p. 11 | Our Mountain of Hope by J. L. SHAW

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 2, 1905

Our Mountain of Hope

By J. L. SHAW

J. L. SHAW

An eminent Scotch preacher has said, “Christ’s second coming is like a lofty mountain which dominates the entire landscape.” And so it is, for it bursts into view at every turn of the way. The great hope set before us in Christian service is the blessed promise of Christ’s soon coming. We are exhorted unto watchfulness by this glorious promise. Matt. 22:44. The same thrilling event is used by James as an encouragement to patience (James 5:7); by Paul, in 1 Thess. 1:9, 10, to turn from idols; in Titus 2:12, 13 to holy living; in 1 Tim. 6:14, to fidelity in keeping the commandments. It is God’s great wish that the advent message become a living, personal reality to every Christian. Whether the admonition be unto watchfulness or patience, to the abandonment of idols or as an encouragement to holy living or faithfulness in obeying the commandments, Christ’s second coming is the incentive. In the great plane of truth, each path leads to this mountain of promise.

The late Dr. A. J. Gordon gave an incident in his family which very clearly illustrates God’s plan in holding before us the advent of Christ. With his children, he went to the country for a few days’ rest and recuperation. He had been there but a short time when a telegram came, calling him, at once, on urgent business to the city. Upon parting with his children, he told them he would return sometime during the week. It might be the following day, or it might not be until the end of the week. They loved their father and wanted him back, so they kept themselves in readiness to welcome him, and went daily to the train, hoping to meet him. It so happened that he did not return until the end of the week, though all the time the children had been hoping each day that he would come, and that hope caused them to tidy themselves daily, and go to the train to meet him.

There is an important lesson in this homely illustration. God wants us to be ready. Our Saviour is coming, and he wants his loved ones to be prepared to meet him. He has not told us the day nor the hour, but he has assured us that this generation shall not pass away before he returns. His waiting ones should be ready. It was the advent hope which wrought so remarkable a change in God’s people in 1844, and it is the reality of that hope which will cut his people loose from the world in this generation, and cause them to seek a daily preparation for his coming.

It is only as the near coming of Jesus becomes a reality to us that we shall be saved from the delusions and devices of this day. A wave of commercialism is going through the country. It is in our churches. Ministers and lay members are getting entangled. The originator of evil hopes to counteract the advent message now due to the world, by causing the people who are carrying it to become so bound up in the affairs of life that their message shall lose its power. The game of money making is growing in intensity, and with this weapon the enemy hopes to nullify the advent message. Our hope lies in keeping our eyes upon our mountain of hope—the coming of Christ.

There is no better way to make the near coming of Christ a reality than to watch the progress which is being made in proclaiming the gospel in all parts of the world. As we behold the march of missions, and see what a hundred years has wrought, there is abundant reason to believe that a work has been done which shall end in a speedy conclusion of God’s work in the earth. Vast empires that were barred against Christian workers have thrown their doors wide open for the entrance of the gospel; and the facilities for carrying it are piercing continually farther and farther into the remote corners of the earth.

It is scarcely more than a hundred years since the British and Foreign Bible Society was formed. Since then above one hundred and eighty million Bibles, Testaments, and portions of the Bible have been circulated by it, in at least three hundred and seventy languages and dialects, many of which had never before been reduced to writing. The Centenary Specimen book of the Society has four hundred and three specimens of different languages in which the Bible or a portion of it is being circulated. We may not be wide of the mark in saying that the number of reproductions of the Bible the last hundred years has exceeded the number during the previous eighteen centuries.

We have the promise, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14. As we see what strides are being made, and yearly increasing, in publishing the gospel in so many tongues for a witness to so many millions, may we not look for the end to come speedily?

We can not keep pace with the advancement of present truth. Sabbath-keepers we knew nothing of are being found. Just recently our workers in Ceylon have come in contact with Tamil Sabbath-keepers who have been keeping the Sabbath for half a century. About fifty years ago these Tamil brethren broke off from the Church of England. They then numbered about two hundred. The Church of England people wrote to Queen Victoria to know what they should do with them, and she replied, “Let them alone, with liberty to enjoy their own religion.” They now number about one thousand, and most of them are in India. The man who led them out from the Church of England is now ninety-two years old. He has lived to learn that on the other side of the earth are men and women endeavoring to keep the fourth commandment.

So we can see that some way, by means which we often know not, the warning word of truth is winning its way among the multitudes in so-called heathen lands. The witness shall soon be borne to all nations, “and then shall the end come.”

Sanitarium, Boulder, Colo.