The Proof in the Text by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 20, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 12.

The Proof in the Text.

By Editor

BIBLE-READINGS are both interesting and profitable, but we have always insisted that great care should be exercised in their preparation. The Bible is the word of God from Heaven to man; and according to its value as the word of God, so great is the danger of perverting or misapplying it. And constant study and care are necessary to guard against a misuse of this message to fallen man. Its truths are a connected whole, and no one point of doctrine can be turned aside from its true meaning without doing violence to other points, or to the system. To illustrate our meaning we give two instances. From a Bible-reading which we lately saw we take the following:—

"Who, of all the dead, rise first? 1 Thess. 4:16."

A little study of the context must satisfy any one that there is no manner of reference to "all the dead" in this text. The apostle says that "we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent [precede, go before, or be glorified before] them which are asleep." For when the trump of God sounds, "the dead in Christ shall rise first; then"—what? the other dead rise afterward? No; we shall be caught up together with them. They shall rise—not before somebody else is raised,—but before we are glorified; then they and we shall all be glorified together. It is true that the righteous dead will rise before the wicked dead. Other scriptures plainly teach it, but 1 Thess. 4 does not. The whole argument is to show to the brethren that the dead are suffering no loss in sleeping, as the living, when Christ comes, will have no precedence over them. And neither party will be glorified before Christ comes.

Another erroneous reference has been made to 2 Peter 3:8, to prove that "the day of the Lord" is one thousand years in length. God has eternity at his command, and though he does not fulfill his promise immediately, he is not slack, for it is equally sure whether he fulfills it to-day or a thousand years hence. This is all that this verse proves. But the length of "the day of the Lord" is only determined by the events which transpire in it. Indeed, its length cannot be determined, for the destruction of the wicked, and the conflagration of the earth, take place in the day of the Lord, but after the thousand years of Rev. 20. We say the length of that day cannot be determined, because we have no revelation concerning the length of the "little season" of Rev. 20:3, or of the time occupied by the final deceptions of Satan, the destruction of the wicked, and the restitution of the earth.

It may be asked, Is the difference a material one? Or, Is it practically of any importance to be correct on this point? It is. He who admits that "the day of the Lord" is one thousand years in length has given himself over to the will of the teachers of the "Age to Come." It is easy to prove that they are wrong, but we must have the truth in order to prove it. A minister who should teach that the day of the Lord is one thousand years in length would be lamentably weak if he should fall into the hands of a preacher of the Age to Come. Brethren, study your subjects. Rightly divide the word of truth.