CHAPTER 23 (The Great Controversy)
The First Angel's
Message
I saw that God was in the proclamation of the
time in 1843. It was his design to
arouse the people, and bring them to a testing point where they should
decide. Ministers were convicted and
convinced of the correctness of the positions taken on the prophetic periods,
and they left their pride, their salaries, and their churches, to go forth from
place to place and proclaim the message.
But as the message from heaven could find a place in the hearts of but a
very few of the professed ministers of Christ, the work was laid upon many who
were not preachers. Some left their
fields to sound the message, while others were called from their shops and
their merchandise. And even some
professional men were compelled to leave their professions to engage in the
unpopular work of giving the first angel's message. Ministers laid aside their sectarian views
and feelings, and united in proclaiming the coming of Jesus. The people were moved everywhere the message
reached them. Sinners repented, wept and
prayed for forgiveness, and those whose lives had been marked with dishonesty,
were anxious to make restitution.
Parents felt the deepest solicitude for their
children. Those who received the
message, labored with their unconverted friends and relatives, and with their
souls bowed with the weight of the solemn message, warned and entreated them to
prepare for the coming of the Son of man.
Those cases were the most hardened that would not yield to such a weight
of evidence set home by heart-felt warnings.
This soul-purifying work led the affections away from worldly things, to
a consecration never before experienced.
Thousands were led to embrace the truth preached by Wm. Miller, and
servants of God were raised up in the spirit and power of Elijah to proclaim
the message. Those who preached this
solemn message, like John the forerunner of Jesus, felt compelled to lay the
axe at the root of the tree, and call upon men to bring forth fruits meet for
repentance. Their testimony was
calculated to arouse and powerfully affect the churches, and manifest their
real character. And as they raised the solemn
warning to flee from the wrath to come, many who were united with the churches
received the healing message; they saw their backslidings, and, with bitter
tears of repentance, and deep agony of soul, humbled themselves before God. And as the Spirit of God rested upon them,
they helped to sound the cry, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of
his judgment is come.
The preaching of definite time called forth great
opposition from all classes, from the minister in the pulpit, down to the most
reckless, heaven-daring sinner. No man
knoweth the day and the hour, was heard from the hypocritical minister and the
bold scoffer. Neither would be
instructed and corrected on the use made of the text by those who were pointing
to the year when they believed the prophetic periods would run out, and to the
signs which showed Christ near, even at the doors. Many shepherds of the flock, who professed to
love Jesus, said they had no opposition to the preaching of Christ's coming;
but they objected to the definite time.
God's all-seeing eye read their hearts.
They did not love Jesus near.
They knew that their unchristian lives would not stand the test; for
they were not walking in the humble path laid out by him. These false shepherds stood in the way of the
work of God. The truth spoken in its
convincing power to the people aroused them, and like the jailer, they began to
inquire, What must I do to be saved. But
these shepherds stepped between the truth and the people, and preached smooth
things to lead them from the truth. They
united with Satan and his angels, and cried, Peace, peace, when there was no
peace. I saw that angels of God had
marked it all, and the garments of those unconsecrated shepherds were covered
with the blood of souls. Those who loved
their ease, and were content with their distance from God, would not be aroused
from their carnal security.
Many ministers would not accept this saving
message themselves, and those who would receive it, they hindered. The blood of souls is upon them. Preachers and people joined to oppose this
message from heaven. They persecuted Wm.
Miller, and those who united with him in the work. Falsehoods were circulated to injure his
influence, and at different times after he had plainly declared the counsel of
God, applying cutting truths to the hearts of his hearers, great rage was
kindled against him, and as he left the place of meeting, some waylaid him in
order to take his life. But angels of
God were sent to preserve his life, and they led him safely away from the angry
mob. His work was not yet finished.
The most devoted gladly received the
message. They knew it was from God, and
that it was delivered at the right time.
Angels were watching with the deepest interest the result of the
heavenly message, and when the churches turned from and rejected it, they in
sadness consulted with Jesus. He turned
his face from the churches, and bid his angels to faithfully watch over the
precious ones who did not reject the testimony, for another light was yet to
shine upon them.
I saw that if professed Christians had loved
their Saviour's appearing, if their affections were placed on him, if they felt
that there was none upon earth to be compared with him, they would have hailed
with joy the first intimation of his coming.
But the dislike they manifested, as they heard of their Lord's coming,
was a decided proof that they did not love him.
Satan and his angels triumphed, and cast it in the face of Jesus Christ
and his holy angels, that his professed people had so little love for Jesus
that they did not desire his second appearing.
I saw the people of God, joyful in expectation,
looking for their Lord. But God designed
to prove them. His hand covered a
mistake in the reckoning of the prophetic periods. Those who were looking for their Lord did not
discover it, and the most learned men who opposed the time also failed to see
the mistake. God designed that his
people should meet with a disappointment.
The time passed, and those who had looked with joyful expectation for
their Saviour were sad and disheartened, while those who had not loved the
appearing of Jesus, but embraced the message through fear, were pleased that he
did not come at the time of expectation.
Their profession had not affected their hearts, and purified their
lives. The passing of the time was well
calculated to reveal such hearts. They
were the first to turn and ridicule the sorrowful, disappointed ones, who
really loved the appearing of their Saviour.
I saw the wisdom of God in proving his people, and giving them a
searching test to discover those who would shrink and turn back in the hour of
trial.
Jesus and all the heavenly host looked with
sympathy and love upon those who had with sweet expectation longed to see him
whom their souls loved. Angels were
hovering around them, to sustain them in the hour of their trial. Those who had neglected to receive the
heavenly message were left in darkness, and God's anger was kindled against
them, because they would not receive the light he had sent them from heaven. Those faithful, disappointed ones, who could
not understand why their Lord did not come, were not left in darkness. Again they were led to their Bibles to search
the prophetic periods. The hand of the
Lord was removed from the figures, and the mistake was explained. They saw that the prophetic periods reached
to 1844, and that the same evidence they had presented to show that the
prophetic periods closed in 1843, proved that they would terminate in
1844. Light from the word of God shone
upon their position, and they discovered a tarrying time. -- If the vision
tarry, wait for it. -- In their love for Jesus' immediate coming, they had
overlooked the tarrying of the vision, which was calculated to manifest the
true waiting ones. Again they had a
point of time. Yet I saw that many of
them could not rise above their severe disappointment, to possess that degree
of zeal and energy which had marked their faith in 1843.
Satan and his angels triumphed over them, and
those who would not receive the message, congratulated themselves upon their
far-seeing judgment and wisdom in not receiving the delusion, as they called
it. They realized not that they were
rejecting the counsel of God against themselves, and that they were working in
union with Satan and his angels to perplex God's people, who were living out
the heaven-born message.
The believers in this message were oppressed in
the churches. Fear had held them for a
time, so that they did not act out the sentiments of their heart, but the
passing of the time revealed their true feelings. They wished to silence the testimony which
the believers felt compelled to bear, that the prophetic periods extended to
1844. With clearness they explained
their mistake, and gave their reasons why they expected their Lord in
1844. The opposers could not bring any
arguments against the powerful reasons offered.
The anger of the churches was kindled against them. They were determined not to listen to any
evidence, and to shut their testimony out of the churches, so that others could
not hear it. Those who dared not withhold
from others the light God had given them, were shut out of the churches; but
Jesus was with them, and they were joyful in the light of his countenance. They were prepared to receive the message of
the second angel.
See Daniel 8:14; Habakkuk 2:1-4; Malachi
chap.3&4; Matthew 24:36; Revelation 14:6-7
Dan 8:14 And
he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the
sanctuary be cleansed.
Hab 2:1 I will
stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he
will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Hab 2:2 And
the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon
tables, that he may run that readeth it.
Hab 2:3 For
the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not
lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not
tarry.
Hab 2:4
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall
live by his faith.
Mal 3:1
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and
the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of
hosts.
Mal 3:2 But
who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for
he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
Mal 3:3 And he
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of
Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an
offering in righteousness.
Mal 3:4 Then
shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the
days of old, and as in former years.
Mal 3:5 And I
will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the
sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against
those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and
that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of
hosts.
Mal 3:6 For I
am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Mal 3:7 Even
from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have
not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of
hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
Mal 3:8 Will a
man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In
tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9 Ye are
cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Mal 3:10 Bring
ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,
and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the
windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough
to receive it.
Mal 3:11 And I
will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of
your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the
field, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:12 And
all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith
the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:13 Your
words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we
spoken so much against thee?
Mal 3:14 Ye
have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his
ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
Mal 3:15 And
now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea,
they that tempt God are even delivered.
Mal 3:16 Then
they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened,
and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that
feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Mal 3:17 And
they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my
jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth
him.
Mal 3:18 Then
shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him
that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Mal 4:1 For,
behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Mal 4:2 But
unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in
his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Mal 4:3 And ye
shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your
feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 4:4
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb
for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
Mal 4:5
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the LORD:
Mal 4:6 And he
shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the
children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Mat 24:36 But
of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my
Father only.
Rev 14:6 And I
saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his
judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and
the fountains of waters.
No comments:
Post a Comment