p. 3 | Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 28, 1897

Question Corner

“Enquire, and make search, and ask diligently.”

Let it be understood; it is an invariable rule. We answer no unsigned communications. We do not ask the name for publication; but we wish the privilege of replying by letter if deemed necessary. If the name of the writer is not signed to the letter accompanying the question, the question finds its way to the wastebasket.

No. 465. The Account of Creation.

WHY did Moses state that God finished everything in six days, including man and woman, and yet say in the next chapter that Eve was made after everything else was finished? Please explain Gen. 1:27 and 2:21, 22. Lindell.

There is no contradiction in the accounts. The former gives an account of the first week’s work in general, the latter takes up a portion of the sixth day’s work, that part relating to mankind, in detail. There is nothing in the first chapter to show that Eve was not created last. The first chapter to the third verse of chapter 2 gives a brief outline of the entire work of creation. The remainder of the second chapter gives fuller particulars concerning a portion of earth, and its prince, man.

No. 466. Trodden Down of the Gentiles.

THE times of the Gentiles, seven times, 2,520 years from B.C. 606, reach to A.D. 1915. Will you please explain? J. B. B.

The “seven times” of Lev. 26:18, 21, 24, 28 simply means sevenfold. The word “times” is not in the original, simply the word “seven,” indicating completeness, or sevenfold, or seven separate times, seven times over. Rabbi Isaac Leeser’s translation renders “sevenfold.” See Ps. 119:164; Prov. 24:16, for the use of the term. The “times” of the Gentiles doubtless has reference to the prophetic periods given by the prophet Daniel. Of all these, that of the 2,300 days, or years, of chap. 8:14 is the most extensive. Seventy weeks of this time, or 490 years, were marked off on the Jewish people (chap. 9:24-27), beginning in B.C. 457 and ending in A.D. 34, when the Jews as a nation were cut off. The remainder of the time, 1,810 years, reaches to 1844. We have also in Daniel the time, times, and an half (1,260 years), the 1,290, and the 1,335 years, ending in A.D. 1798 and 1843, but all fall within the period of 2,300 years. There are “days,” or years, allotted to the Gentiles beyond 1844 (Rev. 10:7), but they are definite only in the knowledge of God. When they are ended, Christ will come, and the reign of the nations who know not the Lord will be over. The “times of the Gentiles” are not those fixed up by man, but those given in the word of God.

No. 467. Seeing and Blind.

KINDLY explain John 9:39: “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and they which see might be made blind.” In what way were they made blind? Annie J. J.

It has reference to spiritual sight. Those who saw not the light of truth, yet were waiting in darkness for it, saw it when God revealed himself in Jesus of Nazareth; while those to whom God had given light, who were made the depositary of his truth, were made blind by rejecting Jesus, the Light of the World. When they rejected him, they were left in total darkness spiritually, having no light in themselves.

No. 468. How Men Come to Christ.

PLEASE explain John 6:44, 65: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” How is it given us of the Father? How is it the Father draws us? A. J. J.

God has given to every man the power to choose. He has placed within every man that which is responsive to good, and which hates evil and its author. Gen. 3:15. He “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” But man of himself can do nothing. While he may choose the good, he has in himself no power to do the good, not even to come to the One who can deliver. But here God’s mercy meets our need. The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth from the Father, comes and convicts the soul of sin, and the righteousness to be found in Jesus Christ. John 16:7-10. It is by the Spirit of God that we are drawn to Jesus Christ.