Questions by John Nevins Andrews

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 17, 1866

Questions.

By John Nevins Andrews

"1. In Rev. xi, 11, what is meant by 'the three days and an half?'" "2. Gal. iii, 24, to what law does Paul refer; the moral or the ceremonial?" "3. In Rev. xvii, 12, what is meant by 'one hour?'" E. T.

Answers.

1. I understand the "three days and an half" to be prophetic days, signifying three and a half years.

Undoubtedly the day-year rule applies here, the same as in numerous other cases : Rev. xi, 2, 3; xii, 6; xiii, 5; Dan. viii, 14, &c. The Scripture from which the foregoing question is deduced, had its fulfillment in the time of the French Revolution, in the dreadful war that was then made upon the Bible. The "two witnesses" brought to view in this scripture we understand to be the two Testaments comprising the Bible; and from historic facts we learn, that in the midst of this "reign of terror," for the space of just three years and a half, by virtue of a bloody decree, the Bible was totally suppressed in France, so that during that exact period, the "dead bodies" of these "two witnesses" was all that betokened their previous existence. But after the expiration of the allotted time,—the three years and a half—life was again given to the two witnesses,—the Bible was again restored by national authority. See Their's French Rev.

2. The Ceremonial. The Moral law, while it convinced of sin, Rom. iii, 20; vii, 7, pointed to no remedy. It did not act the part of a school-master to bring the sinner to Christ, but on the contrary, it seems very clear that it was the province of the Ceremonial law to bring the transgressor immediately to him. Indeed, there was no other way to get to Christ, but by a system of types and ceremonies, such as the ceremonial law. Every type seemed to point directly to him. Every sacrifice required to be offered, tended to fasten the sinner's mind upon the great remedy.

Again, in verse 19, it is said of this law, that "it was added because of transgression." Nothing seems more clear, than that the ceremonial law was the added law. Certainly the Moral law was not added because of transgression, for it existed before transgression. But for the very reason that the moral law was transgressed, the ceremonial law was added, or if you please, appointed as the school-master to teach the way to Christ.

3. If this were a prophetic hour, as in Rev. ix, 5,—one twenty-fourth part of the day-year—the answer would be fifteen days. But from the common usage of the word hour (Greek hora) in the Bible, it need not necessarily be regarded as a prophetical period, subject to the rule in such cases. It is frequently rendered season, as in John v, 35; 2 Cor. vii, 8; Philem. 15, &c. Also, one hour, as in Rev. xviii, 10, 17, 19, &c., in all of which cases it evidently means a comparatively short, but indefinite period. Such is probably the meaning of the term in the text in question. J. M. A.