Here Is the Patience of the Saints by George I. Butler

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 12, 1909

Here Is the Patience of the Saints

By George I. Butler

GEORGE I. BUTLER

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:9-12.

We have quoted this scripture more than once, because of its great importance, and because we wish all who read these articles to become very familiar with it. Never was there a message to mankind of greater importance than this. It is the most solemn to be found in all the canon of inspiration. Let all notice that in this message there are two important divisions: (1) That most fearful threatenings are uttered against beast and image worshipers,—those who receive the papal beast’s mark; and (2) that in the latter part of this message God’s true people are plainly recognized. The language is peculiar and emphatic: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

Under this last message to humanity that will ever be heard in this world, those who will accept that light and be faithful in the promulgation of it, are recognized as God’s peculiar people; those who will not accept and obey it, will help to compose that great mass against which his fearful threatenings are uttered.

The Lord calls attention to a peculiar characteristic of the period of time during which his great work will be done. It is a special time of patience, spoken of in various scriptures,—the time of the saints’ special exercise of patience: “Here is the patience of the saints.” When is it?—It is at the time of the proclamation of the third angel of the message series. This particular feature is not mentioned in either the first or the second message. The special period of patience is not reached until the time when the third angel proclaims his message,—not until the time of the great disappointment in 1844 has passed, and Babylon’s spiritual fall has taken place. Then the time of special patience is entered upon.

What is patience?—“The act or power of calmly or contentedly waiting for something due or hoped for.” This is Webster’s second definition of patience. And how wonderfully well it applies to those who have so long been waiting for their Lord’s coming! None but the old believers can appreciate the full force of the application. In the great advent movement of 1840-44, they fully believed his coming was to take place immediately, because of the fulfilment of the prophecy, “Unto two thousand three hundred days [years]; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed [“justified,” margin].” That prophecy did reach to that great judgment period allotted to an examination of the books of God’s remembrance and the final decision of all cases just before Christ’s coming to execute the sentence of that grand assize. But the believers then had no conception of the great work to be done in warning the world fully of the coming of Christ. That warning must and will be given. God’s Word declares it; it says, “The earth was lightened with his glory.” That is the warning message of which the revelator speaks. The warning of the world of Christ’s soon coming is the last special work of God’s people, even as Noah, the preacher of righteousness, warned the antediluvian world during the one hundred twenty years while the Spirit of God was still striving with that generation.

The advent believers fondly hoped to see their Lord in a comparatively brief time. They knew the Lord must come soon, for over and over the Saviour had declared most positively that he would come soon after the signs which he gave

were fulfilled. He said that his disciples might know it with all the certainty that we can know that summer is near when the trees put forth their leaves. I am writing this in the month of April. The trees are now in all this northern hemisphere pushing out their leaves. What would be our opinion of any one’s judgment who could not tell what season was coming? Our Saviour declared we may be just as certain that his coming is near when these great signs are fulfilled as that summer is coming when the leaves are putting out. Matt. 24: 32, 33. Those three great signs—the darkening of the sun, and of the moon, and the falling of the stars have all been fulfilled, so the nearness of his coming is positively certain.

The time has seemed long. But notice! “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Verse 37. Noah preached one hundred twenty years. This warning message of a coming flood must have seemed to that generation an old story, a thousand-times-told tale. Only eight persons were saved in the ark. (However, many might have believed, and died before the flood came.) It is not far from one hundred twenty years since the first of the signs the Saviour gave was fulfilled. The great masses of professed Christians even ridicule the idea of Christ’s soon coming. It has become an unpopular doctrine. Many believers of the message have given it up, and doubtless many more will. But let us all believe it is the time of the saints’ patience. The long, weary years are slowly passing. Our faith is being tested. Some will give it up, but others have stronger faith. Christ says, speaking of this very time, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Verse 13.

Let us notice several references to this time of the saints’ patience: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb. 10: 35-39.

1. This text speaks of a confidence which pays exceedingly well,—one which it is important to retain.

2. The apostle speaks of the great need of patience, that those whom he addressed might at last receive the fulfilment of the promise. Those who had led out in the work had done the will of God. Then they had a God-given work to do.

3. To what does this confidence and doing the will of God relate?—To the coming of Christ. That event has seemed to tarry, that is, it did not come as soon as expected. How wonderfully this describes the advent experience, when applied to the first message and those that received it! But the final assurance is that it will certainly come. Praise God for that assurance!

4. “The just shall live by faith.” Faith in what?—Faith in that event of which he is speaking, and which he warns us never to give up.

5. The Lord says of those who draw back and give up that faith, “I have no pleasure in them.” They draw back, he says, to perdition,—utter ruin at last. How sadly this has been verified in the advent experience. Reader, did you ever know a single person who had once believed this truth, to become more spiritual, more devoted, after giving it up? I do not know of a single instance. Remember we are in the time of the saints’ patience, when to give up is to go to perdition.

Read James 5:1-8. The first verses give a fearful warning to the rich men. Untold miseries are coming upon them. They are heaping up riches in the last days, as the Revised Version puts it; this shall result in their flesh being eaten “as it were by fire.” They have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, and a fearful day is before them.

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” Never was there such a time for seeking to be rich as in this period of the saints’ patience. Millionaires are plentiful. Private citizens in the United States have become richer than kings. Their doom is foretold. In this time of rushing to obtain filthy lucre, just before the end, true believers are to seek for patience. Never was there greater need of this precious grace.

1. “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” What positive evidence this is that the Lord’s coming is near, and that there will be the greatest need of faith on our part to endure it.

2. Then is illustrated the advent experience by that of the husbandman sowing his seed. Does he sow the seed and expect a crop from it immediately?—Oh, no; it will take long, weary months, with many and great labors, before his reward comes back to him. He labors on, killing out the weeds, constantly tending it with great care, much toil, and weariness, keeping down its enemies of all sorts. Thus faithfully and with great patience must we labor on till the Master appears. The early rain came when the early apostles scattered the gospel seed all over the known world. The drops of the latter rain are already falling, and God is about to give a bountiful shower. Are we all prepared for it? If not, may God help us to get ready for it.

3. “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” To establish our hearts is to “make stable or firm; to fix immovably.” It is to have unwavering, continually abiding, unshaken faith in God’s truth for the last days. Never was this kind of faith more needed. “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” There are plenty of that kind of people. Let such understand they will not receive any great blessings from God. The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, claiming to love the Lord and his truth to-day, but sure to love the world a great deal more to-morrow. Living, abiding, enduring faith is the only thing that will stand the test in these last days,—in this the time of the saints’ patience.

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Rev. 3:10, 11. Here the same period of patience is brought to view at the very juncture when Christ says, “Behold I come quickly.” His counsel is, “Hold that fast which thou hast.” If we do that, we shall certainly never give up the truth which the Lord has given us. All of these counsels come just before the end, and in the time of the saints’ patience.

The last scripture I will cite is Rev. 13:10: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” This covers a period of time reaching from the leading of the pope into captivity in 1798 down to our own time and onward, perfectly synchronizing with the third angel’s message just before the final destruction of the papacy. We are living in a period of great religious peril. Multitudes of voices are calling, This is the way. Poor weak souls are losing their bearings. Some are giving up, going they know not whither, leaving the plain prophetic landmarks, choosing “wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” May God in his infinite mercy pity them. Let all remember we are living in the time of the saints’ patience, and let us quit ourselves like men of God with our hearts “established” in the present truth.

Bowling Green, Fla.