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OUR FAITH AND HOPE;

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 24, 1870

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 35, No. 23.

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OUR FAITH AND HOPE;

By James White

Or, Reasons Why We Believe as We Do.
NUMBER TWENTY-FIVE—THE THIRD MESSAGE.
BY ELDER JAMES WHITE.
(Concluded.)
4. The patience of the saints. The chronology of the third message is distinctly marked as being the period of “the patience of the saints,” which follows the proclamation of the two former messages. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Verse 12. And this period of the saints’ patience is marked by a most important fact, namely, the keeping of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We have seen that the first angel’s message refers to the solemn proclamation of the immediate second advent, consequently the period of patience here brought to view must be the same as that which in many scriptures is located immediately preceding the second advent. A few texts must suffice as examples:
“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience; that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb. 10: 35–39.
“Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.” James 5: 7–10.
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Rev. 3: 10, 11.
“And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. 25: 9.
5. The commandments of God. The period of the saints’ patience is distinguished by the fact that they are keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. It should be distinctly noticed that the commandments here brought to view, are not the commandments of Christ. There may be a certain sense in which all the precepts of the Saviour may be called the commandments of God; that is, if viewed as proceeding from the sovereign authority of the Father; but when the commandments of God are spoken of in distinction from the testimony or faith of Jesus, there is but one thing to which reference can be made; namely, the commandments which God gave in person, the ten commandments. See John 15: 10: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” And thus we find the law of God which he proclaimed in person referred to in the New Testament as “the commandments of God,” or as “the commandments.”
“And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother, and Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Matt. 19: 17–19.
“And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath-day, according to the commandment.” Luke 23: 56.
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. 5: 17–19.
“Honor thy father and thy mother (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” Eph. 6: 2, 3.
“But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” Matt. 15: 3–6.
“What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7: 7.
6. The faith of Jesus. This term is used in distinction from the commandments of God. It does not refer to a particular degree or kind of faith which the Saviour exercised in the performance of his miracles; for it appears that he wrought these by the power which he had already received from his Father. Matt. 8: 2, 3; Mark 1: 40, 41; Luke 5: 23, 24. The world itself was made by him. John 1. He had ample power, therefore, to perform every miracle which he wrought. There is but one other thing to which this term can refer, namely, the precepts and doctrines of our Lord as recorded in the New Testament. Thus “the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1: 27) must refer to the precepts and doctrines of the gospel. The faith to which a multitude of the priests were obedient (Acts 6: 7), which was resisted by Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13: 8), which was committed to the apostles for the obedience of all nations (Rom. 1: 5), which Paul testifies that he had kept (2 Tim. 4: 7), and which is to be earnestly maintained, as once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), must refer, we think, to the precepts and doctrines of the everlasting gospel. That the faith of Jesus is used in this sense in Rev. 2: 13, we think cannot be denied. “Thou holdest fast my name,” says Jesus, “and hast not denied my faith.” That this is the sense in which it is used in Rev. 14: 12, is further evident from the fact that it is spoken of as kept in the same manner that the commandments of God are kept.
“Here are they that keep the commandments of God [the Father], and the faith of Jesus [the Son].” This excludes alike the blind Jew, who makes his boast in the law and rejects Jesus, and also the Christian who professes faith in Christ while he breaks the commandments of God. It embraces Christian commandment-keepers only.
7. The penalty threatened. The fearful penalty connected with the warning of the third angel consists of two things: (1) The wine of the wrath of God, poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. (2) The torment with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and of the Lamb. Let us carefully consider each in order.
What is the wine of the wrath of God? The next chapter clearly explains this point. “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever.” Rev. 15: 1, 7. It follows therefore that the wine of the wrath of God is the seven last plagues. This fact will be further apparent as we proceed to show that these plagues are future. That the plagues pertain to the future, we think can be established beyond controversy.
(1) The wrath of God, as threatened by the third angel, is poured out in the seven last plagues; for the first plague is inflicted on the very close that the third angel threatens. Compare Rev. 14: 9, 10; 16: 1, 2. This fact proves that the plagues must be future when the third angel’s message is given; and it also proves the identity of the wrath of God without mixture, and the seven last plagues.
(2) We have shown that the plagues and the wrath of God without mixture are the same. And wrath without mixture must be wrath with nothing else; that is, wrath without mercy. God has not yet visited the earth with unmixed wrath; nor can he while our great High Priest ministers in the heavenly sanctuary, and stays the wrath of God by his intercession for sinful men.When the plagues are poured out, mercy has given place to vengeance.
(3) Hence it is that the seven angels are represented as receiving the vials of the wrath of God, the seven last plagues, after the opening of the temple of God in Heaven. If we turn to Rev. 11: 15–19, we shall find that the opening of the temple in Heaven is an event that transpires under the sounding of the seventh angel. And that account concludes with a brief statement of the events of the seventh vial or last plague. Now if we turn to chapters 15: 5–8; 16: 1–21, we shall read an expanded view of the facts stated in chapter 11: 15–19, and shall find that the two accounts conclude in the same manner, namely, with the events of the last plague. These scriptures show that the seven angels do not receive the vials of the wrath of God to pour out upon the earth until the temple in Heaven is opened. That temple is opened under the voice of the seventh angel. The third woe is by reason of the voice of the seventh angel. Chaps. 8: 13; 9: 12; 11: 14. The seven plagues are poured out under the sounding of that angel, hence the plagues are future, and constitute the third woe.
The foregoing reasons establish the fact that the plagues are future. We see no reason why they will not be similar in character to those poured out on Egypt, while their consequences will be far more terrific and dreadful. May God count us worthy to escape the things coming on the earth, and to stand before the Son of Man. The seven last plagues are poured out on the living wicked; but the second part of the penalty affixed to the warning of the third angel, is not inflicted until the end of the thousand years, when all the wicked are raised and suffer it together. This part of the penalty I will now consider.
“He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever,” &c. The final perdition of ungodly men, in the lake of fire, is, without doubt, the subject of these awful words. That we may rightly understand this text, we call attention to several important facts.
(1) The punishment of the wicked will be inflicted upon them on this earth; for the final conflagration of our globe is to constitute the lake of fire in which they are rewarded, each according to his works.
“Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner.” Prov. 11: 31.
“But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Pet. 3: 7.
“But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Rev. 21: 8.
“For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal. 4: 1.
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them.” Rev. 20: 7–9.
(2) The prophet Isaiah (chapter 34) describes the final conflagration of our globe in language which is a complete parallel to that of the third angel in describing the punishment of the wicked. Those who contend that Isaiah refers only to ancient Idumea, must admit that the period of time described in this strong language, must finally come to an end. And those who admit that Isaiah, in the language we are about to quote, refers to the conflagration of our earth, will find in what follows ample proof that that scene will finally close.
“For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.” Chap. 34: 8–10.
(3) But this terrific scene of final conflagration is not to last throughout unlimited duration. For the earth having been burned, and all its elements melted, new heavens and new earth are to follow, as the present earth succeeded to that which was destroyed by water. And in the earth thus made new the righteous are to be recompensed.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also; and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness; looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Pet. 3: 10–13. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Rev. 21: 1.
(4) Thus, however dreadful and long-continued the punishment of the wicked will be (for each is to be punished according to his deserts), that punishment will finally result in the utter destruction of all transgressors. All the wicked will God destroy. Ps. 145: 20. They shall die the second death. Rev. 21: 8; Rom. 6: 23; Eze. 18: 4, 20. They shall perish, being consumed into smoke. Ps. 37: 10, 20, 38. They shall be punished with everlasting destruction, being burned up in unquenchable fire. 2 Thess. 1: 9; Matt. 3: 12. And thus having been consumed, root and branch, they shall be as though they had not been. Mal. 4: 1; Obadiah 16.