What Experience Awaits Us? by Francis M. Wilcox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jan 8, 1914

What Experience Awaits Us?

By Francis M. Wilcox

WHAT experience awaits the Seventh-day Adventist Church in coming months? What experience awaits the individual members of the church? What experience awaits you, dear reader?

For a long time this people have been expecting the coming of the Lord. In this hope many have grown old and gray. For the promulgation of this hope many have given their fortunes and their lives. It must be acknowledged, and that, too, with thankfulness to God, that all this sacrifice and toil has not been in vain. From a small and feeble beginning several decades ago, this movement has increased in volume and power until the message of the second advent has encircled the earth. Missionary stations have been planted in practically every land, and the sound of this message has gone out to all the world. There have grown up in connection with this forward movement a splendid organization and large and influential institutions.

Has this movement reached the zenith of its power? Do we now see in its operations all that we may expect to see?—No, indeed! For many years the adherents of this movement have confidently looked forward to the time when there would come to this people a mighty revelation of heavenly power which would give a new impetus to the third angel’s message, and which would enable it to do that which it never can hope to do without such divine unction. Rev. 18: 1-4.

Never has the need of this heavenly refreshing been sensed so deeply as at the present time. As never before in the history of this denomination we face tremendous issues. The last few years have created conditions in the church and situations in the field which cannot be met by human power. Those who recognize the trend of events and all that is involved in the general situation appreciate as never before that a time has been reached when there must come a new revelation of God in order to complete the work which is to be done. In this situation organization alone is powerless. Human planning and devising and ingenuity are of no avail. The measure of the blessing of God which has been enjoyed in the past will not suffice. A new experience must come to this church and to the individual members of this church.

How shall this vital connection with divine power be made in our experience? Do we need to convince God of our great need? Is it necessary to persuade him in order that he may bless us?—Nay, verily. All heaven is waiting to bestow the necessary grace and strength.

Prayer is the great key which opens the door of heaven’s blessings,—humble and submissive, earnest and prevailing prayer. It was this experience on the part of the early disciples that led to the Pentecostal occasion. In accordance with Christ’s instruction they waited in Jerusalem for the promise of the fuller outpouring of the Spirit before going out to take part in the gospel proclamation.

As the disciples waited for the fulfillment of the promise, they humbled their hearts in true repentance, and confessed their unbelief. . . . The disciples prayed with intense earnestness for a fitness to meet men and in their daily intercourse to speak words that would lead sinners to Christ. . . . Putting away all differences, all desire for supremacy, they came close together in Christian fellowship. They came nearer and nearer to God. . . . Those days of preparation were days of deep heart searching. The disciples felt their spiritual need, and cried to the Lord for the holy unction that was to fit them for the work of soul saving. They did not ask for a blessing for themselves merely. They were weighted with the burden of the salvation of souls. They realized that the gospel was to be carried to the world, and they claimed the power that Christ had proclaimed.—“Acts of the Apostles.”

This experience of the first-century believers will be duplicated in connection with this closing work. Of those who will obtain this blessing the servant of the Lord says:—

I saw some with strong faith and agonizing cries, pleading with God. Their countenances were pale, and marked with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle. Firmness and great earnestness were expressed in their countenances; large drops of perspiration fell from their foreheads. Now and then their faces would light up with the marks of God’s approbation, and again the same solemn, earnest, anxious look would settle upon them.

Evil angels crowded around, pressing darkness upon them to shut out Jesus from their view, that their eyes might be drawn to the darkness that surrounded them, and thus they be led to distrust God and murmur against him. Their only safety was in keeping their eyes directed upward. Angels of God had charge over his people, and as the poisonous atmosphere of evil angels was pressed around these anxious ones, the heavenly angels were continually wafting their wings over them to scatter the thick darkness.

As the praying ones continued their earnest cries, at times a ray of light from Jesus came to them, to encourage their hearts and light up their countenances.

These earnest prayers will bring the long-looked-for blessing. Of this same company the servant of the Lord bears further witness:—

I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth with great power. It had effect. Many had been bound; some wives by their husbands, and some children by their parents. The honest who had been prevented from hearing the truth now eagerly laid hold upon it. All fear of their relatives was gone, and the truth alone was exalted to them. They had been hungering and thirsting for truth; it was dearer and more precious than life. I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, “It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel.”

Of their experience in the sounding of the loud cry this testimony is borne:—

Mighty miracles were wrought, the sick were healed, and signs and wonders followed the believers. God was in the work, and every saint, fearless of consequences, followed the convictions of his own conscience, and united with those who were keeping all the commandments of God; and with power they sounded abroad the third message. I saw that this message will close with power and strength far exceeding the midnight cry.

The servant of the Lord declares that some “did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. They seemed indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them, and it shut them in like a thick cloud. The angels of God left these, and went to the aid of the earnest, praying ones.” See “Early Writings,” chapters entitled “The Shaking” and “The Loud Cry.”

This is the experience which awaits the faithful children of God. This is the power which will attend this movement in coming days. Dear reader, will this experience be your experience? Will you be found among those who will seek by the putting away of sin, by banishing all spirit of envy, malice, and discord, to obtain the blessing promised? Will you seek earnestly for this blessing till it is obtained, or will you be among the careless and indifferent? All heaven desires you to seek and to obtain.

We believe that great things await this people in the future. Bright experiences are before them. Already our brethren from different parts of the field tell of the gracious refreshing from the presence of the Lord in connection with the recent week of prayer services. Pentecostal seasons were experienced, sinners were converted, the sick were healed, and God manifested himself graciously to his praying children. These experiences will be duplicated many times before the message closes.

Dear reader, what will be your experience? Where will you stand? To which company will you belong? It will be a personal work, an individual experience. Although Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, they could deliver only their own souls in that day. We cannot enter heaven through the experience of our brethren. We must seek and find for ourselves; and this is the blessed privilege which God grants to each one of his children.

F. M. W.