Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA · Nov 14, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 44.

Question Corner

By Editor

1926.—Illegitimate Children.

Will children of unknown fathers be saved? This is a question I was asked and I replied, "Whosoever will may come," and I was referred to Deut. 23:2.

Deut. 23:2 seems to have reference, not to salvation of any sort, but to a place in the recognized congregation of the Lord. Not having recognized part in that did not seem to cut one off from salvation. The assembly here mentioned seems to have been not one which included the whole people, but the ruling body, and that must be composed of men who in outward appearance typified perfection. As to children of unknown fathers, let Eze. 18:20 speak, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son." And Deut. 24:16: "The father shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin." God is no respecter of persons, and He will not hold a single soul responsible for that which is not that soul's fault.

1927.—The Two Witnesses.

What are the two witnesses of Revelation 11?

The two witnesses in Revelation 11 are the Word of God,—the Word of God as recorded in the Bible and the Word of God as manifested in His living church, both witnesses agreeing together. The one presents before us the Old and New Testaments, and the other the truth of God in the life of His Son and His people.

1928.—The Third Angel's Message.

What is the Third Angel's Message of which you speak so often?

Technically speaking, the Third Angel's Message is found in Revelation the fourteenth chapter, verses nine to eleven, the message which it is said the angel itself proclaims; but in a general way it includes Revelation nine to fourteen. A better term is the great three-fold message, or the three angels' messages. The first goes forth to proclaim the Gospel. Rev. 14:6, 7. The second announces, "Babylon is fallen;" the third pronounces a fearful warning against the mark of the beast and his image; but as each one goes forth it includes the previous one, so the third includes both of the others, and so all are sometimes called the third angel's message. In other words, it is God's great, warning, saving message to the world including in its wonderful scope the entire Word of God.

1929.—The Signs in the Heavens.

You claim the sun and moon have been darkened and the stars already fallen, when it reads to me as if they were all to follow each other as rapidly as possible, and then immediately after those things our Lord is to come. Please explain this.

Many times the Bible language does not indicate what lies between even closely connected parts of sentences. Take for instance Isa. 61:2. Now the second verse reads right in connection with the first telling the wonderful things that Christ was to do, beginning, "The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me." Then among the wonderful things that He was to do, the prophet declares, "To proclaim the year of Jehovah's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God." It certainly would seem as tho that would be proclaimed at the same time; but when Jesus quoted that very passage in Luke 4, He stopped at "the year of Jehovah's favor," "the acceptable year of the Lord," closed the book, and sat down. Only so much did He fulfil in person. The "day of vengeance of our God" was reserved to be proclaimed by those who should tell of His second coming in the last days. There may have been a hundred different darkenings of the sun and the moon; there is but one which can fulfil the prophecy. The sun was to be darkened "in those days" of persecution, "immediately after the tribulation" of those days. Mark tells us that the darkening was to come in the days; Matthew says it came "immediately after the tribulation." The tribulation of those days of papal persecution of the Dark Ages ended 1776. The days themselves ended 1798. There was a little period of twenty-two years within which the sun must be darkened according to the prophecy, and it must come soon after the persecution closes. The event occurred just four years after the tribulation, May 19, 1780. The following night the darkening of the moon occurred. The falling of the stars came considerably later than that. A very notable fall in the old world occurred in 1799; but the greatest of all in America in 1833. Now these were to be signs of Christ's coming. They could not be until after the last sign was given. Upon those, in part, at least, was to be based the message of the coming King. That message in its unity could not be said to begin until 1840-44. Then, and since, those signs have been held up to all the world as signs of Christ's coming, and all who have heard have seen them, or perceived them in the light of the prophecies.

1930.—Pledging.

Should pledging be encouraged, and should a Christian who will not pay his pledge be trusted a second time? Should he be placed in office or have authority in church business.

Of course there may be those who have pledged and who by force of circumstances—sickness, or something of that kind—are not able to pay the pledge. Such a thing of course is deplorable, and it ought not to be held against a member, but if one deliberately pledges to any good enterprise and refuses to pay it, he certainly is breaking his word, is a covenant-breaker; and when one occupies that position certainly he should not be placed in a position of trust in connection with God's work, whomsoever he may be. The Bible instruction concerning pledging is good to follow: "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few." But on the other hand, "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for He hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou vowest. Better is it that thou shouldst not vow than that thou shouldst vow and not pay." Sometimes it is a good thing to encourage pledging, sometimes it is not. Circumstances and the Spirit of God must control in such things.

1931.—Future Probation.

What is there to show that there will be no future probation?

1. The universality of God's law. The transgression of that law is sin, and "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Consequently all are condemned to death, because all have sinned, and in the sinner there is absolutely no hope for salvation. 2. The remedy for sin in God's perfectly wise plan is just as broad as the sin, and in it there is salvation for all. It may not come to all men in the full form of the Gospel as it comes to those to whom the written Word is an open book. It may come in one single ray of light alone, but it comes to every soul, for "Christ is that Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world," and the soul in the deepest depths of idolatry which has but one ray of light, if he follows that ray with all his heart, yields with all his heart to its enlightening powers, allows that light to be dominant in his life, will be saved; while, on the other hand, he who has all the light of the Word, if he rejects one ray of that light will find in that rejection death. God's word is written in His book; God's word is also written in the sun and moon and stars, for "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork;" and so God's great ethical, saving school is just as broad as the shining sun and reaches as far as the light of the stars. Compare Psalms 19 with Revelation 10. See also Rev. 22:11, 12, the last part of Proverbs 1, and many other scriptures.