p. 7 | Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 15, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 37.

Question Corner

“Enquire and make search and ask diligently.”

857. Isa. 24: 22. Many Days.

PLEASE explain Isa. 24: 22. Does this chapter refer to the time of the end and the last great day? If so, why are they reserved, or shut up in prison, and visited after many days? C. B.

Isaiah 24 refers to the great day of the Lord. Compare with Isa. 13: 6–13; Zeph. 1: 14–18, and Revelation 20. Verse 22 reads as follows: “And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.” The gathering together of the wicked is their sojourn in the prison-house of the grave. The many days are a thousand years. The visiting of them is their resurrection at that time. See Rev. 20: 5–9. The margin of “visited” is “found wanting.” So they will be found wanting in character, and because of this will be utterly destroyed. Ps. 37: 10.

858. Salvation.

(1) WHAT is salvation? (2) What is the difference between earthly salvation and eternal salvation? (3) Did God intend the Ten Commandments for a guide to our earthly or eternal salvation, or both? M. T. N.

1. Salvation means deliverance or preservation from impending evil or danger. It is the state of being saved.

2. Earthly salvation is simply to be saved for the time from some danger, such as from disease or drowning. God does not give men earthly salvation. He does give temporal deliverance even to sinners, from temporal dangers, but all are to win men to eternal salvation, which Christ came to give.

3. The Ten Commandments are the law of the eternal God, spiritual, holy, good, everlasting. God’s law implanted in the heart is a guide to His children to all eternity.

859. Judas Iscariot—Why Chosen?

IF Jesus foreknew the character of Judas, why did He call Judas to the apostleship; for He said, “Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

The last part of the above inquiry shows that Jesus knew Judas. Why did He choose him? Several reasons may be given: (1) Judas may have offered himself, the disciples favoring him; (2) Jesus put him in the place He did in order to give Judas the best opportunity to overcome his sin. He was with the most perfect Teacher and Example the world has ever known; and when Judas made his last confession, “I have betrayed innocent blood,” he condemned not Jesus, but himself. God gives the wicked opportunities to reform. Judas in many churches to-day would be called a shrewd business man.

860. The Termini of the Sabbati.

WHEN does the Sabbath begin? and where end? See Matt. 28: 1.

It is neither wise nor right to take a text which is not clear to establish a truth when there are texts which clearly do it. Note: (1) The day begins invariably at evening. Gen. 1: 5, 8, 13, 19, etc. (2) The evening comes with the going down or setting of the sun. Matt. 8: 16; Mark 1: 32. (3) Here the Sabbath began and ended. Luke 4: 31, 40; Neh. 13: 15–19. See also Lev. 23: 32. Matt. 28: 1 is not contradictory. For an understanding of Matt. 28: 1 read Mark 16: 1, 2.