Join Dr. J. Vernon McGee as he tackles pressing theological questions from listeners across various states. The session highlights intricate discussions on the significance of the Jewish identity, the observance of the Sabbath, and the spiritual turmoil faced by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Additionally, Dr. McGee provides enlightening insights into the interpretations of hymns and their theological implications on an individual’s faith journey. These thought-provoking discussions serve as reminders of the ongoing dialogue between ancient teachings and contemporary understandings.
One of the many questions skeptics ask to trip up those who believe the Bible concerns Judas Iscariot. It goes something like this. How can God condemn Judas when he was predestined to betray Jesus? Well, today we’ll hear Dr. McGee’s response to just such a question. So stay with us.
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of foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
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What more can he say than to
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have said to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled fear not I am with thee This is Steve Schwetz, and I’d like to welcome you to another edition of the Question and Answer program with our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, who for over 30 years answered the questions of his many listeners. This program is a ministry of the Through the Bible Radio Network. Now, we begin our questions with this one from a listener in South San Gabriel, California. He writes, Why was Judas so completely condemned when he was predestined to betray Jesus and reject Him?
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May I say to you that you certainly can’t answer the question and I can’t either. But the fact that he was predestined did not cause him to be relieved of responsibility because he had a free will and he could have made a choice. He had that opportunity. In fact, up to the very last minute, the Lord Jesus said to him, when he came out there and even kissed him and had even gone so far as to betray him, our Lord said to him, Friend, wherefore hast thou come? Even at the last minute our Lord gave him an opportunity. The door was opened to him. He could have exercised his free will. Now, the very fact that a creature can exercise his free will It does not preclude God knowing what that creature is going to do. That and only God could know a thing like that. It doesn’t affect the creature’s free will one whit at all. Judas will say throughout the endless ages of eternity that he made his choice. And he decided, and may I say, friend, that you have made your choice, and you will say it throughout the endless ages of eternity. And Judas made his choice. These two great things, divine election and human free will, cannot be reconciled. Now, I mean by that, no individual can reconcile them. Now, I do know that you could go to the average seminary today and probably find some seminary student that can reconcile them. I know that if you’d met me the first year I was in seminary, I was able to reconcile them. I knew practically everything then. And by the time I graduated, though I was beginning to learn, I didn’t know so much. And now, since I’ve been in the ministry, I found out there are many things that I don’t know. Now, I have the privilege of speaking to many seminary students in different seminaries. I think I’ve spoken to preacher boys, and candidly, let me say to you that no one knows as much as a seminary student. They really are smart boys. Now, they’ve got the answer. But anybody else, normal humanity, and they’ll be normal after they graduate and get into the ministry and after they’ve wrestled with the problems of the average parish today for about a year, then they’ll find out they don’t have all the answers. And at that time, they’ll not be able to answer this question. Even they won’t be able to answer it. You’ve waited too late to ask me to reconcile them, friends. I could have done it my first year in seminary, but since then I haven’t been able to. I do know that both things are true, and that does not in any way mean that they both cannot be true. It means simply this, that our little minds are too small to reconcile many things. There are a great many things that our human intellect is not able to comprehend at all.
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Our next question comes to us from a listener in Whittier, California, who writes, If the Jews are God’s people, then why have they been persecuted for 5,000 years and are still being persecuted today?
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Well, to begin with, they are not 5,000 years old. They begin with Abraham, and that goes back just a little less than 4,000 years. Now, so far, you haven’t made an accurate statement, but I’ll keep on. Let me say, however, your statement that you’ve made, the total statement, is the answer that you’re seeking for. The reason they’ve been persecuted is because they are God’s chosen people. They have been hated, and if you would turn to the book of Revelation and read the 12th chapter, you will find out that their greatest persecution lies ahead of them. The reason for it is it’s satanic, and I believe anti-Semitism is satanic. I have a little book, The Antidote to Anti-Semitism. If you do not have it, I hope if you’re interested, you’ll write in and get our little book on this. And we’ll give you, I can assure you, an altogether and entirely different viewpoint of this matter. And they are persecuted because of Satan’s hatred in view of the fact that two things. They were the custodians of the Word of God. They were the reservoir out of which the word of God came. They were the safety deposit box where God kept his word. And they are the ones that actually were the custodians of it. And for that reason, they’re hated. Then it’s from that race that the Lord Jesus came according to the flesh. For those two reasons, they are hated of Satan as no other people are.
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We come now to a question from a listener in Temple City, California. She says, My question concerns the Sabbath day. I believe that the laws that were abolished with Christ’s death and resurrection were the laws of ceremony and rites, but the law of love and morals have been written on our hearts forever. What do you think?
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Now, you say that that which was abolished were the laws of ceremonies. Well, where do you get that? You don’t get that in the word of God. You get that out of a cult. And the laws of love and morals are written in the hearts forever. No, they’re not. They were written on tables of stone, my friend, and given to Moses. They weren’t written on your heart. And they weren’t written on the hearts of mankind. Where did you get your notion of right and wrong? You got it from the word of God. But you go out here in the islands of the sea and you’ll find out they got all together different notions of right and wrong. And it’s not written in the heart. Certain things are written in the heart of man. No question about that. But when you try to say that our and the Bible, the Bible laws, are written in hearts. You’re wrong. If they were, then God certainly was repeating himself and being rather redundant to give them in tables of stone, and that they are for all men. No, if you read the Mosaic law very carefully, my friend, you’ll find out God gave it to them and to them only. Now, that type of talking is, to my judgment, it’s double talk. And it’s not even paying attention to the simple statements of the Word of God. And when you reason like that, you’re going nowhere. And you’re not paying any attention to what the Scripture says. It’s just like somebody coming up, some little child coming up with his own idea of the multiplication table. The little fellow may say 2 times 2 equals 7. And you say, oh, no, it doesn’t. Well, he says, it’s written in my heart that way. And believe me, you don’t get anywhere. You’ll never be able to solve any problems and you won’t be able to do any business and you won’t be able to go to your bank. You’ve got to rest on things that have been established. Now, as long as you talk like this, my friend, you’re not getting anywhere at all. You’re just coming up with your own peculiar ideas. Now, I’ll keep on. It’s fine, and I’m reading now, it’s fine to keep the first day too. But if we really love Christ in our heart, we’ll keep the seventh of the Sabbath. Where do you get that? They accused him of breaking the Sabbath. That is where they fell out with him. The Pharisees broke with the Lord Jesus because they said that he broke the Sabbath, and he said to them that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day. Now, what did he mean? He meant exactly what he said, that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So when you attempt to talk as you’re talking here, may I say to you very kindly, friend, you’re not even making good sense. As long as you’ll make good sense, I’ll be able to reason with you. But when you go out on a limb and talk like this, you and I are not going to get anywhere at all. And that’s the reason, candidly, and may I say it very kindly to you today, that some of you go off into cults. It’s because you don’t think, and you don’t think logically, and you don’t say 2 plus 2 equals 4. 2 plus 2 has to equal 4 in this matter of religion, in the matter of your relationship to God, and in the matter of the Word of God. Now, it either means what it says or doesn’t mean anything at all. It doesn’t mean what you think it means or what I think it means. It means what it says. Now, just don’t read something else in. I must just pause to say this, that this is without doubt the most illogic statements that I have ever read in any questions ever been sent to me. And when folk think like this, no wonder they go off today in cuffs. And then she ends up by saying, and somebody’s going to say, well, you knew it’d be a woman. Well, may I say to you, the scripture does say silly women that are always coming to a knowledge of the truth. They never arrived. It’s interesting. Now, here’s the last statement. For Jesus said, if ye love me, you will keep my commandments. Well, what are his commandments? Why don’t you read the 15th of John? Abide in me. That’s one of his commandments. It’s not keeping the Sabbath day. You can keep the Sabbath day, my friend, and not abide in him at all. And then he talks about rejoice. He talks about my joy will be full in you. And I see some of these folk that keep the Sabbath day not very happy. I think it’ll make you happy if you really are following him. I’m afraid that you have taken scripture and abused it a great deal and just turned it to your own ends. I say it again kindly, and I hope it can be helpful to somebody. Let’s treat the word of God in a logical sort of fashion. Let it mean something. It makes sense, my friend. And when it doesn’t make sense, then it’s nonsense. And it’s nonsense to talk like this part is tough in this letter here.
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Now we come to a question from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. This listener writes, I recently heard you say that anyone who sang the hymn In the Garden would be committing blasphemy. How can you say such a thing about one of the most beautiful of all hymns? Well, I’ll continue to sing it. I love to think of coming to the garden alone and walking with my Savior.
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All right. Now, to begin with, I think you totally misunderstood the statement that I made. I don’t think I quite put it that the hymn in the garden was a blasphemous hymn. It’s a very lovely hymn and a very wonderful hymn. But I do know people that sing it in a blasphemous manner. In other words, the statement is made, I’ll go with him through the garden. Do you know what it means to go with him through the garden? And this party makes the statement, I like to think of coming to the garden alone and walking with my Savior. Now, I think you misunderstood the writer of the hymn. The garden that we’re talking about is the Garden of Gethsemane. And I’m going to deal with that in the next question that’s coming along. And friends, that Garden of Gethsemane is where Christ won the battle. He actually swept drops of blood I don’t think you’d like to go with him through the garden, that garden. But the songwriter here said that in a great fit of emotion and sincerity, a time of revival, wrote, I’ll go with him through the garden. And there have been those that have gone with him through the garden. They’ve laid down their lives. There were martyrs that laid down their lives for him. But the thing that’s blasphemous is for a soloist to sing that on Sunday morning, and then the next Sunday to be asked to sing a hymn, and she calls me at the last minute and said because it was raining, she didn’t feel like she should get out to sing. What happened to this song, I’ll Go With Him Through the Gardens? May I say to you, if you’re willing to go with him through the garden, you won’t mind getting out in a little rain. My feeling is that when you sing that hymn, you better be sure about your own life. That’s the thing I’m talking about. Don’t sing things that actually you really don’t mean. They’re just a sentiment to you. Unless you’re willing to go with him through that garden of Gethsemane, Don’t sing it. And that’s the reason I said I wouldn’t sing it. Of course, I can’t sing any of them. I just can’t sing. But I would not sing that for anything in the world because somebody said, yeah, but you’ve made a sacrifice in your ministry. Yes, but not like that, friends. I’ve made no sacrifice. like he’s made for me, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll not sing it. Now, if you want to and you get comfort for it, you go right ahead, but I sure hope your life measures up your testimony of what you’re singing. Now, that’s the thing I had in mind, so don’t misunderstand me.
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Since we’re talking about going with him in the garden, let’s hear from a listener from Fargo, North Dakota, who shares his insights on Christ’s sweating of blood. Due to the length of his comments, we’ve decided to let Dr. McGee read them and deal with them point by point. Here now is Dr. McGee.
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I would like to submit for your consideration a suggestion relative to Luke 22, 44. Now, probably, again, I should go back to Luke 22, 44, and just read that to refresh our mind. And it reads like this, And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Now, he’s in the garden of Gethsemane. And that’s the garden, by the way, that is in that hymn, I’ll go with him through the garden. This lady apparently that sent me that question thought it was a beautiful rose garden that you just go and walk through and enjoy, but that’s not it at all. It’s something altogether different. This is the garden. Now, I’ve read the verse. Now, here is his suggestion. During your discussions in Leviticus, you pointed out many times the demonstrations of the repugnance of sin to God. That is indeed an important point, and it follows that the best demonstration of that fact has to be when God Himself is made into that sin, made to be the very sin that is so revulsive to Him. That, of course, was what faced Jesus in Gethsemane, and the reaction of His physical body to that spiritual devastation produced the agony, the amazement, and depression, and the sweating of blood. I do not know if you’re acquainted with what has to happen inside a man’s body before he can sweat blood, but I’m confident that this is indeed the greatest demonstration in the entire Bible of the ugliness of sin to God. You or I will never understand all that is meant in, He was made to be sinned. But the garden agony comes closer to penetrating my understanding than all the examples in Leviticus. Now, up to that point, I want to say that I heartily agree with this medical doctor, and I like the very fine way that he’s expressed it, very fine. And with his permission, I probably am going to pull this letter out and I’m going to use it because I don’t know how it could be expressed in a better way than he has expressed it. And since he’s a medical doctor, that would carry weight. Now listen to this part. I do not believe there was a biological reason why the Lord sweat blood. I believe there was a spiritual reason, but the emotional duress that must proceed. Now, the word that he’s given me is a medical term. And the medical term is hematidrosis, hematidrosis, H-E-M-A-T-I-D-R-O-S-I-S, hematidrosis. And he says here, but the emotional duress that must precede hematidrosis tells me a lot about how Jesus felt about being made into my sin and your sin. Now, I appreciate the letter from the doctor and this statement here. Now, I want to go back and say that all the lessons given in the book of Leviticus, the examples there of the shedding of blood, and I tell you that brazen altar was a bloody affair. The tabernacle was beautiful in its design and its workmanship and the materials that went into it. But these offerings that were made there must have been actually repulsive of all those animals that were offered there. Now, and this of course doesn’t appeal to the aesthetic nature of most individuals, but I would like to remind the doctor and any others that those people knew very little about hematidrosis. They just simply wasn’t acquainted with it. They had to have something very visual in order to call it to their attention. And so there was that constant slaughter of animals to tell man that he was a sinner. And I frankly think until the Lord Jesus drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane that the Levitical verse, offerings were up to the Garden of Gethsemane, were the best examples that we’ve had. And it was meaningful to those people. They hadn’t been to medical school. They knew nothing about hematidrosis. Now, how many people today know about hematidrosis? And I want to say, dear doctor, I never heard of it till you wrote and told me about it. Now, I have heard of certain doctors that are Christians that explain it from a medical viewpoint. I’ve had several very fine Christian doctor friends that have attempted to explain it to me from that basis, and that’s fine. I’m willing to accept it, but Even today, as far as I’m concerned, that I do not know the medical terminology. I do not understand what went on physically inside of the Lord Jesus. I just know the facts that he sweat great drops of blood. And those offerings back in Leviticus immediately come to mind And I recognize that they set forth the repugnance of sin to Almighty God, a holy God who hates sin. And I see it now in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know nothing about amatidrosis. But for you, sir, I’m thankful that you have explained it. I’m also thankful that you not only explained it, but that you wrote me this letter. And I can tell people now about hematidrosis, but I don’t think that it will contribute to their understanding and it hasn’t to mine other than you have offered a scientific explanation, but I don’t rest my faith on scientific explanations. I rest my faith on the cold facts or the hot facts that are presented in the Word of God. And that is the important issue as far as I’m concerned and for the public. For all of us folk out in the world today, we need language that we can understand. And that leads me to say this. A great many folk wonder why that I use a simple language, why I stay on this level all the time. Well, probably two reasons. One of them may be that I’m not able to go to the other level. I’ve been accused of that. But I started out in the ministry. In fact, before I was ordained, I went to a liberal school. And I’ve got one or two liberal sermons, and I read them today. And they’re so high up intellectually, I don’t understand them today. But I preached them at one time. Thank God I got rid of them. And that may be an explanation that I couldn’t maintain that level. But the other explanation is most of us live way down on that lower level. And Dr. Ironside years ago put it like I’d like to put it now. The Lord said two things. He didn’t say, feed my giraffes. He said, feed my sheep. It has to be down. And again, Dr. Ironside said to young preachers, he said, always put the cookies on the bottom shelf so the kiddies can get them. And that is the thing we attempt to do today.
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As we come to the close of today’s broadcast, we’d like to remind you that even though it’s no longer possible for listeners to send questions to Dr. McGee, considering he’s with the Lord, it is still possible for you to gain a deeper understanding of the Word of God by using many of the helpful materials that we make available to our listeners. So if you’d like a copy of our resource catalog, you can call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE anytime and leave a voicemail message with your request. And when you call, be sure to include your name, address, and the call letters of this station. If you’d like to order a CD copy of today’s program or to receive more information on any of our other products, we invite you to call one of our service operators Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time. The number again is 1-800-65-BIBLE. That’s 1-800-652-4253. The Bible bus will continue rolling along this week on the Through the Bible radio program with Dr. McGee pointing out the sites. We hope that you’ll be able to hop on board and enjoy the ride. Now, because the road can seem a little bumpy at times, we do provide notes and outlines to our listeners who have a great desire to study the Bible. If you’d like to be added to our mailing list, you can call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE, use our internet order form at ttb.org, or write to Questions and Answers. For those in the U.S., Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. Or in Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Now we pray that God will answer all your questions and solve all your problems. This program has been brought to you by the faithful friends and supporters of Through the Bible Radio Network.
