Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 30, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 26.

“Enquire and make search and ask diligently.”

815. Rev. 14:17-20.

PLEASE explain in your paper Rev. 14:17-20. To what time has it reference? Is it to be taken literally when it says “even unto the horses’ bridles”? C. V. A.

The angel with the sickle and the gathering of the grapes are symbolic of the punishment of the wicked, including it all at the beginning and the end of the 1,000 years. Verse 20 doubtless has reference to the great battle of Armageddon fought around Jerusalem under the seventh plague, just previous to the Lord’s coming, and in the final end. See Rev. 16:13-21; 19:11-21; 20:9. The grapes and the winepress are symbolical, but the wrath and punishment and battle are literal. In such an awful battle what would there be unreasonable in the last verse of Rev. 14:20?

816. The Eagles of Matt. 24:28.

TO WHAT do the eagles of Matt. 24:28 refer? B. O. C.

The eagles, as vultures, are typical of the last plagues (Revelation 16). The “carcass” refers to the wicked who have rejected the Gospel prior to Christ’s coming. The time is the close of probation. See Luke 17:34-37; Rev. 22:11, 12.

817. John 8:59.

“GOING through the midst of them, and so passed by.” Does this mean that Jesus vanished?

Probably not; the people were blinded; their eyes were holden so that they could not see Him. See Luke 24:16, 31, margin; John 20:14; Num. 22:25, 31.

818. Easier to do Right than Wrong.

DOES Isaiah 35:8 mean that there will be a time in the age of man that it will be more easy to do right than wrong?

It is easier now for him to do right than wrong who has Christ abiding within. There will come a time when Christ’s kingdom, this earth renewed, will be filled with such people. “Thy people also shall be all righteous.” Isa. 54:17; 60:21.

819. Generation and Generation.

THE three “fourteen generations” of Matt. 1:17 do not cover the same period of time. From Abraham to David requires 70 for a generation, and from David to the captivity about 33 years, and from the captivity to Christ about 43 years. Can you explain and harmonize?

What needs explaining? Who said that a generation at one time should equal a generation at another? The people of the royal line lived longer in the time of the patriarchs and the judges than during the stormy times of the kings, or the less stormy times following the captivity. There is no definite period for a generation given in the Word.