4248-SAYING AND DOING

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 13, 1914

WE can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.

4248—SAYING AND DOING

Verse 46 reads: "And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" The repetition of the title "Lord" denoted their zeal in according lip service to Christ. Our Lord claims and expects this recognition from all His disciples, as in John 13: 13,—"Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am"; but if they recognize Him as their Lord and Master, why do they not obey His commandments?

Verse 49: "But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."

Compare with the parallel scripture in Matt. 7: 26, of the man who built his house on the sand, denoting a loose foundation,—that of an empty profession and mere external services. Christ used this figure because it was an experience with which the people were familiar,—the fierce Eastern tempests, and the suddenness and completeness with which they sweep everything unsteady before them. Those whose faith is not established upon a firm foundation,—a thorough knowledge of the word of God, and obedience to His commandments,—will be overcome when the tempests of doubt and unbelief assail them.

4249—EXTREMES IN DIET

A lady in this neighborhood says, "God wants us to be healthy, but unless we obey Him we won't be." She says in Gen. 1: 11, 12, 29 we have what He gave Adam and Eve to eat,—the herb and fruit yielding seed in itself, like the tomato, grape, peach, apple, and olive, but not such as potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, navel oranges, pineapples, and the like, because they do not bear seed in themselves. Is she right, or is she fanatical?

There are a great many people who seem to be given to very questionable extremes, and many of the worst of these extremists like to place a religious sanctity about what they are doing, and frequently quote Scripture very fluently; and if a person does not know the Bible for himself, he may think that the Scriptures actually teach such things.

The dietary of man was modified after he sinned. The scriptures to which the woman refers applied to man in his sinless condition in the Garden of Eden; but after man had sinned, the Lord said to him, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field." Gen. 3: 17, 18. And again, we have this text: "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth." Not only these scriptures, but our experience, shows that there are many herbs in the vegetable kingdom that are not only very proper foods, but very valuable foods; and among this class there is none any more valuable than the lettuce, which the woman seems to think is forbidden by Scripture.

One of the most unfortunate things that a person can do is to fail to weigh all sides of a question. Such persons frequently have a partial truth. And the great science of sin is the commingling of good and evil in such a way as to make some of the evil appear as good.

4250—TYPICAL SERVICE OF THE OLD DISPENSATION

Where in the Scriptures have we any evidence that the Israelites might understand that their sacrifices were typical, and not real? I can't find a hint anywhere that even Moses knew they were typical.

Read carefully the eighth, ninth, and tenth chapters of Hebrews; also Col. 2: 16, 17. Paul understood that the meats, the drinks, the typical sabbaths, and the new moons of the old dispensation were "a shadow of things to come," and that the body was of Christ. In those chapters in Hebrews we are informed that the ministrations of the sanctuary on earth served only as a shadow of the things in heaven, but Christ Himself was the High Priest who is set forth as the real substance of the "good things to come." Verse 8 of Hebrews 9 would seem to indicate that they did not have the full light of the gospel significance of those ceremonies, that we enjoy in this dispensation.

After receiving instruction in regard to building the earthly or typical sanctuary, which was the center of service in the old dispensation, Moses was told to "look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount." Ex. 25: 40. These texts seem to make it quite clear that the Israelites understood that their service had a great deal in it which was typical and shadowy, and that it pointed to the real substance of the Redeemer Himself, who was to be revealed in due time. The prophet Simeon was looking for Christ to be revealed in His first advent, as will be seen by Luke 2: 25 and onward. And Anna the prophetess "spake of Him [the infant Christ] to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." Luke 2: 38. Those who were really spiritually minded and following the Bible teaching were definitely looking for Christ in His first advent. The prophecies taught them this, and an understanding of those prophecies was very closely interwoven with all the teaching of the service of the sanctuary. It was when David went into the sanctuary that he understood the end of the wicked. Ps. 73: 17. And other texts, like Ps. 20: 2; 63: 2; 68: 24, would indicate that there was special enlightenment in the sanctuary service itself during the old dispensation.