p. 3 | The World and the Message

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 13, 1906

The World and the Message

(Concluded)

There is another thought which I wish to emphasize, and that is, this message as the light of the world. You remember those words in the first chapter of John: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” This message which will have an influence to stay this tide, is truly proclaimed only when it is life in the individual.

Now this idea that we can preach the message, and yet not be inspired by it, and not be in harmony with it, is all wrong. There is no power in the mere logic and the mere reasoning of this message. It requires something more than that. When you come to it, the thing itself is very, very simple. To give the message is more than simply to speak words to people out of a book. It is not demonstrating that certain things are taught in the Bible. It requires more than that to bring people out of the world and convert them to this truth, and make them willing to yield themselves in obedience to God, in the face of all the increasing opposition. It is when this truth is a living power that it takes hold of hearts, and changes them. The message that we are to proclaim in order that it shall be the light of the world, must be a message of life, it must live in us.

Of course we face this: we feel that our circle of influence is circumscribed. What can we do to stem the tide of evil anywhere? Of this you may be assured, that we are not responsible for stemming any tide of evil outside the circle of influence in which God puts us. But in the circle of influence that we have, we are just as responsible to exert an influence as are those in a wider sphere of influence for exerting an influence in that wider sphere. If every one in the place where he is put, is the living message; there will be a power and a leaven in the earth. You can see how this leaven is spreading when you compare the centers of work and influence for this message with the situation within our recollection. Only thirty-two years ago our first missionary went abroad to other lands, but our work has advanced so that now this message has to be reckoned with in its way in almost every country in the world. And it never withdraws. It moves out, it gets a foothold, and it builds up. In many countries, even the dark countries, the so-called heathen countries, we have more or less work going forward, and this message is known. The missionaries are learning of the message, and they feel it has to be reckoned with, because almost everywhere they turn, they find this truth being proclaimed.

Now the one thing that we must expect in this movement is that there shall be a new inspiration, a new awakening. As there is an awakening on the part of the world, so there must be a corresponding quickening, a corresponding revelation of increased power that shall meet these things.

That calls for such a living, vital message that it will adapt itself at once to every one of these new developments. There is light in God's Word and in this message as to the meaning of these movements in the earth. They can be explained only in the light of the fact that this is the last generation, this is the closing of this long controversy, and that there is an inspiration revealing itself in the final effort to prevent the gospel of Christ from reaching the people, from bringing to them the news of the present situation, and salvation from it.

We need not think that these influences will not come to us. We perhaps feel that there is no danger that we shall ever feel the effects of the wave of free-loveism that is sweeping over the world. But we need not flatter ourselves that these things will not come to us. They may come to us in a different way from what they have to some others; but every influence that the enemy can bring against God's truth and work will come to us. It is only by being rooted and grounded in the truth that we shall stand against these influences, and be the channel through which a power can be exerted that will draw toward this truth.

There can not be two or three messages of truth working in opposition to each other. God does not have several movements in the earth, each one condemning the other. His message of truth must be an exclusive message. It can not be this sort of broad, general message that will take in every phase of

opposition to it, and mold and adapt them, and let each have its place. There is only one divine plan, one Saviour, one way of salvation, only one special message to the world for this time, and that is God's message. And he has called out a people to be used of him, to be his representatives in the earth, to give that message, to stand for that message in the earth. That is according to the divine plan. To be able to do that, we must be in touch with heavenly agencies: we must be permeated by the message itself, so that the message lives in us, rules our lives, transforms us, and makes us in ourselves the living representatives of the message that we talk about and the truth that we present. That can not come simply by knowing what may be called the leading doctrines. Of course we must know them; but all these doctrines have just one aim, and that is, that when these principles are actually received in the life, and become a part of the life, the individual as a whole shall represent Christ in the earth. To do that in the earth now, we must be Sabbath-keepers; we must be believers in the soon coming of Christ; we must hold those fundamental truths that are the very pillars of this message. The very spirit of this message should mold and transform our lives. It is absolutely useless for us to preach the doctrine of unselfishness, and yet manifest selfishness in every detail of our own lives. It is absolutely useless for us to advocate self-sacrifice, and yet in the actual daily experiences that come to us, be unwilling to sacrifice anything, but demand everything. There is a constant danger in the actual experiences of life, in our relation with one another, in our relation to God's work, in our relation to the people, that, while professedly we represent the purest type of Christianity, yet in our actual daily relation with one another, in our actual daily relation with the world, we represent exactly the spirit of the world. It is the spirit of the world to be grasping, to get the very last thing that may possibly be claimed, and to hold more if possible. When we do such things, we give people just ground for classing us with the people of the world. Are we not under obligations in our ordinary dealing with people, in some way to make it clear to the world that there are some things of greater value than the question of a privilege here or a right there, or something that belongs to us? Is there not a trait of character, a revealing of principle, that is of more value than the question of obtaining or owning material things? That is the practical meaning of this message, the practical revealing of it.

The key-note of this message is, The return of Christ to this earth will not be long delayed. The value of things temporal is often computed by the length of time they can be retained. We are now drawing near the time of the jubilee, when the coming of the Lord and the new order of things will be ushered in. Should not the coming of the Lord have its influence in our views of these things? and should there not be the solemn testimony borne by us, that there is a message which has an influence upon our lives, that in some way makes us different? The only way we can accomplish that will be by being in touch with heaven and heavenly influences. We may be the visible representatives of this truth, the power of the Spirit working this truth in us, and revealing in our lives its power to stem the tide of evil now in the world.

The World and the Message*

The World and the Message