These questions were asked by an ernest student of the scripture.  I have replied by mail, but I hare give a fuller, and, in some instances, a corrected response.  

Q.  Where was Christ's spirit between the crucifixion and the resurrection?

A.  It was in the hand of the Father, Luke 23:46.

Q.  Did He preach to the spirits in prison?

A.  Not while He was dead.  As a matter of fact, He did not evangelize them at all; He heralded to them, I Pet. 3:19.  That is, He let them know that He had been roused.  This was after His rousing, resurrection and vivification. 

Q.  Israel, God's servant people.  But the Anglo Saxon has been His servant people during this age.  Could they be modern Israel? 

A.  Anglo Saxon, together with other nations, have been His servant people during part of this eon, (age), which began just after the deluge in Noah's day.  They are not Israel in any sense, since they are not the offspring of Jacob.  Israel was to be calloused, Isa. 6, and this condition was to continue from the time of Paul pronounced their doom, Acts 28.  The callousness of Israel is not total.  Paul was an Israelite, but, during this administration this is no advantage.  It is refuse, Phil. 3:8. 

Q.  What is the kingdom of God? 

A.  It seems evident that it is the sphere of God's rule over willing subjects, I Cor. 15:50. 

Q.  What is the kingdom of heaven? 

A.  It is that part of the kingdom of God that Israel shall have during the thousand years, Matt. 3:2. 

Q.  What did Christ mean when He said, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof?" 

A.  Since the kingdom of the heavens is also the kingdom of God, He meant that the Israelites to whom He was speaking were not to have the kingdom promised through the prophets.  Its establishment would be deferred. 

Q.  To what nation was it given? 

A.  It has not yet been given to any nation.  In the future it will be given to the descendents of the very people who rejected it.  But it will not be the same nation.  If the United States should be destroyed and its people scattered, and, many centuries later, our descendents should build a nation on the same soil, it would not be the same nation, even if it were called by the same name.  Just before the kingdom is established the world dictator shall consolidate all nations into one—the world-kingdom.  The same world-kingdom shall become "our Lord's and His Christ's. and His reign will be over the entire earth.  But the people of Israel, in Palestine, shall really have the kingdom.  See Rev. 11:15.

Q.  Does this have any connection with Jacob's statement, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come?"  

A.  The Septuagint version does not mention Shiloh.  It says, beginning with verse 8, of Gen. 49, that Judah is to be praised by his brethren, that he is a lion's whelp, that a ruler out of his loins shall not default until that which is stored up for him is accomplished, and that he is the hope of the nations. The prophecy seems to shift to Christ, and its fulfillment evidently begins with Rev. 5:5.  It does not seem to concern the past history of Judah, for we know that the tribe had no ruler for many centuries.  Christ is the Ruler referred to, and He shall not default.  

Q.  Is the 70th week of Daniel 9:24 past, or future?  

A.  Heptads, instead of weeks, is the correct rendering.  A heptad is seven years.  Seventy heptads are segregated for Daniel's people.  There are three periods of it, and they need not run consecutively.  Any time that is between any two periods is not counted in this prophecy.  The first two periods, aggregating 69 heptads, ended just before the crucifixion.  The Messiah was to be cut off after the 69th heptad, but not necessarily in the 70th.  The time that has elapsed between the crucifixion and the present, is not counted.  The beginning of the 70th heptad will be when the desolator makes a covenant with the majority of the Israelites in Palestine.  The covenant will be for seven years, but in the middle of the period the desolator will break it and then will follow the three-and-a-half years of affliction.  It is future.  

Q.  Who is the man-child of Rev. 12?  

A.  The woman is, evidently, that part of Israel that is told to flee into the mountain, Matt. 24:16.  Since the woman is composed of many persons, the same may be said of her son.  She brought forth a son, a male.  Are not all sons males?  No.  In Eph. 1:5, believers of the present administration are called a son.  Individually we are not called sons.  Corporately, we are a son, even though, individually, we are male and female.  But it seems that the son mentioned in Rev. 12 is composed of men, only.  Hence, a son, a male.  It seems that this company is again seen in 14:1-5, where it is said they are celibates—they have not known women.  They are protected without having to flee into the mountain.  They number 144,000 men.  Here they are on Mount Zion.  In chapter 12 the son is snatched away TOWARD, not necessarily TO, the Father.  Mount Zion is where they are carried.  We first see them in chapter 7.  

Q.  Where, in the Revelation, is the church taken up?  

A.  The churches in Revelation are Jewish, and are in the future, in the Lord's day, after believers of the present are snatched away to meet the Lord in the air, for we find in 1:10 that the entire book is confined to the future, and cannot begin until the Lord's day begins.  Read 2:9, for evidence that they are Jewish churches.  They refuse to fellowship any except Jews.  It is not taken up; its destiny is on earth. 

Q.  Who are the two witnesses of Rev. 11?  

A.  They are two men.  They represent what is said in Zech 4:3.  They are called olive trees, because they have that which enables them to give light on the word of God.  They are called lampstands, because they are actually giving forth this light.  They have no connection with what Paul says about olive trees in Rom. 11.  

Q.  What is the mystery of God spoken of in Rev. 10:7?  

A.  Secret, not mystery.  It is that which God intends to do in delivering Israel, a secret to mankind, but known to His slaves, the prophets.  It is not said, "Time shall be no more," but "there will be no longer a time of delay."  

Q.  When will the mystery be finished?  

A.  The secret will be consummated in Rev. 11:15.  There, and in the verses that follow, we see the kingdom established.  In verse 19 we start over again, and view the whole matter form a different angle.  

Q.  When will be the fulfillment of Jacob's death-bed prophecy, Gen 48 and 49?  

A.  What is said in chapter 49 will occur in the last days.  This is evidently true of what is said in the preceding chapter, for Ephraim is out of God's reckoning, because of the idolatry of the tribe.  In Rev. 7, his tribe is not mentioned. There is no evidence that he has ever become a multitude of nations.  He, together with Dan, which tribe was also cut off, will be restored to his place in the kingdom, Ezek. 48.  If Ephraim is to become a multitude of nations, it will be in the kingdom. 

These answers are not intended to be dogmatic.  I have told what I understand to be truth. 

I have no quarrel with any who do not agree with me.  I hope to always have two things: Strong convictions regarding the scriptures, and loving tolerance for those who do not agree with me. 

The bond-servant of the Lord must not be fighting.  He must be gentle.  Those saints who have studied the word to best advantage, will be gentle, for it is no less true of us than of David, that "Thy gentleness has made me great, Ps. 18:35.  His gentleness becomes part of us, and we become great, even though we may be for from great, as measured by man's standard.