To Correspondents by C. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 8, 1874

To Correspondents.

By C. S.

How shall we reconcile 1 Kings 22:19-23, with the character of God? R. M. K.

Ans. We understand it to be a judicial act on the part of God to abandon Ahab, because of his crimes, to the deception of a lying spirit. Ahab had so departed from God, that his ruin was justly predetermined in the counsels of Heaven. The question now was how it should be brought about. Ahab had in his own employ the very instruments that would do it. He had rejected the prophets of God and chosen the prophets of Baal. Therefore the Lord permits the spirit of the devil in them to deceive him. Thus evil is used to punish evil. In the same way we may understand such expressions as hardening Pharaoh’s heart, Ex. 4:21, making the ears of the people heavy and shutting their eyes, Isa. 6:10, sending men strong delusion that they should believe a lie, 2 Thess. 2:11, &c.

Please to harmonize Matt. 24:14, with Rom. 10:18, and Col. 1:23. M. V. T.

Ans. The first text says that the gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come. Rom. 10:18 says their sound [the first preaching of the gospel] went into all the earth; and Paul, in Col. 1:23, says that the gospel was preached in his day to every creature under heaven. Matt. 24:14 cannot yet have been fulfilled, at least for any longer period of time than can be covered by the word “then;” for the end has not yet come. The passages in Romans and Colossians must of course be limited to such portions of the world as were then known to civilization; and they were undoubtedly, in that sense, strictly true: all the then known world heard the gospel. But half of the world was then undiscovered; and great nations were to be developed which then had no existence. Matt. 24:14, cannot, from the very nature of the case, be fulfilled, till all the world has been discovered and is reached by the gospel, unless we are to suppose that the gospel is a limited affair, designed for only a portion of the human race, and that the world would be brought to an end, while yet a part of it had never been reached by the good news of salvation. But all our globe is now explored; every land has been discovered; and every nation that is to exist has been developed; for other prophecies show that no other nations are to succeed those now on the stage of action. Matt. 24:14, can therefore now be fulfilled.

What is meant by the word forest in Isa. 29:17; 32:15, and other like places? H. H. F.

Ans. Forest here is put in contrast with the fruitful field, and seems to denote a waste, uncultivated place. Commentators are quite unanimous in the opinion, which seems quite probable, that these passages look forward to the call of the Gentiles. The Jews had previously been God’s vineyard, his cultivated field. They were to become a wilderness or waste, by rejecting Christ. While the Gentiles, previously like Lebanon an uncultivated wilderness, were, by receiving the gospel, to become a fruitful field. Christ said to the Jews: “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”

Will you explain the seeming difference between the following texts in relation to God’s repenting. The following texts say that he does repent: Gen. 6:6, 7; Ex. 32:14; Deut. 32:36; Judges 2:18; 1 Sam. 15:11, 35; 2 Sam. 24:16; 1 Chron. 21:15; Ps. 106:44, 45; Jer. 18:8-10; 26:3; 12-19; Joel 2:12-14; Jonah 3:10; 4:2. While the following texts say that he does not repent: Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Mal. 3:6; Rom. 11:29; Jas. 1:17. E. C.

The word repent as applied to the Lord, seems to be used in the Scriptures in two senses: First, to denote a change of principle, secondly, a change of purpose. In the first sense the Lord does not repent, or act on different principles, as men sometimes do; but in the second he does repent, or change his purpose, concerning individuals or nations, because all his promises and threatenings are based on conditions. The principle on which he invariably acts is stated in one of the passages above referred to. Jer. 18:8-10. Even when a promise is given to prosper and build up a nation, if they give themselves up to evil, God will turn from his purpose, and withhold his blessing. This is a just condition; for God cannot become the ally of sin by prospering iniquity. And when he threatens evil against any people on account of their iniquities, if they suitably repent, he will turn from the evil. God never repents in the sense of acting on any different principle from this; for he cannot favor iniquity, or condemn righteousness. But this principle does render necessary at times a change in his purposes concerning men, according as their actions are good or bad. And in every instance where God is said to repent, it will be found to be in accordance with this principle. Of this the reader can satisfy himself by looking up the passages referred to. C. S.