Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 2, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 26.

No. 368. Heb. 4:1-12. Bible References.

(1) PLEASE explain Heb. 4:1-12, verse 8 in particular. (2) Do you know how long ago the references were put in the Bible? F. B.

1. This department is too limited in space to comply with the request of our correspondent. In brief, the passage speaks of the eternal rest of God's people, of which the spiritual rest given by Christ is a pledge, and the Sabbath is a sign. Israel under Joshua (see verse 8, margin) did not enter into that rest because of unbelief, and God therefore has appointed another day. That rest, the true Sabbath-keeping, is found in Christ Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. In him the Sabbath is a delight, and a pledge of the future glorious inheritance, wherein is no sin, and where the Sabbath will be kept to all eternity. For a fuller exposition see Bible Students' Library, No. 101, “The Rest That Remains.”

2. Marginal references were first introduced by those who translated the Bible under order of James I., in 1611. “Such quotations of places to be marginally set down as may serve for fit reference of one scripture to another.” But, as says “McClintock & Strong's Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Cyclopædia” (article “English Versions”), “neither italics, nor references, nor readings, nor chapter headings, nor, it may be added, punctuation, are the same now as they were in the Authorized Version of 1611.” The chief alterations are said to have been first in 1683 and afterwards in 1798, by Dr. Blayney, under the sanction of the Oxford delegates of the press. (Gentlemen's Magazine, November, 1789.) Dr. Paris did a similar work about the same time at Cambridge.

No. 369. What Generation? Baptized with Fire.

(1) PLEASE explain Luke 21:32, “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.” (2) Also last clause of Luke 3:16, “baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” J. J. W.

1. The generation that saw the signs of Christ's coming. See verses 25-31. See also No. 339, in SIGNS of May 14.

2. Baptizing with the Spirit of God is illustrated by Acts 2:1-4. The disciples were literally immersed in Holy Spirit. See 1 Cor. 12:13. Baptizing with fire seems to refer to the wicked, of whom there were many then present. See Luke 3:7. The baptism by fire is their utter destruction, as explained in verse 17 and Matt. 3:12. But in fact God's unveiled presence is to the guilty a “devouring fire” as it will be at his coming (Ex. 24:17; Deut. 5:25; 2 Thess. 2:9), while to the righteous that glory of his presence saves them, to die no more, and changes them to immortality (Isa. 25:9; 1 Cor. 15:51-54). To the one, God's presence is life and peace forevermore; to the other, the fire of eternal perdition.