"IF YE WILL INQUIRE, INQUIRE YE."
By Editor
This Inquirers' Department is conducted for the purpose of helping those who are studying the Bible. The answers are oftentimes only suggestive. They are never to be considered infallible, only as they agree with the infallible Word. The writer who may answer them does not consider that his opinion is infallible. He will simply give the best that he has, and plead with the inquirer to search the Word. Such questions only will be answered as, to the editors, seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. We can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. No letters are answered which do not contain the name of the writer. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply. Will you please tell me what the day in Heb. 4:8 refers to, also the rest spoken of there? First of all, the word "Jesus" in verse 8 in our Common Version ought to be "Joshua." "Jesus" in the Greek is the same as "Joshua" in the Hebrew. God wanted to give His children rest at the time of Joshua, but they followed their own ways and their own works. They consequently did not get the eternal rest which God designed to give them. When the Lord made the heavens and the earth, at the end of the first week of time, He placed the Sabbath as a pledge of eternal rest. When man sinned he lost that rest. That rest can only be obtained again through Jesus Christ. But the Sabbath still remains as a pledge of that eternal rest, and only he who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ knows that rest. When he ceases from his own works and does the works of God, he knows what true Sabbath-keeping is. He knows the real blessings that come from the Sabbath; and he finds in that Sabbath not only the rest of the Lord Jesus Christ which comes by a new creation in his own life, but he holds it as a pledge of the eternal rest of God's children when there will be no more sin. That eternal rest has not yet come. It will come when the new heavens and the new earth spring forth by the power of God, and only sinless beings will occupy it. What do you think of the great pyramid as set forth by Millennial Dawn and its so-called prophet? The great pyramid is a wonderful structure, as there are also other wonderful pyramidal structures in Egypt. It shows that those who built it had a knowledge of astronomy and science which people in these days do not usually give the ancients credit for. On account of this some have had the idea that it was divinely directed. But that it is a divine prophecy we do not believe. Men have guessed out all sorts of things. If some of their guesses had been true, this world would have been wound up before this. The various theories are contradictory, and all the theories are more or less guesswork. It is "about" this or "pretty near" that or "approximately" something else. Before us is a work entitled "Pyramid Facts," by James Bonwick, F.R.G.S. After reviewing theory after theory, Mr. Bonwick says: "Some writers assert that figures can be made to prove most anything, but the lines of the pyramid are quite as accommodating. A miraculous origin being supposed, there were no difficulties in the multiplication of miracles. While the written Word was dark and obscure, the pyramid was light and clear. Isaiah the glorious prophet had but a dim sense of a Coming One, tho some commentators doubt whether he understood what he revealed. But the heathen builders of Egypt, ages before Moses and the Scriptures, knew all about it, and were able by divine counsel to personify even pictures of the life of Jesus in Palestine!"—Page 179. One of the pyramid prognosticators told us that the millennium would begin in 1881-82; that fifty-three years of trouble would follow that, but this would not come upon the saints. They would all be caught up to heaven at that time. But 1882 is a long way in the past; and it seems to us that this very fact ought to shock the faith that some have in the pyramid. Some have told us that it had nothing to do with idolatry in any way, that there were no idolatrous emblems connected with it, consequently it must have been built under the guidance of God; but Mr. Bonwick says that this may be an error of judgment is apparent from the fact that the great pyramid, like all other pyramids, was situated in the midst of an acropolis containing tombs of officers belonging to the court of Cheops, the very builder himself, and all such tombs having addresses to heathen deities, and in the pyramid itself the quarry marks of the king's name are distinctly idolatrous emblems. The same persons whose names are therein inscribed are elsewhere spoken of as being worshipers of false gods, and the constructors of idols of gold, etc., in the adornment of the temple. It is simply a delusion, therefore, to speak of the pyramid as being a witness of religious truth, altho coincidences favor a theory. 3404.—Prohibitions upon Gentile Christians
Please explain in your Question Corner Acts 15:20. Of course there was no question over the keeping of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus among the Gentile Christians. That is what justification is for, to establish the law in the heart. Rom. 3:31. But among those Gentile Christians there had been other customs in which they saw no harm whatever, and among these customs were the four things here named. That they abstain from pollutions of idols, that is, things that have been offered to idols. While the idol itself was nothing, it injured the consciences of some. It was a stumbling-block to some when others used them. Therefore it was best to abstain from those things which were offered to idols, or which had anything to do with idol sacrifice. Fornication was a common thing among Gentiles. Marriage laws were very lax. They saw little harm in transgression. They did not know that all forms of fornication were transgressions of the law of God. They were admonished that there must be total abstention. Each man should have his own wife. The loose marriage customs of the Gentiles have no place in the Christian order. It is as old as the taking of life for food that blood must not be used with the flesh. See Lev. 17:11. That was given to Moses and it was given to the children of Israel. Blood must not be used, because the blood is the life. They must not disregard the injunction. It was common among the Gentiles to eat the blood, and even to-day among some peoples there are blood puddings. It is a horrible thing to do, and the Lord forbade the Gentiles' doing it as early as apostolic days. The thing strangled was the thing that was simply choked to death with the blood left in the carcass. They must abstain from this, and they must also abstain from the actual eating of blood itself. That also is used, or was, a few years ago, as quite a fashionable remedy for anemic conditions. Ladies and gentlemen went right to the yards themselves where the beeves were killed, and drank the warm blood. This certainly was a practise that was loathsome, and God's Word forbade it. These were all reasonable requirements, and they seem to have been fully accepted by the Gentile Christians themselves. Ezekiel's temple was conditional, dependent upon Israel's acceptance and repentance, as stated in Eze. 43: 9, 11; 44: 7, 9. But Israel did not put away their sins; they were not ashamed, very few returned, and that sanctuary was not built, nor will it ever be built. The temple of Zerubbabel was the best God could do. See God's conditions in Jer. 18:7-10. Acts 21:26 can not be taken as proof that offerings are still in vogue. The apostle Paul merely met with those Jews to show that he had nothing against them nor against the law, yet at the same time he made a mistake in compromising with them. The whole occurrence shows that Paul gained nothing whatever by following the advice of his brethren in yoking up with the Jews who believed that the ceremonial law and sacrifices were still binding. God speaks to His children in the far future in the language of the then present. In every lamb offered in that past dispensation there was represented the Lamb of God. This dispensation has its sacrifices. Rom. 12:1, 2; Heb. 13:15. Is it permissible to do wrong that good may come? Give Scripture on this. Paul says that those who affirmed that he did evil that good might come slanderously reported him. Rom. 3:8. Our Lord says, "Cease to do evil; learn to do well." Isa. 1:16, 17. Of Jesus it is said that He left "us an example, that ye should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 1 Peter 2:21, 22. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." God brings good sometimes despite man's evil, but He would do a great deal better if man did only good.