GEO. B. THOMPSON by George B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 3, 1907

GEO. B. THOMPSON

By George B. Thompson

Millennial Dawn—No. 3

GEO. B. THOMPSON

The Scriptures clearly teach that those who are finally saved will be only a few compared to the number who will be lost. “Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.” Matt. 7: 13, 14. This is the teaching of the Scriptures throughout. “Millennial Dawn,” however, teaches just the opposite. I quote:—

“While the special hope of the gospel age is so surpassingly glorious, and the way to it is correspondingly difficult—narrow—so that few find it, and obtain the great prize at its end, the new order of things in the age to come is to be entirely different. As a different hope is held out, so also a different way leads to it.”—“Plan of the Ages,” Vol. V, page 215.

In another work we find this:—

“Now, then, Jesus having died, and thus having paid man’s penalty for sin, every man will live again, and every human being will be brought to a knowledge of the truth, and will be restored to perfection—perfection such as Adam had before he sinned. And when so restored to perfection, each one will be on trial for everlasting life, just as Adam was, but with this difference; viz., that each restored man will have that which Adam did not have, and that is a full knowledge of and experience with the awful results of sin.”—“Millennial Hopes and Prospects,” page 4.

It is difficult to see how universal salvation could be more fully taught than this. If all sinners are to be placed back to the perfection of Adam before the fall, what more is necessary to salvation? This makes the road to eternal life wide instead of narrow. However, after all this, some, they admit, will be lost.

“Some one may say, You are a Universalist! But no, we are not Universalists. We believe in a universal opportunity for all men to be saved, but we do not believe that all men will be saved to everlasting life, for the Bible clearly shows, as we think, that even under the favorable opportunities and surroundings of the millennial age, some will persist in sin, and will go into the second death.”—Id., page 5.

According to this writer “every human being” is to be brought to “perfection such as Adam had before he sinned.” Certainly this is a condition of absolute sinlessness. Yet some are to “persist in sin,” and die the second death. But how can this be? Do they fall and lose their Adamic perfection? And it would seem that in order to have two trials, or two probations, two falls are necessary. Why, then, stop with two falls? Why not continue throughout eternity with “falls,” and “probations”? Such teaching contradicts the Bible, and utterly subverts the gospel.

A “universal opportunity” for all men to be saved, forsooth! Every man has an opportunity now to be saved. Jesus stands at the door of every human heart, knocking for admission. “Behold, now [not in a millennial age] is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Cor. 6: 2. “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” Heb. 3: 7, 8. “Whosoever will [present tense], let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. 22: 17. All are bidden to come, and they can come now. Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” John 12: 32. Not a single soul is born into this world, but feels the drawing influence of the Holy Spirit, and all will be saved who do not resist and reject that influence.

Ever since the fall of man, God has been doing all he could to save the children of Adam. He has left nothing undone which can be done to rescue the deluded captives of Satan from the snares of sin. He gave his Son, and in this gift emptied heaven of every treasure, that the claims of the broken law might be met, and man be lifted by grace up to the place whence he fell. The Holy Spirit and angels are doing all that can be done to save man, while leaving him free to choose. But the Lord compels none to yield to him. With the utmost confidence the challenge is issued, “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” Isa. 5: 4. The grace of God which bringeth salvation has truly “appeared to all men.” Titus 2: 11. In the bosom of every human being there is some knowledge of right and wrong, for Jesus “lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1: 4, 9), and if he follows on, he will know the Lord. Light brings responsibility. “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now [after I have spoken] they have no cloak for their sin.” John 15: 22. The rejection of light brings condemnation; and so in the judgment the Lord will judge men by the light they have had. “For as many as have sinned without [a knowledge of the written] law shall also perish without [a knowledge of the written] law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law . . . in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus Christ according

to my gospel.” Rom. 2: 12, 16.

In the things which God has made is seen a revelation of his power and God-head, so that we are plainly told that the heathen are “without excuse.” Rom. 1: 20. No millennial age, or second probation, is needed, thank the Lord, to give man an “opportunity” to be saved. Our God is a “present help,” and if we do not accept the “opportunity” now given us, we settle our destiny forever. “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Luke 16: 31. Those who refuse the present opportunity would likewise reject a “second” chance.

It is not true, as taught, that the Sodomites did not have a “full opportunity.” They had the light of the gospel. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” The Sodomites had a “full opportunity.” Titus 2: 11. “In him [Christ] was life; and the life was the light of men.” “That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1: 4, 9.

Every man, whether living in the blazing gospel light of this land or in the midst of heathenism, who follows all the light he has will be saved. None can do more than this. God has his children even in heathen lands. Balaam had never seen Israel till he came, at the call of Balak, to curse them; but he had been a true prophet of the Lord. So to-day, outside of the professed Israel of God, there are some who are the children of the Lord, and they are known to him.

“Even among the heathen are those who have cherished the spirit of kindness; before the words of life had fallen upon their ears, they have befriended the missionaries, even ministering to them at the peril of their own lives. Among the heathen are those who worship God ignorantly, those to whom the light is never brought by human instrumentality, yet they will not perish. Though ignorant of the written law of God, they have heard his voice speaking to them in nature, and have done the things that the law required. Their works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts, and they are recognized as the children of God.”—“Desire of Ages,” page 638.

The Sodomites had light. When vengeance because of their iniquities was slumbering over the doomed city, the Lord stayed his wrath against sin until he sent them one more gospel call, one more call to repent and be saved, a special warning of the coming destruction. Missionary work is to be done now, and not in some future age. Angels visited Sodom and warned Lot, and bade him warn others. Why do this if they were to have another chance under more “favorable opportunities”? And had there been only ten persons in the city who were not inseparably wedded to sin, the Lord would have spared the entire city. Why bring up these rejecters of his mercy, and offer to them once more the cup of salvation, which they repeatedly dashed from the hand which held it? What reason have we for supposing that they would be any more ready to accept the gospel in the millennial than in the patriarchal age? There is no reason whatever for believing such a thing; the idea is a delusion of Satan to destroy souls. It will be “more tolerable” for Sodom than for Capernaum, because the light was shining more clearly at the beginning of what is called the “Christian dispensation.” Increased light always brings increased responsibility, and, if rejected, increased condemnation. It is a terrible thing to turn away from light. Let none do so, hoping for another opportunity to embrace it in a millennial age, for there will be no such opportunity then.

“There is no work in our world so great, so sacred, and so glorious, no work that God honors so much, as this gospel work. The message presented at this time is the last message of mercy for a fallen world. Those who have the privilege of hearing this message, and who persist in refusing to heed the warning, cast away their last hope of salvation. There will be no second probation.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, page 19.

Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.