p. 3 | THE COMPELLING MESSAGE by Ellen G. White

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 4, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 18.

THE COMPELLING MESSAGE

By Ellen G. White

The Invitation Is Urgent—Both the Low and the High Are Called—Love for the Work Is Imparted

By Mrs. E. G. White

The Saviour was a guest at the feast of a Pharisee. He accepted invitations from the rich as well as the poor, and, according to His custom, He linked the scene before Him with His lessons of truth.

Among the Jews, the sacred feast was connected with all their seasons of national and religious rejoicing. It was to them a type of the blessings of eternal life. The great feast at which they were to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while the gentiles stood without, and looked on with longing eyes, was a theme on which they delighted to dwell. The lesson of warning and instruction which Christ desired to give, He now illustrated by the parable of a great supper.

All Asked to Be Excused

“A certain man,” He said, “made a great supper, and bade many.” When the time of the feast arrived, the host sent his servant to the expected guests with a second message, “Come, for all things are now ready.” But a strange indifference was shown. “All with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” Luke 14:16-20.

No Excuse Was Valid

None of the excuses were founded on a real necessity. The man who “must needs go and see” his piece of ground had already purchased it. His haste to go and see it was due to the fact that his interest was absorbed in his purchase.

The oxen, too, had been bought. The proving of them was only to satisfy the interest of the buyer.

The third excuse had no more semblance of reason. The fact that the intended guest had married a wife need not have prevented his presence at the feast. His wife also would have been made welcome. But he had his own plans for enjoyment, and these seemed to him more desirable than the feast he had promised to attend. He had learned to find pleasure in other society than that of the host. He did not ask to be excused, made not even a pretense of courtesy in his request. The “I cannot” was only a veil for the truth,—“I do not care to come.”

All the excuses betray a preoccupied mind. To these intended guests, other interests had become all-absorbing. The invitation they had pledged themselves to accept was put aside, and the generous friend was insulted by their indifference.

Inexhaustible Resources Provided

By the great supper, Christ represents the blessings offered through the gospel. The provision is nothing less than Christ Himself. He is the bread that comes down from heaven, and from Him the streams of salvation flow. The Lord’s messengers had proclaimed to the Jews the advent of the Saviour; they had pointed to Christ as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. In the feast He had provided, God offered to men the greatest gift that Heaven can bestow,—a gift that is beyond computation. The love of God had furnished the costly banquet, and had provided inexhaustible resources . “If any man eat of this bread,” Christ said, “he shall live forever.” John 6:51.

Gives All and Asks All

But in order to accept the invitation to the gospel feast, they must make their worldly interests subordinate to the one purpose of receiving Christ and His righteousness. God gave all for man, and He asks him to place His service above every earthly and selfish consideration. He cannot accept a divided heart. The heart that is absorbed in earthly affections cannot be given up to God.

Hard to Find Guests

Around the family board, when breaking their daily bread, many in Christ’s day repeated the words, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” But Christ showed how difficult it was to find guests for the table provided at infinite cost. Those who listened to His words knew that they had slighted the invitation of mercy. To them worldly possessions, riches, and pleasures were all-absorbing. With one consent they had made excuse.

So it is now. The excuses urged for refusing the invitation to the feast cover the whole ground of excuses for refusing the gospel invitation. Men declare that they cannot imperil their worldly prospects by giving attention to the claims of the gospel. They count their temporal interests as of more value than the things of eternity. The very blessings they have received from God become a barrier to separate their souls from their Creator and Redeemer. They will not be interrupted in their worldly pursuits, and they say to the messenger of mercy, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” Acts 24:25.

Contempt for His Invitation

Others urge the difficulties that would arise in their social relations should they obey the call of God. They say they cannot afford to be out of harmony with their relatives and acquaintances. Thus they prove themselves to be the very actors described in the parable. The Master of the feast regards their flimsy excuses as showing contempt for His invitation.

In the parable, the giver of the feast learned how his invitation had been treated, and “being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.” Luke 14:21.

The host turned from those who despised his bounty, and invited a class who were not full, who were not in possession of houses and lands. He invited those who were poor and hungry, and who would appreciate the bounties provided.

Tenderness for the Lowest

“The publicans and the harlots,” Christ said, “go into the kingdom of God before you.” Matt. 21:31. However wretched may be the specimens of humanity that men spurn and turn aside from, they are not too low, too wretched, for the notice and love of God. Christ longs to have careworn, weary, oppressed human beings come to Him. He longs to give them the light and joy and peace that are to be found nowhere else. The veriest sinners are the objects of His deep, earnest pity and love. He sends His Holy Spirit to yearn over them with tenderness, seeking to draw them to Himself.

Compel Them to Come In

The servant who brought in the poor and the blind reported to his master, “It is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:22, 23. Here Christ pointed to the work of the gospel outside the pale of Judaism, in the highways and byways of the world.

In obedience to this command, Paul and Barnabas declared to the Jews: “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Acts 13:46-48.

Approach Them with the Tender Christ Love

The invitation to the feast was first given to the Jewish people, the people who had been called to stand as teachers and leaders among men, the people in whose hands were the prophetic scrolls foretelling Christ’s advent, and to whom was committed the symbolic service foreshadowing His mission. When the gospel call is sent to the gentiles, there is the same plan of working. The message is first to be given “in the highways,”—to men who have an active part in the world’s work, to the teachers and leaders of the people.

None should be neglected because of their apparent devotion to worldly things. Many in high social positions are heartsore, and sick of vanity. They are longing for a peace which they have not. In the very highest ranks of society are those who are hungering and thirsting for salvation. Many would receive help if the Lord’s workers would approach them personally, with a kind manner, a heart made tender by the love of Christ.

Learned Speech Not Essential

The success of the gospel message does not depend upon learned speeches, eloquent testimonies, or deep arguments. It depends upon the simplicity of the message and its adaptation to the souls that are hungering for the bread of life. “What shall I do to be saved?”—this is the want of the soul.

If the leaders and teachers at Jerusalem had received the truth Christ brought, what a missionary center their city would have been! Backslidden Israel would have been converted. A vast army would have been gathered for the Lord. And how rapidly they could have carried the gospel to all parts of the world! So now, if men of influence and large capacity for usefulness could be won for Christ, then through them what a work could be accomplished in lifting up the fallen, gathering in the outcasts, and spreading far and wide the tidings of salvation! Rapidly the invitation might be given, and the guests be gathered for the Lord’s table.

But we are not to think only of great and gifted men, to the neglect of the poorer classes. Christ instructs His messengers to go also to those in the byways and hedges, to the poor and lowly of the earth. In the courts and lanes of the great cities, in the lonely byways of the country, are families and individuals—perhaps strangers in a strange land—who are without church relations, and who, in their loneliness, come to feel that God has forgotten them. They do not understand what they must do to be saved. Many are sunken in sin. Many are in distress. They are pressed with suffering, want, unbelief, despondency. Disease of every type afflicts them, both in body and in soul. They long to find a solace for their troubles, and Satan tempts them to seek it in lusts and pleasures that lead to ruin and death. He is offering them the apples of Sodom, that will turn to ashes upon their lips. They are spending their money for that which is not bread, and their labor for that which satisfieth not.

In these suffering ones we are to see those whom Christ came to save.

Urgency of the Invitation

The command given in the parable, to “compel them to come in,” denotes the urgency of the invitation, and the effectiveness of the inducements presented. The gospel never employs force in bringing men to Christ. Its message is, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. . . . And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Isa. 55:1; Rev. 22:17. The power of God’s love and grace constrains us to come.

The Saviour says: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Rev. 3:20. He is not repulsed by scorn or turned aside by threatening, but continually seeks the lost ones, saying, “How shall I give thee up?” Hosea 11:8. Although His love is driven back by the stubborn heart, He returns to plead with greater force, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.”

Christ Will Impart

Christ will impart to His messengers the same yearning love that He Himself has in seeking for the lost. We are not merely to say, “Come.” There are those who hear the call, but their ears are too dull to take in its meaning. Their eyes are too blind to see anything good in store for them. Many realize their great degradation. They say: “I am not fit to be helped. Leave me alone.” But the workers must not desist. In tender, pitying love, lay hold of the discouraged and helpless ones. Give them your courage, your hope, your strength. By kindness compel them to come.