Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1893

Question Corner.

By Editor

“If ye will inquire, inquire ye.” “But avoid foolish questions.”

125. HEART OF THE EARTH.

I read in Matt. 12:38-40 Christ’s own words that he would be in the heart of earth three days and three nights. How could he be in the grave three days and three nights, beginning Friday at 3 P.M., and rising on Sunday, the first day of the week?

Who said that Christ would be in the grave three days and three nights? Jesus said: “As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Now (1) no one has ever been able to prove, nor can he prove, that Jonas was in the belly of the great fish just seventy-two hours; it cannot be proved that these were not parts of three days, including one whole one and two parts, according as the Jews reckoned. (2) No one has ever been able to prove, nor can he prove, that “the heart of the earth” means “the grave.” It is a mere opinion, that is all. It may mean the powers of earth, including the time when Christ was delivered to the powers of earth. See John 12:27; Luke 22:53. It would be well to take Christ’s words just as they are in this case.

126. SPRINKLING—CLEANSING.

Will you please explain to me the following, Eze. 36:25?

The text is as follows: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.” The language used is drawn from the ancient manner of purifying, by sprinkling the person or thing to be purified with water. See Lev. 14:2-7. It is used by the prophet as emblematical of the cleansing power of the grace of Christ through his word. The priest pronounced clean by his ceremony of sprinkling the man whom God had made clean. Christ cleansed the leper with his word, “Be thou clean.” Matt. 8:3. He said to the sinful disciples, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. See also Eph. 5:26, “the washing of water by the word.” The power which did the cleansing was the Spirit of Christ, but his words are spirit and life. John 6:63. See Heb. 10:22, where the same term, “sprinkling,” is applied to the cleansing of the heart. Eze. 36:25 simply means that God would cleanse his people. It has no reference whatever to any ordinance.

127. WHAT SABBATH DAYS?

Kindly explain Col. 2:16.

The text is as follows: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” The simple statement of the apostle is that we should not be judged—no one had any right to judge us in respect to those things which had expired by limitation. “In meat, or in drink,” having reference, doubtless, to the various foods connected with the sacrifices. See Heb. 9:10. “Holy day,” the regular yearly feast days of the Jews, now met in Christ. “New moon,” the monthly festival held by the Jews. “Sabbath days,” the yearly sabbaths, of which there were several named in Leviticus 23, “besides the Sabbaths of the Lord.” Verse 38. That the sabbaths of Col. 2:16 do not refer to the weekly Sabbath is shown by the next verse, “which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” All the yearly sabbaths point to Christ, but the weekly Sabbath was a memorial of God’s mighty power manifested in creation and redemption. The yearly sabbaths ended by limitation when the shadow reached the substance, Christ; the weekly Sabbath is eternal.