Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Dec 13, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 50.

1741.—The First Resurrection.

What is the "first resurrection" mentioned in Revelation 20? W. B. B.

The scripture clearly declares that there will be two resurrections, one of the just and one of the unjust, one unto life and one unto condemnation. Acts 24:15; John 5:29. When Christ comes only the righteous dead will be raised. 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-16. According to Isa. 24:2 the wicked shall be shut up in the prison-house of the grave and will not be visited until many days. How long these "many days" are, Rev. 20:4-7 tells us. They number one thousand years. At the end of that time there comes the second resurrection. For further information see "The Great Day of the Lord," of the Bible Student’s Library, price five cents.

1742.—Soul and Body. Matt. 10:28.

Our Saviour says, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. 10:28. Why do writers in the SIGNS often use the expression "soul and body"? How can such expressions be reconciled with the belief that soul and body are one? F. G. H.

But who has said that soul and body are one? Of course it takes soul and body to make the living being, and sometimes the whole being is spoken of as soul. Man is one. Sometimes another word is used meaning the same as in the passage above quoted. Men may kill the body but they can not utterly destroy life; God will give it again in the resurrection. If we would keep in mind that the word "soul" is used to mean different things, we would have no difficulty whatever with any of these passages. It is used generally in three different meanings: first, having reference to the whole person; second, the life which is common to man and beast; and third, the affections and intellect.

1743.—The Thief on the Cross. Luke 23:43.

A friend tells me that we have no right to change the punctuation in the above scripture. "Verily, I say unto thee to-day, shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." This friend uses the thief on the cross as a strong proof of the immortality of the soul. B.

There are several conditions in the understanding of this text. 1. What did the thief request?—"Jesus, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom." But when would Christ come into His kingdom?—"When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit on the throne of His glory." In Luke 19:11-13 He tells us by a parable that He did not take His kingdom when He ascended up on high; but He went to do a work at the close of which He would receive the kingdom, and then come again. In Daniel 7:13, 14 we learn that the receiving of that kingdom takes place in connection with the judgment, and that at the end of earth’s history He takes the kingdom under the whole heavens, which is the earth, and reigns. See also Luke 1:32, 33; 2 Tim. 4:1. Doubtless the thief had heard our Lord teach in regard to these very things, and with utter abandonment of soul he throws himself on the mercy of Christ and pleads, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom," that is, when Christ should come again.

2. Our Lord’s answer, "Verily I say unto thee to-day, shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Where is Paradise? According to Rev. 2:7 it is where the tree of life is. According to Rev. 22:1, 2 it is fast by the throne of God, and will eventually descend again upon this earth when the New Jerusalem comes down from above. Rev. 21:1-5. Yet Jesus told Mary three days after this, when in glad greetings she was about to clasp His feet, "Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended unto My Father." John 20:17. Therefore Jesus did not mean that the thief would be with Him that day in Paradise. Still further, it was a very rare thing for an individual to die upon the cross the day he was crucified. When the soldiers came to break the legs of the criminals lest they should get away, they found Christ already dead, and they wondered at it. They broke the legs of the criminals, as they had doubtless often done before, and left them to die in lingering agony. Therefore it is not at all probable, in the very physical nature of the case, that the thief died on that day.

What then is meant by the text? Simply this, that the thief, knowing of the glorious kingdom of Christ to come, and that the Master would come back to earth to take that kingdom, asked that he be remembered of the King at that time; and the King, dying upon the cross as a malefactor with no power seemingly to fulfil a single promise, on a day when His own disciples had lost faith in Him, promised the dying man that His wish should be gratified: "Verily I say unto thee to-day [the day above all days when seemingly I can not keep the promise that I shall make, the day when My own professed disciples have forsaken Me and fled, the day when I am dying as thou art dying, as thou hast faith to ask I have faith and assurance to promise, that when that time shall come that I enter my kingdom], shalt thou be with Me."

There would be no trouble with this text at all if it had not been wrongly punctuated. There should be no comma after "thee;" it should be after "to-day." The adverbial phrase "to-day" modifies the verb "say" rather than the verb "shall be." There is no inspiration in commas. For centuries there was no division even between words, to say nothing about the point of sentences. Of course the men who punctuated the Bible punctuated it according to their understanding; but investigation of this subject, as our brief study clearly shows, indicates that the commas should be after "to-day" and not before.

1744.—Instrumental Music.

I would like some references in regard to instrumental music. B.

For the proper use of instrumental music see Ps. 98:5, 6; 150:3-5. The Lord wants it emphatically understood, however, that unless this music is used with the true spirit and grace and usefulness, it becomes distasteful; consequently in Amos 5:23; 6:5 He clearly shows us that the mere matter of using instruments of music like David, when heart and life are corrupt, is wrong.