The Great
Controversy - Chapter XXXVIII - The Final Warning Continued…
As the defenders of
truth refuse to honor the Sunday-sabbath, some of them will be thrust into
prison, some will be exiled, some will be treated as slaves. To human wisdom,
all this now seems impossible; but as the restraining Spirit of God shall be
withdrawn from men, and they shall be under the control of Satan, who hates the
divine precepts, there will be strange developments. The heart can be very
cruel when God’s fear and love are removed.
As the storm
approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel’s
message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon
their position, and join the ranks of the opposition.
By uniting with the
world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the
same light; and when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy,
popular side.
Men of talent and
pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to
deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former
brethren. When Sabbath-keepers are brought before the courts to answer for
their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to
misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up
the rulers against them. In this time of persecution the faith of the Lord’s
servants will be tried. They have faithfully given the warning, looking to God
and to his Word alone. God’s Spirit, moving upon their hearts, has constrained
them to speak. Stimulated with holy zeal, and with the divine impulse strong
upon them, they entered upon the performance of their duties without coldly
calculating the consequences of speaking to the people the word which the Lord
had given them. They have not consulted their temporal interests, or sought to
preserve their reputation or their lives. Yet when the storm of opposition and
reproach bursts upon them, some, overwhelmed with consternation, will be ready
to exclaim, “Had we foreseen the consequences of our words, we would have held
our peace.” They are hedged in with difficulties. Satan assails them with fierce
temptations. The work which they have undertaken seems far beyond their ability
to accomplish. They are threatened with destruction. The enthusiasm which
animated them is gone; yet they cannot turn back. Then, feeling their utter
helplessness, they flee to the Mighty One for strength. They remember that the
words which they have spoken were not theirs, but His who bade them give the
warning. God put the truth into their hearts, and they could not forbear to
proclaim it.
The same trials have
been experienced by men of God in ages past. Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Tyndale,
Baxter, Wesley, urged that all doctrines be brought to the test of the Bible,
and declared that they would renounce everything which it condemned. Against these
men, persecution raged with relentless fury; yet they ceased not to declare the
truth.
Different periods in
the history of the church have each been marked by the development of some
special truth, adapted to the necessities of God’s people at that time.
Every new truth has
made its way against hatred and opposition; those who were blessed with its
light were tempted and tried. The Lord gives a special truth for the people in
an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? He commands his servants to present
the last invitation of mercy to the world. They cannot remain silent, except at
the peril of their souls.
Christ’s ambassadors
have nothing to do with consequences. They must perform their duty, and leave
results with God.
As the opposition
rises to a fiercer height, the servants of God are again perplexed; for it seems
to them that they have brought the crisis. But conscience and the Word of God
assure them that their course is right; and although the trials continue, they
are strengthened to bear them.
The contest grows
closer and sharper, but their faith and courage rise with the emergency. Their
testimony is, “We dare not tamper with God’s Word, dividing his holy law,
calling one portion essential and another non-essential, to gain the favor of
the world. The Lord whom we serve is able to deliver us. Christ has conquered
the powers of earth; and shall we be afraid of a world already conquered?”
Persecution in its varied forms is the
development of a principle which will exist as long as Satan exists, and
Christianity has vital power. No man can serve God without enlisting against
himself the opposition of the hosts of darkness. Evil angels will assail him,
alarmed that his influence is taking the prey from their hands. Evil men,
rebuked by his example, will unite with them in seeking to separate him from
God by alluring temptations. When these do not succeed, then a compelling power
is employed to force the conscience. But so long as Jesus remains man’s
intercessor in the sanctuary above, the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit
is felt by rulers and people. It still controls, to some extent, the laws of
the land. Were it not for these laws, the condition of the world would be much
worse than it now is. While many of our rulers are active agents of Satan, God
also has his agents among the leading men of the nation. The enemy moves upon
his servants to propose measures that would greatly impede the work of God; but
statesmen who fear the Lord are influenced by holy angels to oppose such
propositions with unanswerable arguments. Thus a few men will hold in check a
powerful current of evil. The opposition of the enemies of truth will be
restrained that the third angel’s message may do its work. When the final
warning shall be given, it will arrest the attention of these leading men
through whom the Lord is now working, and some of them will accept it, and will
stand with the people of God through the time of trouble.
The angel who unites
in the proclamation of the third angel’s message is to lighten the whole earth
with his glory. A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here
foretold. The Advent movement of 1840-44 was a glorious manifestation of the
power of God; the first angel’s message was carried to every missionary station
in the world, and in some countries there was the greatest religious interest
which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation of the sixteenth
century; but these are to be far exceeded by the mighty movement under the last
warning of the third angel.
The work will be
similar to that of the day of Pentecost. As the “former rain” was given, in the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the opening of the gospel, to cause the up
springing of the precious seed, so the “latter rain” will be given at its
close, for the ripening of the harvest.
“Then shall we know, if we follow on to know
the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us
as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” [Hosea 6:3.]
“Be glad then, ye
children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he hath given you the
former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the
former rain, and the latter rain.” [Joel 2:23.]
“In the last days,
saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” “And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” [Acts
2:17, 21.]
The great work of
the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than
marked its opening. The prophecies which were fulfilled in the outpouring of the
former rain at the opening of the gospel, are again to be fulfilled in the
latter rain at its close. Here are “the times of refreshing” to which the
apostle Peter looked forward when he said, “Repent ye therefore, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out [in the investigative Judgment],
when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he
shall send Jesus.” [Acts 3:19, 20.]
Servants of God,
with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten
from place to place to proclaim the message from Heaven. By thousands of
voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought
,the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers.
Satan also works with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the
sight of men. [Revelation 13:13.]
Thus the inhabitants
of the earth will be brought to take their stand. The message will be carried
not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God.
The arguments have
been presented. The seed has been sown, and now it will spring up and bear
fruit.
The publications
distributed by missionary workers have exerted their influence, yet many whose
minds were impressed have been prevented from fully comprehending the truth or
from yielding obedience.
Now the rays of
light penetrate everywhere, the truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest
children of God sever the bands which have held them.
Family connections,
church relations, are powerless to stay them now.
Truth is more
precious than all besides.
Notwithstanding the
agencies combined against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the
Lord’s side.'
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