p. 2 | Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 1, 1910

Question Corner

Please Be Definite.— For instance, a question comes to us asking us to be so kind as to explain the meaning of the latter part of “the 28th verse of Hebrews.” But the question is not definite enough so that we may know what chapter is referred to. There are five chapters in Hebrews which have 28 verses or more; chapter 7, chapter 9, chapter 10, chapter 11, chapter 12. If our correspondent will tell us what chapter is referred to we will be glad to answer the question if we can.

3053.—Another Day

Please explain Heb. 4:8, “For if Jesus had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day.” G. W. Y.

1. Note that the word “Jesus” should be “Joshua,” as in the Revised Version. “Jesus” in Greek is the same as “Joshua” in the Hebrew.

2. God designed to give His children rest, eternal rest, when they were led into the promised land by Joshua; but He could not do it on account of their unbelief. Consequently they did not receive the eternal rest.

3. Because they did not enter rest, God afterward spoke of “another day,” the present, “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”

4. The only true way in which the soul can find rest is to forsake the works of the flesh, and yield to God; and that is open to every soul now. Not that when the soul yields will he receive all that that rest means; but he will receive the earnest of that rest, the pledge of the purchased possession. If faithful to the end, when our Lord comes he will receive the eternal rest in the new heavens and the new earth which He will make.

5. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (verse 9); literally, there remains the keeping of a Sabbath,—not such a one as sinful men have kept, to remind them of Eden lost, and also of the mighty power of God which redeems, a day in which also the weary body shall rest from toil, but the great spiritual Sabbath-keeping, in which every day of the week shall heighten the joys of the blessed Sabbath which sinless men will observe.

3054.—Compelling. Luke 14:15-25.—N. J. E.—

The parable of the great supper surely gives no ground whatever for religious legislation. There are different ways of compelling; some by force, others by convincing. The parable is an illustration of God’s effort to save His professed people. They are represented as men invited to a feast, but they have various excuses. They will not come. Finally the householder is represented as going out and gathering in the poor and the maimed, and the halt and the blind, people in the highways and hedges who are only anxious to know that there is such a feast for them, and they go. The compelling to come in is simply the presentation of the invitation in such a way that they feel that they must accept. There is no compulsion in God’s government. Whosoever will may come. Note in that very Scripture that the Lord very clearly shows in His application of the parable that man must himself choose against father, and mother, and children, and his own life also, if necessary, in order that he may be Christ’s disciple.

3055.—“They.” “Carcasses.” Isa. 66:24.—A. L. M.—

The “they” of Isa. 66:24 refers to God’s children. The when and the where of it are at the time when the city of God descends to the earth with the camp of the saints around it, when fire comes down from God out of heaven and destroys the wicked and the rebellious. See Revelation 20. Then it will be that the children of God will go forth and look upon the slain. There is one spot of earth made new when the city descends. Our Lord will stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, and there shall be a very great plain. The very touch and presence of the Son of God will make that part of the earth holy and clean, and there will be the camp of the saints and the beloved city. The camp of the saints seems to extend beyond the city, we gather by comparing Zechariah 14 with Revelation 20. We do not see that it is necessary that the redeemed should go out upon the earth still under the curse. They can see the mass of the slain without doing that. “Carcasses” simply means dead bodies. The best definition given is the rendering of the American Standard Revised Version, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies,” for that is what a carcass means. The dead bodies will be on that part of the earth which has not been renewed by the touch and presence of Christ and the holy city. The earth itself will be purified by the fires of the last day, which will burn up the dead carcasses of those who have been destroyed by the outshining of Jehovah’s glory.

3056.—Foreknowledge and Foreordination

If God knew just what kind of life a man would lead before he was born, is God responsible for the evil the man may do? N. J. E.

See for fuller explanation the little tract “Bible Election.” We can only say in reply to this question that foreknowledge is not foreordination; further, that character can only be formed by choice. It would be utterly impossible for God to compel a man to do contrary to that man’s desires, and still have a willing, free subject. The man must himself choose. God may see that the man will go on and go wrong; and yet He will use every means in His power to place before the man the value and blessings of right doing, but He will not, can not, compel that man to accept. We may see a man, passing through a forest, taking a wrong path, and we know that the taking of that wrong path means loss or destruction to the individual; and we warn him with all our power of persuasion to turn back and take some other path. But if deliberately in the face of such warnings he chooses the evil path, certainly we would not be held responsible. Just so it is that God warns men of the evil, pleads with them to choose the good; but He is not responsible for the man’s evil doing. That is a matter of the man’s choice; and every wicked man that holds any other man to account, vindicates God in that plan.

To compel one to be saved who does not want to be, would make heaven a miserable place in which to live. The one thing that will make eternal and everlasting happiness to the righteous, is that they are in perfect harmony with the place, in perfect harmony with the law, and with the King whose law and realm it is; but to compel a sinner to be saved contrary to his choice, would make to him a hell of heaven.

3057.—“Hell Fire.” Matt. 5:22.—N. J. E.—

The words “hell fire” in Matt. 5:22, literally are “Gehenna of fire.” See margin of Revised Version. They refer to the Valley of Hinnom, of which “Gehenna” is the shorter Greek term. The Valley of Hinnom, outside of Jerusalem, was a place where all refuse and offal of the city was cast. There constant fires were kept burning to consume whatever was cast into them; consequently the very figure itself stood for utter and absolute destruction. “Gehenna,” instead of referring to an eternal thing, indicates the end of all that is cast into it. It is strange how some have gotten the very opposite idea. Because the fire was kept burning, men have argued that whatever was cast into it lived. In the first place, it was only the refuse that was cast into the fire; and in the second place, it was cast there in order that it might be completely consumed. In many places in the Bible the wicked are likened to chaff, dry branches, fat of lambs, and other consumable material, to show that their end is death, or destruction. So eternal punishment means the same thing. Compare Matt. 25:41 with 2 Thess. 1:9. And note that the everlasting punishment of one is the everlasting destruction of the other; not everlasting punishing, but everlasting punishment; and everlasting punishment is eternal death.

3058.—“Till the Son of Man Be Come.” Matt. 10:23.—N. J. E.—

Taking this passage in connection with Luke 10:1, it seems to mean just this: Jesus sent out twelve disciples to go before His face to prepare His way and to tell the people of His coming. Again after these things the Lord “appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place, whither He Himself would come.” So He tells His messengers that if they were persecuted in one Jewish city go to another. “Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come,” or as the margin reads, “Ye shall not end the cities of Israel,” shall not have completed the work that the Master gave you, until He follows you. Where they went He would follow after. The coming seems to have reference to Christ’s coming in proclaiming His Gospel to the very cities to which He sent these persons.

3059.—Sabbath Made for Man

The Scriptures say that the Sabbath was made for man, and that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,” etc. Was then the Sabbath made during one of the six working-days? A. L. M.

Not at all. The work which the Lord did for man covered one entire week. Part of that work was for man’s material benefit. All that work for material benefit came on the six working-days. God had a special regard for man’s spiritual nature; that pertained largely to the seventh day. The Sabbath was made for man; that could only come, of course, on the seventh day. It would be impossible to make a day before it came. On the seventh day the Lord laid the foundation for man’s Sabbath, the great spiritual center around which all other blessings revolved. On the six days He made the temporal blessings; consequently it could be said that on the seventh day the Lord finished His work, including all the material and spiritual blessings for mankind.

3060.—The “His” and the “Him” of Gen. 4:7.—N. J. E.—

Read as in the American Revised Version, “If thou doest well, shall it [the sacrifice] not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee shall be its desire; but, do thou rule over it.” The sacrifice was offered for sin. Cain ought to have brought an emblem which showed his faith in the Redeemer to come. He did not. He simply brought a mere thank-offering. The sin still remained. Had he only done that which was right, he would have been accepted, and the sacrifice would have been accepted; but not having a true heart of faith, the sin still remained like a wild beast, couching at the door ready to spring upon him, desiring to destroy him. But God’s injunction was to Cain to rule over the sin. That was his privilege. That privilege he refused; and the wild beast, sin, seized him and carried him captive.

3061.—Number of Popes.—N. J. E.—

From Victor bishop of Rome, A.D. 192, to the present pope there have been in the papal chair, according to Dowling, 240 popes. Rome claims papal descent from Peter, who probably never served in the Roman church. There were twelve or thirteen bishops between Peter and Victor. From Constantine’s time (Sylvester, bishop) to the present there have been 221. From the time the popes possessed temporal power in A.D. 756 to the present there have been 161 incumbents of the papal chair.

3062.—Acts 9:22.—C. E. O.—

The expression in Acts 9:22 simply means that “this is the Christ.” So reads the Revised Version. There is no word left out. The original word is translated “the” instead of “a,” as tho we would say, “this is truly Christ.”