[All questions to this department will be answered which to the editors will seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. The same question can not be answered repeatedly in the same volume. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. It is well always to enclose a stamp for reply.]
2321.—Lack of Power to Repent.
Will you please explain Heb. 6:4-6, and what is the reason of the lack of power to repent as stated in Question 2182?
W. F. K.
Let us read carefully the text from the American Revised Version. “For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.” This certainly shows that those who thus fall away have no power, because, having known the power, having tasted of His kingdom, right in the very face of this they turn from all the wonderful things which God has shown them and yield themselves to sin. Note the illustration that is used to impress the lesson: “For the land which hath drunk the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing from God.” God gave those blessings in order that the soul might bear fruit, and if it had continued to bear fruit it would have continued to receive blessings. The illustration continues, “But if it beareth [that is, continues to bear] thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned.” The whole thought is that it is the constant sinning which hardens heart and conscience, so that there is no means of reaching them. Read this text in connection with Heb. 10:26-29. It is sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth. God has two means of reaching souls, the sacrifice of the Son of God and the life-giving power of His Holy Spirit, but when men count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, reject the sacrifice of Christ by crucifying Him afresh, by continual sinning and turning from the pleading of the Spirit, the Lord has no other means of saving them. That does not mean, however, that if one has sinned he can not turn again to God. “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
2322.—Keeping the First Day.
Can you explain why all commentators, Bible publishers, and Bible students generally, who have given their lives to the study of the Scriptures, do not keep the seventh day?
C. K.
In the first place, all Bible students would not fall in this category. We have one list of devoted, earnest, faithful soldiers of God reaching from Enoch, the seventh from Adam, Noah, the comfort of God, Abraham, the father of the faithful, and Moses, the man of God, down to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, and John, the beloved, as well as Him who spake as never man spake, who were all observers of the seventh day. Prophets tell us then that there will be a departure, tell of a certain power that would think to change the times and the laws of God, tell us that they should be given into the hands of that power for 1,260 long years; during that time the church of the Lord would wander in the wilderness of confusion; but at the end of that time new light would spring forth. The word of God would again be searched. Men began to search it; they did not see all things clearly at first, but they were imbued by the Spirit of God to search earnestly the Scriptures for light; and they have done this. Gradually the light has been coming in. Martin Luther brought some of it. The Wesleys brought more light. Other light came from the Baptists, and from William Miller and the hundreds of others who preached the second coming of Christ, and now the last revelation includes the restoration of God’s holy Sabbath, which the world has been trampling underfoot. This is why it is that good men have not kept it in the past, they have not seen in the light of God’s word the necessity of it; they have followed early teaching without studying the word. Now the agitation is becoming world-wide. Souls must range themselves on one side or the other of the great question. They must decide it by the word of God or by tradition.
2323.—A Form of Prayer.
I have been much perplexed over the question whether I should teach my children a form of prayer or simply the importance of prayer.
A MOTHER.
We see no reason whatever why little children should not be taught a form of prayer, a comprehensive form of prayer, and then explain to them what that means. For instance, to illustrate, here is a little prayer that has been taught to children for the evening:
“Father, I thank Thee for the way
Thou hast kept me all the day.
O Saviour, keep me thru the night,
That I may see the morning light.
O from my heart all evil take,
All this I ask for Jesus’ sake.”
Now that is comprehensive in thanksgiving, in keeping power, and cleansing from sin. Jesus taught His disciples a comprehensive form of prayer in the Lord’s prayer. As your children learn a proper form of prayer, a proper way of expressing their wishes, then teach them that they can pray for other things which are proper, and frame it in their own language. Follow the sanctified mother-instinct and it shall be well.
2324.—Unfulfilled.
Have the words of the prophet in Eze. 39:8-10 been fulfilled as yet?
C. K.
To our mind Ezekiel 36-48 will never be fulfilled as there given. If God’s children had yielded to the conditions which the Lord then laid down, if they had come to Him with all their hearts, all that is recorded in the last chapters of Ezekiel would have been fulfilled to them at that time, in the Babylonian restoration; but Ezra and Nehemiah show clearly just how they came back, half-heartedly, mingling with other nations, and doing the deeds of other nations. God could not fulfil to them the promises which He gave thru His prophet Ezekiel. The conditions on which God gives His promises are plainly stated in Jer. 18:7-10. Please read it. If the Israelitish nation had yielded to God, the glorious things of which Ezekiel spoke would have been fulfilled; their enemies would have been subdued before them, as recorded in chapters 38, 39; but they turned from Him and would not obey His voice; consequently He could not fulfil all the blessings there pronounced. However, there will come a time when all that God has promised concerning the restoration of His people will be fulfilled in glorious measure, as recorded in Revelation 20, 21.
2325.—The Wages of Sin.
If the wages of sin is death, does it mean the first death only? Christ died for our sins; He passed thru or suffered the first death only. All sinners must pass thru or suffer both deaths. Will you explain?
C. K.
The Bible does not qualify the express statement, “The wages of sin is death.” The parallel of Rom. 6:23 is found in James 1:15. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Death is the very fruit of sin, ripened and gone to seed. When Christ died He died the death of the sinner. It would have been eternal death for all the race if He had not lived a righteous life; but He rose again, and by virtue of that righteous life conquered the power of the grave. As the posterity of Adam were not responsible for Adam’s sin but for their own merely, Christ redeems from the grave irrespective of character. But what man chooses for himself in the probation which God gives him, he must meet when his own individual case comes before God in judgment. If he has chosen life and sought for life, life it shall be; if he has sown for death, he will reap its fruitage. When Christ died upon the cross He bore the awful load of sin in seeming despair, so as to wring from His heart, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He did that in order that the sinner might turn to Him and feel that he was not forsaken of God. In other words, He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we, the sinners, might be made the righteousness of God in Him. His children go down in the grave because of inherited mortal nature, but they rise to immortality because they are possessed of the righteousness of God in Christ.
2326.—Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
If the dead are not conscious, why does Jesus represent the rich man as having a great desire to see his five brethren saved? May we suppose that he still has a desire to see them saved when he comes up in the second resurrection? This seems to be proof to many souls that man is conscious after death, while probation lingers, or else he would have no interest in the salvation of his brethren.
A. D. F.
No parable is ever designed to teach doctrine. It may be used to illustrate what is taught by plain Scripture, but no sound Biblical exegesis bases doctrine on a parable. At the very most the parable could only represent the rich man and Lazarus as saying what they would say if they were able to say it; but to our mind the parable is not a representation of things after death. It was simply using a parable which was common among the Jews to illustrate the different attitudes toward Christ of the Jews and the Gentiles. See the tract “Rich Man and Lazarus,” or “Christ’s Object Lessons,” in which this phase of the parable is set forth. If our inquirer has access to these works he will get much better satisfaction than anything we could say in this department. The Bible very clearly teaches the unconscious state of the dead. There is nothing in the parable which should be used to militate against the plain teaching of the word. If the story were to be used as a literal occurrence in all its details, it would make God’s dealings with men not only ridiculous but cruel.
2327.—J. R. W.
—The talents of Matthew 25 are gifts which the Lord bestows. They include the gifts mentioned in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4, and perhaps others. No one list gives all the gifts of the Spirit which God bestows upon His children. One of these gifts is liberality. That would perhaps include the power to make money. There are some who have special gifts in this direction, ability to make and save money in honorable, proper ways. See Deut. 8:18, “Thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth.” And all these gifts should be employed for the Master as He has given them—according to our several abilities.
2328.—C. K.
—John 20:19 was in all probability in the beginning of the second day of the week, in stead of the first. It was toward evening when the disciples went to Emmaus, seven and one-half miles from Jerusalem. Jesus met with them and they returned. It must have been past sunset when they reached Jerusalem. They found the disciples gathered together with the doors shut, for fear of the Jews. The first day must have been over, and the evening of the next day begun. Doubtless they met together first in the close of the first day, but when Jesus met with them, the first day must have been past and the second day begun.
2329.—N. M. B.
—Ps. 90:10, “We fly away” simply means that we die, as used in Prov. 23:5, “Riches make themselves wings and fly away;” that is, we lose them just the same as we lose life.