The Gospel Sign by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jan 19, 1905

The Gospel Sign

By L. A. S.

THERE is one sign of Christ’s coming that ought to interest us more than any other at this time,—that sign which he stated to his disciples in the words: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” This is not a sign in the heavens, a sign in nature, or in the rise and fall of kingdoms, but the sign which Christ’s followers—which we, if we are his followers—are fulfilling in the earth. It is the sign in the fulfilment of which God’s people are coworkers with him.

Never before did this sign loom up so impressively before us as it does at the beginning of this new year. It is almost startling to think that nearly every inhabited land has now been visited by the messengers of this gospel,—that it is hardly possible to name a country on the earth which the third angel’s message has not reached, and where it has not now some native converts. Almost to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” the final warning has been given, which immediately precedes “the end.” Much remains to be done to spread the message throughout the various countries where it now has a foothold; but few indeed are the lands that are yet waiting to be included in the world-wide proclamation which the prophecy foretells.

Wonderful has been the providence of God leading up to this climax in his work. What mean the marvelous inventions of this age, by which the messengers and the message are enabled to go so swiftly from land to land, almost annihilating time and space? the marvelous increase also in facilities for producing and spreading the printed page? Did it just merely happen that after eighteen centuries from the beginning of the “Christian era,” and six thousand years from Adam, there came a sudden and great revival of travel and discovery, a running to and fro of many in the earth, and a wonderful increase of knowledge? Did the inventions and improvements of this age come because people are greater and wiser now than of old? or because by these things the world could be made better?—No; but because God’s final message for men, of his coming and of the end of the world, must go to all the world quickly, in order that men may be everywhere prepared for the close of probation. A message must go to all the world which will draw a dividing line among its people, by compelling all to take their stand for or against God, and placing upon all who will receive it the seal of God. Not until that work is done can probation close.

Never before has any work been done in the earth which would prepare it for the close of probation. This is why the world to-day, by the increase of knowledge and scientific discovery, has been made so small, and all its nations and tribes brought in contact, as it were, with one another. It is the day of God’s preparation. For a century or more his providence has been shaping events toward this end.

One noteworthy feature of this preparation is the marvelous spreading of the Word of God, by its translation into almost every tongue and dialect in the world, and its equally world-wide distribution. The Bible has been almost cast aside by the Christian churches, and but little now remains of the old-time faith and reverence with which it was regarded by religious people in enlightened lands. The “higher criticism” has for a long time been doing its fatal work. But notwithstanding this, there has been at the same time a marvelous multiplication of copies and portions of the Bible in all tongues, and the distribution of the same in all lands, through the work of the British and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Society and allied organizations. God has provided that earth’s peoples who have not hitherto had his Word shall have it when such a work is to be done in the earth as he is now doing. The last message now going to earth’s inhabitants is an appeal to the Bible; that Word is the foundation upon which the work of moving men to a decision must be based. And so now, as the message goes to new people in new lands, even to the dark corners of the earth, it finds the Word of God in the hands of the inhabitants, ready for the work which the message is to do. In all this, as one contemplates it, there is overwhelming evidence of the working of a super-human and overruling intelligence, fulfilling a plan which no human wisdom could devise or human opposition thwart.

Rapidly is the gospel message of the kingdom now going, and rapidly is “the end” drawing near. L. A. S.