Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 21, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 16.

“Enquire and make search and ask diligently.”

[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamps. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]

759. The Church and Christ

WILL you explain how “the symbols in brief in Revelation 12 are as follows: The woman is the church of God;” “the man child is Christ. Rev. 12:5.” (See present volume, page 165)—when Christ brought forth the church instead of the church bringing forth Christ. W. E. P.

Both are true. How was Christ David’s Son when David himself called Him Lord? See Matt. 22:41–45. Jesus Christ had an existence before He was born in Bethlehem. It was the King born in David’s line that the church, the daughter of Zion, was looking for. See Micah 4:10 to 5:3. The church of all ages has been begotten of God through His Son; but when that Son became man, He was, in the symbolic language of prophecy, brought forth by the church.

760. A Question of Authority.

Who and what authority ordained Wm. Miller and Mrs. E. G. White? P.

1. God, who called them to do His work, and witnessed to its fact in the souls saved. 2. As for the human side, William Miller was authorized by the Baptist Church, and Mrs. White by the Seventh-day Adventist. We do not know the names of the persons who ordained them.

761. Elijah or John the Baptist.

Was it Elijah, or John the Baptist, who appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration? C. E. W.

The Bible says it was Elijah. The transfiguration was a representation of the second coming of Christ in glory and the kingdom of God. Luke 9:26–30; 2 Peter 1:16–18. Elijah was there representative of that class who should be translated without seeing death.

762. The Turk out of Europe.

WHEN the Turk is driven out of Europe and makes Jerusalem his headquarters, does that take place at the sixth plague? INQUIRING SISTER.

The destruction of the Turkish power is evidently symbolized by the drying up of “the great river Euphrates,” under the sixth plague, foretold in Rev. 16:11, 12, but the prophecy says nothing of that power cumulating its waters into the city of Jerusalem.

763. “Spirits in Prison.”

PLEASE explain 1 Peter 3:19 about the “spirits in prison,” also chapter 4:6.

“By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” Who?—“Christ.” Verse 18. By what?—By “the Spirit.” Through whom?—Through Noah, a “preacher of righteousness,” “the righteousness which is by faith.” 2 Peter 2:5; Heb. 11:7. When did He so preach by the Spirit through Noah?—“In the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing.” 1 Peter 3:20. What was the condition of these souls?—“Disobedient.” The Gospel was then and at other times preached to men that are now dead. 1 Peter 4:6. It does not mean that it is preached to dead men, but to men who were alive when the Gospel was preached to them, but who are now dead.

764. Fulfilling of Prophecy.

HOW MANY prophecies are yet unfulfilled, or are there any?

There are many; we could not undertake to name them. Many of the prophecies reach over into the eternal state, and eternity alone will fulfil them. There are prophecies yet to be fulfilled this side of the close of probation, such as the closing work of the message (Rev. 18:1–4); and of the powers of earth (Rev. 13:11–18; and chapters 16 and 17).