A Mighty Movement Fulfilling Prophecy
By W. A. S.
THIS work that we are engaged in is a bigger thing than building up a great denomination. Jesus asked the people concerning John’s work: “But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” Matt. 11:9, 10. John was more than a prophet; he and the message that he bore were a fulfillment of prophecy. It was the advent movement fulfilling the words of the5prophets of old, preparing the way for the first advent. Now Christ is soon to come again in glory, with all the angels with him. This movement that has made us Seventh-day Adventists a people, is a far mightier thing than the rise of a people preaching about divine prophecy; the movement itself is a fulfillment of prophecy. The very people, in the work they are doing, “are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts.” Isa. 8:16-18. It is a wonderful thing to be a part of a movement that is to bind up the law, seal the testimony, and prepare the way of the Lord. All along in the development of this work, and of every department of it, God’s hand has been seen fulfilling prophecy. We have followed no cunningly devised fables in giving heed to the prophetic word of God, and in looking for the coming of the Lord. And all the work of this people is based upon the central truth of a soon-coming Saviour. It must be the keynote of the evangelistic department. Every conference, every church, every preacher, every worker among the people, is to be a messenger before the face of a coming Lord, “as it is written.” It is the keynote in the educational work. The schools are a part of fulfilling prophecy, and exist but to teach the truth that shall make men and women of God, commissioned of him to go into all the world with the message. The medical missionary work of the denomination can fulfill its mission only as a movement sent of God to swell the cry of the personal bodily coming of the Lord from heaven. One great movement, sweeping the whole earth, sounding the message in every tongue, declaring the gospel of the coming kingdom,—that is the spectacle that all men are to see. In beholding it, the world will witness the fulfillment of the prophecy: “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” This movement is not merely a proclamation concerning prophecy. It is the fulfillment of prophecy. It does not merely point to signs of the Lord’s coming. It is itself the sign that the Lord is at the door. We have a message that must win our souls to the most enthusiastic devotion. Let us yield sin and life and all to God, that he may make manifest the savor of the knowledge of Christ by us in every place.