The Closing Work by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 8, 1903

The Closing Work

By Editor

Editorial

The Closing Work

THE generation which witnesses the coming of the Lord will be used in doing the closing work of the gospel which will prepare the way of the Lord. This closing work will mean such a preaching of the pure gospel of salvation through faith in Christ that every unsaved one will be without excuse in the day of judgment. This closing work will be a reform work. Every hidden truth will be brought to light. Every perversion of gospel truth will be exposed. Those gifts which belong in the church, but of which it has been deprived for centuries, will be restored. All the inventions and traditions of men, which have been allowed to assume so important a place in the church, will be swept aside, and the gospel in its simplicity, that gospel which convicts and converts the sinner, will be taught with authority. “At the eleventh hour, when the work grows harder, a variety of talents will be brought in. The workers called at this hour will prove faithful, and will receive their penny. Sacrificing men will step into the places made vacant by those who were not willing to do that which would have fitted them for a place in the heavenly temple. These workers will continue to come in. The Lord will provide openings and facilities. He will call upon the youth to fill up the places made vacant by death and apostasy. He will give young men and women, as well as those who are older, the co-operation of heavenly intelligences. These will have converted minds, converted tongues. Their lips will be touched with a live coal from the divine altar. If they will continue to walk humbly with God, if they will do that to which the Lord has appointed them, they will be enabled to carry his work onward and upward.” These are the experiences which await us in the near future in this closing work. Let all believers, young and old, be quick to hear and quick to obey the voice which calls them to their places in this closing work.

With Intense Earnestness

THOSE who really believe that this is the last generation, and that they will live to see the return of our Lord, will certainly give themselves with intense earnestness to the work of sounding the warning message in all the world. To do less than this would be criminal, and would involve responsibility for the loss of souls. The work of preparing the way of the Lord will not be completed until the gospel of the coming kingdom has been proclaimed with a loud voice throughout the whole world. In this work divine agencies are to co-operate with human instrumentalities; and humanly speaking, much depends upon the zeal and consecration of the instrument. It is the constant effort of Satan, the enemy of God’s kingdom, to bring every possible influence to bear upon us to deaden our appreciation of the solemnity of the time and the importance of the work, and to check any spirit of real zeal for the hastening of the Lord’s work in the earth. We must recognize this working of the enemy, and not permit him to accomplish his purpose concerning us. We can not afford to allow any other interest to absorb our attention, or any other purpose to absorb our energies, so that we can not give our best efforts to the work of saving souls from the impending ruin. “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly,” and the great mass of the inhabitants of the earth are being deceived and robbed of their rightful inheritance. O for men and women of intense earnestness, but with a zeal according to knowledge, who could be used mightily in establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people! The third angel’s message, proclaimed in the demonstration of the Spirit, will accomplish this result. Let the message be given with intense earnestness.

The Inner Life

IN his teaching Jesus placed the greatest emphasis upon the actual indwelling of that life which would reveal itself in conduct in harmony with right principles. To Nicodemus, the formalist, he said, “Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” To the Pharisees he said, “Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.” To his disciples he said, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” All genuine religious experience is the direct result of a work wrought by divine power within a man, and is the fruit rather than the cause of the inner life. “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do.” This is the teaching of the inspired prayer of the great apostle: “Now the God of peace, . . . make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.” And so the Saviour said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” No mere outward activity can take the place of this inner life. No mere fleshly zeal to push to apparent success plans of our own devising, even though they may be professedly aimed at the furtherance of the Lord’s work, can supply the lack of the genuine principles of righteousness implanted in the heart. What a spectacle it is when satanic principles and methods are adopted in their work by those who claim to be laborers together with God. The very sanctuary of God thus becomes the stronghold of the enemy, and the most sacred trusts are betrayed. But such is the deceitfulness of sin. Only a personal acquaintance with God and his truth, and a settled purpose to submit our lives to his rule, will save us from this terrible snare of the enemy. An indwelling Saviour is the only Saviour who can save us from our sins. The life current must be from within outward. “A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit.” The inner life determines the quality of our Christianity. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” “Ye must be born again.” The life of Jesus must be made manifest in our mortal flesh.