Question: “I have been studying the prophecies of Daniel 8 & 9. I do not understand Daniel 9:26 ‘and after threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off.’ Isn’t that at the end of the 69th week where Christ was cut off in the middle of the 70th week?”
Answer: There is an easy way to understand this if we break the prophecy into four sections:
7 weeks, 3 score and two weeks = starting from 457 B.C. to Jesus being anointed with Holy Spirit
7 weeks = starting from 457 B.C. taking us to the time when Jerusalem was rebuilt by Nehemiah
3 score and 2 weeks = starting from after Jerusalem was rebuilt to Jesus anointed with Holy Spirit
1 week = starting from after Jesus was anointed to when the covenant was confirmed/end of 70 week time line (34 A.D.)
Daniel 9:25 lumps 7 weeks and 3 score and 2 weeks together. For a total of 483 weeks from 457 B.C. to the anointing of Jesus with the Holy Spirit (27 A.D.)
Daniel 9:26 begins after the 7 weeks, therefore it only speaks of the 3 score and 2 weeks to Messiah (anointing of Jesus by the Holy Spirit). In other words, verse 26 is taking us from after the rebuilding of Jerusalem to Messiah (3 score and 2 weeks).

Question: What is your position on the rapture of the church?

Answer: Our position is based on what the Bible teaches. The word rapture comes from the phrase “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In that context the Bible teaches that the church will be raptured at the second coming of Jesus Christ along with all believers whether dead in Christ or alive at His appearing. This rapture will come at a time that will catch the world by surprise (like a thief in the night 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) and bring sudden destruction upon all who are not in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

 
We believe the second coming of Christ will be a loud, bright, every-eye-will-see-Him, literal, ending history-as-we-know-it event (Matthew 24:26-31; Revelation 1:7; Acts 1:11; 2 Peter 3:10).

Question: I have heard recently, and I don’t recall from where, that the Bride of Christ is the 144,000, but I’ve read in the Great Controversy, pages 426 & 427 that the Bride is the City of God. Please clarify if possible. Thanks.

Answer: I believe both of these thoughts are correct and harmonize. Truth often does that (faith and works; mercy and justice). The bride of Christ is the New Jerusalem and the 144,000. They are connected. The New Jerusalem includes the redeemed/ 144,000 (Rev 21:9-17). That appears to be the reason why the city has twelve gates with the names of the twelve tribes over each gate. Ephesians 2:19-22 also indicates as does 1 Peter 2:5 that the redeemed are spiritual stones making up a building of whom Christ is the chief cornerstone. Hebrews 3:6 calls the redeemed God’s house.

Question: “I have a simple but difficult question. I know Jesus said in John 6:44 that “no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” So my question is, are we saved before baptism or after baptism?”   

Answer: Salvation is a gift given freely to everyone in Christ Jesus. Many who do not know Jesus by name will be saved. Many who could not be baptized biblically will be saved (like the thief on the cross (see Luke 23:43). Baptism and every other act of obedience to God’s Word is the fruit of salvation (Colossians 1). It is proof that we do believe, but it is not the means of salvation. Salvation is a reality before baptism. It is a fact the moment we take Christ as our personal Savior. 

Question: “Worship, as far as I am concerned should bring spiritual refreshing and draw you closer to God. Also, we should worship God with dances like king David did in the Psalms. How can we get that spiritual refreshment in our worship if we are not allowed to dance?”

Answer: “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40, NKJV).

“By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1).

“Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp” (Psalm 149:3, NKJV).

“Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!” (Psalm 150:4, NKJV).

“Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.’ So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ‘O Baal, answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention” (1 Kings 18:25-29, NIV).

“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.’ Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount” (Exodus 32:1-7, 19, NKJV, KJV).

“Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry [dance]’” (1 Corinthians 10:5-7, NIV)

“You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jesus, speaking in John 4:22-24, NKJV).

“And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32, NKJV).

According to Jesus, spirit and truth are both essential in the worship of God. In order to achieve proper worship of God, we need both the Spirit of God and the truth of God. The Spirit is not something we can conjure up or manufacture through our worship styles. Christianity is not like a heathen religion, trying to force God’s Spirit to respond by our actions. We cannot dance and leap as the Baal worshippers at Carmel in order to conjure up the Spirit of God. The Bible indicates that God’s Spirit is present in worship when we obey the truth of God’s Word.

Having said that I would like to answer this question in three ways:

1) What the Bible says about dance in worship

2) What the Bible says against dance in worship

3) What the Bible says about how to worship

First let’s examine the evidence for dance in worship. It is clear that there are some verses that seem to indicate that dance is acceptable in the worship of God. It should be noted however, that these verses are authored by David who also danced before the Lord. One of the principle methods of arriving at Christian practice is to allow “two or three witnesses” that is, biblical authors, to confirm doctrine. It has been difficult for any church to do this based on lack of clear evidence for dance in worship from more than one source. In addition, David danced before the Lord alone (see 2 Sam 6:16). There is no evidence that others joined him, making his dance even less of an example for a congregation in worship. (Yes, there are a couple other examples of dance among God’s people in the Bible, but these were in victory celebration, not worship and done by the women only; (see Exodus 15:20; 1 Sam 18:6;).

The evidence against dance in worship is more abundant. We find two witnesses in Moses and Elijah that indicate that dance was something used by those who worshipped God falsely. Both at Sinai and on Carmel the professed followers of God set a bad example of worship style by dancing. This brought severe consequences from God and a warning from Paul in the New Testament not to follow their example (see 1 Corinthians 10:5-7)

Finally, let’s consider the evidence for proper worship. If we take a biblical approach to this question we can see that God has given us abundant evidence of when to worship Him, that is, on the Sabbath day. Compare the small amount of biblical evidence we have for dance with the ample biblical evidence we have for worshipping God on the Sabbath day. We can see clearly that dance in worship is a distraction to the more important issue of the day God blessed and sanctified for worship (see Genesis 2:1-3; Revelation 14:7). God never says He blessed and sanctified dance for worship. In addition, God has promised His Spirit to those who obey Him. In the end, dance in worship is a side issue to distract us from worshipping God in spirit and truth. Dance in worship has led God’s people to idolatry, confusion, and apostasy. Let’s make sure we follow the clear teaching of God’s Word and we will then have the promise of His Spirit. And when we have the Spirit we have true spiritual refreshing.

                                                                                                                                                                   Question: “From my readings of the book of Acts speaking in tongues is the sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit;  why don’t SDAs believe in that? In Corinthians the Bible talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit which include the gift of prophecy, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues etc. These gifts are meant for spiritual edification. Why are they not exercised in the SDA church?”

Answer: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:1-11, NKJV; see also 1 Corinthians 14:1-28, NKJV).

“And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:28-31, NKJV).

Seventh-day Adventists do believe in and exercise the gift of tongues, but in the biblical context. According to Acts 2 and the meaning of the word “tongue,” (“language,” in the Greek), the gift of tongues is actually the gift of speaking and understanding languages. Speaking in other languages, though a sign of the Holy Spirit, is not the only sign of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is last on the list of God’s gifts to the church. In addition, the Bible urges the believers not to speak in tongues unless what is spoken can be understood or interpreted by someone and bring edification to those who listen. Otherwise, as far as speaking in another language, we should keep “silent” in the church. The apostle Paul warned us that the gift of tongues was being misused by believers in Corinth for self-edification. His conclusion was that he would rather we spoke “five words” with understanding that “ten thousand words” in tongues (see 1 Corinthians 14:1-28).

Question: “Show us the verse where Saturday is the Sabbath.”

Answer: “And behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their counsel and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. That day was the Preparation (Friday), and the Sabbath (Saturday) drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now on the first day (Sunday) of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again’” (Luke 23:50-24:7, NKJV).

Question: “In Isaiah 65 or 66 there is a verse that talks about something like death. Will there be death in heaven according to that verse?”

Answer: “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed” (Isaiah 65:20, NIV).

I believe this is the verse in question. According to the first half of this verse there will never again be anyone in heaven who does not live out their years. In the context of the Bible, this means no more death at all (see Revelation 21:4). The second half of the verse is speaking in “what ifs.” “What if” a man in heaven died at 100 years of age, (he won’t because there is no more death in heaven, but if he did), he would be considered a “mere youth.” And if anyone failed to reach 100 years of age in heaven, (they won’t because we will all live out our years which are eternal), then he would be considered accursed of God. But, the Bible says, “Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship Him” Revelation 22:3, NRSV).