"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 The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable.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. 3907 — Drawing All Men to Him
Will you explain the meaning of John 12:32? Will the time come when all men will be drawn to Him? It seems that Christ has been lifted up, and He says that He will draw all men to Him, and we know that all men have not as yet been drawn to Him. U. S. M. How do we know that that is the case, that all men have not been drawn to Him? The text does not imply that all would accept Him. It does not imply that all would become Christians, but it does mean that there would be that attractive power in the Lord Jesus Christ that would turn the hearts of men toward Him; and for aught we know, every soul that has ever heard of Him has had longing for Him. But the sins of the world have crushed out the longing, and Christ has been allowed to pass, while men have hardened their hearts against Him. The very fact of His death, His lifting up upon the cross, has drawn the attention of the world to the Lord Jesus; and even beyond this God draws men. Those who have not heard His name at all have been moved and affected by Him. So we read in John 1:9, "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Not one single soul in this world but has light enough to light him to God, if he will but follow it; and yet it lies in his power, and in the power of every one, to snuff out the candle that God lights, and harden the heart against the appeals of His Spirit. 3908 — When Was Christ Glorified?
Will you please tell us through the "Question Corner" when Christ was glorified? E. W. P. It depends upon what we mean by the term "glorified." Certainly glory is due to him who finishes his work and finishes it in harmony with the will of God. Just before our Lord died upon the cross, He said, "I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." On the cross He declared, "It is finished." Character met its consummation in dying for the right. Preeminently, therefore, He was glorified when He ascended up on high, as recorded in Acts 1:9-11 and in the 24th Psalm, foreshadowed on the mount of transfiguration. It is to this which Eph. 1:20-23 refers,—"Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church." Then was Christ glorified. The same is taught in Philippians 2, speaking of the humiliation of our Lord Himself, giving Himself even to the death of the cross: "Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name." See Phil. 2:9-11. But when He comes the second time, He will be glorified in His saints. In them the fulness of the glory will come home to Him, when "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied," and sin shall be banished forever from God's universe. Can you prove that Sunday is not the seventh day of the week, instead of the first, as the majority seem to believe? I take it that Sunday was the seventh, because of the scripture that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so was the Son of Man to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now Jesus was crucified on Friday. Hence He would only have spent two nights and a small part of one day, provided He were resurrected on Sunday morning, as every one seems to believe He was. I do not believe that any one could have authority to actually change God's holy day, but I do believe that the world is keeping the actual seventh day, believing it to be the first. H. P. Now in the first place, God knew which day the seventh was when the manna fell. There can be no question regarding this by a believer in the Word. He pointed out by a threefold weekly miracle, for forty long years, just which day was the seventh day. There could be no doubt about it. (See Exodus 16.) No manna fell upon that day. However ignorant the Jews were, however much they might wish to pervert or tamper with God's commandment, there could be to them no question regarding the day of the week. The Sabbath was the seventh day of the weekly cycle, and God marked it Himself miraculously. A few days after the fall of the manna began, He spoke His own law from heaven, in which He declared that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:8-11. Then at the time of the commandment, there could be no question whatever regarding it, for the miracle of the manna was still current. When Jesus died upon the cross, and was placed temporarily in the sepulcher, it is stated that the holy women who followed Him returned from the sepulcher, and kept the Sabbath "according to the commandment." Luke 23:56. There certainly could be no question at that time, for Inspiration declares that the day which they kept was the Sabbath day "according to the commandment." The next day was the first day of the week. Now the day which the Jews kept at that time was the same seventh day which we have now. They have been scattered to all parts of the earth, but wherever they have gone they have carried with them the seventh day. And that seventh day corresponds to our seventh day at the present time. Nobody disputes it who has regard for history and fact and astronomical data. We have before us a chart of the week prepared by the late Pastor William Jones, of Millyard Church, London, assisted by his imperial highness, Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte, the great European linguist. This chart has nine columns. The first column gives the language, and where spoken; the second column, the name of the week, or cluster, or cycle, of seven days; the next seven columns give the names of the days of the week. This chart gives the name of the week and the days of the week in 107 ancient languages and dialects, mostly of the Eastern or Oriental world. In addition to that, it gives us the same thing in 53 languages of Europe. Of these 107 languages and dialects, 71 name the seventh day as a sacred day, most of which call it "the Sabbath" itself; 37 of the 53 European authorities also call it "the Sabbath." Not one of them calls the first day of the week by the term "the Sabbath." Some of them indicate that it is a holy day, but the Sabbath day is the seventh day always. Take for instance the Georgian language in the Caucasus. The week is called "seven;" the week is also called "Sabbath." The first day is called "Lordly day;" the second, "day two to the Sabbath;" the third, "three to the Sabbath;" the fourth, "four to the Sabbath;" the fifth, "five to the Sabbath;" the sixth, or our Friday, "preparation day;" and the last day, "Sabbath." Now many of these languages were spoken and used by nations entirely separate, having had no international communication at all with each other. It certainly is a remarkable fact, which can not be set aside, that all have the same cycle of days, and so many of them, heathen tho they are, recognize the seventh day as the sacred day of the week. The Scripture record and history of nations; the observation and record of eclipses; the Jews scattered among all the nations of the earth and still retaining the same day, which they have always held in theory and sometimes in practise; the uniform testimony of Christianity that Sunday is the first day of the week, kept in honor of the resurrection,—all prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that our seventh day, or Saturday, corresponds as nearly as Roman reckoning can make it to the seventh day of the Scriptures and of the commandment, while Sunday corresponds to the first day of the week. The day of the death or the resurrection of Christ does not affect the Sabbath, nor does the Bible anywhere define the heart of the earth as the grave. That expression seems to have reference to the powers of darkness into which Jesus was delivered when arrested. See Luke 22:53. 3910 — Prayer by Catholics
Is it true that the great political conventions which nominated Taft and Wilson were opened by prayer by Catholics? M. Yes, so far as we know, Catholics may have prayed in all the political conventions. The convention was opened by ministers of other denominations also. So far as the political régime is concerned, it was simply to meet with popular favor that this was done; and first a minister of one denomination was asked and then another, and the compliment was passed around to various ones, in order that in a political way all might be won if possible. It meant nothing more than this. 3911 — Hardening the Heart
I would like an explanation of John 12:37-40. It seems they could not believe if they had wanted to. U. S. M. Compare verse 40 with Matt. 13:14, 15, etc. We there learn that they hardened their own hearts and shut their own eyes. It is not until men reject the Word of God that the Lord withdraws His Spirit from them, and the withdrawing of His Spirit is bound to harden the heart. But He does not do that until men show that they do not desire His presence. The language used of God is simply allowing the heart to be hardened. Men harden their own hearts always, by rejecting the truth; and so while Christ is lifted up in order that all men may be drawn to Him, and all men are affected by that drawing power, yet they may harden their own hearts as did the Jews, and not receive Him. 3912 — Inquirer.—Regarding the statement that Martin Luther told his mother, when she was dying, that the Catholic Church was the safe one to die in, we know nothing about it at all. Such statements as that are to be received with a grain of salt. We do not recall now just the time of the death of the mother of Martin Luther. It took Martin Luther quite a long time to get out of the Catholic Church; and if his mother died during this time, he may have told her that. He didn't see the truth of the matter all at once; it came to him gradually. Such a statement as that proves nothing one way or the other.