Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 17, 1904

Editorial

By Editor

The Perfect Revelation

CHRIST was the effulgence of his Father’s glory, the outshining of his glory, because he stood in the relationship of a son to the Father. He could be to all things outside of the Father the outshining of the revelation of the glory of God. No created being could do that, but he could do it because he was the only begotten Son. So that the Son, not by arbitrary appointment, but because he was the only begotten Son of the Father, could be the effulgence of his glory. Therefore, he could be the express image of his person, the very image of his substance,—the exact representation of his very being. What God the Father, the God over all, actually and really is, his Son actually and really is, and that because of the relationship that exists between the Father and the Son. The very character of God is revealed through his Son, so that he sets forth the glory of God, not in a general way, as it were, but he sets forth what he actually is—the very image and character of God, and that revelation could be made through no created being but the eternal Son, the only begotten. No other being could fill that place. Now he who is the head of the church is the head of creation. He who upholds the church upholds creation. He who came to represent God to the world is not an imperfect representation of his being, the character and love of God. This revelation is a perfect revelation of God. In this revelation we shall not be misled with any wrong ideas. Neither in himself nor in his teaching shall we have the least shade or shadow of the perversion of the nature or being or character of God. Let us follow Christ.

Perilous Times

“In the last days perilous times shall come.” They are here. No one can have any question of this who gives any serious thought to the situation which we face to-day. Whether we look without or within, whether we look at the experiences among the nations, experiences among individuals, in the industrial world, in the commercial world, whether we look at the experiences in the church at large, whether we look at the experiences of other denominations, whether we look at the experiences of this denomination,—perilous times have come. There has come into the teaching of the religious world generally such a perversion of the gospel that the gospel seems to have been shorn of its power to save man from sin. While the words of the gospel are the same to us, and we hear the names and the phrases used much as of old, yet there seems to be lacking that power of the gospel that actually saves men and women from their sins. Sin seems to rule in the life, the individual life and the public life. It seems as though the flood-gates of error were open wide, and there seems to be but few who have availed themselves of the power necessary to stand against it. Every day brings some new phase of this perversion of the truth, some new refusal to recognize the difference that ought to exist between the pure gospel of Christ and mere human theories—mere human speculations. Now, is it possible that in this closing time there should be such a situation, and yet there be no well-defined presentation of the truth of God that will bring deliverance from this tide of evil, that will bring victory into the individual life and into the church life? This message of the third angel, this advent movement, ought to have within itself that presentation of the truth, and that power, which shall meet every need of the hour. There should be a well-defined, straight-forward presentation of the gospel truth that will meet every phase of this perversion of the truth, and that will commend itself to those who receive it, and bring to them a personal experience of deliverance from this power that is taking hold of all at this time. We ought to find that in this message. It ought to bring these results to us personally. It ought to bring deliverance from darkness and evil. It ought to do that for those to whom we present it.