THE QUESTION CORNER by Milton C. Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 28, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 38.

THE QUESTION CORNER

By Milton C. Wilcox

CONDUCTED BY MILTON C. WILCOX, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA

Note.—This department is for the purpose of helping Bible students. Answers must of necessity be brief, often only suggestive, never exhaustive, never infallible, only as they agree with the infallible Word. Such questions only will be answered as seem to the editors to minister to the mission of the paper. Questions of the same import cannot be answered repeatedly in the same volume. Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best. It is well always to inclose stamp, not stamped envelope, unless answer is desired by letter alone.

174 — ORIGIN OF SIN

Where did evil originate? We are told, in the Bible, that God created all things, and so He must have created Satan; and if so, why does He create human beings with an inclination to do wrong, and then punish them if they do it? I do not mean to doubt God's goodness; but I cannot understand this, and should like your opinion about it.

E. E. V.

We can tell where evil originated a great deal better than we can tell how it originated. The origin of it is set before us in Eze. 28:15. In referring to Satan, once an anointed cherub by God's throne, this scripture says, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Jesus tells us, in referring to the devil: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.” John 8:44.

God created all things, but God did not create wickedness or sin. The devil exists, but God did not create the devil. God created Lucifer; God created “the anointed cherub that covereth,” set before us in Ezekiel 28, whose name was Lucifer. This is shown in Isa. 14:12-14. Sin made Lucifer the devil.

In order that character might be developed, he who possesses the character must have the right of choice. Angels are not machines, neither are human beings machines. They are not created to go in a certain way, as a machine is. If they were, there never could be any happiness with mankind. We are happy because we have that which we choose, if it is a good thing; but if we were simply machines, set to run in certain grooves and on certain tracks, and do certain things, there could come no pleasure to us, however beautiful those things which we do. We would weary of them after a while, and they would not be our choice. Consequently those who form character must have the right of choice.

Just why it was that Lucifer turned aside from the right and did the wrong, we cannot tell, any more than we can tell why sometimes we do it. Evil men themselves wonder why it is that they chose what they did choose; yet they will admit that the choice was theirs, and we admit also that we could have chosen differently if we would. We hold ourselves responsible for these things in a measure at least, and we hold those who do us wrong responsible for the wrongdoing. Consequently we ourselves are in agreement that God is just when He punishes those who do wrong. On the other hand, however, He has done everything in His power to induce men to do right. Though men sinned against God, and angels sinned against God, yet God offered them salvation by His grace, and gave the assurance that even though sin abounded, grace would much more abound in the overcoming of that sin. See Rom. 5:20.

Men have the inclination to sin, because they have inherited it. The stream does not rise above its fountainhead unless it is by some power outside of itself. Men are prone to sin, because they have inherited a nature that is sinful; but it is in their power to do just as Jesus did—so empty the heart of all selfishness, that the Lord Himself will come in, and will dwell there, and make true in us Gal. 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

The choice rests with us. God has thrown around every soul who lives in this world a sacred circle, which even He, by His divine power, will not enter to compel. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing”; and then He pleads with us that we may choose life. Deut. 30:19. Again He tells us: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Eze. 33:11.

Against all the loving entreaties of God, and all that God has done, we must turn, if we are bound to pursue the way to evil. On the other hand, every heart in this great world, heathen though that heart may be, if it has the purpose and the will to yield to God, God will call for and bring to Himself; “for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” 2 Chron. 16:9. He knows that we have the inclination to sin; He knows all our temptations; He understands all the doubts the enemy will bring into our hearts; yet He has met them all in His infinite goodness in giving His only Son, and in the assurances and power of His holy word.

175 — THE TWO COVENANTS

Please explain Gal. 4:21-28. Tell us why Agar is said to be Mount Sinai. What two laws or covenants are here spoken of?

C. V.

Hagar was the type of the old covenant at Mount Sinai. That covenant is recorded in Ex. 19:3-8; and its sealing, in Ex. 24:3-8. It is a covenant the Lord made with the Jewish people, in which they promised to do certain things, and God promised to do certain things for them. The weak part of that covenant was the promise of the people. They had no power in themselves to fulfill their promise, although they thought they had. Consequently they failed. Their own promises led to bondage rather than liberty. It was their privilege to accept the Lord Jesus Christ there—so to give themselves to God that the Lord's power would come in and help them and save them just as it did Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. But they could not look beyond that glory, and consequently that glory condemned them.

Hagar was the handmaid of Sarah; and the child she bore, Ishmael, was the child of a handmaid, or a slave. She bore children to bondage. Thus she well represented those who trusted in their own works. God had promised that He would bring forth the Seed through Sarah. Abraham could not believe that. He felt that he must adopt Eliezer of Damascus. One born in his house must be the heir. Gen. 15:2-4. And when the Lord told him that was not the case, he felt that he must scheme or plan in some way to help the Lord out; and so through Sarah's suggestion, a child was born by Hagar, the handmaid. This was human scheming, but it was not God's plan. It only led to bondage and trouble. Read the story in Genesis 12 to 21. Sarah was a freewoman, and therefore her children were free. Her child came contrary to human order, by the power and promise of God. Consequently Isaac represents the children of freedom, or liberty, those who are saved in Christ Jesus through the new covenant. That covenant rests wholly on the great, eternal promises of God. See an outline of it in Heb. 8:8-10.

Sarah, therefore, represents God's order; and all those who are saved according to God's order, by faith and the promises of the Lord Jesus, are children of freedom. They have the liberty of the Spirit of God.

The same two things are represented by earthly Jerusalem and heavenly Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem is representative of that kingdom which Israel tried to establish in their own righteousness, under more or less of constant rebellion against God; but the New Jerusalem, to which the children have not yet come, is the Jerusalem that is made wholly after God's order, and is free, and is therefore called the mother of the children of freedom. Hence Paul concludes that we who have believed in Christ are as Isaac was, the children of promise. Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael, the child of the bond servant; so God's true children will meet persecution from those who are following the schemes of men. But in the glorious outcome, God will save His children, and cast out those who are not of Him.

For an explanation of 2 Cor. 3:6-18, how the letter kills, the ministration of death, etc., see Bible Students' Library, No. 149, “What Is ‘Done Away’ in Christ?”

176 — THE PERPETUATION OF THE SEASONS

In Gen. 8:22 we read, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

O. H. S.

The thought in the mind of the querist is, seemingly, What about the destruction that the Lord will visit upon the earth? Of course, the text itself has reference to the normal condition of the world, while men live in it; and it has ever been true, from the time when the Lord gave the promise, to this time, that seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night have gone on in their regular course. And that will be true just as long as men live here in probation. When God sets men aside, then the earth itself may be counted as destroyed or rejected until God creates new heavens and a new earth. The promise is simply this,—that while men enjoy God's favor at all, these seasons will come and go just the same as they have been coming and going since the promise was given. When men are no more worthy of God's favor, then we will have upon the earth all the awful confusion and trouble that are indicated in Isaiah 24, Jeremiah 4, Zeph. 1:14-18, and elsewhere. Out of all that confusion and chaos God will create new heavens and a new earth.

177 — DAVID'S WIVES

Please tell me how many wives David had, and where the record is found.

H. F. S.

His first wife was Michal, Saul's daughter. See 1 Sam. 18:27, 28. His second wife was Abigail. 1 Sam. 25:39-42. His third wife seems to have been Ahinoam. 1 Sam. 25:43. Then in 2 Sam. 3:2-4 we have a list of his wives. In addition to those named were Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; Haggith; Abital; Eglah. As to how many he had beyond this, see 2 Sam. 5:13: “And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron; and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.” Two of these we know to be Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:27) and Abishag (1 Kings 1:3). Of his concubines, ten are mentioned in 2 Sam. 15:16.

The record refers, therefore, to nine wives and ten concubines. A great deal of David's trouble politically and otherwise came through his irregularities and sins in this respect.