Our Denominational History and the
Laodicean Message
Chapter 6 (Continued — part 6)
The simple fact of the inexplicable
passage of time for nearly a century beyond the "beginning" of
the latter rain forces us to reconsider the significance of our history.
If the latter rain was accepted so eagerly and faithfully by our
forefathers, why wasn’t the work of God finished in their generation?
Ellen White’s testimony is so simple that even a child can grasp it:
true acceptance of the message would have meant the finishing of the
gospel commission and the return of our Lord in that generation.
The repeated affirmation of the
"angel", "Rich I am and I have been enriched’, is bound
to have a deep influence on our world-wide church. Deep-rooted but subtle
pride hardens the heart Repeated, widespread affirmations of
"enrichment" prejudice hearts against our Lords Laodicean
message when it is understood in its true import Resentment arises against
His appeal to "repent" as a church. "Have we not been told
for many decades that we are ‘rich in understanding righteousness by
faith? Why this devastating charge that we are ‘wretched, miserable,
poor, blind and naked?’ And many are offended. The ultimate shaking
would never be so terrible had not Christ’s message been so repeatedly
contradicted.
Scripture is replete with prophecies of
world wide dissemination of pure gospel truth. "The earth shall be
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea" (Hab. 2:14). "Living waters shall go out from
Jerusalem" (Zech. 14:8). "Arise, shine; for thy light is come,
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness
shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall
arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles
shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa.
60:1-3). "It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will
pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men
shall dream dreams: and on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour
out in those days of My Spirit" (Acts 2:17, 18). "I saw another
angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was
lightened with His glory" (Rev. 18:1).
Is there anyone concerned that our
campaigns and publications are not as yet truly fulfilling these
prophecies? Can it honestly be said that our message is stirring the
world, or even arousing any significant opposition as in apostolic times?
Is it more expensive slick paper that our
publications need? More four-color pictures, more refinement of the
photoengraver’s art? Is it merely more money, more psychology, more
music, more professional finesse, that our evangelistic campaigns need?
Or is there a problem with the message
content, the proclamation of gospel truth itself! Our Lord says we are
"poor", where we have thought we are "rich", in our
comprehension and proclamation of "the third angel’s message in
verity", the pure truth of the gospel that has not been clearly seen
"since the day of Pentecost" (FCE 473).
It is an old cliché with us to say that
"we need the Holy Spirit". Of course, we do; but the reception
and inspiration of the Holy spirit is not a matter of magic or good
fortune. "The gospel of Christ … is the power of God unto
salvation" (Rom. 1:16), and that "power" is not resident in
emotional extravaganza but in truth, even "the truth of the
gospel" (Gal. 2:14).
"We have the truth", is the
universal boast. The music on the record is fine; all we might
need perhaps is a little more "emphasis", to turn up the volume
control a little. Many who speak of righteousness by faith speak of it as
a proud possession and our proclamation of it as solely a matter of
"emphasis", of how much the volume control needs to be turned up
from time to time.
But gospel truth has nothing to do with
such "emphasis". The very use of the word betrays an ignorance
of what it is. Who would dare say that the apostles preached a mere
"re-emphasis" of Judaism? Nowhere did Ellen White use the word
"emphasis" or "re-emphasis" in relation to the 1888
message of Christ’s righteousness, as though it were a matter of mere
adjustment of homiletic balance. Righteousness by faith is a vital,
throbbing, explosive truth, and God has given man no volume-control knob
to "emphasize" it with, to turn it up or down. You have it or
you don’t have it; and if you have it, you turn the world upside down.
Nothing less.
And if we’re not turning the world
upside down, the only thing to do is to confess that the True Witness is
right. We are wretched and poor, whereas we have pathetically thought we
are rich. Until the "angel" sees it and confesses it, there can
be no will to take the proffered remedies the True Witness has for us.
Our "poverty" is painfully
evident in an erosion of confidence in the one unique Seventh-day
Adventist doctrine- the cleansing of the sanctuary that began in 1844.
Verdict Publications is publishing reports that:
leading Adventist scholars … now think
that the distinctive Adventist doctrine of the investigative judgment is
not demonstrable from the Bible. … Other scholars … have quietly
abandoned belief in this teaching [the 1844 doctrine]. We could easily mention
the chairmen of theology departments and other prominent scholars who have
lost faith in this distinctive Adventist doctrine. … This loss of faith
in 1844 has taken place. … There is a widespread feeling that our case
for 1844 and our explanation of it are no longer convincing or perhaps no
longer viable. A large percentage of Adventists in Europe have long
considered 1844 as a peculiar American aberration. (1844 Re-
examined, pp. 9, 10).
Numerous pastors and theologians are
cited as favoring this basic questioning of basic Adventist roots. Yet the
original research of Crosier, Edson, and Hahn in formulating the
distinctive Adventist concept of the cleansing of the sanctuary was
thoroughly Biblical. It was this that established our existence as a
people. If it is not authentically Biblical, Seventh-day Adventists have
no real theological reason to exist. If the "dragon" who is
"wroth with the woman" wants to destroy her, could he do so more
effectively than to lunge at her jugular vein?
The virtual eclipse of the 1888 message
for decades has been the one factor almost entirely responsible for this
erosion of basic Seventh-day Adventist confidence in the sanctuary
doctrine and 1844. In 1889 Ellen White foresaw that opposition to the
Jones-Waggoner message was "to cause apostasy" (CWE 31). An
interesting phenomenon is apparent: those who fail to see Biblical support
for 1844 likewise fail to appreciate the 1888 message; and the reverse
seems operative as well. The 1888 message brought the sanctuary doctrine
into clear focus and restored "its presiding power [in] the hearts of
believers" (EV 225); and the loss of that message tended to
"remove its presiding power from the hearts of believers."
The Divinely Appointed
Remedies: "Gold" |
