"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 The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable.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. J. D. J., I. H., and others. First, the Lord's day is not "the day of the Lord." We know that Roman Catholic writers have declared that it is, or at least they have questioned whether it were not. But the expression is entirely different—"the day of the Lord"—from "the Lord's day." John was not in the Spirit on "the day of the Lord." That was centuries and centuries beyond him. Nor did God carry him in vision over to the day of the Lord to reveal to him the things that were to occur. That day is well described in Zeph. 1:14-18, "a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness," and every imaginable evil which can come upon the earth, while John himself was given visions of God's throne, and, from the viewpoint of God's throne, of God's work in this earth. 2. The Lord's day is not the first day of the week. We know there are marginal references which refer to other scriptures where the first day of the week is mentioned, but there is nothing whatever in the words of Scripture which shows that this is the case. Marginal references are merely the opinions of men. 3. Then what is the Lord's day? What does the Bible declare it to be? In the first place, we read in Isa. 58:13 of the Sabbath, and the Lord calls that Sabbath "My holy day." Peter tells us (1 Peter 1:10, 11) that it was the Spirit of Christ who spoke through the prophets. Then it is the Spirit of Christ which calls the Sabbath "My holy day"—Christ's holy day. It was our Lord who created the heavens and the earth (see Col. 1:16; John 1:1-3). The Being who wrought in the six days' work of Genesis 1 was the Being who rested upon the seventh day; and therefore our Lord was the maker of the Sabbath. And therefore Jesus declares, "The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath"—another proof that the Sabbath is the Lord's day. Again, we are not left in doubt as to what day the Sabbath is, because we read in Ex. 20:10, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." And we learn by Matt. 28:1 and Mark 16:1, 2, that that seventh day comes just before the first day of the week. Therefore the day which is called "the Lord's day" in Rev. 1:10 is the seventh-day Sabbath of the Lord our God. If we desire Bible testimony, surely we can ask nothing stronger or clearer. How do Seventh-day Adventists know they have the truth? E. S. N. They know simply by the Word of God. Every doctrine held by Seventh-day Adventists save one is confirmed by some other one or more denominations, and by a multitude of scholars. Of course the Bible is sufficient regardless of what men may say or hold or believe, but it is worthy of thought that the Bible has spoken so plainly that men of various denominations acknowledge the truth, even tho it may be contrary to their practise. All this is true concerning the Sabbath, the literal coming of Christ, the nearness of His coming, the teaching of conditional immortality, the inheritance of God's people in the earth made new, the truth concerning the millennium, and various other things. These are held by different ones, and different denominations, not because they are taught in denominational creeds, but because they are taught in the Bible. The one exception to these is what may be called the teaching concerning the sanctuary, the ministry for sin in the Old Testament dispensation pointing out by type the ministry of our Lord in the sanctuary pitched by God, not man. We have not space in this brief note to give the evidences of each or any one of these particular beliefs. They are all found in the Word; and if our inquirer will ask concerning any one in which she may be in doubt, we shall be only too glad to point out the proof from God's Word. Please explain Gen. 1:1. How long a time was involved in this? Did God create this earth in one day, namely, on the first day of this week? K. S. We do not know how long a time is expressed in the phrase "in the beginning." There is nothing in Scripture which tells us how long a time. It may embrace a great period of time, and doubtless does. We read of it in John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." Sometime in that beginning God called at least the matter from which heaven and earth are composed into existence. The language of Gen. 1:1 seems clearly to set off the first verse from the verses which follow. And the verses which follow tell the story of how God took that matter which was brought into existence in the beginning, and made it into the form and condition described in the subsequent narrative. The very first act of the six days was, "God said, Let there be light: and there was light." His creative power had been previously manifest. How long that matter had rested in darkness we do not know. We do not need to know; but we do know that upon this material the work of the six days was wrought. And therefore, it is not said that in six days the Lord created heaven and earth, but, "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth." The creating was antecedent to the making. There is a wonderful lesson in it, a lesson of marvelous encouragement to the soul who is in the waste and void and darkness of sin; for just as God brought the earth out of that condition so that He could look upon it and say, "It is good," so God can bring the soul out of the chaos of sin, and make it after the similitude of His own character. Does the word "soul" have the same derivation in the following texts? Ex. 11:7; Ps. 33:19; Prov. 27:7; Job 33:18, 20, 30; 1 Sam. 18:1, 3; Matt. 16:26. Ex. 2:7 and Matt. 16:30 seem to refer to something living within man, or something that might be saved from annihilation. Do you think that "soul" means only life here on earth, and that the soul is improved, or made better, by us as we trust in God for eternal life? W. L. B. Our inquirer has evidently made some mistake. The word "soul" does not occur in either Ex. 2:7 or Ex. 11:7, nor in Matt. 16:30. There are but 28 verses in Matthew 16. Does our correspondent mean Gen. 2:7? In all these Old Testament instances, the word "soul" comes from the same word in the original, "nephesh." In the New Testament it comes from a word of similar meaning, the Greek "psuche." We will find less trouble in understanding the places where the word "soul" occurs if we will give it a little more latitude in meaning. We believe that it can be classed under one of the three following meanings: (1) Person; that is, the whole man. "Man became a living soul;" that is, a "living person." Eight souls were saved in the ark, Peter tells us; that is, eight persons. In the 10th chapter of Joshua we read again and again of the souls that were slain; that is, the persons. (2) Life; that is what it clearly means in Matt. 16:26, and the original word is so translated elsewhere in the New Testament. It simply means that life which is common to man and beast, the soul life. (3) It refers to the emotions, mind, mental capacities: "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Under one of these three heads the original word will usually fall. Not once is the soul said to be immortal, or capable of sentient existence apart from man. 3603 — The Body of the Resurrection
Will you please explain through the "Signs" 1 Cor. 15:50? Will the resurrected body be without blood? J. H. This is something, of course, that we can not tell. All the evidence we have, to the writer seems to indicate that in the place of the human blood there will be spirit. This not simply from the expression, "Flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of God." That may mean that simply this mortal person, or man in his mortal condition, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the expression in 1 Cor. 15:45 seems to indicate that there will be a difference between the progeny of the first Adam and that of the last Adam. "The first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving spirit. Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual." From this, and other considerations, it would seem that the immortal children of God will have the life of the spirit, instead of the life which is in the blood. See also Rom. 8:9. 3604 — The Ministration of Death
What is the "ministration of death"? Which is the most glorious, a dispensation that condemns without mercy, or one that gives a chance for repentance and conversion? J. H. B. Anything which condemns is a ministration of death, whether in the days of Moses or in our days. The children of Israel saw God's eternal law, but looked no farther than that. They said, "Let not God speak to us any more." Moses looked beyond the condemnation of that law to the justification which God gave through His Son. He passed through the glory of condemnation to the glory of righteousness, until that very glory was reflected upon his face. That was true in Moses' day; it was true in the days of Paul; it is true to-day. Men look upon God's law and are condemned by that law. Some of them, like Israel of old, shut the law away from them, and say, Let not God speak to us any more. And then they imagine that Christ is their Saviour when they have rejected the very perfect law which points out sin. Others look beyond the law, for the law leads to Christ, and find in Him justification, regeneration, sanctification, and that power which writes the law upon the heart so that it no longer condemns, but witnesses to the justification that comes through Christ. We would commend the little tract "What Is 'Done Away' in Christ?" which is a study upon 2 Corinthians 3, to our querist. 3605 — Commanding the Sun and Moon to Stand Still
Please explain Joshua 10:12, 13. We are taught that the earth revolves. How are we to understand this scripture? S. E. P. We are to understand it by a figure that is constantly used, and which we ourselves use—that the language of appearance is used. We speak of the sun rising and setting, and the moon rising and setting, the sun going down, and the sun coming up. No one misunderstands us. Scientists use the same term. So these things appear, and that expresses them in the language of appearance. If God had wished to stop the movement of the earth at that time, He could have done so without bringing any trouble whatever upon the earth. Certainly a marvelous miracle was wrought, because we are told in verse 14, "And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah harkened unto the voice of a man." It was a wonderful thing for Joshua; it is a wonderful thing to us, but it is not a hard thing for God. He left there a lesson of what is to us a manifestation of mighty power for the comfort of His children.