Bible Question Time first appeared on Sunday, 30th January 2011 and it is hoped that the archive, once established, might be a blessing to visitors. The archive will be updated every month and will carry 24 ‘QUESTIONS’.
‘What is your life’, is a short phrase taken from one verse in the book of James. The full verse reads, ‘You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.’ – This verse highlights the brevity and uncertainty of life. The BBC website, on the last day of December 2022, posted a list of famous people who had died in 2022. Two of those featured in this long list, were the Australian cricketers, Rodney Marsh and Shane Warne. Marsh, who was 22 years older than teammate Warne, died on 4 March, aged 74. Warne posted an eerie final tweet in memory of his colleague, ‘Sad to hear the news that Rod Marsh has passed … RIP mate’. Little did the 52-year-old Warne realise, that before the day ended, he too would be dead! A graphic reminder that ‘‘You do not know what will happen tomorrow!’
‘What is your life?’ - James 4:14
Job’s wife had had called upon her suffering husband to “Curse God and die!” [2.9]. This he would not do! But he did ‘curse’, multiple times, the day he was born [3:1-26]. Bible scholar, M. Unger asks, “What caused the drastic change in Job from godly, patient submission … to impatient imprecations? … [Perhaps] the sight of his distinguished companions, which recalled too vividly his own splendid past now vanished … In seeking to know why he was afflicted, he strayed from the narrow path of wisdom. Instead of holding fast to the confidence that God had not abandoned him, he cursed not God, as Satan would have had him do, but his own miserable existence, which was a step at least in the direction of Satan's goal. For, in doing so, he was daring to argue with God, who had so ordered it. In not submitting to his sovereign LORD, he was not acting in faith, which was sin’
‘Why was I not hidden like a stillborn child?’ - Job 3:16
This question, asked in Job 28:20, is answered in the final verse of the chapter.
The chapter is taken up with the amazing lengths man will go to in order to extract
precious minerals from the depths of the earth, well away from the searching vulture’s
eyes (v.7) and the prowling ‘fierce lion’ (v.8). To find and secure his treasure,
called in v.3 ‘the stones of darkness’, the miner with his lamp chases away the shadows.
He endures the damp conditions and faces the heat of the ‘fire’. And all this, to
find his prize! Some of those minerals are listed. Gold and silver (v.1), iron and
copper (v.2), onyx stones and sapphires (v.16) and the ‘topaz of Ethiopia’ (v.19).
However, for all his searching, man will not find ‘wisdom’ in the rocks. ‘The deep
says, “Wisdom is not with me”’. Where then can wisdom be found? - ‘Behold, the fear
of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding’ (v.28).
‘From where … does wisdom come?’ - Job 28:20
The Lord has chosen for His earthly dwelling place, Mount Zion, in preference to
all other mountains, even the grander peaks of the Hermon range. This range with
its many precipitous peaks, includes snow-capped Mount Hermon (2,814 m - 9,232 ft)
which straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon. These lofty mountains, which
suggest ideas of majesty, antiquity and beauty, are here represented as looking enviously
upon the apparently insignificant Mount Zion. Sinai had been his temporary abode
(Exodus 24:16 ‘And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai’) but it is on Zion
He will dwell for ever. Psalm 132:13 ‘For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired
it for His dwelling place: This is My resting place forever’. And it is upon Zion,
that Christ’s coronation will take place prior to His millennial reign – ‘Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion’ - Psalm 2:6.
‘Why do ye look with envy, ye many-peaked mountains’ - Psalm 68:16
As the Lord’s ministry begins, He took up residency in the town of Capernaum. It
was here He did many miracles, so much so, that He said of this village it had been
‘exalted unto heaven’ (Matt 11.24). The question above was asked by a demon who resided
in the body of an unfortunate victim. The demon recognised Christ, and asked, “Have
You come to destroy us?” On another occasion Jesus is met by a man possessed my multiple
demons [Mark ch.5] and they ask, “Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Here
we learn that Christ has complete mastery over the demon world and they know it!
The healing of both men, foreshadows Christ’s eventual triumph over Satan and all
his agents, an event foretold in the last book of the Bible – ‘And the devil that
deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone … and shall be tormented
day and night for ever and ever.’ 20:10
‘Have you come to destroy us?’ - Mark 1:24
This question was put to the disciples by the Lord as they came to Capernaum. They
were embarrassed to answer His question and kept silent, because ‘on the way they
had argued with one another about who was the greatest [among them].’ The Lord had
only just told them of His own impending death, an act of profound SELFLESSNESS –
‘The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and
after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day’ – And now we see the disciples
squabbling among themselves about which of them was the greatest; an attitude of
profound SELFISHNESS. It would seem the embarrassment caused by the Lord’s question,
was only temporary, for Luke records that even in the upper room, on the eve of the
Lord’s death, the squabbling continued, ‘there was also a strife among them, which
of them should be accounted the greatest.’ – Luke 22:24
“What were you discussing on the way?” - Mark 9:33
