Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 14, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 15.

[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.”]

2806.— Departing and Being with Christ.

Phil. 1:23.

Will you please explain what Paul meant by his desire to depart and be with Christ? Does this teach the reward of the righteous at death? C. B. M.

“For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He render unto every man according to his deeds.” Matt. 16:27. “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.” These and other texts clearly indicate that the children of God will not be with the Lord until He comes the second time. Turning to Phil. 1:21-23, we can, in the light of the foregoing, clearly understand the apostle’s meaning. There were two things between which he could not choose. One was living, and the other dying. In either one God would be glorified; and therefore, the apostle could not choose between the two, but he did have a desire for a third thing, and that thing was to be with Christ. The word rendered there “depart” is the same as is rendered “return” in Luke 20:35. What he was longing for was the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when he should receive his reward. See also 2 Tim. 4:8.

2807.— Various Questions.

First, it would seem that inasmuch as the nail prints in the hands of our Lord were visible after His resurrection, they may be visible throughout all the ages to come, as constant evidences of the sacrifice for man. May not this be what is referred to in Hab. 3:4, “And His brightness was as the light; He had rays coming forth from His hand; and there was the hiding of His power”? See also Zech. 13:6.

Regarding the wearing of gold, by reference to 1 Peter 3:3 and 1 Tim. 2:9, it will be seen that the prohibition is against the adorning. Wherever gold is the most useful, and is not used for adorning, we see no objection in wearing it. We do not understand that the Bible prohibits it save for adorning. Sometimes watch chains are used in that way. They are more elaborate and ornamental than is necessary. In the matter of gold bows upon glasses or spectacles, it really is the only material that ought to be used. Everything else corrodes badly, or is altogether too heavy.

2808.— Please Harmonize.

In Jer. 25:1 we read that the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar was the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim; and in Dan. 1:1, that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, which would be the year before he began to reign, according to the former text. D. W. C. M.

Nebuchadnezzar seems to have reigned two years jointly with his father Nabopolassar. He was his father’s representative in Judea. Daniel seemed to have counted from that time rather than from the death of his father.

2809.— Meats.

What is meant by “meats” in Mark 7:19? “This He said, making all meats clean.” (A.R.V.) B. B. 298.

The word “meats” comes from the Greek bromaton, meaning foods of any kind; just as applicable to vegetable as to animal food. The meaning of the expression is that the processes of nature purified the food that one ate notwithstanding the Jewish prejudice against ceremonial uncleanness. The Syriac version renders: “For it doth not enter into his heart, but into his belly, and is thrown into his digestive processes which carries off all that is eaten.” The whole controversy at that time—and the text must be understood with this in mind—was the disciples’ eating with unwashed hands. The Jews felt that their hands not being washed according to their traditions made the food which they ate unclean. Jesus wishes to show them not that it is wrong to wash, but that it was far more important that the heart should be right; that all evil deeds spring from heart uncleanness.

2810.— High Places.

Are the high places in Isa. 58:14 our big cities? Or what are these high places? A. K.

The expression in Isa. 58:14 refers not to the earth in its present condition, but to the new earth when God will finally reward His children, and it evidently refers there to the more prominent parts of the earth which may include the capital city, the New Jerusalem,—places where God’s glory shines greatest.

Isaiah 30:24 evidently refers to blessings not yet realized. Those blessings would have been true in the olden days if Israel had yielded themselves wholly to God. They did not. They will not be filled to the full until the new earth shall be the inheritance of God’s children. See verse 26.

2811.— O. M. Y.— Referring to question 2687 offers another suggestion that did not seem necessary to state in the explanation of that passage, because the inquiry pertained to something else; namely, that Isa. 65:20 clearly indicates that no more children would be born when we came into the new earth state and that those who dwelt there would nevermore grow old; and this is in harmony with the words of our Lord in Luke 20:35: “They that are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; for neither can they die any more.”

2812.— W. S.— Matt. 11:19.— Regarding this text there is nothing whatever in it which would indicate that Jesus drank wine any more than that He was a glutton. He met with publicans and sinners; that is true,—wherever He could do people good,—and that was sufficient for the Jews, His enemies, to say that He was a wine-bibber and a drunkard, just as they say the same things now concerning His people. They said John had a demon. We are not to understand that John had anything to do with the demons in any way. Then too, there are two kinds of Bible wine, fermented and unfermented; and even unfermented wine drunken to the full is likely to take away a man’s senses just the same as eating to excess. Read in the monthly Signs of the Times of January, the article by Mrs. Haskell on Bible wines.

2813.— A Question of Wings.

The Bible does not say that the redeemed will have wings, and as to our having special affection for relatives, we do not know. Evidently those who have been associated in this life, standing together in the warfare against sin and service for God, will be bound together in that life to come; God does not take from us our human affections; He purifies them, elevates them, makes them divine. These are matters that we can leave with Him and know that they will be well. “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

2814.— Revelation 11:13.

What are we to understand from Rev. 11:13? J. R.

It is pretty difficult to explain the 13th verse of Revelation 11 without explaining the whole chapter or nearly that. If you have “Daniel and Revelation” or the “Great Controversy,” you will find some remarks upon this chapter that will help you. In brief, the tenth part of the city refers to the tenth part of the Roman kingdom, and that tenth part was France. The great earthquake is the mighty convulsions which swept over Europe, and France at that time lost her power, at least temporarily. The great infidel scheme that was started in France came to an end, and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand persons or “names of men,” titles it is supposed. The changing of government from a kingdom to a republic was the means of casting down the titles of men. It is impossible in this brief space to give a full explanation of this prophecy. Later on, the book of Revelation itself will be taken up.

2815.— An Actual Vision.

Was it just an immaterial vision the young man saw when he beheld the mountainside covered with chariots and angels, or were they really there? Also the chariot and horses that took Elijah up, were they real? W. M.

The first account is in 2 Kings 6:14-17. The whole account indicates that it was an actual vision. Elisha knew that the angels of God were there. The young man thought that he and the prophet were utterly lost; he saw only Elisha and himself, and against them the host of the king. “And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” And so it is with God’s children everywhere. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” God in His great mercy holds the eyes of mortals from the glory that surrounds them. In that overwhelming glory they would utterly perish were it not for God’s power in keeping them. Many would depend on sight instead of on God’s word. And so in the record of the ascension of Elijah. They were actual angels that were the servants of God; the forms of horses and chariots were probably not actual horses or actual chariots, but angels of God arranged in the form of horses and chariots, pursuing their upward journey in that form, to make it the more impressive to the human who witnessed. And this answers the next question from the same inquirer. God would not reveal to us in their full glory His mighty angels. Mortal man is not able to bear the sight. Even Moses who had been forty days and forty nights in the presence of God, with God’s glory veiled so that he could not see His face, found it necessary to place a veil over his face when he talked with the children of Israel, because his presence terrified them. No, God’s Spirit does not invariably come to us through guardian angels. His Spirit will come to us through His word and even through human agencies. But we are to test the Spirit by His word, His law.

2816.— Eating Fat.

In Lev. 3:17 and 7:23 the Lord forbade the children of Israel to eat fat. Would it not be wrong for us to eat fat? Does the Lord forbid it? S.

There were certain kinds of fat in connection with the sacrifices which were not to be eaten. It represented the grossness of the animal, and yet there was ordinary fat which it seems was proper for them to eat. See Neh. 8:10: “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet.”

2817.— Mark 13:14.— Abomination of Desolation.— W. S.— The expression “the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not” refers to the wickedness of that predicted Roman power standing in the holy place of God’s temple. It has no place there, no right to assume authority there. It refers not only to the usurpation of papal Rome, but to pagan Rome.