With Our Inquirers by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Sep 30, 1908

With Our Inquirers

By Editor

“If ye will inquire, inquire ye.”

[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 The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable.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.]

2615.—Condition of Man in Death.

It says in the Bible in one place that when a man dies he remains dead, and then in another place it speaks of Lazarus as being in heaven, and the rich man as being in hell and asking for a drop of water. How do you reconcile these two passages? G. L. M.

There are many passages of Scripture which conclusively show that “the dead know not anything;” that when a man dies his “breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish.” It is not said that Lazarus is in heaven. The story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 is a parable, not of something which actually took place, but in which inanimate objects are made to talk and speak in order to convey a useful lesson. This department will not admit of the explanation of that parable; it is too long. If our inquirer will send for a little tract upon that question, “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” by Mrs. E. G. White, he will receive light upon it; or if he has access to “Christ’s Object Lessons” there is one chapter devoted to it, entitled “A Great Gulf Fixed.”

2616.—Ancient Civilization.

What can be the history of the ancient cities that are being unearthed in the southern part of the United States and in Mexico and Central America? Is it possible that they are ruins of cities which existed before the Flood? Could it be possible that Noah lived on this side of the earth before the Flood, that the ark floated across the Atlantic during the time of the Flood, landing on the Eastern hemisphere? C. K.

It has been about four thousand years since the Flood. That is time for the building and ruin of large empires and cities. Take for instance those lands the history of which has come down to us, Babylon and Assyria, Tyre, Persia, Media, Egypt. All of them built great cities, erected magnificent buildings, but generation after generation, and civilization after civilization have succeeded. The ruins are still there, some of them grand and magnificent. There has been time for such civilization to exist in America and pass away. It has been generally supposed that America was settled from Asia, by way of Bering Strait.

2617.—Sea and Waves Roaring.

Luke 21: 25 speaks of the sea and waves roaring. What is meant by these words? Have not the sea and the waves always roared? C. K.

Not in the sense of the prophecy. It indicates that they will be fearfully disturbed, so much so that the hearts of men will fail for fear. It would indicate that there would be increasing storms and increasing troubles. All nature would be responsive to the increased load of sin.

2618.—Preaching on the Streets.

(1) Should not Seventh-day Adventists preach the great threefold message on the street corners? (2) If there be no pastor, could a layman properly lead such a movement? S.

(1) Yes, if the Lord has called them so to do. He may call some to do this work, and bless them in the doing of it. He certainly will not call all to do it. Some may wish to do it who are not called, simply because somebody else is holding street meetings. Such feelings are not a safe guide. It requires special qualifications to be a successful street evangelist; and one ought not to undertake such a work unless he knows that God desires him to do it and will be with him. (2) If God calls a layman to do that work, let the layman respond to that call in the strength of God, and labor in all love and humility, not to argue, but to win souls to Christ and salvation.

2619.—Rev. 2: 9.

Please explain the 9th verse of chapter 2 of the Revelation. E. C.

We do not know what our inquirer asks for in the verse. The Lord says to the church of Smyrna: “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty.” These were their temporal conditions. “But thou art rich,” that is, rich in faith. He also declares, “I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews,” true Jews, true believers in Christ the Jew, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, but “are not,” have no living connection with Him, “but are the synagog of Satan.” That is, instead of belonging to the synagog, or church, or congregation, of the Lord, they belong to the congregation of the evil one. Such has ever been the case all through the time of human probation.

Suggestive Notes.

Our Old Testament readings for the first three days include the book of Lamentations, supposed to have been written by Jeremiah. In the Hebrew Bible it stands among what is called “The Hagiographa,” or “Holy Writings,” between Ruth and Ecclesiastes. It consists of five separate poems, the first four acrostic in construction, each line beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. They are songs of mourning over the destruction of the temple, the cessation of the worship of Jehovah, the condition of the people of Jerusalem. After reading 2 Chronicles and Jeremiah, one can feel somewhat of the depth expressed in the Lamentations, of the sorrow which possessed the devout Jews. After once reaching the glory that was manifest in the days of Solomon, and then realizing the wretchedness of their lot under the Babylonian captivity, truly Jerusalem could say, “Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow.” Rather the question ought to have been, Look and see if there is any sin like my sin; for Jerusalem’s sorrow and trouble was the result of Jerusalem’s sin.

The last four days of the week cover the first ten chapters of Ezekiel, another book with a priest for its author. The name Ezekiel means “God strengthens.” He was among the captives whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away under the reign of Jehoiakim, in B.C. 597, and settled near the river Chebar. His prophetic work extended over about twenty-two years. The book is strikingly rich in lessons concerning conduct and spiritual experiences. The first and the tenth chapters present before us a great symbolical view of God’s working among the nations. It has been said that the living creatures which Ezekiel saw were the living throne of God, but it is well to note that these living creatures are said to be upon the earth, and connected with the earth; that the great firmament was over their heads, and above was the throne of the Almighty. Rather, is it not more reasonable to suppose that these living creatures or cherubim represent the great companies of living agencies which God is using in His work; and that the formation of these companies was in the forms of the living creatures which Ezekiel saw, the man, the lion, the ox, the eagle, representing wisdom and strength and patience and glory? It is well to note, too, that these forms, to a greater or less extent, were especially manifest in Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt. We have the man-headed lion, the lion-headed ox, etc. Earthly powers sought to control the affairs of earth, but only imperfectly, like their graven images. But God controls all heavenly agencies and through these all earthly agencies, and tho they seem to be utter confusion to us, wheels within wheels, He guides them all safely to His own purposes; “even the wrath of man shall praise Him.”

Our New Testament readings cover Acts 9 to 16. Among these events we call the attention of our band to two great truths which stand out among the others.

1. God’s use of human agencies. The angel which came to Cornelius could have told Cornelius the way of life, yet this is not God’s plan. He sends Cornelius to a member of His own church, Peter. God’s army above always cooperates with God’s children below. It has been said that not one soul is born into His kingdom but what there is travail on the part of some other soul. In the great day of God, sower and reaper will rejoice together, and we shall see how through various agencies the Lord has brought His children home so that neither any one man nor any one angel shall say, This soul is here because of my labor.

2. Chapter 15 gives the record of the first council that was held among the disciples. This was not of the character of the councils which followed in later ages. It was a meeting together to seek God and to come to a better understanding over questions wherein they differed. It was not held at Rome, but at Jerusalem, and the one who presided at that council was not Peter, but James.