p. 2 | Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 28, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 29.

Question Corner

[To Our Inquirers.—(1) The name and address of all who ask questions must accompany questions, not necessarily for publication, in token of good faith, and that we may reply by letter if thought best. All communications will be considered confidential if so desired, and no name will be published unless requested. But we have no time to give to anonymous or unsigned epistles or articles. (2) Let the questions be to the point. Do not say, “Explain Josh. 7:1-8,” but state the thing upon which help is desired. (3) Questions can not be answered immediately in this department. Sometimes it will mean a month or more of waiting. We can not reply to the same question frequently. Read answers to other questions; you may find reply to yours. (4) Members of the Bible Band will kindly enclose stamp if answer is desired by letter. Others will please enclose ten cents. This does not begin to meet expenses oftentimes. (5) “Foolish . . . questions avoid.”]

2898.—The Apostles and the End of the World.

Why did Paul and the other apostles in their day say that the end of the world was at hand, and that they were living in the last days? How long has it been since the end of the world has been said to be imminent? B. B. No. 1600.

Answering the second question first; it may be said that the “last days” included the entire Christian dispensation from the apostles’ days until the Lord shall come the second time. This, of course, in a broad sense. They must however include the very last day, for we could not speak of last days unless the last day was included.

Secondly, the apostle Paul and others wrote not only for their own day, but for all time. Their writings were to be for the whole Christian dispensation until our Lord should come the second time. They therefore gave meat which would be food in season at every stage of the earthly career of the church. It was for the church itself, living in the light, to understand when these truths were applicable by the prophetic word, by the revelation of God, and by the conditions and environments of the church. This would be clearly seen by the spiritual minded, and preached by the servant of God who would bring forth from the treasure-house of the word, things new and old.

So God spoke by His ancient prophets as tho the events predicted were to occur in their own day. Take the prophecies of Daniel, for instance, which the prophet himself desired to understand (See chapter 12), but which the Lord tells him will not be understood until the time of the end. Read also 1 Peter 1:10, 11. That the apostles did not believe that Jesus was coming in their day is evident from the apostle Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians. In the first epistle every chapter speaks of the second coming of Christ. The brethren at Thessalonica seemed to obtain the idea that Christ was coming in their day. This the apostle corrects in his second epistle, saying that they should not be moved or alarmed at any word that he should write or epistle that he should send that the coming of Christ was at hand. For that day would not come until the falling away came and the apostasy itself was revealed. See 2 Thess. 2:1-3.

The end of the world may be said to have been imminent from 1830 and onward. There have been times when mistaken people have believed that the coming of the Lord was at hand in past centuries, but the prophecies have been focused upon this last generation, and the doctrine based upon the prophecies of the word of God began to be preached in all the world—1830 and onward. Now we may know that He is near, even at the doors.

2899.—The Worm That Dieth Not.

Will you give me some light on the worm that does not die, as mentioned in Isa. 66:24; Mark 9:48. T. S. S.

The term “hell” in Mark 9:43-48 comes from the Greek word Gehenna, and that from the Hebrew Valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, called also Tophet or Topheth. See Jer. 19:2, 6, 11, 12. This valley, says Bagster’s Greek Lexicon, was “once celebrated for the horrid worship of Moloch, and afterwards polluted with every species of filth, as well as the carcasses of animals, and dead bodies of malefactors, to consume which, in order to avert the pestilence which such a mass of corruption would occasion, constant fires were kept burning.” Isa. 66:24, it will be noticed, speaks not of live men upon which worms feed, but the carcasses, or dead bodies of men. See Isa. 37:36, where the Hebrew word is rendered “corpses,” and Jer. 31:40; Amos 8:3, and other places where it is translated “dead bodies,” which is what the word everywhere means. The terms “undying” and “neither . . . be quenched” simply indicate that these agents of destruction will not cease until they do their appointed work; for the worm shall eat them up (Isa. 50:9; 51:8), and the fire shall burn up the chaff (Matt. 3:12; Mal. 4:1; Rev. 18:8). For an instance of this use of unquenchable fire see Jer. 17:24-27 and 2 Chron. 36:19, 21. The former text declares that if the Jews would not observe the Sabbath, the Lord would kindle a fire in her gates which should not be quenched. In the latter it states that this fire “burnt the house of God,” and “burnt all the palaces thereof with fire,” “to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.” The “undying worm” and the “unquenchable fire” are symbols of utter and complete destruction. These arguments will likewise apply to Mark 9:43-48. Gehenna, as Wilson remarks, “symbolizes death and utter destruction, but in no place signifies a place of eternal torment.”

2900.—Oleomargarine.

Will you kindly tell me if oleomargarine is a pure food, good for hygienic people to use? Is there lard in it? H. H.

Oleomargarine is made up from oleo, a product of beef fat and lard. So far as we know all oleomargarine is a combination of beef fat and lard. Different manufacturers have their own formula, but these elements enter into it in the different combinations of them all. Doubtless there has been a great deal of lard eaten for butter. Now that the pure-food laws are in force, those who eat in restaurants or hotels may be able to know better whether they are eating dairy butter or oleomargarine. We would say that after the mixture is completed it is generally put through a process in connection with milk, buttermilk, or some milk product, to give it more of the taste and appearance of butter.

No. 2901.—“Became as a Jew.”—K.

You have evidently misunderstood the expression of Paul, “To the Jews I became as a Jew.” He did not mean by that that he compromised truth in any way, but made himself as one of them, in sympathy with them. Just as missionaries in going into a new country ought not to hold themselves off as one of another and superior nation, but become one with the people. This does not imply yielding to unholy customs or practices in any way. He should make them feel however that he was there to help them and was one with them. Not so with Peter when he was blamed by Paul. He really was compromising the truth by hiding the Gospel and separating himself from the Gentiles.

2902.—Daniel 8 and 9.

How do you get around the fact that it seems improbable that Dan. 9:24-27 is an explanation of the vision of Daniel the 8th, when the 8th chapter vision was given fifteen years before the 9th chapter vision, when there is no hint in Daniel’s prayer (9:1-22) or Gabriel’s expounding the vision, of such a thing? How do you account for these two things? What year was the third year of the reign of Belshazzar? Was it B.C. 553? Are there tablets to prove that Usher is wrong here? J. G.

We answer both together. There is no fifteen years between the two chapters. Usher is wrong. He supposed that Nabonadius, the last king of Babylon, mentioned in the records of history that came down to him, was identical with the Belshazzar of the Bible. If that were the case the third year of Nabonadius was in 553 B.C. This did not satisfy all Bible students. It was suggested by one devoted man that there must have been a second ruler in Babylon, intimated in Belshazzar’s promise to Daniel. Belshazzar promises Daniel, if he will read the writing, that he would be the third ruler in the kingdom. This implies a second ruler. Belshazzar was the second. There must have been a first. This was revealed in the tablets. One of the tablets records a prayer written by Nabonadius for Belshazzar his son whom he had associated with himself in his kingdom. Belshazzar reigned but three years and in the third year of his reign he was slain and Babylon was captured. There is also a tablet recording the capture of Babylon and the death of Belshazzar or the son of the king Nabonadius. Therefore the time between the vision of chapter 8 and chapter 9 is but a matter of a few months instead of fifteen years. You will note in the 8th chapter that the vision was explained to Daniel with one exception, and that was the time. Gabriel who was commissioned to make Daniel understand the dream did so as far as Daniel was able to bear it; and the angel explained all but the matter of the time when Daniel fainted. Daniel was still anxious to know the rest of the vision, and therefore his prayer. He seemed to have connected the seventy years of captivity with the vision to some extent and so he prayed for understanding. The angel who had been commissioned to make Daniel understand came again. That he had reference to the vision of the 8th chapter is clearly evident from the very first words to Daniel: “Therefore at the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee, for thou art greatly beloved; therefore, consider the matter and understand the vision.” Then, seventy weeks are cut off upon thy people, that is seventy weeks of the 2,300 days. This seems to us very clear indeed. If there is no connection between the chapters, then Gabriel left the vision of Daniel 8 unexplained and there is no pertinency to the words of Gabriel as he meets Daniel the second time.