The Lord's Messenger by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Apr 22, 1902

The Lord's Messenger

By Editor

Editorial

The Lord's Messenger

It is plainly declared in the Scripture that the work of John the Baptist was a direct fulfillment of prophecy. “As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” Before the Messiah should appear as the anointed of God, the only hope of salvation for sinners, there must be a messenger who should interpret to the people the word of the Lord through the prophets, and thus prepare the way of the Lord.

The Message of the Prophets

The Lord's messenger must have a message. He whose work is the fulfillment of prophecy must declare the message of the prophets. And so it was with John the Baptist. His message was the living word of God spoken to his own soul through the ministry of the prophets, and then delivered to the people with the authority of a prophet. “The word of God came unto John . . . and he came . . . preaching . . . as it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet.” It was not his work to originate a new message, but to be a messenger, that the message already spoken through the prophet might have an interpreter who should declare it to the people. And thus the way of the Lord would be prepared.

Behold Your God

The message of John the Baptist was based largely upon the prophecy of Isaiah, especially the fortieth chapter and onward. It is a message of comfort to God's people, borne to them in a voice crying, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, . . . and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. . . . All flesh is grass. . . . The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: . . . but the word of our God shall stand forever. . . . Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him.” The weakness of the flesh, the enduring power of the word of the Lord, God manifested in the flesh as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” and the coming of the Lord as the time and means of the final reward to his waiting people,—this was the message of the prophets through the Lord's messenger, John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness. And this message would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.

Only a Voice Needed

It was only necessary that the word of the Lord should find a voice in which it might be sounded forth to the world. John the Baptist, who was “filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb,” willingly became that voice for the divine word, and thus fulfilled the prophetic office, doing a work “in the spirit and power of Elias” the prophet. “When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? . . . he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. . . . Then said they unto him, Who art thou? . . . He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” John the Baptist did not preach his own opinions, nor set forth his own ideas, neither did he declare to the people the traditions of the church. There were plenty of men in his day who were doing just that thing, but there was neither light nor salvation in their teaching, and so the people wandered on in darkness and sin. There were plenty of men who were willing to be messengers for themselves, or for their church, but John the Baptist was willing to be the Lord's messenger, and so the Lord gave him a message which stirred “all the land of Judea,” and made sinners tremble, from the peasant in his humble cottage to the haughty king on his throne. And the Lord's own testimony concerning him was, “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.” And yet he was only a voice. What an exalted privilege it is to be a voice for the Lord! It is the voice for the Lord, speaking the word of the Lord, which prepares the way of the Lord.

The Work not yet Completed

The message of the prophets which will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord will not be fully given until the way of the Lord is so prepared that he comes bringing his reward with him. And so just before the coming of the Lord, and as a preparation for that coming, the word of the Lord must find a voice, and the message of the prophets must have an interpretation, in order that this gospel of the kingdom may be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. In the prophecy this is presented in the following fore-view: “And I saw another angel . . . having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, . . . saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. . . . And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen. . . . And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image . . . the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Rev. 14:6–10. This is simply a new setting, made necessary by the great apostasy, for the message of the prophets as declared by John the Baptist, the one only and everlasting gospel. It is only necessary that this message should find a voice, a loud voice which shall resound throughout the whole earth, in order that the John-the-Baptist message may be fully and finally given, the way of the Lord be completely prepared, and the Son of man come in power and great glory.

The Mission of Seventh-Day Adventists

In the providence of God this people have been raised up and commissioned to do this closing work. The light which is to enlighten the world has been committed unto them. This movement to give “the advent message to the world in this generation” is just as clearly a fulfillment of prophecy as was the work of John the Baptist, and in fact, it is simply the revival of his message with such a fullness of power as will reveal the glory of the Lord for all that he is as Creator, Redeemer, Priest, and King, and bring the final consummation. The question now is, Shall we respond to the glorious opportunity, accept for our own experience the message of the prophets, and be willing to be a voice for the word of the Lord? The time is a critical one. Momentous results

hang upon the decisions of the present hour. Shall we be laborers together with God, accepting the high calling to be voice to the world for his last warning message? or shall we blindly refuse the opportunity of the ages? Shall it be said again, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes”? God forbid! This is the time of our visitation. “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.” Be the Lord's messenger. “Lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” “Behold the Lamb of God!” “Behold, he cometh with clouds.” So shall this people fill the place offered to them; the advent message will be given in this generation; the way of the Lord will be prepared; and our eyes shall see the King in his beauty. Let every heart be filled with holy zeal and every life with loyal service to hasten the day.

“Jesus calls us! Meekly hearing, Master, now we heed thy call, Give our hearts to thy obedience, Serve and love thee best of all.”