What This Denomination Exists For
By E. W. Farnsworth
(Reading for Sunday, December 11) Seventh-day Adventists are ordained of God to do a specific work. That work is to enlighten the world concerning the coming of Christ in this generation. That which will advance this work is proper and right for a Seventh-day Adventist to engage in; and that which will not advance it, is not proper for him to engage in. Notice a few points in these texts:— These angels flew. Wings symbolize swiftness, celerity. The eagle's wings on the back of the lion in the seventh chapter of Daniel are interpreted as meaning, “Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and . . . they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.” Hab. 1:6-8. So also the four wings on the leopard indicated the great celerity of movement in the Grecian army. So, likewise, the angels who bring from heaven the last message this world will ever hear, have wings with which they fly to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” The King's business requires haste. We are to speedily carry what he has to say to all parts of the world. Another feature of the message is made prominent by its own language. The angel declares what he has to say “with a loud voice.” Verse 7. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice.” Verse 9. “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice.” Rev. 18:1, 2. “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven. . . . His face was as it were the sun . . . and he . . . cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth.” Rev. 10:1-3. What do these repeated and intensified expressions mean?—They are descriptive of the power and definiteness with which this latter-day message is to go to all the world. They describe the unqualified positiveness and certainty with which the warning message is to be given. There is no mental reservation on the part of those who truly give it. There can be no saying in their hearts, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” With all the assurance and conviction that can be begotten by the testimony of the Scriptures and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they go forth to proclaim their message. This is the work God has given Seventh-day Adventists to do. He has given it to no one else, and he has given them nothing else to do. They have one mission while they live, and only one, and that is to give the message of the third angel. Anything that does not pertain to this work is not legitimate for them to do. Another prophet describes their mission as follows: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2:1. Something startling and tremendous is about to occur. “The day of the Lord cometh.” An alarm must be given. The world must be aroused and warned. And yet another prophet bears this testimony: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Isa. 58:1. Such a message as this, the Scriptures declare, must be given, “and the Scripture can not be broken.” Therefore God has ordained that the people whom he has called out from the world should go to every nation and country, and declare the truth that he has made known to them. This people stands related to their work, to the world, and to God as did John the Baptist. Seven hundred years before his birth the prophet heard “the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isa. 40:3. Centuries passed by, till, at last, a man began to preach in the wilderness just as the prophet had foretold. When asked who he was, he replied, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” John 1:23. John was simply a “voice;” so Seventh-day Adventists are to be the “voice” of the angel referred to in the scriptures previously quoted. The voice of John was heard only in the wilderness of Judea; but the voice that the prophet heard giving the last message was sounding in ringing tones to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” John went only to his own people in the wilderness; but Seventh-day Adventists must go to every nation, every kindred, every tongue, and every people. The work of John was to prepare a people to meet Christ at his first advent, when he came in lowliness as a sin-bearer, a sin-cleanser; but the work of Seventh-day Adventists is to prepare a people to meet Christ at his second advent, when he comes as “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” His mission then is not to cleanse men from sin, but to translate those who are cleansed and prepared to behold his glory. If it was necessary that a message be given to prepare a people to meet Christ at his first advent, how much more is it necessary that one should be given to prepare men to meet him when he comes in glory! The Saviour, when speaking of this message, and its close, said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14. This is the climax of the gospel. To emphasize this fact, the Saviour taught that this generation would not pass till all these things are fulfilled. And then, as if to extinguish the last doubt, he lifts his hand to heaven, and exclaims, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” This makes more emphatic our mission and work. Every one to whom the light comes should be a light-bearer. The one all-absorbing thought should be the proclamation of the message. Every plan and purpose should be, will be, colored by the faith we have in this message. That which will form the object of our constant contemplation will be this gospel work. Every plan for labor, the arrangement and furnishings of our dwellings, the buying and selling of property, the education of our children, the disposition we make of our money—and in truth every act and plan of life—will be made with direct reference to the light that God has given us—the third and last angel's message. Every faculty of our mind and body must be given to this work. Our money should be devoted to the same purpose. Our thoughts in the day, and our dreams in the night, must be of this work. “But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.” 1 Cor. 7:29-31.