Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 19 - Light Through Darkness - The Great Controversy
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen. Light through darkness. The work of God in
- 0:05Speaker 1: the earth presents, from age to age a striking similarity.
- 0:09Speaker 1: In every great reformation or religious movement, the principles of
- 0:14Speaker 1: God's dealing with men are ever the same. The important
- 0:18Speaker 1: movements of the present have their parallel in those of
- 0:20Speaker 1: the past, and the experience of the Church in former
- 0:24Speaker 1: ages has lessons of great value for our own time.
- 0:28Speaker 1: No truth is more clearly taught in the Bible than
- 0:31Speaker 1: that God, by his Holy Spirit especially directs his servants
- 0:35Speaker 1: on Earth in the great movements for the carrying forward
- 0:37Speaker 1: of the work of salvation. Men are instruments in the
- 0:41Speaker 1: hand of God, employed by Him to accomplish his purposes
- 0:44Speaker 1: of grace and mercy. Each has his part to act
- 0:49Speaker 1: to Each has granted a measure of light, adapted to
- 0:51Speaker 1: the necessities of his time, and sufficient to enable him
- 0:55Speaker 1: to perform the work which God has given him to do.
- 0:59Speaker 1: But no man, however honored of Heaven, has ever attained
- 1:02Speaker 1: to a full understanding of the great plan of redemption,
- 1:05Speaker 1: or even to a perfect appreciation of the Divine purpose
- 1:08Speaker 1: in the work for his own time. Men do not
- 1:12Speaker 1: fully understand what God would accomplish by the work which
- 1:15Speaker 1: He gives un to do. They do not comprehend in
- 1:18Speaker 1: all its bearings the message which they utter in His name.
- 1:22Speaker 1: Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find
- 1:26Speaker 1: out the Almighty unto perfection? My thoughts are not your thoughts.
- 1:31Speaker 1: Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For
- 1:35Speaker 1: as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
- 1:37Speaker 1: my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than
- 1:40Speaker 1: your thoughts. I am God, and there is none like
- 1:43Speaker 1: Me declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient
- 1:47Speaker 1: times the things that are not yet done. Even the prophets,
- 1:51Speaker 1: who were favored with the special illumination of the Spirit,
- 1:54Speaker 1: did not fully comprehend the import of the revelations committed
- 1:57Speaker 1: to them. The meaning was to unfolded from age to age,
- 2:02Speaker 1: as the people of God should need. The instruction therein
- 2:04Speaker 1: contained Peter writing of the salvation brought to light through
- 2:09Speaker 1: the Gospel, says of this salvation. The prophets have inquired
- 2:13Speaker 1: and searched diligently. Who prophesied of the grace that should
- 2:16Speaker 1: come unto you, searching what or what manner of time
- 2:20Speaker 1: the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify
- 2:23Speaker 1: when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the
- 2:26Speaker 1: glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that
- 2:30Speaker 1: not unto themselves but unto us did they minister. Yet,
- 2:34Speaker 1: while it was not given to the prophets to understand
- 2:37Speaker 1: fully the things revealed to them, they earnestly sought to
- 2:40Speaker 1: obtain all the light which God had been pleased to
- 2:42Speaker 1: make manifest. They inquired and searched, diligently, searching what or
- 2:48Speaker 1: what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was
- 2:50Speaker 1: in them did signify. What a lesson to the people
- 2:54Speaker 1: of God and the Christian age, for whose benefit these
- 2:57Speaker 1: prophecies were given to His servants, unto whom it was
- 3:00Speaker 1: revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister.
- 3:05Speaker 1: Witness these holy men of God as they inquired and
- 3:07Speaker 1: searched diligently concerning revelations given them for generations that were
- 3:11Speaker 1: yet unborn. Contrast their holy zeal with the listless unconcern
- 3:17Speaker 1: with which the favored ones of later ages treat this
- 3:19Speaker 1: gift of heaven. What a rebuke to the ease, loving world,
- 3:23Speaker 1: loving indifference, which is content to declare that the prophecies
- 3:26Speaker 1: cannot be understood. Though the finite minds of men are
- 3:31Speaker 1: inadequate to enter into the councils of the infinite One
- 3:34Speaker 1: or to understand fully the working out of His purposes.
- 3:37Speaker 1: Yet often it is because of some error or neglect
- 3:40Speaker 1: on their own part that they so dimly comprehend the
- 3:43Speaker 1: messages of Heaven. Not infrequently the minds of the people,
- 3:47Speaker 1: and even of God's servants, are so blinded by human opinions,
- 3:51Speaker 1: the traditions, and false teaching of men, that they are
- 3:54Speaker 1: able only partially to grasp the great things which He
- 3:56Speaker 1: has revealed in his word. Thus it was with the
- 4:00Speaker 1: disciples of Christ, even when the Savior was with them
- 4:03Speaker 1: in person. Their minds had become imbued with the popular
- 4:07Speaker 1: conception of the Messiah as a temporal prince who was
- 4:10Speaker 1: to exalt Israel to the throne of universal empire, and
- 4:13Speaker 1: they could not understand the meaning of his words for
- 4:16Speaker 1: telling his sufferings and death. Christ himself had sent them
- 4:20Speaker 1: forth with the message the time is fulfilled and the
- 4:23Speaker 1: Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe
- 4:27Speaker 1: the Gospel. That message was based on the prophecy of
- 4:31Speaker 1: Daniel nine. The sixty nine weeks were declared by the
- 4:35Speaker 1: Angel to extend to the Messiah the Prince, and with
- 4:38Speaker 1: high hopes and joyful anticipations, the disciples looked forward to
- 4:42Speaker 1: the establishment of Messiah's kingdom at Jerusalem, to rule over
- 4:46Speaker 1: the whole earth. They preached the message which Christ had
- 4:49Speaker 1: committed to them, though they themselves misapprehended its meaning. While
- 4:54Speaker 1: their announcement was founded on Daniel nine twenty five, they
- 4:58Speaker 1: did not see in the next verse of the same
- 5:00Speaker 1: chapter that Messiah was to be cut off from their
- 5:04Speaker 1: very birth. Their hearts had been set upon the anticipated
- 5:07Speaker 1: glory of an earthly empire, and this blinded their understanding,
- 5:10Speaker 1: alike to the specifications of the prophecy and to the
- 5:14Speaker 1: words of Christ. They performed their duty in presenting to
- 5:18Speaker 1: the Jewish nation the invitation of mercy. And then at
- 5:21Speaker 1: the very time when they expected to see their Lord
- 5:24Speaker 1: ascend the throne of David, they beheld him seized as
- 5:27Speaker 1: a malefactor, scourged, derided, and condemned, and lifted up on
- 5:31Speaker 1: the cross of Calvary. What despair and anguish wrung the
- 5:35Speaker 1: hearts of those disciples during the days while their Lord
- 5:38Speaker 1: was sleeping in the tomb. Christ had come at the
- 5:41Speaker 1: exact time and in the manner foretold by prophecy. The
- 5:45Speaker 1: testimony of scripture had been fulfilled in every detail of
- 5:48Speaker 1: his ministry. He had preached the message of salvation, and
- 5:52Speaker 1: his word was with power. The hearts of his hearers
- 5:55Speaker 1: had witnessed that it was of heaven. The word, and
- 5:59Speaker 1: the spirit of God attested the divine commission of his son.
- 6:03Speaker 1: The disciples still clung with undying affection to their beloved Master,
- 6:07Speaker 1: and yet their minds were shrouded in uncertainty and doubt.
- 6:12Speaker 1: In their anguish, they did not then recall the words
- 6:14Speaker 1: of Christ pointing forward to his suffering and death. If
- 6:18Speaker 1: Jesus of Nazareth had been the true Messiah, would they
- 6:21Speaker 1: have been thus plunged in grief and disappointment? This was
- 6:25Speaker 1: the question that tortured their souls while the Savior lay
- 6:28Speaker 1: in his sepulcher during the hopeless hours of that Sabbath
- 6:31Speaker 1: which intervened between his death and his resurrection. Though the
- 6:36Speaker 1: knight of sorrow gathered dark about these followers of Jesus,
- 6:39Speaker 1: Yet were they not forsaken? Sayeth the prophet. When I
- 6:43Speaker 1: sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.
- 6:46Speaker 1: He will bring me forth to the light, and I
- 6:48Speaker 1: shall behold His righteousness. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee,
- 6:53Speaker 1: but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and
- 6:56Speaker 1: the light are both alike to THEE. God hath spoke
- 7:00Speaker 1: unto the upright. There ariseth light in the darkness. I
- 7:04Speaker 1: will bring the blind by a way that they knew not.
- 7:06Speaker 1: I will lead them in paths that they have not known.
- 7:09Speaker 1: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.
- 7:14Speaker 1: These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
- 7:18Speaker 1: The announcement which had been made by the disciples in
- 7:20Speaker 1: the name of the Lord was in every particular correct,
- 7:23Speaker 1: and the events to which appointed were even then taking place.
- 7:28Speaker 1: The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God as at
- 7:30Speaker 1: hand had been their message at the expiration of the
- 7:34Speaker 1: time the sixty nine weeks of Daniel Lyne, which were
- 7:38Speaker 1: to extend to the Messiah. The anointed one Christ had
- 7:41Speaker 1: received the anointing of the Spirit after his baptism by
- 7:44Speaker 1: John and Jordan, and the Kingdom of God which they
- 7:48Speaker 1: had declared to be at hand was established by the
- 7:50Speaker 1: death of Christ. This kingdom was not, as they had
- 7:54Speaker 1: been taught to believe, an earthly empire. Nor was it
- 7:58Speaker 1: that future immortal kingdom which shall be set up, when
- 8:00Speaker 1: the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom
- 8:03Speaker 1: under the whole heaven shall be given to the people
- 8:06Speaker 1: of the Saints of the Most High, that everlasting kingdom
- 8:09Speaker 1: in which all dominions shall serve and obey Him. As
- 8:13Speaker 1: used in the Bible, the expression Kingdom of God is
- 8:15Speaker 1: employed to designate both the Kingdom of Grace and the
- 8:18Speaker 1: Kingdom of glory. The Kingdom of Grace is brought to
- 8:22Speaker 1: view by Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews. After
- 8:26Speaker 1: pointing to Christ, the compassionate intercessor, who is touched with
- 8:29Speaker 1: the feeling of our infirmities, the apostle says, let us
- 8:34Speaker 1: therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we
- 8:37Speaker 1: may obtain mercy and find grace. The Throne of Grace
- 8:41Speaker 1: represents the Kingdom of Grace, for the existence of a
- 8:44Speaker 1: throne implies the existence of a kingdom. In many of
- 8:47Speaker 1: his parables, Christ uses the expression the Kingdom of Heaven
- 8:51Speaker 1: to designate the work of divine grace upon the hearts
- 8:54Speaker 1: of men. So the Throne of Glory represents the Kingdom
- 8:58Speaker 1: of Glory, and this kingdom is referred to in the
- 9:01Speaker 1: Saviour's words. When the Son of Man shall come in
- 9:04Speaker 1: his glory, and all the Holy Angels with him, then
- 9:07Speaker 1: shall he sit upon the throne of his Glory, and
- 9:09Speaker 1: before him shall be gathered all nations. This kingdom is
- 9:13Speaker 1: yet future. It is not to be set up until
- 9:16Speaker 1: the Second Advent of Christ. The Kingdom of Grace was
- 9:20Speaker 1: instituted immediately after the fall of man, when a plan
- 9:23Speaker 1: was devised for the redemption of the guilty race. It
- 9:27Speaker 1: then existed in the purpose and by the promise of God,
- 9:31Speaker 1: and through faith men could become its subjects. Yet it
- 9:34Speaker 1: was not actually established until the death of Christ. Even
- 9:39Speaker 1: after entering upon his earthly mission, the Savior, wearied with
- 9:42Speaker 1: the stubbornness and ingratitude of men, might have drawn back
- 9:46Speaker 1: from the sacrifice of Calvary in Gssemone, the cup of
- 9:49Speaker 1: woe trembled in his hand. He might even then have
- 9:53Speaker 1: wiped the blood sweat from his brow and have left
- 9:55Speaker 1: the guilty race to perish in their iniquity. Had he
- 9:59Speaker 1: done this, their would have been no redemption for fallen men.
- 10:03Speaker 1: But when the Savior yielded up his life, and with
- 10:05Speaker 1: his expiring breath cried out it is finished. Then the
- 10:09Speaker 1: fulfillment of the plan of redemption was assured. The promise
- 10:13Speaker 1: of salvation made to the sinful pair in Eden was ratified.
- 10:17Speaker 1: The kingdom of grace, which had before existed by the
- 10:20Speaker 1: promise of God, was then established. Thus the death of Christ,
- 10:25Speaker 1: the very event which the disciples had looked upon as
- 10:28Speaker 1: the final destruction of their hope, was that which made
- 10:31Speaker 1: it forever sure. While it had brought them a cruel disappointment,
- 10:35Speaker 1: it was the climax of proof that their belief had
- 10:37Speaker 1: been correct. The event that had filled them with mourning
- 10:41Speaker 1: and despair was that which opened the door of hope
- 10:43Speaker 1: to every child of Adam, and in which centered the
- 10:46Speaker 1: future life and eternal happiness of all God's faithful ones
- 10:49Speaker 1: in all the ages. Purposes of infinite mercy were reaching
- 10:54Speaker 1: their fulfillment. Even through the disappointment of the disciples, while
- 10:58Speaker 1: their hearts had been won by the divine grace and
- 11:00Speaker 1: power of His teaching, who spake as never man spake.
- 11:04Speaker 1: Yet intermingled with the pure gold of their love for
- 11:06Speaker 1: Jesus was the base alloy of worldly pride and selfish ambitions.
- 11:11Speaker 1: Even in the passover chamber at that solemn hour, when
- 11:14Speaker 1: their master was already entering the shadow of Gassemone, there
- 11:17Speaker 1: was a strife among them, which of them should be
- 11:20Speaker 1: accounted the greatest. Their vision was filled with the throne,
- 11:24Speaker 1: the crown, and the glory, while just before them lay
- 11:27Speaker 1: the shame and agony of the Garden, the judgment hall,
- 11:30Speaker 1: the Cross of Calvary. It was their pride of heart,
- 11:34Speaker 1: their thirst for worldly glory, that had led them to
- 11:37Speaker 1: cling so tenaciously to the false teaching of their time,
- 11:40Speaker 1: and to pass unheeded the Saviour's words showing the true
- 11:44Speaker 1: nature of his kingdom and pointing forward to his agony
- 11:47Speaker 1: and death. And these errors resulted in the trial, sharp
- 11:52Speaker 1: but needful, which was permitted for their correction. Though the
- 11:56Speaker 1: disciples had mistaken the meaning of their message and had
- 11:59Speaker 1: failed to realize their expectations, yet they had preached the
- 12:02Speaker 1: warning given them of God, and the Lord would reward
- 12:05Speaker 1: their faith and honor. Their obedience to them was to
- 12:09Speaker 1: be entrusted the work of heralding to all nations the
- 12:12Speaker 1: glorious gospel of their risen Lord. It was to prepare
- 12:16Speaker 1: them for this work, that the experience which seemed to
- 12:19Speaker 1: them so bitter, had been permitted. After his resurrection, Jesus
- 12:23Speaker 1: appeared to his disciples on the way to Ammaeus, and
- 12:27Speaker 1: beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto
- 12:30Speaker 1: them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. The
- 12:34Speaker 1: hearts of the disciples were stirred. Faith was kindled, They
- 12:38Speaker 1: were begotten again unto a lively hope. Even before Jesus
- 12:41Speaker 1: revealed himself to them, it was his purpose to enlighten
- 12:45Speaker 1: their understanding and to fasten their faith upon the sure
- 12:49Speaker 1: word of prophecy. He wished the truth to take firm
- 12:52Speaker 1: root in their minds, not merely because it was supported
- 12:55Speaker 1: by his personal testimony, but because of the unquestionable evidence
- 12:59Speaker 1: presented by the symbols and shadows of the typical law
- 13:02Speaker 1: and by the prophecies of the Old Testament. It was
- 13:06Speaker 1: needful for the followers of Christ to have an intelligent faith,
- 13:09Speaker 1: not only in their own behalf, but that they might
- 13:12Speaker 1: carry the knowledge of Christ to the world. And as
- 13:15Speaker 1: the very first step in imparting this knowledge, Jesus directed
- 13:19Speaker 1: the disciples to Moses and the prophets. Such was the
- 13:22Speaker 1: testimony given by the risen Savior to the value and
- 13:25Speaker 1: importance of the Old Testament scriptures. What a change was
- 13:29Speaker 1: wrought in the hearts of the disciples as they looked
- 13:32Speaker 1: once more on the loved countenance of their Master in
- 13:35Speaker 1: a more complete and perfect sense than ever before they
- 13:39Speaker 1: had found him, of whom Moses and the Law and
- 13:41Speaker 1: the prophets did right. The uncertainty, the anguish, the despair
- 13:46Speaker 1: gave place to perfect assurance, to unclouded faith. What marvel that,
- 13:51Speaker 1: after his ascension they were continually in the temple praising
- 13:54Speaker 1: and blessing God. The people, knowing only of the Saviour's
- 13:58Speaker 1: ignominious death, looked to see in their faces the expression
- 14:02Speaker 1: of sorrow, confusion, and defeat. But they saw their gladness
- 14:05Speaker 1: and triumph. What a preparation these disciples had received for
- 14:09Speaker 1: the work before them. They had passed through the deepest
- 14:13Speaker 1: trial which it was possible for them to experience, and
- 14:16Speaker 1: had seen how, when to human vision all was lost,
- 14:19Speaker 1: the word of God had been triumphantly accomplished. Henceforward, what
- 14:24Speaker 1: could daunt their faith or chill the ardor of their love?
- 14:27Speaker 1: In the keenest sorrow they had strong consolation, a hope
- 14:31Speaker 1: which was as an anger of the soul, both sure
- 14:34Speaker 1: and steadfast. They had been witnessed to the wisdom and
- 14:37Speaker 1: power of God, and they were persuaded that neither death,
- 14:41Speaker 1: nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
- 14:46Speaker 1: present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor
- 14:49Speaker 1: any other creature would be able to separate them from
- 14:52Speaker 1: the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 14:56Speaker 1: In all these things, they said, we are more than conquerors.
- 14:59Speaker 1: Through Him, the Thane loved us. The word of the
- 15:02Speaker 1: Lord endureth forever. And who is he that condemneth? It
- 15:06Speaker 1: is Christ that died, yea rather that has risen again,
- 15:09Speaker 1: who was even at the right hand of God, who
- 15:12Speaker 1: also maketh intercession for us. Saith the Lord, my people
- 15:17Speaker 1: shall never be ashamed. Weeping may endure for a night,
- 15:21Speaker 1: but joy cometh in the morning. When on his resurrection day,
- 15:25Speaker 1: these disciples met the Savior, and their hearts burned within
- 15:28Speaker 1: them as they listened to his words, when they looked
- 15:30Speaker 1: upon the head and hands and feet that had been
- 15:33Speaker 1: bruised for them. When before his ascension Jesus led them
- 15:36Speaker 1: out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands
- 15:39Speaker 1: in blessing, bade them go ye into all the world
- 15:42Speaker 1: and preach the Gospel, adding lo, I am with you alway.
- 15:47Speaker 1: When on the day of Pentecost, the promised comforter descended
- 15:50Speaker 1: and the power from on high was given, and the
- 15:52Speaker 1: souls of the believers thrilled with the conscious presence of
- 15:55Speaker 1: their ascended Lord. Then, even though, like his their pathway
- 15:59Speaker 1: led to sacrifice in martyrdom, would they have exchanged the
- 16:02Speaker 1: ministry of the Gospel of His grace with the crown
- 16:05Speaker 1: of righteousness to be received at his coming, for the
- 16:08Speaker 1: glory of an earthly throne, which had been the hope
- 16:11Speaker 1: of their earlier discipleship. He who was able to do
- 16:14Speaker 1: exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, had
- 16:18Speaker 1: granted them with the fellowship of his sufferings, the communion
- 16:21Speaker 1: of his joy, the joy of bringing many sons unto glory,
- 16:25Speaker 1: joy unspeakable and eternal weight of glory, to which says Paul,
- 16:29Speaker 1: our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is
- 16:32Speaker 1: not worthy to be compared. The experience of the disciples
- 16:36Speaker 1: who preached the Gospel of the Kingdom at the First
- 16:38Speaker 1: Advent of Christ had its counterpart in the experience of
- 16:42Speaker 1: those who proclaimed the message of his second Advent. As
- 16:45Speaker 1: the disciples went out preaching the time is fulfilled, the
- 16:49Speaker 1: Kingdom of God is at hand. So Miller and his
- 16:52Speaker 1: associates proclaimed that the longest and last prophetic period brought
- 16:55Speaker 1: to view and the Bible was about to expire, that
- 16:58Speaker 1: the judgment was at hand, the everlasting Kingdom was to
- 17:01Speaker 1: be ushered in the preaching of the disciples in regard
- 17:05Speaker 1: to time was based on the seventy Weeks of Daniel Mine.
- 17:09Speaker 1: The message given by Miller and his associates announced the
- 17:12Speaker 1: termination of the twenty three hundred days of Daniel eight fourteen,
- 17:16Speaker 1: of which the seventy weeks form a part. The preaching
- 17:20Speaker 1: of each was based upon the fulfillment of a different
- 17:22Speaker 1: portion of the same great prophetic period. Like the first Disciples,
- 17:27Speaker 1: William Miller and his associates did not themselves fully comprehend
- 17:31Speaker 1: the import of the message which they bore. Errors that
- 17:35Speaker 1: had been long established in the Church prevented them from
- 17:37Speaker 1: arriving at a correct interpretation of an important point in
- 17:41Speaker 1: the prophecy. Therefore, though they proclaimed the message which God
- 17:45Speaker 1: had committed to them, to be given to the world.
- 17:48Speaker 1: Yet through a misapprehension of its meaning, they suffered disappointment
- 17:52Speaker 1: in explaining Daniel eight fourteen, unto two thousand and three
- 17:56Speaker 1: hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed, as has
- 18:00Speaker 1: been stated, adopted the generally received view that the earth
- 18:03Speaker 1: is a sanctuary, and he believed that the cleansing of
- 18:06Speaker 1: the sanctuary represented the purification of the earth by fire
- 18:09Speaker 1: at the coming of the Lord. When therefore he found
- 18:13Speaker 1: that the close of the twenty three hundred days was
- 18:15Speaker 1: definitely foretold, he concluded that this revealed the time of
- 18:18Speaker 1: the Second Advent. His error resulted from accepting the popular
- 18:23Speaker 1: view as to what constitutes the sanctuary in the typical system,
- 18:27Speaker 1: which was a shadow of the sacrifice and priesthood of Christ.
- 18:31Speaker 1: The cleansing of the sanctuary was the last service performed
- 18:34Speaker 1: by the High Priest in the yearly round administration. It
- 18:38Speaker 1: was the closing work of the atonement, a removal or
- 18:41Speaker 1: putting away of sin from Israel. It prefigured the closing
- 18:45Speaker 1: work in the ministration of our High Priest in Heaven,
- 18:48Speaker 1: in the removal or blotting out of the sins of
- 18:50Speaker 1: his people which are registered in the heavenly records. This
- 18:55Speaker 1: service involves a work of investigation, a work of judgment,
- 18:59Speaker 1: and it immediately precedes the coming of Christ in the
- 19:02Speaker 1: clouds of heaven with power and great glory. For when
- 19:05Speaker 1: he comes, every case has been decided, says Jesus. My
- 19:10Speaker 1: reward is with me to give every man according as
- 19:12Speaker 1: his work shall be. It is this work of judgment,
- 19:16Speaker 1: immediately preceding the second Advent that is announced in the
- 19:19Speaker 1: First Angel's message of Revelation fourteen seven. Fear God and
- 19:24Speaker 1: give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment
- 19:27Speaker 1: is come. Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right
- 19:31Speaker 1: message at the right time. But as the early disciples declared,
- 19:35Speaker 1: the time is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God is
- 19:37Speaker 1: at hand based on the prophecy of Daniel Mine, while
- 19:40Speaker 1: they failed to perceive that the death of the Messiah
- 19:43Speaker 1: was foretold in the same scripture. So Miller and his
- 19:46Speaker 1: associates preached the message based on Daniel eight fourteen in
- 19:49Speaker 1: Revelation fourteen seven, and failed to see that there were
- 19:53Speaker 1: still other messages brought to view in Revelation fourteen which
- 19:56Speaker 1: were also to be given before the advent of the Lord.
- 20:00Speaker 1: As the disciples were mistaken in regard to the kingdom
- 20:03Speaker 1: to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks,
- 20:05Speaker 1: so adventists were mistaken in regard to the event to
- 20:08Speaker 1: take place at the expiration of the twenty three hundred days.
- 20:12Speaker 1: In both cases there was an acceptance of, or rather
- 20:15Speaker 1: in adherence to, popular errors that blinded the mind to
- 20:19Speaker 1: the truth. Both classes fulfilled the will of God in
- 20:23Speaker 1: delivering the message which he desired to be given, and both,
- 20:26Speaker 1: through their own misapprehension of their message, suffered disappointment. Yet
- 20:31Speaker 1: God accomplished his own beneficent purpose in permitting the warning
- 20:34Speaker 1: of the judgment to be given just as it was.
- 20:37Speaker 1: The great day was at hand, and in his providence,
- 20:40Speaker 1: the people were brought to the test of a definite
- 20:42Speaker 1: time in order to reveal to them what was in
- 20:44Speaker 1: their hearts. The message was designed for the testing and
- 20:49Speaker 1: purification of the Church. They were to be led to
- 20:52Speaker 1: see whether their affections were set upon this world or
- 20:55Speaker 1: upon Christ and Heaven. They professed to love the Savior,
- 20:59Speaker 1: Now they to prove their love. Were they ready to
- 21:02Speaker 1: renounce their worldly hopes and ambitions and welcome with joy
- 21:05Speaker 1: the advent of their Lord? The message was designed to
- 21:09Speaker 1: enable them to discern their true spiritual state. It was
- 21:13Speaker 1: sent in mercy to arouse them to seek the Lord
- 21:15Speaker 1: with repentance and humiliation. The disappointment, also, though the result
- 21:20Speaker 1: of their own misapprehension of the message which they gave,
- 21:23Speaker 1: was to be overruled for good, it would test the
- 21:26Speaker 1: hearts of those who had professed to receive the warning.
- 21:30Speaker 1: In the face of their disappointment. Would they rashly give
- 21:33Speaker 1: up their experience and cast away their confidence in God's word?
- 21:37Speaker 1: Or would they, in prayer and humility, seek to discern
- 21:40Speaker 1: where they had failed to comprehend the significance of the prophecy.
- 21:44Speaker 1: How many had moved from fear or from impulse and excitement.
- 21:49Speaker 1: How many were half hearted and unbelieving. Multitudes professed to
- 21:53Speaker 1: love the appearing of the Lord. When called to endure
- 21:56Speaker 1: the scoffs and reproach of the world and the test
- 21:59Speaker 1: of delay and disappointment, would they renounce the faith because
- 22:04Speaker 1: they did not immediately understand the dealings of God with them?
- 22:07Speaker 1: Would they cast aside truths sustained by the clearest testimony
- 22:10Speaker 1: of His word. This test would reveal the strength of
- 22:14Speaker 1: those who, with real faith had obeyed what they believed
- 22:17Speaker 1: to be the teaching of the Word and the Spirit
- 22:19Speaker 1: of God. It would teach them, as only such an
- 22:23Speaker 1: experience could the danger of accepting the theories and interpretations
- 22:27Speaker 1: of men, instead of making the Bible its own interpreter.
- 22:31Speaker 1: To the children of faith, the perplexity and sorrow resulting
- 22:35Speaker 1: from their error would work the needed correction. They would
- 22:39Speaker 1: be led to a closer study of the prophetic Word.
- 22:42Speaker 1: They would be taught to examine more carefully the foundation
- 22:45Speaker 1: of their faith, and to reject everything, however widely accepted
- 22:49Speaker 1: by the Christian world, that was not founded upon the
- 22:52Speaker 1: scriptures of truth. With these believers, as with the first Disciples,
- 22:58Speaker 1: that which in the hour of trials seem dark to
- 23:00Speaker 1: their understanding, would afterward be made plain. When they should
- 23:04Speaker 1: see the end of the Lord, they would know that,
- 23:07Speaker 1: notwithstanding the trial resulting from their errors, his purpose of
- 23:11Speaker 1: love toward them had been steadily fulfilling. They would learn
- 23:14Speaker 1: by a blessed experience that He is very pitiful and
- 23:17Speaker 1: of tender mercy, that all his paths are mercy and truth,
- 23:21Speaker 1: unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. End
- 23:27Speaker 1: of Chapter nineteen