PURPOSE OF THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.
By L. A. S.
WHY is a special proclamation necessary to prepare the world for the second coming of Christ? Death, we are sometimes told, is the end of the world; and truly enough, to the individual overtaken by it, it is the end of all things until the resurrection. But the last message to the world is not to prepare people for death; for death has been busy in all ages of the world, and the grace of God has ever been the means, as it is now, whereby men might prepare themselves for the fatal visitation. If, then, men do not need a special message from God to prepare them for death, why do they need such a message to prepare them for the end of the world? The end of the world will not more truly fix the destiny of any person than it is fixed by death. It is not more important to be prepared for the end of the world than to be prepared for death. Nor can we suppose that God is sending a special message to the world to-day because He especially favors this generation, and would provide them an extraordinary opportunity to secure eternal salvation in His kingdom. The purpose of the Third Angel's Message is not to prepare people for death, or to confer upon them some special privilege not enjoyed by other generations, but to prepare the world for the judgment. The investigative judgment began its session, has been in progress, and will be finished, in this generation. The proclamation of the first angel is, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” It called for a great work of reform, for the Church as well as the world had been transgressing the Fourth Commandment, not observing the day sanctified by Him who made heaven and earth. This message to the world called upon men to show their loyalty to God by turning from the observance of an institution set up by the papacy, to the observance of the Sabbath of the Lord, which He has given to be the sign of His authority and power. It called upon men to separate themselves from the world and from the churches which retained merely a form of godliness, and make manifest the fact of their loyalty to the God of heaven. Thus this message brought to men a test by which it would be determined who were loyal to God, and therefore worthy of a place in the kingdom of God. It was a test which would lead men to take a decided stand for or against the truth of God, and thus draw a dividing line through the inhabitants of the earth. The Creator set His hand to the work of gathering out a people loyal to himself; and the adversary, Satan, set himself against the work, and instituted measures by which he hoped to gather the inhabitants of the earth under his banner. The churches which rejected the message of the hour of God's judgment suffered thereby a moral fall, and placed themselves where they could be used to further the purposes of the enemy. As God had called upon the world to worship Him, Satan sought to bring the world to an opposite worship, whereby men would manifest that they were disloyal to God. He set about to revive the spirit and principles of the papacy. The “Beast” still survived in the Old World, and in the New he began the work of making an image, or likeness, of it, so that in all the world men might be drawn or forced to the worship of either the one or the other. And then came another message from the God of heaven, denouncing the worship of the Beast and his Image, and threatening the unmixed wrath of God upon all who should be guilty of such worship. Thus with the proclamation of the hour of God's judgment and the call to return to the true worship of the Creator, intensity was infused into the conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan in the earth. New influences were brought to bear both for and against the truth, and men were moved by a new power both from above and from beneath, and upon both sides this power has been continually re-enforced. Upon the side of God it will culminate in the “loud cry” and the latter rain, and upon the side of the enemy it will culminate in the “working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” Thus the inhabitants of the world will be brought to take their stand upon the one side or the other. They will be brought to judge themselves worthy or unworthy of eternal life. “All are now deciding their eternal destiny. . . . The law of God is to be magnified; its claims must be presented in their true, sacred character, that the people may be brought to decide for or against the truth.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VI. “The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty; for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not.”—Great Controversy, page 605. “By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand.”—Id. page 612. Thus the inhabitants of the world will be brought, one and all, to decide their own cases, to judge themselves. “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the papacy—the “Beast” or his “Image”], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”769Rev. 13:8. These facts have, we believe, a direct bearing on the question that is sometimes asked, whether at this time the judgment in heaven has begun upon the cases of the living. The cases of the living are not passed upon as are those of the dead, and cannot be, while probation lasts. But each person living is, by every act and by the decisions he now makes, no less surely passing upon his own case, and facing his final destiny. The influences which God has set at work in the earth, and which are continually increasing in power, are drawing each one of us nearer to God and heaven, or, if we resist them, leaving us further and further separated from Him and the happy destiny of the redeemed. And when the last message shall have done its work, the destiny of every living person will be as clearly decided as are the destinies of the dead; and the investigative judgment will be finished. God is at this time sealing His servants with His seal. This sealing work goes forward, and the elements of destruction are held in check, until the last one who will accept the gift of eternal life has done so, and been sealed. Thus the case of every child of God is decided for a place in the family of God, and by the absence of the same token all other cases are marked for final destruction. Thus the purpose of the Third Angel's Message is to fix the eternal destiny of every person living, not by arbitrarily closing the probation of any, but by bringing each individual to make the final choice for himself.