Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 15, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 46.

Question Corner

By Editor

1733.—Upon What Day Did Pentecost Fall?

A Christian minister stated that Pentecost (Acts 2:1) fell on Sunday. Is this so?

It may have fallen on that day. It all depends on the day Christ was crucified and raised from the dead. Pentecost was fifty days from the resurrection. There are good authorities who contend that Pentecost fell on the seventh day that year. In different years it fell on different days of the week. But the record of Acts 2 tells us nothing of the day of the week which it would have done if the day of the week was to have been honored. The great thing was that the outpouring of the Spirit met the type in Pentecost. See Andrews "History of the Sabbath" for full discussion of the matter.

1734.—Blessing and Sunday-Keeping.

Am I not to suppose, or rather to believe, that first-day worshipers have the blessings of God? And that their praise and thanksgivings are acceptable to God? Will not our Creator overlook or excuse the absence of the letter of the command where the spirit of the command is made manifest, do you think? It is hard to think or believe that Christendom will ever get back to the seventh-day Sabbath observance.

1. Surely God blesses those true worshipers who keep Sunday, but not because they keep Sunday. He blesses them despite their errors because they are faithful in what they see. He blessed Abraham and Jacob and David, not because they were polygamists, but in spite of it.

2. When we are enlightened, the only safe way is to make haste and delay not to observe God's commandments. Ps. 119:60. The only being in the universe who can rightly interpret the Spirit of the law to us is God, and this He has done in His Word and in the life of Christ. But the Word declares, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God;" and Christ honored the day because He had the law of God in His heart. Ex. 20:10; Ps. 40:7, 8. Who has the right to substitute for God? the profane for the holy? Nadab and Abihu did and died. Lev. 10:1-10. See Eze. 22:26. O, let us listen to the Word; there is no substitute for disobedience; there is no safety but in doing the will of God. Read prayerfully 1 Sam. 15:22, 23; Deut. 4:2; Matt. 7:20-23; 15:9, 13.

3. No, sad as it is, according to the prophetic word, many will not return to the seventh-day Sabbath observance. Yet it is true, and God calls us to it. Shall we be like the Jews of old? Read Ex. 23:2; Hosea 10:13; John 12:42, 43. Follow Christ. His Sabbath stands preeminently for faith in His Word, faith in His creative, regenerating power. Over against it are the philosophies and teachings of men. "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come."

1735.—"It Is a Gift." Matt. 15:4-6.

Please explain Matt. 15:4-6. What is the meaning of "It is a gift"?

One of God's great commandments enjoins, "Honor thy father and thy mother." That means to support them in old age. But the Pharisees had a scheme of making void their duty. They said, My property is "Corban" (Mark 7:11), that is, "given to God," and I have no right to use it for you; and therefore they withheld the help their parents needed, while they used the property for their own benefit. Of course, it was not given to God. That was a plan to get rid of duty.