Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 42.

Question Corner

By Editor

"Enquire, and make search, and ask diligently."

NOTE.—We wish those who ask questions to take particular notice: (1) Only such questions will be answered here as we believe to be of general interest and information. (2) We can not undertake to explain from four to a dozen scriptures, as in one sentence we are often requested to do. (3) Do not ask to "explain" a certain text or passage. State clearly the point in question. (4) Give full name and address, not for publication unless desired, but as evidence of good faith, and to give us the privilege of replying by letter if deemed best. (5) Unsigned communications of any kind find the quickest way to the waste-basket. (6) It is always well to inclose stamp. (7) "Foolish and unlearned questions avoid," also those that minister to mere curiosity. (8) Study the Scriptures yourselves.

No. 648. Three Days and Three Nights.

How SHOULD Christ's words be understood in Matt. 12:39, 40—"Three days and three nights"?

To answer briefly, they should be understood as the Lord would have them. "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things," is a good Bible rule. 2 Tim. 2:7. Compare Matt. 12:40 with other texts referring to the same event, and which use the terms day and night. You will find, we are sure, that the expression "day and night" simply meant a day; that parts of days were counted as whole days, and that a part of the first and last of the days might not be included. Compare Luke 9:22; Mark 9:31; 10:32-34; Luke 24:20, 21. The words "heart of the earth" occur nowhere else in the Scriptures. Do they not mean the powers of earth, those of the earth, earthly? Our Lord was given into the power of the empire of earth when he was betrayed and arrested. See John 12:27 and Luke 22:53. Is it not reasonable to believe that here began the period of time designated as "three days and nights"?

No. 649. What Was in the Ark.

Was there anything put into the ark besides the Ten Commandments?

At one time there may have been. Heb. 9:4 seems to indicate that the rod of Aaron and the pot of manna were in the ark; but Ex. 16:34 tells us that the manna was laid "up before the testimony." See also Num. 17:10. The testimony was the witness of God's character against sin in the tables of stone. Ex. 25:16; 31:18; Deut. 10:2, 5. The book of the law, containing doubtless all the books of Moses, was placed "in the side of the ark of the covenant." Deut. 31:26. This could be spoken of as being in the ark. It is very reasonable to suppose that in the apostasies and reformations, in the backslidings and blindnesses of Israel, various changes took place in this respect.

No. 650. Forgotten Feasts and Sabbaths.

In Lam. 2:6 we find this expression, "The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion." Please explain the above quotation, in fact, the whole verse referred to.

The whole passage is but a description of the Lord's wrath upon Jerusalem. When Judah would not serve God, God gave her up to her own delusions, the same as he will every one. Prov. 1:29-32; Isa. 66:4. Ezekiel says (20:24, 25): "Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good," etc. Jeremiah told the Jews that if they would not keep the Sabbath and obey the Lord, Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the holy land would be desolate. Jer. 17:27; 25:11. The record in Lam. 2:6 is but a record of the fulfilment of this. Judah had "mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy." 2 Chron. 36:16. In other words, God took from them the blessings they despised. He suffered his "hedge" (Lam. 2:6, margin) to be taken away; the temple and its courts to be destroyed; the land was made desolate, and the solemn feasts and Sabbaths which it knew in its prosperity, were no more. The whole chapter is a picture of the desolation of Jerusalem and Judea because of her sins.

No. 651. How Comforted? 2 Sam. 13:39.

2 SAM. 13:39 reads: "He [David] was comforted concerning Ammon, seeing he was dead." How could David feel comforted when his son was killed?

While Ammon was alive, he was a source of anxiety to his father; but now that he was dead, David could do no more than to leave it with God, and be comforted in him. So he did with the child mentioned in chapter 12:15-23. As long as the child lived, he fasted and prayed, but when he could do no more, he left the matter with God, and was comforted in knowing that God doeth all well.

No. 652. Discoveries of Geology.

Do the discoveries of geology really conflict with the statement in God's Word that the world was created in six literal days, as scientists claim that they do?

All the true discoveries of geology do not really conflict with God's Word. The chief difficulties with geologists are that they discover many things that are not so, and make wrong calculations on what they do discover. All will admit that at some period or other the earth has been submerged; but geologists deny the universal flood in the time of Noah. The Word of God indicates that the changes at that time were both tremendous and universal. "The world [the cosmos, the arrangement] that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." 2 Peter 3:6. Not only were the flood-gates of heaven opened, but "the fountains of the great deep" were broken up. Gen. 7:11. The tremendous cataclysm changed the whole face of nature, heaved up mountain chains, buried forests, and melted the rocks. Sea became land, and land became water. Earthquake, fire, and deluge held high carnival; and changes took place in a day that geologists ascribe to millenniums. In simple reason when geologists differ from 350,000,000 years to 17,000,000 on the age of the earth, we still prefer to trust in the Word of God, of which "they willingly are ignorant." 2 Peter 3:5-7.

No. 653. Creation of Light.

WHAT was the light which God created before the sun and moon were made?

All light is from God. In what way it was manifest to the earth we know not. Doubtless the sun, moon, and stars were called into existence when the earth was, before the six days' work. But the light from these bodies did not pierce the dense clouds till the fourth day.