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The Message for Today

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 9, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 41.

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The Message for Today

The Christian church has passed through many crises in its history. Through the ages it has stood as the conservator of the truth of God and the one through whom his messages have been proclaimed to the world. Great movements have engaged her attention. Some of these movements have been specific in their character. To the antediluvians, Noah, the representative of God, preached the message of the coming flood, and under Heaven’s direction provided a means of deliverance to all who would accept the proffered salvation. Jonah was sent to warn Nineveh of its impending doom. Through heeding the message which he bore, the inhabitants were saved and the threatened destruction long delayed. When Christ was about to appear among men, chosen messengers from God, the holy angels, John the Baptist, Simeon, Anna, and others proclaimed the glad news of the coming Saviour.
In the order of God other great religious awakenings occurred. The Lord raised up Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, and others for the accomplishment of a great work in the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Later a great quickening impulse was given to the cause of Christianity through the Spirit-filled preaching of John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and others.
These movements and messages came for the most part in response to the voice of prophecy. John the Baptist was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” long before predicted by Isaiah the prophet. Luther and his colaborers clearly did a work outlined on the prophetic page.
We have reached a period in the history of the church and of the world when, according to the prophecies of the Scripture, the time has come for another great religious awakening. Another message is due the church and the world,—the message of the second coming of the Lord and Saviour to this earth.
This earth’s history is soon to close. Fulfilling prophecy and signs—conditions existing in the social, political, industrial, and religious worlds—plainly indicate that a time has been reached when events of a significant, startling, and most stupendous character are about to take place; that the long reign of sin is soon to be cut short; and that the generation now living will witness the appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven. The message based upon these fulfilling prophecies and signs is now being proclaimed. To the advocacy of this message the people represented by this movement have devoted their lives and their fortunes.
For the benefit of those who may desire to know more particularly the cardinal features of the faith held by this denomination, we shall state that Seventh-day Adventists believe,—
1. In the divine Trinity. This Trinity consists of the eternal Father, a personal, spiritual being, omnipotent, omniscient, infinite in power, wisdom, and love; of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal Father, through whom all things were created, and through whom the salvation of the redeemed hosts will be accomplished; the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, the one regenerating agency in the work of redemption.
2. That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by the inspiration of God, and contain a full revelation of his will to men, and are the only infallible rule of faith and practise.
3. That Jesus Christ, while retaining his divine nature, took upon himself the nature of the human family, lived on this earth as a man, gave his life for the salvation of the race; and that forgiveness and remission of sins, the attainment of spiritual perfection, and the securing of eternal life at last, can be obtained only by faith in his atoning blood and through the redeeming grace which he supplies.
4. That, in fulfilment of the Old Testament types, Jesus, the Son of God, is now “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” That, as our great High Priest in this heavenly sanctuary, he presents his own sacrifice before the Father in behalf of sinful men, and to those who will accept it he ministers the needed grace with which they carry on their warfare against sin. Thus he serves as the one Mediator between God and man, rendering both unnecessary and impossible any other system of mediation.
5. That the proper form of baptism is by immersion, and that this ordinance of the Christian church should follow repentance and forgiveness of sins, and that through its celebration faith is shown in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
6. That every soul in order to obtain salvation must experience the new birth. That this comprises an entire transformation of the life and character through the recreative agency of the Holy Spirit.
7. That the will of God for his children is comprehended in the law of the ten commandments, and that these are great moral, unchangeable precepts binding upon the children of God in every age of the church.
8. That through the new covenant relationship the Spirit of Christ writes this law upon the heart, and in this way only can its precepts find expression in the life in sincere, faithful obedience.
9. That the fourth commandment of this unchangeable law requires the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, an institution which was established and ordained in the garden of Eden before man sinned, embosomed in the great law of moral precepts spoken from Mt. Sinai, observed by prophet and priest throughout the old dispensation, kept by Christ and his apostles in the Christian dispensation, and given to mankind in every age to keep alive in their hearts the knowledge of its Author, the Creator of all things.
10. That Christian temperance embraces the proper use of that which is good, and total abstinence from all that is bad. That the liquor traffic, being only evil, should be prohibited by appropriate legislation.
11. That the church and the state occupy different spheres of operation, the former dealing with questions of a religious character, the sphere of the latter pertaining alone to questions of a civil character. The church and the state should therefore be kept forever separate.
12. That the Scriptural means for the support of Christian evangelical work in the earth is by the payment of one tenth of the regular income, and by free-will offerings from the thankful, grateful children of God.
13. That man possesses a nature inherently sinful and dying; that eternal life and immortality come only through the gospel, and are bestowed as the free gift of God by Jesus Christ in the day of final awards.
14. That the time has been reached when the work of the gospel will soon be consummated; when Christ, who now officiates as our great High Priest in the heavens above, will close his ministry and come to this earth to take his children home. That at that time the righteous dead will be raised to meet their Lord, and, together with the righteous living, be changed to glorious immortality.
15. That in the fires of the last day, this earth will be regenerated and cleansed from the effects of the curse; and that in the final conflagration, Satan and all the impenitent will be destroyed. The creation of God will be restored to its pristine beauty and purity, and will forever constitute the abode of the saints of the Lord.
The glad news of the coming kingdom is now going to the world. By tongue and pen, by gospel herald and by printed page, in more than ninety of earth’s languages and dialects, the message of the Saviour’s soon coming is being carried to the nations of men. The Scriptures of Truth do not reveal the hour nor day nor year when Christ will return, but conditions on every hand proclaim his coming near. He bids us watch and be ready. He bids us give to those in darkness a knowledge of his saving grace. May we prove true to our high calling of God in Christ Jesus