This Inquirer's Department is conducted for the purpose of helping those who are studying the Bible. The answers are oftentimes only suggestive. They are never to be considered infallible, only as they agree with the infallible Word. The writer who may answer them does not consider that his opinion is infallible. He will simply give the best that he has, and plead with the inquirer to search the Word. Such questions only will be answered as, to the editors, seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. We can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. No letters are answered which do not contain the name of the writer. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.
3979 — Paul and the Lord's Coming
Will you kindly explain 1 Thess. 4:15-17? Some persons hold that Paul expected the Lord to come in, or during, his lifetime. They appear to come to that conclusion from the fact that he uses the pronoun “we.” N.
The passage reads as follows: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” A.R.V.
First, let us say that the Word of God is written for all time; all time is present with the great God of heaven. Therefore the apostle counts himself as among God's children of all ages. He makes himself one of the “we,” one of the flock. Some would be alive, some would die; but those of us who are left unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede those that are fallen asleep, for before the living are taken to heaven the dead in Christ shall rise. “Then we that are alive, that are left [that is those of us, whoever they may be], shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The same thought is expressed in 1 Cor. 15:51,—“We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed.” He counts himself among the “all.” But that Paul did not believe that the Lord was coming in his day, is clearly evident from what he says in his second epistle. Some of the Thessalonian brethren seemed to get the idea from his first epistle that the Lord was very soon coming. This he corrects in his second letter. “Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,” etc. Paul knew that the prophecies given in Daniel must be fulfilled before Christ should come. Therefore his use of the “we,” or his classing himself among those that should live when Christ comes, is no evidence that he expected to do this. He is simply making himself one of God's children of all ages.
3980 — A Prophecy of the Messiah
I have occasionally noticed that Gen. 49:10 is referred to as a prophecy that the Messiah should come through the tribe of Judah. I am anxious to know why it is so regarded, as I see only an apportionment to Judah of strength and relationship. H. E. S.
The oldest son usually was the heir of the estate in Israel, unless some arbitrary change was made. This among Jacob's sons naturally belonged to Reuben; but Reuben was a weak character, “unstable as water,” the prophecy said; he should “not excel.” The Lord therefore divided the birthright among three of the sons; to Joseph went the double portion; his two sons came in as regular tribes. To Levi came the priesthood, to Judah the rulership. This was not simply given to Judah personally, but to Judah and his posterity. The text reads: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” Shiloh is generally considered to be Christ, and unto Him—Shiloh—should the gathering of the people be—not unto Judah, but unto Shiloh of the tribe of Judah. It is a remarkable fact that while the other tribes were scattered, and their genealogies lost, the genealogies of two were preserved, that of Levi, the priesthood, and that of Judah, the ruler; so that the lineage of Jesus could be traced through not only His mother's side but His father's side, as well. See Matthew 1 and Luke 3. The tribe of Judah was held together until Jesus came, and from that time forth He became the center of the gathering of God's people. And therefore He Himself tells us, in John 4:22, that “salvation is of the Jews.” The fact that Christ came through the tribe of Judah is also stated in Heb. 7:14. The Syriac and two other authorities are noted by the “Companion Bible” as giving Gen. 49:10 as follows: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from his seed, till He, Shiloh, come, and to Him the obedience of the peoples.”
3981 — What to Eat
Please explain Luke 10:8. By this verse it seems proper to eat anything that it is customary to eat. C. A. M. C.
The scripture reads: “And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.” First of all, it is well to remember that the Lord sent these seventy out into Israel. They were sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They would not meet with the Gentile diet in their journeyings. It was not until after Pentecost that the disciples were especially instructed to go to the Gentiles. Consequently, they would find nothing set before them but that which was in accordance with the law of Moses. But to carry the thing further, our correspondent wishes to know what we would do in eating at our friends' houses, and where they were almost sure to have things in which unwholesome shortening was used, such as lard, etc. In such a case as this, it seems that the instruction of the apostle would be in place: “Eat what is set before you, asking no questions,” for “food will not commend us to God: neither, if we eat not, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.” The apostle says this in view of the fact that some foods were offered to idols before they were sold in the shambles, or markets. So far as we are concerned, we could eat that food just as well as we could eat any other, because the idol to us would be nothing. But if we knew that that was unwholesome food, the only wise way would be not to partake of it; and if some one was likely to stumble over any action that we might take, it would be better for us not to put the stumbling-block in his way. The apostle declares, “If meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh forevermore, that I cause not my brother to stumble.” 1 Cor. 8:13. But if we did not know, if we had reason to suppose that everything was proper and right, eat without asking. Do not offend souls who may not understand all that you understand, by seeming to criticize the food which they have prepared. But eat temperately and wisely, always keeping in mind the great rule that the apostle has given,—“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” That is the one rule which ought to guide Christians in all that they do. On the other hand, if we knew that food was cooked with lard, or other unwholesome ingredients, we should not eat it, unless it was a necessity, and Christian tact and courtesy and kindness ought to be able to bridge over difficulties with reasonable persons.
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:22, 23.
“Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.” Isa. 30:26.
“He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.” Job 26:10. Taking the last scripture first, the Revised Version reads: “He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters, unto the confines of light and darkness.” That is, where to the eye the light begins and where to the eye the darkness ends. The “Companion Bible” gives a beautiful metrical translation: “The round horizon bounds the waters' face, and there the fading light with darkness blends.” It does not mean where day and night shall forever cease, but where to the appearance of the eye the light seems to fade away, and the darkness seems to come, or vice versa as to whether it is night or morning. Isa. 30:26 is a description of what will be in the new earth, when the veil of sin is forever removed,—and the light of the moon shall be as now the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold what it is now; and yet God's glory is so bright that it eclipses the sun, in the capital of that new earth, the glorious city, we learn from Revelation 22. Isa. 66:22, 23 is simply a prophecy of God's children in the new earth,—it shall remain forever and so shall His people. The Sabbath will be there, the weeks will be counted as here. The new moon simply indicates the months, and is so rendered by some, so that from one month to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all shall come to Jerusalem. Comparing this with Rev. 22:2, where the Tree of Life is said to yield its fruit every month, we can see how that from month to month God's children will meet at Jerusalem, and there pluck the various fruits of the Tree of Life which each month brings. There they will honor God from week to week, in the observance of the Sabbath.
3983 — Proclamation of Peace by Caesar Augustus
At what date did Augustus Caesar give peace to the Roman world? Was not Jesus born on that day? C. E. B.
We do not have the day when peace was proclaimed, or the temple of Janus was closed. It was in the year B.C. 5 that Little's “Dictionary of Dates” gives the fifth closing of the temple of Janus in Roman history, because of universal peace; but the same cyclopaedia gives B.C. 4 as the birth of Jesus Christ. When the angels proclaimed peace, it was not the peace of Rome, or any worldly peace whatsoever; but it was the peace which God only could give through the righteousness of Christ. And so Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”
