p. 211 | FINISHING THE WORK by W. M. Healey

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1901

FINISHING THE WORK

By W. M. Healey

W. M. HEALEY (Dulzura, Cal.)

“For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Rom. 9:28. In Ps. 119:172 we read that all God’s commandments are righteousness. Then the Lord will cut the work short in all His commandments. This closing work for fallen man is done under the third angel of Rev. 14:9–12. This angel warns men against sin, then calls out a people, as shown by the words of verse 12: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

For more than half a century this message has been before the world, and naturally we ask how long before its work will be finished. The Lord has not given any date when He will come, but Rev. 14:14 shows that it will be at the close of this commandment message. Peter tells us that when the Lord is about to come, men will scoff, and will say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” 2 Peter 3:4. The time when His people looked for His coming is evidently in the past, and many conclude that the “promise” is worthless. The message to prepare a people for translation has been longer than most of those who accepted it at the first supposed it would be.

There has never been a time since its rise when those giving the message saw so much to do as at the present time. They see why the Lord has not come; for “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. Since it is the Spirit of the Lord that convicts souls, and the word of God, the law, that convinces of sin, why does not the work go more rapidly? It is the Lord who is to cut it “short.” Why, then, the slowness of the message? The proofs are clear, and the arguments are convincing. Why do not those who are willing to do all God’s will speedily join with us? Evidently we have come short in power to move men to accept the truth. Many have toiled for years “with sweat drops on the brow,” and some have fallen under the heavy load; but Christ said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We make the work hard for ourselves and for the Lord. By using a dull tool a carpenter makes his work difficult and of inferior quality. God is using man as the instrument by which to do His work. The unfitness of the instrument makes the work hard, and that which is done is all marred and imperfect. These human instruments are left to choose what they will be, and should they place themselves wholly in the Master’s hands first to prepare, and then to use as He wills, He would fit them for better and easier work.

For three and one-half years the disciples were with Jesus, and yet at His cross none had courage to stand fully with Him. And after all the overwhelming proofs of His Messiahship which were connected with His death and resurrection, and although He met with the disciples often, on one occasion more than five hundred being present, and taught the Word to them, still the work went hard, and men would not accept the truth. On the morning of the day of Pentecost the whole number of disciples was “about an hundred and twenty.” Acts 1:15. As they went forth to the work of the day, doubtless they hoped and prayed that some might see and obey the truth; but who looked for their number to be increased many fold? But that night there were three thousand one hundred and twenty.

This was because the Holy Ghost came upon them. Why did He come that day more than on former occasions?—Simply because there had been a change in the hearts of the disciples. The spirit of “who should be the greatest” had departed, and tender, compassionate love had taken its place. The human instrument was prepared for the Master’s use, and He could add power, and not mar His work. To give more power to a poor instrument is to have more damaged work. If the people proclaiming this message were right before the Lord, a very short time would finish the work.

I know that we look to the millions in India, China, etc., and ask, How can we get the message to them in a short time? I answer: Just as Jonah got his to the people of Nineveh. Jonah 3:3 tells us that Nineveh “was an exceedingly great city of three-days’ journey.” Verse 4 says: “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah had calculated on three-days’ work, and did not have to do one. He “began to enter into the city a day’s journey.” When he had just started out, all the city, from the king down, were repenting of sin. Verses 6 and 7 tell how it was done: “For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water.” Then the people were told to cry unto God, and to put away their sin. Thus we see that the king and his nobles took Jonah’s message and carried it for him, as soon as he had fairly begun his work.

The people of Nineveh evidently believed that the message was from God. They had some proof of this, else they would not have been so moved by the work of this stranger. Probably they knew the circumstances under which Jonah had come to them, and on account of his miraculous preservation, at once decided that he was from God. Here is the trouble to-day in our work. The world is not fully satisfied that we are of God, and have a message from Him. If it were, we should, like Jonah, find many in the world ready to come forward, with their influence and their money, to carry the message. We should need only to begin; and best of all, we should have an experience like that of the disciples after Pentecost, when “believers were the more added to the Lord.”

We often hear the expression, “I believe the Adventists are nearer right than others are.” But there is lacking the clear evidence that we are of God, and are giving His message. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35. Here is proof which will convince all men—the heathen and the Israelite. It is not that we can prove that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and can show the apostasy of many professors; can clearly define, and warn against, the “mark of the Beast;” can loudly denounce the crookedness of earthly tribunals and governments, etc. We may do all this, and still not have power to move men’s hearts from sin. They do not heed our message because they do not see that we have it from God. It is to them as if it had come from the politician, or rather, from a company trying to build up a new religious sect.

No, brethren, while we have glorious truths to preach, first of all let the proof be present that we are from God. Then the work will go easy. The Lord will give power. The message will be taken up and carried to the world when we have only begun the work; and God will suddenly “cut it short in righteousness.”