p. 6 | The World Is Waiting For It by William Ambrose Spicer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Apr 28, 1904

The World Is Waiting For It

By William Ambrose Spicer

THE only hope of the world is the coming of the Lord. On the side of evil every element is apparently ready for the crisis. Now all things are held for the one purpose of heralding to every nation and tongue the last warning message. That message, we say truly, is represented in this advent movement. Not only the groaning creation, but all heaven is watching to see us, then, rise up and in the strength of God actually carry the message to the world.

The reports from the wide fields that we have spread before us week by week show that wherever the workers go, the preaching of this message converts souls and builds up a work that adds strength to our forces, and calls men and women into service. In whatever country we may go, in whatever tongue the message may be preached, the same fruit appears. And it is the same third angel’s message that truth-seeking souls are waiting for. In Christendom or heathendom, the one difficulty is sin; and the one remedy is the only hope, the gospel of salvation as set forth in the great threefold message that has made us a people.

In the latest field we have opened, China, the Lord has shown by abundant fruit how ready and prepared the way has been made for us. Souls have been waiting in the darkness for years, longing for genuine help, and they recognize the help when it comes. It is the same everywhere. Out over the vast fields there is felt the pressure of the closing harvest hour.

In a letter just in from China, Drs. Selmon and Miller speak of the urgent need of this one thing—the third angel’s message—as it has been pressed upon their hearts in the interior of that vast empire. They write:—

Many of the plans that we had in the States have been greatly changed since coming here. Although we came with the purpose of making gospel work primary, yet we did not see as we do now that the gospel work is the all-important thing. While we could with profit devote our time entirely to medical work, yet because of our limited numbers, we feel that it is of far greater importance that we simply use the medical work in making an opening for us, and spend the larger portion of our time in giving the special message of truth for this time.

It is a good testimony, for, as the letter states, these young men went out to China having very definitely settled it that they went only as preachers of the third angel’s message. But the pressure of the overwhelming need in the field emphasizes the importance of the one thing as no argument from principles can do. It is a fact that gives no one rest when once the terrible truth is burned into the soul, that this perishing world is waiting for the third angel’s message to finish its work. No other thing can bring help to souls in darkness who long for light, and the heralding of the truth through every land is the only thing that can bring to an end the awful woe and suffering of a hopeless world. May each believer remember it in gifts and prayers for missions, and in surrender for personal service as God may call. W. A. S.