; compare Authorized Version and margin of New King James Bible), to be made like His brethren in everything (verse 17), so that His brethren could be made like Him in everything. As we point out in our booklet, “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” Jesus Christ–who was… Actually, the Bible has quite a bit to say about this topic. (1) To give a good definition of righteous character, as we want to apply this term in this Q&A, we would like to quote from several of Herbert Armstrong’s writings, the late Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God. In “What Science Cannot Discover About the Human Mind,” copyright 1978, he wrote about righteous character as “the ability in a single entity to come to comprehend and distinguish the true values from the false, the right way from the wrong, to choose the right and reject the wrong, and, with power of will, to do the right and resist the evil.” In “Mystery of the Ages,” copyright 1985, he elaborated, as follows: “Perfect, holy and righteous character is the ability in such separate entity to come to discern the true and right way from the false, to make voluntarily a full and unconditional surrender to God and his perfect way — to yield to be conquered by God — to determine even against temptation or self- desire, to live and to do the right. And even then such holy character is the gift of God. It comes by yielding to… Actually, the command to bless others even though they may not seem worthy of our blessing is to be found throughout the Bible. We read in Matthew 5:44: “But I say to you, love your enemies, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Compare, Luke 6:27-28). Romans 12:14-20 adds: “BLESS THOSE who persecute you; BLESS AND DO NOT CURSE… Repay no one evil for evil… If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves… If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” 1 Corinthians 4:12 states: “… Being reviled, we BLESS; being persecuted, we endure…” 1 Peter 3:9 adds: “… not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.” The word “bless,” in the context of the above-quoted Scriptures, conveys the meaning of “calling down by prayer a blessing… The Bible does not say specifically why Satan will attempt a second coup, but it does give us several hints and indications which we might want to consider. Prior to the physical creation, God brought into being the spirit world of angels. After God had created the physical universe and the earth, an archangel named Lucifer was placed over one third of the angels here on earth to beautify it. This was long before man was created with the ultimate potential to become a full-fledged member of the God Family. Nothing is said in the Bible that Lucifer or any of the angels had that same potential which would later be given to man. According to Ezekiel 28:12-16 and Isaiah 14:12-15, Lucifer was perfect as far as his creation was concerned. However, Lucifer made wrong choices–he allowed pride to enter his mind. This pride corrupted his thinking, just like a virus can corrupt a computer. This corruption led him to believe that his abilities were greater than God’s; that he was not rewarded properly by God in accordance with his talents and achievements; and that the way of competition and get was superior to God’s way of give and love and concern… Over the years, many ideas have been advanced to the effect that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as described in Daniel 4, has some kind of hidden prophetic meaning for us today. In the last Q&A, we discussed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in much detail. We pointed out that the dream referred to that ancient king and predicted his seven years of insanity to punish his pride. We showed that the dream was fulfilled, exactly as God had pronounced it, and that King Nebuchadnezzar subsequently repented of his pride at the time when his sanity was restored to him. Some have pointed at Nebuchadnezzar’s “seven years” of insanity and applied it to seven “prophetic” years of punishment for the entire Babylonian Empire. The rationale goes something like this: A “prophetic” year of 360 DAYS is the equivalent of 360 YEARS. [The one day for one year PRINCIPLE is, in fact, biblical in some instances, and is described in passages such as Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:4-6.] If applied in this way, seven prophetic “years” of 360 “days” or “years” each, would amount to 2,520 years. Beginning to count with the time when Babylon fell (which occurred about 539 B.C.), one would reach the year 1982… Much prophetic speculation has ensued pertaining to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 4, but if we allow the Bible to interpret itself, the answer to the meaning of that dream becomes very clear. Note, first, the following highlights from that chapter. We are told that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which made him afraid (verse 5), but none of the “wise men of Babylon” could explain the meaning of the dream. Finally, Daniel was brought before the king (verse 8). We will recall that Daniel had explained to the king his first dream about a statue, as recorded in Daniel 2. Nebuchadnezzar described to Daniel his second dream and asked him to interpret the same for him. In the dream, Nebuchadnezzar had seen a strong tree, which was cut down, but the stump and roots in the earth would be preserved, “bound with a band of iron and bronze” (verse 15). Showing that the dream did not refer to an ordinary tree, the king continued to describe to Daniel that a watcher from heaven said: “The heart be changed from that of a man, Let him be given the heart of a beast, And let seven times pass over him” (verse 16).… The Bible uses this particular term only once, in Luke 21:24. It is important to notice the context. Christ had been asked by some of His disciples when the temple would be destroyed (Luke 21:5-7). In reviewing the parallel passage in Matthew 24:1-3, we learn that they had also asked Him when the end of the age–the end of this present evil civilization–would occur, and when He would return–apparently believing that all of these events would be interconnected. Christ began to warn of coming religious deception, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs from heaven. He explained that all these were the beginning of sorrows–the beginning of the end. He continued to warn about the coming Great Tribulation–a time of war and persecution of God’s people and the modern descendants of the physical nations of Israel and Judah (For information on the modern identity of these ancient peoples, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”). Christ said that Jerusalem would be destroyed or made desolate AT THAT TIME; that is, at the time of the Great Tribulation. This is important to realize because some have erroneously concluded that Christ,… Although the biblical answer to this question is highly controversial, the Bible teaches very clearly that there is no other way to eternal salvation than through Jesus Christ. Non-christian religions reject this claim outright, and even many Christian organizations and denominations feel uncomfortable about this and think that they must apologize for the Scriptures and offer “alternatives,” such as, “as long as we follow our conscience,” or, “as long as we believe in someone or something,” we are or will be saved. Since we are not interested in humanly devised fables and interpretations, let us focus strictly on the clear teaching of the Bible. First of all, we are taught that salvation belongs to the God of the BIBLE, and that we can only receive salvation FROM HIM (Revelation 7:9-10; 19:1). It is God the Father who is the “SAVIOR of ALL MEN, especially of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:10). The biblical teaching is equally clear that God the Father saves us THROUGH HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST, and that no one can come to Christ unless the Father calls and draws such a person to Jesus (compare John 6:44, 65). We read Christ’s own words in John 3:16-17–including the famous golden verse… This question has been the cause of controversy for many centuries and generations. While one major Christian denomination teaches that the Holy Spirit only proceeds from the Father, but is given us through the Son, another major Christian denomination holds that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. To answer this question from the Bible, we must first of all realize that the Holy Spirit is not a Person or a Personage, but the POWER and the MIND of God. It is through the POWER of the Holy Spirit that God creates and acts, and mightily sustains what He has created. For more information on this vital subject, please read our free booklet, “Is God a Trinity?“ On the other hand, God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, are powerful Personages or God beings. Both the Father and the Son ARE God. And it should therefore come as no surprise that both the Holy Spirit of God the Father AND the Holy Spirit of God the Son are dwelling in converted Christians. The Bible clearly teaches, then, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father AND the Son, and that BOTH are bestowing THEIR…You make continual reference to accomplishing “the work of God” in your publications and sermons; however, doesn’t the scripture in John 6:29 show that simply believing in Jesus Christ fulfills doing the work of God?
Does the Bible teach character development in angels?
Does the Bible say anything about man's character development?
What does it mean to bless our enemies and those who curse us?
Why will Satan attempt a second coup to try to overthrow God?
Does Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 4 have prophetic meaning for us today?
Would you please explain Nebuchadnezzar's dream, as recorded in Daniel 4?
Could you please explain what is meant with the "fulfillment" of "the times of the Gentiles?"
Is there any validity to the claim that we can only be saved if we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior?
Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father, from the Son, or from both?
