A Testing Message by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Sep 5, 1912

A Testing Message

By C. M. S.

WE are now nearing the great crisis in the history of this world. To pass through that crisis victoriously means a work of no little intensity. It can not be accomplished by our doing as we please now, and when the final clash of forces takes place, quickly ranging ourselves on the side of truth. Character is not made in a moment. Loyalty can not be demonstrated by one act. Ocean steamers do not start out from port, and wander aimlessly about in the sea, with their captain expecting that when the moment arrives for him to be at some destined port, he will be there with his ship. How we stand in that day of days will be determined by how we stand now and from now on.

The prophet Malachi speaks of that day of proving in vivid and fearful language. He says:—

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts. But who can abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver.” Mal. 3: 1-3.

In order to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, it was necessary that God should give to all peoples an opportunity to demonstrate whether they are for him or against him. So our Saviour says:—

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24: 14.

With this agrees perfectly the following declaration of the revelator:—

“I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having eternal good tidings to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, and unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he saith with a great voice, Fear God and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come.” Rev. 14: 6, 7.

Inspiration places the giving of the last message (the gospel of the kingdom, or eternal good tidings) in immediate connection with the end of time, the end of earth’s history. In the one place it is “then shall the end come,” and in the other “the hour of his judgment is come.” These two expressions refer to what is practically the same period. The close of the judgment work and the end of the world are practically synchronous. By both the scriptures last referred to is the world promised a message of warning and preparation before the inhabitants of this world are called to stand before the bar of God. The testimony which Malachi gives is practically the same. The messenger who is sent to prepare the way, before the Lord shall suddenly come to his temple, is the people who are now giving the third angel’s message.

That message is a touchstone, which reveals both the character of the individual and his attitude toward the foundation of God’s government. It tests the character of those who hear it as the refiner’s fire tests and purifies the metal, and as the fuller’s soap tests and cleanses the fabric to which it is applied. It is God’s last call. Through the ages of the past he has been calling his people, warning them, admonishing them, pleading with them to turn from that which is dragging them down to ruin, and to lay hold of that which will lead them up to the heights of everlasting peace and joy and righteousness; to turn from the certainty of death unending to the certainty of life everlasting. But he could not continue it forever. To do that forever would mean that sin with all that it brings would go on forever. There must be an end, and it is the proclamation of this threefold message in all the world that brings the end.

The message given us through the prophet Malachi shows this to be the case. The messenger prepares the way, and immediately “the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple.” There he finds the “book of remembrance,” in which has been written the deeds and the character of his loyal people. Concerning them he says:—

“And they shall be mine, saith Jehovah of hosts, even mine own possession, in the day that I make; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Mal. 3: 17, 18.

These are the loyal remnant whom God takes out of the world. Some have been saying that it is vain to serve God, and so they have refused to serve him, and by what they have said and by what they have done, have encouraged others to do likewise. Then, in the day that he makes, God demonstrates whether or not it is in vain to serve God. To that company which he takes out of the world as trophies of his grace, and whom he makes joint heirs with Christ in the eternal inheritance, he makes very plain what the difference is between “him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” And to that company which is left behind he demonstrates that “the wages of sin is death.”

Quoting again from Malachi:—

“For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of hosts.” Mal. 4: 1-3.

This shows what is to be the culmination of both the work of the gospel and the work of sin in this earth. The one brings out and perfects a company who will share eternity with God; the other brings out a company who will share

with Satan and with sin the end which they both merit. The righteous, who have been trodden upon in all ages by the Ishmaels of this world and who have been deprived of their rights, civil and religious, and even of life itself, by the Cains of religious oppression, will, in that day, tread upon the ashes of those who have trodden upon them. And the same feet that tread upon the ashes of the wicked in that day, will, before that time, have stood upon the sea of glass around the throne of God, where those who have been redeemed out of this world will sing the song of victory over this world and over the god of this world. C. M. S.