Our Only Safety by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 27, 1903

Our Only Safety

By Editor

Editorial

Our Only Safety

We are in the last days. The perils of the last days are upon us. The snares of the enemy are on every hand. No human wisdom can save us from the deceptions of this day, and no human power can deliver us from the wrath of the dragon. Our only safety is in heeding the very message which we ourselves have declared to be the last message of mercy to the world. This message must become our life, or we shall have no life. This message must become our wisdom, or we shall have no wisdom. This message must become our defense, or we shall have no defense. The time of test is here. A formal profession of belief of this message, though never of any value, will now be revealed as of no value. Only the genuine experience of “the everlasting gospel,” manifested in the life as “the power of God unto salvation,” will meet the demands of these closing days. The character of every man will be tested. The standing of every man will be made manifest. This is the shaking time, and choices are being made now which will determine the destiny of souls. Our salvation depends upon heeding the warning message, and turning to God with full purpose of heart. Those who have a part in the loud cry of this message must themselves experience the power of the message in the transformation of character. “Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.”

The Meaning of It

In the first issue of the Review after the burning of the Office, we suggested that we should now put to ourselves the question, “What do these things mean?” We can find a clear answer to this question in the article by Sister White, beginning on page 8. It is plain that God is in earnest with his people. In two very marked providences, the burning of the Sanitarium and the printing office, he is appealing to his people to return to him. And now we are earnestly urged to act upon these appeals, in which there has been such a loss of property, but such a providential care over life, with the very solemn statement that a neglect of these appeals will bring affliction upon the families of those who profess the truth, but do not reveal it in their lives. It is no time now to attempt to justify ourselves before the world, and to save our reputation. It is infinitely better to be right with God. We may now take up the prayer of Daniel: “We have sinned, and have dealt perversely, . . . neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. . . . And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us . . . by bringing upon us a great evil. . . . O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive.” There is much hope in this faithful reproof. It is the call of a loving Father to his erring children. O that there may be in us a heart to accept the reproof and to act upon it. “Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

That Day

There is a day so well known that the apostle Paul designates it simply as “that day.” Here is one instance where he mentions it in this way: “I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Again he says: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day.” But this expression is not confined to the writings of the apostle Paul or to the New Testament. Thus we read in the book of the prophet Isaiah: “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.” Jesus had the same day in mind when he said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name? . . . And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.” What day is this?—Plainly it is “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Evidently it is “that great day of God Almighty.” Undoubtedly it is the day of “the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day.” This is “the day of the Lord.” This is emphatically “that day.” There is no day like it in the world’s calendar. It is “a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.” “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.” “Alas for the day!” “Day of wrath, that day!” But there is hope for us in that day, if we are willing to accept the Lord’s provision. For he has “interposed with an oath; that . . . we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us: which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil.” “Hope putteth not to shame.” The Lord grant that we all may “find mercy of the Lord in that day.”