Various Questions by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 25, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 13.

Various Questions

By Editor

2441.—Various Questions.—C. K.—(1) The Bible closes with Revelation because God in His providence so ruled. The Revelation is of such a character that it most fittingly, in God's providence, closed the canon of the Scriptures, referring in itself to all the books which came before, and the prophecy itself being a complement of the truth which had previously been given.

(2) Regarding Gen. 4:14; before Cain died there were a great many who lived upon the earth. If he lived, as he presumably did, to be 800 or 900 years of age; there were therefore many that could have slain him before he died.

(3) The beginning of the year comes from Roman tradition; it is the old Roman year handed down to us. There is no particular reason why Christians should begin their year at that time, only that it is the common custom. The natural beginning of the year is spring.

(4) As a fuller explanation of Matt. 24:29, see "Latter Day Tokens," by Elder John N. Loughborough, or "Matthew Twenty-four, or the Second Coming of Christ." We have not space to enter into a detailed explanation of it in this column.

(5) The idea of Gen. 19:30-38 is not that there would be no other man left in the world, but that there would be none of Lot's seed. It was a sad thing for a family to become extinct. The ambition and desire to keep the family and the family name alive led the daughters of Lot to do as they did. It was not to preserve any human seed in the earth, but to preserve Lot's seed. From that effort came the wicked nations of Moab and Ammon.

(6) Gen. 49:33, "gathered unto his people," simply means that he died as did his fathers before him.

(7) The term "Pharaoh" means king, or ruler, the same as czar and emperor. It is a title rather than a name. Consequently, when Pharaoh is used, we may know that he was a king of Egypt. Some other name is needed to designate which Pharaoh.

(8) You are mistaken in regard to the number of converts in China, unless you include all that are called converts by various denominations. Just what test God will bring to bear on the last generation of man we do not know, but certainly every one will be tested. The 144,000 represent a special class who have borne special tests; beyond that we do not know.