Question Corner by Milton C. Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 2, 1915

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 can not 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 Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best.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.

80—AGE OF JESUS AT THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN

Will you please inform me how old Jesus was when the wise men visited Him? L. J. A.

It is impossible to tell the exact age of our Lord at that time. It can only be approximated. The star that the wise men saw before they started to visit our Lord was probably the glory of the angels who announced His birth to the shepherds. These wise men lived in the east—a very elastic term—which may have been Persia, or may have been Babylon, or may have been the country of Padan-aram, where Jacob went to obtain a wife, and which is called the east. See Gen. 29:1. “Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.” And this seems to have been the home of Balaam also, for he dwelt “by the river,” which usually refers to the river Euphrates. See Num. 22:5.

The investigations of the wise men and their journey to Jerusalem would depend, of course, on the speed with which they traveled. If they had swift dromedaries, these would have carried them there in twenty-five or thirty days. This, however, is very indefinite. Looking at it from the family side of the question, it is clearer. Certainly the presentation of Jesus in the temple, and the offering made by the mother, could not have been made after the visit of the wise men. The law of the offering is given in Lev. 12:2-4. After the birth of the child to the time when the offering was made, was certainly thirty-three days. This came after the circumcision of the child—the eighth day. So taking it all together, after the birth of Jesus to the time when Mary made her offering in the temple was at least forty days. It may have been, of course, a longer time than this before the wise men reached there. Joseph and his family moved from the inn in Bethlehem to a house, for there the wise men found them, according to the record in Matthew 2. If the wise men had preceded the visit to the temple, the liberal gifts they bestowed would have enabled Mary to offer another offering than what she did. The doves and the pigeons show the poverty of the family.

When Herod learned from the wise men that Jesus had been born, of course he was aroused to wrath because of a possible rival, and seemingly his decree soon followed. Therefore we would naturally conclude that after the visit of the wise men, Joseph took the young child and the mother and went to Egypt. Herod died in a few months after this, and Archelaus his son came to the throne. The stay of the holy family in Egypt, then, was doubtless short, Jesus immediately returning to the Holy Land.

From the data given in the Scriptures, we could say that Jesus, at the time of the visit of the wise men, was at least forty days old, and He may have been considerably older, although it would seem very reasonable to believe that the wise men could have come the distance between the time when they first saw the star in their own land and their visit to Jerusalem.

81—OUR MEDIATOR

I understand that Christ has been man's Mediator in the heavenly sanctuary since sin first entered the world, and will be till probation ends. If so, was there not a period of thirty-four years during Christ's life on earth when mankind was without a Mediator? P. J. W.

There are some things in God's plan which are revealed fully to His people. There are many other things which are not so revealed. It was not the mere fact that Jesus was upon earth or in heaven that made Him a Mediator, but the great fact was that He gave Himself for man. During the time previous to His coming to the earth, He was an angel among the angels. He is called “the Angel of Jehovah” repeatedly in the Old Testament. He is called “Michael the Archangel”; but the offering that He had made in purpose in the beginning, and had fulfilled in part in stepping down as He did to be a servant with the angels, was recognized in heaven, and whoever came to God was received.

We must not think that every soul which was heard of the Father necessarily came in the same way or through a certain form. We must not think that the Son of God was willing to hear prayer while the Father was not. We read in 2 Chron. 16:9 that “the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.”

Those who lived in the former ages did not know Jesus by that name. Many of them did not understand God's great plan of redemption or its theory or philosophy at all. They simply knew this,—that God was merciful; and to the merciful God they went confessing their sins, believing that He would forgive and that He would save. And following the light that they had, and yielding to the truth that they saw, they were accepted.

To His own people in their organized work He gave greater light and clear object lessons, as in the sanctuary of old; but He just as truly accepted those who came with all their heart to Him, as He did those who understood vastly more. The great loving God was just as willing to hear when His Son slept in Joseph's sepulcher as He was after our Lord ascended to His right hand. It is a heart that follows the light given, more than a mind that knows light and does not follow it, that God regards.

82—THE CEREMONIAL LAW

Did all God's people prior to Christ observe the ceremonial law of sacrifice and offerings, or could men pray to God through Christ for pardon then as now? As witness, the prayers of David, Daniel, Hezekiah, and others. F. J. W.

It is very clear that all those who understood the law of sacrifice and were devoted followers of Christ, followed the custom, though they may not have understood the law as it was developed in Levitical times. In fact, when we go back to the days of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, we find the law of sacrifice very much simpler than it was in later days. Under the Mosaic system, it was developed into a very elaborate ceremonial. The whole nation itself was involved in it, and these ceremonials were object lessons to the people. But previous to that time, when the work was more individual, or pertained more exclusively to the family, the ceremonies were very simple indeed. The principle was recognized, doubtless, by all, that God had made sacrifice in order to save men, and men responded to it.

They did not come in the name of the word Jesus then, because they did not know any such name; but they did come through the great mercy of God. And therefore we have such expressions as we find in the beginning of the fifty-first psalm:

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness: According to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”

It is also expressed in the very name of Jehovah itself, as indicated by Ex. 34:6, 7. There are truths that lie far deeper than the mere surface terms. The New Testament enjoins that we should ask in the name of Jesus, but the name of our Lord stood for self-emptying. “Let this mind be in you,” says the apostle, “which was also in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2:5. And then he tells us the mind that was in Christ Jesus,—that He emptied Himself, gave all, in order that He might save man. And the man who empties himself, and asks God wholly and solely for His mercy's sake to forgive, comes in the name of Jesus, though he may never know the name. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” But where clearer light has revealed to us more fully the plan of God, simple faith demands that we should follow the clear light.

It is Jesus Himself who said: “In that day ye shall ask in My name; and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loveth you.” John 16:26, 27.

83—ONE IN CHRIST JESUS

Will you kindly explain Gal. 3:28? Some claim there is neither male nor female in heaven. L. A. B.

This scripture has nothing to do with what is in heaven in regard to sex or nationality there. It does have to do with the Christian church, and with those who are in Christ Jesus. Outside of Christ, in the apostle's day, even as in our day, there were distinctions made because of nationality, because of social conditions, because of sex. The Jew was considered better than the Greek. A freeman was considered better than a bondman. The male was considered better than the female.

That was true to some extent with the Jews. It was true with Gentiles. Of course the Jew considered that the Jew was far superior to the Greek, and the Greek considered that the male was far superior to the female. In many of the nations where Christianity went, the female was considered no more than the beasts.

The apostle Paul wanted to teach the Galatians and others who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ that every human soul was precious in God's sight. It mattered not whether he were Jew or whether he were Greek, whether he were bond or whether he were free, whether male or female. They had all received a new birth. They were all members of the family of God, and they were all equally precious in His sight. That does not mean that the Jew was changed over to a Greek. It did not necessarily mean that a bondman's chains would drop off in his worldly social condition. The same apostle even sent Onesimus back to his master after he had become a Christian, and the master himself was a Christian—Philemon. But it does mean that in God's regard—and that ought to be true in His children's regard—they were all one in Christ Jesus.

84—THE TRUE WORSHERS, ZECH. 14:16

Please explain Zech. 14:16. A. L. B.

It is impossible to give the clearest explanation of any verse in a prophecy like this, without taking into consideration the whole prophecy; and the whole prophecy does not refer to a particular time or occasion, but it rather covers a period of time. And this period of time is the great day of the Lord, when God will deal with both wicked and righteous.

The prophet also speaks in the language of his own day; and in his time the Lord's people, when faithful, came up to Jerusalem from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. That is used as a type of the Lord's people who are saved. They will be equally faithful to God. They have been even before they are saved; and it is their faithfulness to God in worship and service, that insures their salvation. The prophet is simply speaking in the language of his own time regarding the souls that will be saved to the new earth. In that glorious time, there will be no sacrifices. There may be feasts of tabernacles kept, in which God's children will commemorate their wonderful salvation from the things of earth. However that may be, this prophecy simply indicates that God's children in that land will regard with real joy all that He asks of them and whatsoever is required in their worship.