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W. S. CHAPMAN

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 12, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 51.

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W. S. CHAPMAN

By W. S. Chapman

The Laodicean Message — No. 2

W. S. CHAPMAN

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” Rev. 3:21. What is meant by the word “knock”? “Every warning, reproof, and entreaty in the Word of God or through his messengers is a knock at the door of the heart.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 490.
Why is it that these gentle admonitions, these tender pleadings, pass unheeded? The Lord says: “The Holy Spirit waits to soften and subdue hearts, but they are not willing to open the door and let the Saviour in, for fear that he will require something of them.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VI, p. 262. We are all settled and at ease, and do not wish to be disturbed. And so we find this solemn warning given, and this statement made:—
“The unfaithful steward did not enrich himself with his master’s goods; he merely wasted them. He let idleness take the place of sincere, whole-hearted labor. He was unfaithful in the appropriation of his lord’s goods. “Unfaithful steward, do you not see that you will lose your soul if you do not coöperate with God, and make the most of your talents for the Master? Your mind was given that you might understand how to work. Your eyes were given that you might be keen to discern your God-given opportunities. Your ears are to listen for the commands of God. Your knees are to bow three times a day in heartfelt prayer. Your feet are to run in the way of God’s commandments. Thought, effort, talent, should be put into exercise, that you may be prepared to graduate into the school above, and hear from the lips of One who has overcome all temptations in our behalf the words: ‘To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.’ . . . If you do not coöperate with the Lord by giving yourself to him, and doing his service, you will be judged unfit to be a subject of his pure, heavenly kingdom.”—Id., pp. 207, 208.
A special and very solemn work, because a final one, is soon to be engaged in by the churches, and a heavy responsibility rests upon all to prepare for it. Let me try to make this plain.
Peter, quoting Joel’s prophecy concerning the work of the Lord in the last days, declares: “It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [teach. See Dan. 12:3, margin]: . . . and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy,” or teach. Acts 2:17, 18. That this refers more specifically to the youth of today is evident from the following from “Counsels to Teachers,” pages 536-549:—
“The burden bearers among us are falling in death. Many of those who have been foremost in carrying out the reforms instituted by us as a people, are now past the meridian of life, and are declining in physical and mental strength. With the deepest concern the question may be asked, Who will fill their places? To whom are to be committed the vital interests of the church when the present standard bearers fall? We can but look anxiously upon the youth of today as those who must take these burdens, and upon whom responsibilities must fall. These must take up the work where others leave it. . . . Those who are older must educate the youth, by precept and example, to discharge the claims that society and their Maker have upon them. Upon these youth must be laid grave responsibilities. . . . Never before was there so much at stake; never were there results so mighty depending upon a generation as upon these now coming upon the stage of action. . . . The youth must soon bear the burdens that older workers are now carrying. . . . From our colleges and training schools missionaries are to be sent forth to distant lands. While at school let the students improve every opportunity to prepare for this work.”
From these quotations—and many similar ones might be given—it seems very evident that the burden of the work, the carrying of the message to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” will be placed more and more fully upon our educated young people; while upon the churches, as a whole, is to rest the responsibility of giving the Laodicean message at home. It is clear that this work is, in a sense, a separate one, in that this message is not to be given to the world in general, but is confined to the members of churches, or to persons who are at least professed Christians.
“The command of Christ to his people is, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.’ Luke 14:23. The call to the gospel feast is first to be given in the highways. It must be given to those who claim to be in the highways of Christian experience,—to the members of the different churches. ‘He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.’ Rev. 2:7. In these churches there are true worshipers, and there are false worshipers. A work must be done for those who have fallen from their first love, who have lost their first zeal and interest in spiritual things. We must bring the warning before professed Christians who are transgressors of the law of God. To them the message must be given. . . . The warning for the last church also must be proclaimed to all who claim to be Christians. The Laodicean message, like a sharp, two-edged sword, must go to all the churches. . . . It is our work to proclaim this message. Are we putting forth every effort that the churches may be warned?”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VI, pp. 76, 77.
There seems to be a clear line of demarcation between the two classes of work. Both are parts of the third angel’s message, just as the temperance work is a part of it; but while there is union and coöperation, yet, as in all other lines of labor, a different class of workers is in charge of each. The responsibility of carrying the warning to the world in general—of introducing present truth—is therefore to rest more and more fully upon the young. They are to go out into the foreign fields, while the older ones are to minister to communities clearly under Christian influence.
The message to be given is a warning of the judgment to come; and as judgment always begins at the house of God, so it begins with a summons to get ready, a summons given to the members of the Adventist churches, who are to carry this message to the other churches.
“The people of God must see their wrongs, and arouse to zealous repentance, and a putting away of those sins which have brought them into such a deplorable condition of poverty, blindness, wretchedness, and fearful deception. I was shown that the pointed testimony must live in the church. This alone will answer to the message to the Laodiceans. Wrongs must be reproved, sin must be called sin, and iniquity mustbe met promptly and decidedly, and put away from us as a people.”—Id., Vol. III, p. 260.
That there is not a moment to lose is painfully evident. “The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land, follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. Men cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed; but when God shall bid his angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.”—Id., Vol. VI, p. 408.
We are certainly approaching the fulfilment of the prophecy of Rev. 11:18. A little time of trouble lies between the time of war, called the “anger” of the nations, and the pouring out of the seven last plagues.
“At the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.” “The commencement of the time of trouble here mentioned, does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.”—Early Writings, pp. 33, 85, 86.
The people of God might have finished this work years ago in a time of peace; but having slept then, they must now complete the giving of the message in such a time of peril that none will be able to take part in it except those specially prepared by the outpouring of the latter rain.
Get ready, brethren, while yet it is called today, for the night cometh in which no man can work.
St. Petersburg, Fla.