Anchored to a Great Fact — Immovably Fixed — Shadowy Sabbaths That Were Abolished
In tracing the Sabbath commandment, the principle of law for tracing a civil statute, given by a learned member of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, is the safe principle to follow: “The original statute must first be found. It must then be traced through the revised statutes, to see if there has been any revision or repeal. If there has been no revision or repeal, the original law still stands.”
Last week we studied the introduction of the Sabbath at creation. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:1-3. It was therefore appointed that on the seventh day of each recurring week, the Sabbath should be observed. This was the original law of the Sabbath. It was based upon moral reasons—the work and rest of God. It was a moral, not a ceremonial institution.
A Finished Work and Permanent Foundation
The Sabbath as a moral institution was based upon the finished work of creation, and God’s rest. It is based, therefore, upon no changeable foundation, but upon the eternal fact that at the time of creation God worked, and at the end of that period He rested. When, at the close of that period, He rested, it became an eternally established fact that that day, upon which He had so rested, was the Lord’s “rest” or “Sabbath day.”
It was made originally for unfallen man. If man had never fallen, he would have observed it eternally, to commemorate weekly the work and rest of God at creation. It was therefore a commemorative institution, introduced before the fall; and like one’s birthday, nothing could ever come to alter the facts upon which it was instituted. As it was instituted before the fall, it could not have been a ceremonial rest, or liable to pass away.
They Rested on Failure
All typical or ceremonial sabbaths rest upon the fact of man’s failure and fall, and point him to Christ as a remedy for that failure. They have all been introduced since the fall. They pointed forward to the cross, where they ceased by limitation. Not so with the weekly Sabbath. Made for man at creation, it was given at that time to the first man ever made. Man was made on the sixth day of creation week. The Sabbath was made for man the very next day after the first man was made. It points backward to creation. It is no more typical than one’s birthday. Any person who can understand the meaning of his birthday, can understand the meaning of the Sabbath.
The Weekly and Annual Sabbaths Contrasted
In contrast to the weekly Sabbath, there are seven annual sabbaths introduced in Leviticus 23. They were observed once a year, and were associated with offerings of blood, which pointed forward to Christ. These were ceremonial sabbaths, and were instituted as the result of the fall, to point forward to Christ. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.” Lev. 23:1-3. This is the weekly Sabbath of rest.
Moses was commanded to speak concerning the feasts of the Lord. “These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” Verse 4. These came at the same seasons of the year annually. The first was the Passover. “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s Passover.” Verse 5. In Ex. 12:6-18 the occasion of the institution of the Passover sabbath is fully given. It required the killing of a lamb, the blood of which was to be sprinkled upon the doorposts to point forward to Christ, the Lamb of God, who only can take away, and pass over, the sins of the world. Paul, speaking of the significance of this type meeting its antitype, says, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor. 5:7.
They Were Nailed to the Cross
In the remaining portion of the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, we have six other annual feast days mentioned. These feast days are called sabbaths in verse 39. They pointed forward to Christ, and were to cease at the cross. Paul speaks of them thus in Col. 2:14, 15, and adds that they were nailed to the cross. In verse 16 he says they were that class of sabbaths associated with meats and drinks and new moons; and in verse 17 he says they were shadows that were to end when the shadow reached the object which cast it, to which it pointed, namely, Christ. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
These were festival sabbaths, shadowy, pointing to Christ, who was the body that cast the shadow back to their introduction after the fall of man. The weekly Sabbath was never shadowy, but commemorative. It pointed ever backward to creation. In Lev. 23:3 the weekly Sabbath is introduced in contrast to these annual sabbaths: “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”
One Ceased, the Other Did Not
It is called the Sabbath, or rest of the Lord. In making it, the Lord worked, and the Lord rested. He did nothing of the kind in making these annual sabbaths. In verses 37, 38, the Lord forever settled the question as to the distinction between the weekly Sabbath and these annual sabbaths: “These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon his day: beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord.”
These feast day sabbaths associated with meats and drinks, repealed at the cross, according to Col. 2:14-17, were given “beside the Sabbaths of the Lord.” The Lord’s Sabbath was associated with gifts and freewill offerings and moral precepts, which did not cease at the cross. It still remains for man, for whom it was made.
The weekly Sabbath, introduced before the fall of man, ever proclaims God’s power in creation. The annual festival sabbaths, introduced after the fall, proclaim man’s frailty, and point to Christ as his only hope. These passed away when type met antitype at the cross. The Sabbath of the Lord is eternal.
The Sabbath in the Wilderness
In Ex. 16:4, 5 we read: “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people186shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” The object of this miraculous fall of the manna was in part to test Israel upon the law of the Sabbath. This was more than a month before the law was proclaimed from Sinai. The law of the Sabbath was well known, however, and was made a test of loyalty to God. When Israel reached Sinai, the Lawgiver proclaimed His own law, gave His reasons for it, and wrote it on tablets of stone with His own hand. He certainly knew on which day He had rested and made the weekly Sabbath at creation, and the purpose of its observance. The Sabbath law reads: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8-11. The Lawgiver says the Sabbath was made at creation, and based upon the fact of His own work and rest at that time.
Examining the Assumption
Some have thought that because, in rehearsing the law in Deut. 5:15, Moses said that they should keep the Sabbath in memory of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, the Sabbath was first instituted to commemorate that event, and not in memory of God’s work and rest at creation. It is assumed that the facts upon which the Sabbath was instituted had not all occurred until the Exodus. Let us examine this assumption.
The facts are that the Sabbath was instituted at creation, on account of God’s work and rest. Gen. 2:1-3. The Sabbath command was proclaimed from Sinai, after the Exodus—that is, after the deliverance from Egypt. The reason for its institution is given in the law. Does He, in giving the Sabbath law, and the reason for its institution, say that it was because He had delivered Israel from Egypt?—No, He makes no reference to that incident. His reasons are His labors in the great work of creation, His rest, sanctification, and blessing at the close of that labor. Why did He not say, in the Sabbath law, that the reason for its institution was the deliverance from Egyptian bondage?—That was not the fact. He is a God of truth, and told the facts of the case in giving the Sabbath law.
Existed Before Sinai
Ex. 16:4 shows that the Sabbath was in existence prior to the giving of the law on Sinai. Deuteronomy 5 is not a full report. Compare Ex. 20:3-17 with Deuteronomy 5. This was a rehearsal by Moses forty years later, and refers to the law for its authority. Read Deut. 1:3: “In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them.” With this read Deut. 5:16, “Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.” Verse 12: “Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.” They were to sanctify it according to previous appointment.
This rehearsal, then, refers for its authority to the law as previously given. “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Verse 15.
This was an appeal to those only who had been under Egyptian bondage and had been delivered. We read: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Ex. 8:1. If this was the reason for the institution of the Sabbath, then it was never binding upon any but those who came out of Egypt. This would be too absurd to consider seriously. God never dignified this statement by referring to it either in giving the facts of the institution of the Sabbath, or in giving the Sabbath law.
Justice and Righteousness on the Sabbath Basis
Deuteronomy 5 does not give a fact or a reason for the institution of the Sabbath. The fallacy of that argument which some make is further shown by the following text: “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe all My statutes, and all My judgments, and do them: I am the Lord.” Lev. 19:35-37. The logic of this view is therefore that only those who came out of Egypt need to be righteous, or become a holy people. This is too inconsistent for credence.
B. C. P.
A MIGHTY LAST-DAY PROPHECY
By M. C. W.
The Time—Babylon the Harlot
All great symbolic prophecies of the books of Daniel and the Revelation reach forward to the eternal kingdom. They do not pause in their forecast of earth’s rule till the coming of Him whose right it is to reign forever.
We wish to study with our readers the seventeenth chapter of the Revelation, and its vital connection with chapters 12 and 13.
It is preeminently a last-day prophecy. Its predictions pertain to the last days, the times in which we live. We may not see it all now. Its details may be hidden from us. But God has given us encouragement to study, with the assurance of blessing. Rev. 1:3.
First of all, then, read the prophecy itself, slowly, prayerfully, thoughtfully, seeking the guidance of His Spirit for its meaning. Following are its first eight verses as found in the American Revised Version:
“And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication.
“And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication, and upon her forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth.
“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder.
“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition.”
Let us study: (1) The time of its application; (2) The meaning of the harlot, and of Babylon; (3) The meaning of the seven-headed beast; (4) The meaning and time of the wilderness; (5) The fifth head; (6) The seventh head.
I. THE TIME OF ITS APPLICATION
There is a difference between the time of the giving of a prophecy and the time to which it applies. This is a principle that must be recognized in the study of all prophecy. To illustrate: The prophecy of Isa. 40:3-5 was given seven centuries before Christ, given as though it were a present fact in the prophet’s day; but it was not fulfilled till seven centuries later, in the mission and work of John the Baptist. John 1:19-23; Luke 3:4-6. Another case in point is Isa. 61:1-3. The prophecy reads as though it belonged to Isaiah then; but it was fulfilled in part in the mission of our Lord at His first advent, and it will be in part when He shall come again. Luke 4:18, 19. The day of vengeance of our God is yet future. See also Daniel’s vision of chapter seven, where he repeatedly sees the events as if they were then present, although some are not yet fulfilled.
To John on the isle of Patmos was given the vision. He stood as the representative of God’s church militant in all coming time. By repeated prophecy, he is brought in vision, in prediction and fulfillment, down to the end, and thus he brings us. Among the last of events, coming just after the close of probation, is the pouring out of the seven last plagues, in which is187“filled up the wrath of God.” Rev. 15:1. These are the righteous judgments of God, as well as the consequences of ages of sin, upon a world that has rejected the Saviour and rightful King.
Before these judgments fall, however, one of these angels comes to John, who stands for God’s people, to show him the judgments to be visited upon Babylon, and the sins and crimes that demand the punishment. That, then, marks the time to which the vision applies, the period just before the close of probation, just before the plagues are poured out. Our “IS” is the “IS” of the vision. See the expression “One is” in verse 10. If it be said that the “is” refers to John’s day, we reply that the angel who gave the vision forbids it, as the development of the prophecy will demonstrate. A parallel to this is found in the message of the angel of Rev. 14:6, 7, “The hour of His Judgment is come,” not in John’s day, but in our day, it is now pending. The “IS” of Rev. 14:7 pertains to the times when that message is due; and the “IS” of chapter 17 applies to the time when the prophecy is applicable, even now. It is a living prophecy for to-day; and to-day God would have the church understand that the judgment of great Babylon is impending, and that her sins merit the judgment.
2. THE GREAT HARLOT
A woman in Scripture is the symbol of a church. That church as she ought to exist is likened “to a comely and delicate woman” (Jer. 6:2), to a virgin betrothed to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). But when God’s church, espoused to Him alone, unites with the world, she is counted a harlot. See Jeremiah 3, Ezekiel 16, and other passages. When our Lord gave His church the great commission, He assured her of a plenitude of power in Himself. Matt. 28:18-20. When she departs from Him, and unites with the world, she becomes an adulteress. James 4:4.
MEANING OF BABYLON
“Babylon” means confusion. That is the origin of the name. God gave to man, after the Deluge, clear directions regarding his duty. He was to scatter abroad, and cultivate and replenish the earth; but man said: No, “let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” See Gen. 11:1-9. And according to the well burned bricks that men have dug up from the ruins of that ancient structure, they named that tower “Bab-il,” which meant “the gate of God.” In other words, by their human schemes, they would enter heaven, even though it was in transgression against God. It was a form of self-salvation, salvation by works, which has been the curse of the ages. The result of that effort was that God confounded the language, and named the tower “Babel,” or “Babylon,” meaning confusion. The human way to heaven, that promised gate of God, became the way of division, defeat, and confusion.
So it has ever been. Nebuchadnezzar could build a mightier Babylon in his exaltation and pride; but in God’s everlasting way of right, it falls. Compare Dan. 4:29, 30, with Isa. 13:19-21.
The ancient city of Babylon, professing a religion that exalts man and perverts truth, was antagonistic to God. Hence it became a type of apostasy, and of apostate organizations, churches, associations, federations, which, professing to save men, are really perverters of God’s plan. Thus also Jerusalem, the daughter of Zion, stands for the true church and people of God.
Recognizing the good in modern Babylon, God has put forth mighty efforts to heal her, but she would not be healed. Jer. 51:9.
THE FALLING AWAY
When the church came from the hand of Christ, she was one, with one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, Creator, and Redeemer. She had the one rule of conduct, the Decalogue; one Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus; one book of faith and instruction, the Holy Scriptures; one Holy Spirit for power, manifest in a plenitude of gifts for service. We do not take time to prove these statements; they will be acknowledged by all. God’s ideal is expressed in such scriptures as John 17; Eph. 4:1-13; 2 Tim. 3:13 to 4:5, and in other passages.
But the church departed from the standard. Heathen philosophy crept in. Truth was perverted. Works of merit were used to purchase salvation and sainthood. The great, growing, popular church had become Babylon, confusion. Men then began to form creeds, and endeavor to warp the Scriptures to perverted human thought and practice. Creeds were adopted by presbyteries, synods, councils. Departure from the creed meant heresy. Multiplying heresy brought greater confusion.
Then came union with the state, the church using the state to support and enforce church dogmas; then the persecution of “heretics” as a logical result. Conscientious men in the apostate church put to death conscientious, God-fearing Christians who could not repudiate their God-given freedom.
He who studies the development of mystical Babylon as manifest primarily in the Roman Catholic Church, and in all Protestant churches that have followed human plans,—deceptions in Babylon’s maze,—will have great charity for Roman Catholics, but none for the system. Admit their premises, to them almost or quite divine, and logic demands their intolerance of heresy, their persecution of heretics. The more conscientious a man is in the wrong, the more harm will he do. Therefore the Roman Catholic Church became the worst of persecutors, because she has been conscientious in the worst system of error that the world ever knew.
Protestant churches that followed her in church and state union have invariably and logically become persecutors. Whenever the human has assumed the place of God’s vicegerent, and attempted to enforce God’s will, he has done the most ungodlike things in an inhuman way.
The Babylon of the prophecy is the symbol of apostate Christianity centering in the Roman Catholic Church, and the daughters are those who have been molded by the same principle.
The thought of the prophecy is not physical fornication, and we have no sympathy with the use of the figure of the harlot in an endeavor to apply it to any of the organizations connected with the Roman Church. Toward individuals or persons in Roman Catholicism we have naught but the kindliest feelings. The system of the papacy is evil; but many of its followers are Christians, not because of it, but in spite of it. They are in the mystical Babylon, and the mystical Babylon is doomed to destruction. May all who are in her communion hear God’s call, and come out before it shall be too late! M. C. W.
The next article in the series is on the meaning of the seven-headed beast.
VALUE OF MIND TRAINING
By J. O. C.
OBSERVATION confirms the idea that to repeat a mental effort at the same hour each day for a stated time, enters one upon the same practice without premeditation, as the proper period approaches for its performance.
As a common instance, the habit well formed of winding one’s watch at a given hour serves to fix that hour in mind as the time for repeating the operation, with scarcely a breach of program. This is because the mechanism of the brain is such that every mental process acts upon the cells in a way to make them act automatically in the repetition of certain lines of thought. In this course, indelible impressions are made, which remain to the latest days of one’s life.
Thus thoughts passing through the brain leave a faithful record of an entire past life, over which one holds scarcely any control. The constant aim should therefore be, so to train the mind that it will ever give friendly help in spiritual lines, rather than to make it an enemy which must be continually resisted. J. O. C.
WHAT DOES HE PAY FOR SWEARING?
By G. B. T.
“WHAT does Satan pay you for swearing?” asked one gentleman of another. “He does not pay me anything,” was the reply. “Well, you work cheap—to lay aside the character of a gentleman; to inflict so much pain on your friends and civil people; to suffer; and lastly, to risk your own precious soul—and for nothing. You certainly do work cheap, very cheap indeed.”
What a pity that those who have fallen into the terrible habit of profaning the name of God do not think of this! The day of Judgment hastens on, when man will have to render to the Judge of all the earth an account for every idle, profane word spoken. Unless we repent, we will hear from the lips of Him whom we have blasphemed, the terrible fiat, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Mat. 25:41. G. B. T.
Question Corner
By Milton C. Wilcox
Conducted by MILTON C. WILCOX
Mountain View, California
NOTE.—This department is for the purpose of helping Bible students. Answers must of necessity be brief, often only suggestive, never exhaustive, never infallible, only as they agree with the infallible Word. Such questions only will be answered as seem to the editors to minister to the mission of the paper. Questions of the same import cannot be answered repeatedly in the same volume. Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best. It is well always to inclose stamp, not stamped envelope, unless answer is desired by letter alone.
98—Suppers in Churches
Is it wrong to have suppers in a church basement? also social gatherings?
V. E.
The whole question turns over the purpose of the building of the church. If a church was built with the idea in mind that the basement was to be so used, we suppose that such gatherings, if they were proper for Christians to indulge in anywhere, would be all right in such a place. If the whole church was dedicated to God for His worship and instruction, it ought to be used for that purpose. It seems to us that the object in the building and all these other things ought to be considered in connection with it. A church that is dedicated to God for His service and worship ought to be used for His service and worship. It is a holy place, and we ought always to expect His presence there and regard it as though we expected it. But if there is a part of that church that is designed for the purpose of suppers—if built for that—that part ought to be separate from the regular holy place of worship; and Christians who gather there ought so to conduct themselves that they shall not drive away God’s presence even from the part that is used for common things.
As a general thing, church socials tend downward. It is proper for Christians to meet together in a social way in social gatherings; but when the social gatherings of Christians become more worldly than the gatherings of worldlings themselves, or on a parallel with them, it is time for the Christian to quit and do something else. Very little if any benefit ever comes from them.
The passage reads as follows: “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.”
The whole context indicates that the Corinthian brethren were making regular meals or feasts of the Lord’s Supper. To them it was not a sacred thing. They did not come together to eat the Lord’s Supper, but simply to eat and to drink. One was hungry, and another was drunken. He tells them that it is a shame for them so to do; that before they come together to eat the Lord’s Supper, if they are hungry, they should eat their supper at home. They have houses to eat and to drink in. The Lord’s Supper is simply an outward token of an inward feast. It is not designed to satisfy the physical man. It is a physical emblem of a spiritual thing. It should not be made a mockery.
100—The Beginning and Ending of the Day
Where does it tell us in the Bible that the day begins and ends at sunset?
C. S.
If you read Genesis 1 you will find that the day was constituted by evening and morning.
Regarding the atonement sabbath, which was composed of a day like all other days, we read in Lev. 23:32, “From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” In Matthew 8 we have a record of miracles that Jesus wrought on the Sabbath day. Among these was the healing of Peter’s wife’s mother. The people, however, bound by Pharisaic superstitions, would not come and be healed at that time; but the sixteenth verse tells us, “When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils; and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick,” showing that the day ended when evening came.
As to what is meant by the term “even,” we learn in a record of the same thing, Mark 1:32, “And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all that were diseased.” See also Luke 4:40.
These passages and others which might be given clearly show that the day ended with the setting of the sun, and there, of course, the next day began.
101—Cain’s Wife
Genesis 4 speaks of Cain’s wife and the birth of Enoch. Who was she?
C. S.
The Scriptures do not tell us who Cain’s wife was, nor who Seth’s wife was. The only conclusion to which we can come is that Cain married one of his sisters. Chapter 4 does not tell us the time that elapsed from Cain’s slaying of Abel until he was married. He went out, however, a wanderer. We do not know how long that wandering continued until he possessed a wife. That wife was evidently one of the daughters of Adam, for Adam had other children beside Cain, Abel, and Seth. See Gen. 5:4. It is barely possible, of course, that Cain married one of the daughters of Seth. Men lived to a great age in those days, and could have married very late and still have been strong men.
The Enoch, Cain’s son, was not the same as Enoch the son of Jared. Compare Gen. 4:17 with Gen. 5:18.
Will you kindly give a brief explanation of Ecclesiastes 12? Does the fifth verse refer to a plague in the land in the last days? And does “the long home” here spoken of mean heaven or the grave?
P. L.
The twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, verses 1-7, is a beautiful description and figure of the dissolution of man, with an earnest admonition to seek God before these days of dissolution come, before old age draws nigh, before the eyesight grows dim, before “the keepers of the house”—the hands—“shall tremble,” the strong frame itself become bowed, the “grinders cease”—referring to the teeth—“those that look out of the windows be darkened”—the eyes.
All of these various things mentioned are connected with age—the shutting of the doors, the closing of the lips. All pleasures of sense are becoming less, because the senses are dulled. The aged man does not like to ascend the high places or descend into deep places. He is “afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way”—becomes a great deal more conscious of these than before.
“The almond tree shall flourish”—that is, the white hairs upon the head. Little things become a burden, and the desires of sense cease generally. Death then comes. “Man goeth to his long home”—the grave—and “the mourners go about the streets.” “The silver cord” is usually supposed to represent the spinal cord. The blood ceases to flow—there is no more water in the cistern. Man dies, and the dust returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. “The long home” is the grave.
There is no reference to any future plague whatever. As stated in the beginning, under a series of symbols, it indicates the dissolution of man.
103—Judgments Upon the Wicked
There seems to be a discrepancy between the King James Version and the American Revised Version in Rev. 18:20. Please give the correct reading, and account for the discrepancy. If the A. R. V. is correct, is not the prophecy fulfilled in the destruction of the wicked at the end of the thousand years of Rev. 20:5-7, since it is during this time that heaven and saints and apostles and prophets examine the books, and render judgment or punishment, because God cannot judge or execute their judgment before they render it?
A. C. F.
Rev. 18:20 in the Common Version reads: “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.” The reason why “ye saints” is found in the American Revised Version is because the late Greek copies contain it, and it may have been omitted from the copy from which the Common Version was translated. The copies used in the Revised Version were earlier and older copies than the Greek New Testament copies that were in the hands of the translators of the ordinary version.
We see no reason why this should apply at the end of the thousand years. All systems, nations, kingdoms, organizations, are judged at the Lord’s coming. Individuals are themselves judged at the end of the thousand years. Rather, judgment is executed on each at the time mentioned. Babylon is spoken of as that great world system of apostasy that has persecuted God’s people, and finally included the whole world under her dominion. Surely when she goes down, as she will under God’s wrath at the second coming of Christ, all heaven, and all God’s people and apostles and prophets that are then living, may rejoice, and others take up the rejoicing as soon as they are raised from the dead.
At the end of the thousand years, the individuals who have been connected with these systems, and who have been responsible for the evil that has been done through them, will receive their judgment. The meaning of the last clause is that the very judgment which Babylon has pronounced upon God’s children has come back upon her. She has thought to compass their destruction, and that destruction has fallen upon her.
104—So as by Fire
Will all be saved “yet so as by fire”? Is this the meaning of 1 Cor. 3:15?
C. C. C.
The meaning of 1 Cor. 3:15 and its context has to do not with the individual, but with the minister of God. There are some ministers who build well. They lay the foundation on Christ Jesus, and then they build upon that foundation material which will endure like gold, silver, and precious stones. There are other men who preach Christ, and preach Christ as the Foundation, but they are not good builders. They build wood, hay, and stubble. Their preaching and teaching is not what it ought to be. There is more perhaps of feeling in it than there is of principle, more food than depth; and the work of both classes will be tested. The last day “shall declare it.” One who has built according to the Foundation will see his work endure the test. The other man may not see his work last; yet he has been conscientious and faithful so far as he knew, and he will be saved, “yet so as by fire.” He will suffer loss in the souls not saved, although he himself believed to the saving of the soul.
Please explain 1 Cor. 7:14. How and in what way can the unbelieving husband be sanctified by the wife?
C. C. C.
The Revised Version reads better: “Sanctified in the wife.” The unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.” That is, God regards His own children. The apostle Paul was speaking to those who had been in idolatry. The husband perhaps had come out of idolatry and accepted Christianity, or the wife had abjured idolatry and accepted of Christ. In the one case, the wife was unbelieving; in the other, the husband. God regards the believing. God also regards the unbelieving, and He would have the believing win the unbelieving if possible. But even though it cannot do this, He tells them that they are to dwell together unless the unbelieving desires to depart. In that case, the believer is not to be held under bondage; but as long as they dwell together, God regards the believing and the children of the believing. To Him they are the children of His children; and the believing himself should so regard them, and train them as children of the Lord. It is in this only that the unbelieving is sanctified. This is to say, God will regard those children for the sake of the believers, just as though both of the parents were believers.
At High Tide
By Mary Alice Hare Loper
By Mary Alice Hare Loper
I sat me by the grand old ocean’s side,
And heard the white-capped breakers crash and roar
Where rose and fell the ever changing tide,
Which bore the drifting sands from shore to shore.
The wave-swept harp of ocean strangely thrilled.
Its chords of seaweed quivered to and fro.
With strains majestic, grand, my soul was filled—
The notes which for all ages come and go.
The restless pebbles lay upon the beach,
As carelessly I gathered one by one.
Thus far, no farther, could the wild waves reach,
Which polished every wandering, sea-kissed stone.
The sun descending in the western sea,
Left a bright path of burnished gold behind.
’Twas nature’s grand good night—such majesty
Portrays the workings of the Master Mind.
