The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-28
EVERYBODY'S BIBLE BOX.

EVERIBUUY'S BlBLE BUX.
On the present day enlighten-
ment, If Christ were here in person as
at the time of His first advent, do you
believe the people would treat Him
the same as they did then?
Answer.-There are representatives
of Christ in the world today-not those
who are merely protesting Christians,
in name only, but the true. heart-de-
voted sincere followers of the Master,
and by considering the worlds treat
ment of these we can safely approx
mate as to what would be the Lords
experiences were He to appear in the
flesh as at His first advent. The
sanity few who humbly walk in the
footsteps of Christ, devoting their all
in assisting the poor and in preaching
the Gospel, are not held in very high
esteem by the people, as a rule. And
is not this in harmony with the words
of our Lord and the Apostles? (Mat-
thew V, 1912; Romans viii, II, IS;
II Timothy ii, u; I Corinthians 1, 26,
27.) After all, the common people
heard our Lord gladly and marveled at
the gracious words that proceeded out
of His mouth. They wished TO make
Him their king on one occasion, and
accorded a triumph to Him at the
time of His entry into the city of
Pharisees, the religious leaders of that
time, that opposed and prosecuted the
Lord, and finally induced the multi
tude to cry out against Him. 1t is
even so now. Worldly people admire
an upright Christian man, his S1ncer1-
ty and honesty, even though they
might consider him foolish for striv-
ing to live up to his faith. But 1t is
the modern Scribes and Pharisees who
hate those that are setting forth the
true teachings of the Scriptures.
Therefore, in view Of the foregoing,
We have reason to believe that the
Master would fare no better in the
world today than at His first advent,
were He to appear as then.
,o.-why were the Jews called Gods
chosen people?" Were the ancient Jews
Answer-Abraham was the father OF
the Jewish people God made promise TO
him saying, Tn my seed all the families
of the earth shall be blessed" Jacob, the
grandson of Abraham, had twelve sons,
who became the head Of the twelve tribes OF
with his people, saying to them, IF ye
will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then We shall be peculiar treas
ure unto me above all people, for all the
earth is mine; and ye shall be unto me a
kingdom of priests and an molly nado"
exodus xix, 5, g. For more than eight
cen Centuries Gods dealings were with
this people exclusively, as he said through
His prophet, "Ye only have known OF
Time after time God reiterated His prom
Use that the Messiah should come to them,
and when Jesus came the masses of the
Jews were not needing Gods promises,
being led by the Clergy class, themselves
negligent of the promises, therefore blind
as Jesus said, Blind leaders of the
blind" they rejected Jesus Christ and
were cast off from Gods favor CMatthew
xiii 37-39). The words of our Lord clear
" imply that Gods favor will again re-
turn to this people; He said, 'Ye shall
not see me thenceforth, till ye shall say.
BLESSED Is he fnat Te m no, me ont hat
God there began to turn his favor to the
Gentiles, and when the requisite number
have been selected from among these to
constitute the Kingdom class, as prom
ised then Gods favor will again be
shown to the Jews as a people.
Q.-Were the six days Of creation literal
days of twenty-four hours each?
Answer-The word day as used in
the Scriptures, signifies a fixed period Of
time. We read of a forty year day; the
day of temptation in the wilderness"
(Hebrews iii, s. 81 Again, we have the
the Lord is a thousand years" Oh
Peter iii, 81 A year is frequently spoken
of as a day; as, I have appointed thee
each day for year" ezekiel Nv g.
furthermore the entire Gospel Age is call
ed The day of salvation. II Corinthians
vi, 2. When considering the statements
of Genesis respecting the six creative
Days or periods, or epochs, we should
not limit our thoughts to twenty-four
hour day, but examine the subject and
see what period of time is Sign1ded. Do
ing this, we find that a twenty-four hour
day could not be meant, for the sun did
not appear until the fourth of these Gre
alive days; hence in the first three of
these creative days there could have
been no twenty-four-hour day period
such as we now note. We would not,
however, go to the opposite extreme and
Join with so-caIled Scientists in their
claim that there were millions OF years
eIapsing in the creative period.
We find satisfactory evidence in the
Scriptures, that one OF these creative
days was a period OF seven thousand
years and, hence, that the entire creative
week would be 7,o0oX7-49ooo years: And
compared with some geological guesses,
it is we believe quite reasonably ample
for the work represented as being accom-
plished therein-the ordering and filling
of the earth, already in existence.
O-Are we to understand the story of
Jonah and the Whale literally, or should
it be understood in the figurative sense?
(Ninevan-)
Answer.-In reading the account of the
Prophets experiences as narrated in the
book of Jonah, one is impressed by the de-
tails given, showing that 1t would be i'm
POSSIBLE to interpret the story figurat1Ye-
ly. However, some Of the leading features
of the narrative may be applied in a typi-
cal serse as inOeed, the Savior did on one
occasion. CMatthew xii, 39-4I. Here the
Lord Jesus vouches for the Prophets
story, and in no way invalidateS It, which
is a far different course to that pursued
by some of the higher critics. Of our
time " no while rejecting the stories Of ths
Old Testament are, unw1tI1ngly diScredit-
ing the testimony of the Lord and the
Apostles, as given in the writings OF the
New Testament
whale in the original languages, has
the significance of great fish, and not
necessarily whale Surely the Creator,
who designed all the wonders of the uni
verse, would have the power to create
great fish, capable of stomach1ng tie
Prophet for the space of three days. The
v-a5 1l ff1o