p. 3 | The Real Explanation

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 21, 1909

The Real Explanation

WHILE some of our friends are seeking to find the reason for the rapid progress of this second advent movement, it seems a fitting time to set forth the true explanation of this marvelous growth. It is true that earnest efforts have been put forth by those who believe this truth in their desire to make it known to others, and that the most approved plans of organization have been adopted to render such efforts most effective, but this is not sufficient in itself to account for the extension of this message into nearly every country in the world within a comparatively short time. The true explanation is that all this well-organized effort is put forth in harmony with the divine purpose for this time. Thus divine and human agencies co-operate in carrying forward successfully the movement which is to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.

It is in the divine purpose, as made known through the prophecies, that in this last generation the threefold message outlined in Rev. 14:6-12 should be proclaimed to all the world. Those who are willing to be used as instruments to accomplish this work will find themselves energized by divine power, and a prosperity due to more than human wisdom or human effort will attend their labors.

Thus it was in the days of John the Baptist, and the people were moved by an unseen power to confess and forsake their sins, and to accept the message which proclaimed, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The time had come for that voice to be heard in the wilderness, concerning which Isaiah had prophesied, and neither the civil nor the ecclesiastical authorities could suppress it.

So it was in the days of Luther. It was not the prestige of great names which insured the success of the Reformation. “The Reformer Zwingli emerged from a shepherd’s hut among the Alps; Melancthon, the great theologian of the Reformation, from an armorer’s workshop; and Luther from the cottage of a poor miner;” but the hour had arrived in the divine purpose for presenting anew God’s gospel of free grace and salvation by faith, and it simply required willing agencies for the accomplishment of this work. The Reformation of the sixteenth century succeeded because God was in the movement.

The same principles again find expression in this final proclamation of truth to the world. The great prophetic periods have been fulfilled. The hour of God’s judgment is come. In a little time, He whose right it is to take the kingdom will appear in his glory, but all this must be made known to the world, and the call must be sounded forth, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” The power of the divine purpose is in this proclamation, and those who give it to the world are assured of success in their co-operation with this divine purpose.

This is the only and the true explanation of the prosperity that has attended this second advent movement, which, beginning in weakness and under circumstances which to all human appearance would render its progress both difficult and slow, has in these few decades extended into nearly every country on the face of the earth, and has won adherents from all classes.

It is well to remember that there is more power in the divine purpose than in all merely human agencies combined, and that success is assured to those who are used of God in fulfilling that purpose.