Answers to Questions by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 13, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 32.

Answers to Questions

By Editor

“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 Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best.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 stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]

No. 394. He Came to His Own.

In John 1:11, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not;” what is referred to as “His own”? J. M.

It means that Christ came to his own world that he had created, his own people that he had redeemed, his own nation to which he had given special light and privilege, to his own tribe, that of Judah, but his own did not receive him. Rotherham renders, “Unto his own possessions he came, and his own people did not receive him home.”

No. 395. Questions in Revelation.

(1) What does the word “him” in Rev. 16:8, last clause, signify? Please explain the verse. (2) Please explain Rev. 20:8. What do Gog and Magog refer to? (3) Explain Rev. 20:14, first clause. (4) Are those who die in the faith under the third angel’s message (see Rev. 14:8-14) numbered with the 144,000?

W. H. F.

1. The word “him” of Rev. 16:8 refers to the sun. It is by many translated “it.” The verse means just what it says, and applies to a period of time just after probation closes.

2. Gog and Magog seem to refer to the wicked nations of earth, who will be deceived by Satan after the second resurrection, at the close of the thousand years.

3. “And death and hell [hades, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire.” It simply means that death and the grave shall be forever destroyed. They will no more mar the enjoyment of the people of God.

4. We do not know. Some of them may be. All will probably stand with the 144,000, but only those who have had the experience of the 144,000 will be numbered with them.

For fuller explanation of these passages see “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation.”

No. 396. Shall See Heaven Open.

In John 1:51 Jesus says to Nathanael that he “shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” Did Nathanael realize that statement? If so, when? A. W.

In our Lord’s words there is evident allusion to the ladder seen by Jacob. See Gen. 28:12. That ladder typified Christ. The seeing doubtless had reference not to literal physical vision, but to a deeper spiritual sense, which Nathanael realized by believing in Christ. Heaven was thus opened, and Christ was seen as the antitypical ladder. Just when Nathanael thus saw, or where, we do not know. That he should see, Jesus plainly declares, and of that there can be no question. When Christ

comes again, all who have seen in him by faith the antitypical ladder, will see him in glory with all the holy angels.

No. 397. Third Day from What.

John, chapters 1 and 2, speaks of the first, second, and third day of Jesus being among them, but Matthew and Mark and Luke tell us that when he was baptized he was tempted of the devil forty days, and this immediately after his baptism. Please explain how Jesus could be among them a number of days, and yet be immediately driven in the wilderness.

A. W.

As our querist apprehends, John does not mention the temptation at all. What John records in chapter 1:29 and onward was after the temptation, not before. Jesus after his temptation returned to where John was baptizing, and to him John bore witness. Verse 29. Then the next day after this (the first day) John again pointed him out, and the work of Jesus began in the calling of the disciples. The day following (the second day) Jesus started for Galilee. Verse 43. The “third day” after John bore witness to Jesus the second time, came the marriage at Cana.

No. 398. Everlasting Punishment.

How will we harmonize Matt. 25:46 and Mark 9:43-48 with other passages where it is declared that the wicked shall be burned up?

T. W. K.

Simply understand the passages for what they mean. Matt. 25:46 says “everlasting punishment,” not everlasting punishing. It is punishment completed to all eternity. What that punishment is, is shown by 2 Thess. 1:9, “everlasting destruction.” It is a punishment which will be for all eternity, which will never be repeated, a burning up “root and branch.”

So also in Mark 9:43-48. The fire and the worm are symbols of absolute and utter destruction. The worm shall not die till it has consumed all that it can consume, nor the fire quenched till it has burned all that is to be burned. See Isa. 51:6, 8, and 66:24, where it is said that the moth shall eat them up, and the worm shall feed, not on immortal men, but on the carcasses, the dead bodies, of the wicked. See also Jer. 17:27, where the fire that “is all not be quenched” meant should not be quenched till it had “burned all the palaces thereof with fire.” See 2 Chron. 36:19, 21. The word “hell” in Mark 9:43 comes from Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, a place just outside of Jerusalem, where the bodies of malefactors and the offal of the city were cast. Here worms preyed on the carcasses, and constant fires were kept burning, to consume all impurities. It meant complete and utter destruction to all cast into it, and for this reason it was used by our Lord as a symbol of the utter destruction of the wicked.

No. 399. “The Worm Dieth Not.”

Please explain Mark 9:44, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

E. B.

See answer to question 398. The expression “fire is not quenched” should be “unquenchable fire” (see R. V.), that with which “the chaff,” the wicked, will be utterly burned up. Matt. 3:12.

No. 400. The Lord’s Day.

What day of the week is meant by “the Lord’s day” of Rev. 1:10?

Z. Y.

What authority does our correspondent want? If he is satisfied with the word of God, which thoroughly furnishes the man of God to every good work (2 Tim. 3:16), we can answer the question both briefly and clearly. The text—Rev. 1:10—does not tell us which day is meant, but simply shows us that when the Revelation was written, about A.D. 96, there was a day called the Lord’s day. What day is this? In Mark 2:28 Jesus says of himself, “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath day;” in Isa. 58:13 the Lord by the prophet calls the Sabbath “my holy day;” in Ex. 20:10 we read, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God;” and in Matt. 28:1 and Mark 16:1, 2 we learn that the Sabbath comes just the day before “the first day of the week.” Therefore, according to the Bible, “the Lord’s day” of Rev. 1:10 is the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day of the week.