Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Dec 26, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 50.

Question Corner

By Editor

1959.—"Children and Children."

Please harmonize Matt. 8: 12, about the "children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness," with "suffer the little children to come unto Me."

You will see by the context that Matt. 8: 12 refers to the Jews, to those whom the Lord had called to His kingdom, those whom He would have used to call out others to His kingdom, and they are called the "children of the kingdom," because they had been born into all its privileges; but they had misused these privileges, and by utterly rejecting them and setting them aside, they were rejecting their own salvation. Jesus did not mean by the "children of the kingdom" that they were converted people. He was taking them simply as the literal descendants of the fathers. By the children in the second passage, "suffer the little children," Jesus meant actual little children such as came to Him and to whom He spoke the words. Even so will it be with those who accept His words in child-like faith and simplicity.

1960.—Josephus and the Sunday.

I was told that Josephus said that undoubtedly the early Christians kept Sunday. Can you tell me what he did say? I have tried to find it, but can not.

We recall no reference whatever in Josephus to Sunday. The Christians at an early date did observe an hour or two of Sunday, and of Thursday, the day of the betrayal and ascension, also of Friday, the crucifixion. They did not, however, regard these days as having any sacredness; but these were not the earliest Christians. We have no other record aside from the New Testament that tells us what the early church did. Errors crept into the church remarkably early. The apostle Paul tells us in Second Timothy 2 that the mystery of iniquity did already work in his day. Converted heathen brought into the rapidly growing church soon perverted the purity of the organization.

We have no special SIGNS for December. The regulars are, however, especially full of good matter.

1961.—Destruction of Little Children.

Does Eze. 9:5 refer to the destruction of the heathen? If so, why are little children destroyed?

It seems very clear to us that the prophecy of Ezekiel points out first of all sins in the time of Israel when he wrote, and that this was made a prophecy of the last days. There is a strong parallelism between Ezekiel 9 and Revelation 7. The little children there referred to are doubtless those who are involved in the sins spoken of in the chapter before; in other words, they have not the mark of God upon them showing that their sins are all washed away, and the character of God is stamped upon them. That mark seems to be equivalent to God's name and seal, as set forth in Rev. 14:1-5 and Rev. 7:1-3. It implies that the character has been changed so that it is like God's character. Little children not having that character must be possessed of other which is worthy only of destruction. We would not understand from the expression that it refers to irresponsible souls.

1962.—When Was Satan Cast Out?

When or at what age of the world were Satan and his followers cast out of heaven?

If our querist asks it in the sense of the prophecy of Rev. 12:9, it was at the time of our Lord's first advent, at the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Satan staked his all upon that great event. If he could overthrow the Son of God in the likeness of poor, weak, sinful flesh, he would have triumphed forever, but he was cast down. Our Lord met him in every conceivable way that it was possible for a creature to be tempted, met him as an angel previous to His incarnation, met him after His incarnation; from the time of the temptation in the wilderness to the time that He yielded up His life on the cross; but in all things Jesus conquered by the righteousness of faith. He died for the sake of the sinful, was locked in the tomb by the strongest seal which Satan possessed in this earth, that of the Romans; but the righteousness of Christ Jesus broke the seal and demonstrated by that resurrection that He was the Son of God. Rom. 1:1-4. Of that very time Jesus says, "Now is the judgment [or crisis] of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out." Then it was that that song of triumph ascended in heaven: "Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night."

1963.—The Best Commentary.

What author in your opinion is the most helpful commentary on the Old and New Testaments?

It is a pretty difficult matter to state whose is the most helpful commentary. It is rarely indeed that any one theologian writes as a commentator on the whole Bible. Dr. Adam Clarke so wrote; Matthew Henry, also; Lange's Commentary has covered the whole Bible, and, of all the commentaries, that probably is the fullest, the most exhaustive written under the supervision of any one person. Presumably one could by careful selection get a better commentary by taking different authors. Matthew Henry's is highly prized by many. The best concise commentary that we know is Jamieson, Faussett & Brown's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. A good New Testament commentary is Alford's, one of the best, it seems to us. None of these are perfect by any means. They are better for explaining the customs and critical meanings of texts, but are not always to be depended on for doctrine.