Finishing God's Work by A. G. DANIELLS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 23, 1905

Finishing God's Work

By A. G. DANIELLS

A. G. DANIELLS

(Reading for Sabbath, December 16)

There is a work being done in the world which the Bible calls “the work of the Lord.” Of this work the prophet Jeremiah says, “Come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord;” again, “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently.” Jer. 51:10; 48:10, R. V. Writing of the work Timothy was doing, the apostle Paul said, “He worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.” 1 Cor. 16:10.

Let the fact be well understood, and ever kept fresh in the mind, that the work of the Lord is God’s work, and not man’s. It originated in the mind of God. It was planned and inaugurated by him. It has been under his constant supervision, and praise be to his name, it will be gloriously finished by him. Man’s part in this work is co-operation with God in carrying it forward.

The work of the Lord is the proclamation of the gospel to the world. It embraces all that is involved in making known and applying the gospel to sinners. It is represented by the infinite sacrifice of Christ, the unwearied ministry of the holy angels, and the loving service of his followers here below. This is a great work. It is, by all means, the most important work in the world. Man’s greatest projects and achievements can bear no comparison, in meaning and importance to the well-being of men, with God’s work. Man’s works are confined to this world, while God’s include the world to come.

The life of Christ on earth was the truest and clearest revelation we have of what constitutes God’s work among men. When he began his work, he said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18. While engaged in this blessed ministry, he said to his disciples: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” John 9:4; 4:34. At the close of his ministry on earth, Jesus said to his Father: “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” John 17:4. Thus it is plain that God’s work among men is ministering to them the gospel of his grace.

God’s work began in Eden, when the gospel was first revealed to Adam. It spans the whole history of the world. It has passed through many conflicts and crises, such as those connected with the flood, the deliverance from Egypt, the captivity in Babylon, the first advent, the Dark Ages, and the Reformation. Through all these long centuries God’s work has never ceased, nor even stood still a single day. And it is still a living, vitalizing movement, accomplishing his eternal purpose.

But that work will not continue forever. God has declared that “he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Rom. 9:28. At different points along the way the workmen have finished certain definite parts of the work committed to them. Paul said, “I have finished my course.” Jesus said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” But the day is coming when the work itself—the whole work—will be finished.

The finishing of a work is its most important phase. It is well to begin a good work, and to carry it forward successfully, but it is the finishing, the full consummation, that reveals its highest point of excellence. The finishing of the gospel will be the grand climax of the greatest movement in the universe. Well may we inquire when and how the work of God is to be finished. The answer of God’s Word to these inquiries is plain and positive:—

“In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” Rev. 10:7.

Here we have a positive statement as to when and how the work of God will be finished. The important facts of this statement are these: (1) “the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound;” (2) “the mystery of God should be finished;” (3) “as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” The primary point of these three is this, “the mystery of God should be finished.”

What is the mystery of God that is to be finished?—It is the gospel. This is clearly demonstrated by many passages of Scripture. In his epistle to the Romans, chapter 16, verse 25, Paul speaks of the gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ, and the revelation of the mystery, as all being the same thing. In the epistle to the Ephesians, the same apostle states that by revelation God made known to him the mystery of Christ. Eph. 3:3, 4. To the Galatians he says that that which was made known to him by revelation was the gospel. Gal. 1:11, 12.

Thus it is proved beyond all question that the mystery of God is the gospel of Christ. And this further proves that it is the gospel which the angel declared to John should be finished at a certain time.

When is that time?—“In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound.” That is when the gospel is to be finished. What is the seventh angel? When is he to begin to sound? How long is he to sound?

The seventh angel here referred to is the seventh of the seven trumpet angels

brought to view in the eighth chapter of the Revelation. “I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.” Verses 2, 6. Then follows a statement of the sounding of each angel, and of what took place under the sounding of each.

This line of prophecy gives very clear statements regarding important events which are to take place, and very definite periods as to when these events will take place. The fifth trumpet outlines the terrible assaults to be made upon the Roman empire by the Turks. It says: “Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them.” Rev. 9:10, 11. This king was Othman, who began his campaign July 27, 1299. The five months during which they were to hurt men would be one hundred and fifty days, reckoning thirty days to the month, according to the calendar of the Jews in ancient times. A day in prophecy stands for a year of literal time. Adding to July 27, 1299, the one hundred and fifty years during which the Turks were under their king, to hurt the Roman empire, we are brought to July 27, 1449. Here the fifth trumpet ended.

The sixth trumpet was to sound for “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year.” Rev. 9:15. This is just three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days. Adding this time to July 27, 1449, when the fifth trumpet ended, we find that the sixth trumpet must close Aug. 11, 1840. Its close was to be marked by the loss of Turkey’s independence. This was fulfilled on the very day fixed by the prophecy almost eighteen hundred years before.

There is but one trumpet more in this series yet to sound, and that is the seventh. And it is “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound,” that the mystery of God—the gospel—is to be finished. The seventh angel can not begin to sound until after 1840, for it was not until then that the sixth angel ceased sounding.

Great events are to take place under the sounding of the seventh angel. Here are some of the events mentioned in the prophecy:—

“The nations were angry, and thy wrath is come.”
“And the time of the dead, that they should be judged.”
“The mystery of God should be finished.”
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” See Rev. 10:7; 11:15-19.

The loss of Turkey’s independence at the termination of the sixth trumpet laid the foundation for the anger and strife among the nations that is manifested under the seventh trumpet. And is it not being signally revealed before our eyes to-day?

When the seventh angel began to sound, the time came to judge the dead. This statement definitely locates the time when the seventh angel began to sound. It was in the autumn of 1844, at the termination of the twenty-three hundred years, that the time came to judge the dead. This we know from the prophecy of Daniel, chapters 8, 9. That prophecy locates that year as the time when Christ was to enter the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to make an atonement for his people. The atoning service is the cleansing of the sanctuary, and that includes the judging of the dead. In full harmony with all this, John says that when the seventh angel sounded, “the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” Rev. 11:19. This reveals to the people of God the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ ministers while the judgment proceeds before the law of God, by which all shall be judged.

Now it is when the seventh angel begins to sound, that the mystery of God—the gospel—is to be finished. That was in the autumn of 1844. We have, therefore, been living sixty-one years under the sounding of the seventh angel, and in the finishing, closing work of the gospel. This is still the beginning of the period during which the seventh trumpet is to sound. It will not cease until the kingdoms of this world become Christ’s, and he destroys the wicked, and gives the full reward to his saints. The wicked will not be destroyed, nor the saints rewarded, in the new earth, until a thousand years after the second coming of Christ. Thus it is plain that the first sixty years are only the beginning of the days of the voice of the seventh angel.

But what a tremendous fact—that for sixty-one years God has been carrying on the closing, finishing work of the gospel!

This leads us to the consideration of the question, How, by what means, will the gospel be finished? There are two very important phases to this finishing work: one is the ministry of Christ in the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary; the other is the proclamation, by the church, of God’s final, closing message to the world.

As we have already seen that Christ entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844, his ministry in that apartment is to cleanse the sanctuary, or to make an atonement for God’s people—the overcomers. This requires an investigation, and a final decision, and that is a work of judgment. The cleansing of the earthly sanctuary was the closing, finishing work of the year, and completed the year’s round of service. The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary will be the closing work of Christ as High Priest for a lost world. When that work is completed, the mystery of God will have been finished, and that will be the finishing of the gospel.

When Christ entered upon that solemn work in 1844, the hour came to give the great threefold message of Rev. 14:6-14. This message opens with this statement: “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” It closes with this event: “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.”

This threefold message, it is declared, is the “everlasting gospel.” It is to be preached to “them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” This is the gospel of the kingdom, which Christ says shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; “and then,” it is emphatically declared, “shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14.

Thus it is plain that while Christ performs the cleansing work in heaven, his followers perform the closing work on this earth. This is the fulfilment of what “he hath declared unto his servants the prophets.”

At the precise time when Christ began his finishing work, God raised up a people to tell it to the world. He had wonderfully prepared the way for it to be told to the uttermost parts of the earth. He had brought to Western, civilized, Christian lands, a knowledge of the peoples in the uttermost parts of the earth. He had sent devoted missionaries ahead, to learn the languages of these peoples, and translate his Word into their tongues. He had provided every facility for the rapid publication and dissemination of knowledge. And he had provided means for safe, quick transportation of messengers to all the world. All this was preparation on God’s part to finish his work. Then he raised up a people to finish it.

We—let us say it reverently—are

that people. And the finishing of God’s work is the tremendous task assigned us. It is a fearful responsibility, and yet it is glorious. The very thought of it should cause our hearts to burn with zeal and enthusiasm. It is different from all that has been before. In the past, men have done what they could for God, and handed the results to their successors; to-day, God’s people are to finish the work, and hand it over, not to successors, but to the Master, at his coming.

This work is direct, definite, specific. It has a great, well-defined aim. We can work to a point. There need be no aimless efforts, and no wasted energies and means. There is no other movement like it in all the world.

God’s work will be finished in this generation. He has declared that it will, and he can not lie. The Scripture can not be broken. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.” We must count on this. We must make every calculation on seeing the end. “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it [may seem to] tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Hab. 2:3.

This finishing work calls for all that we have. It is worthy of our whole-hearted love, our best talents, our highest energies. It deserves more than it is receiving. Let us pray God to help us to repent of our half-heartedness in this, the grandest of all movements. Let us earnestly pray to be washed from our sins, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to have a full measure of God’s love shed abroad in our hearts. Let us seek to see things as God sees them, to be willing to go, and to let our children go, to sinning, dying humanity in mission fields. Let us esteem it a great pleasure to return to God a full tithe of all that he gives us, to be eager to give every dollar that we can spare for the advancement of God’s cause, and to do all we can where we are to give to others the light that so greatly rejoices our hearts.

“Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?”