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THE FINAL WARNING

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 28, 1877

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 50, No. 1.

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THE FINAL WARNING.

By R. F. Cottrell

In all the past it has been invariably the case that, when God was about to bring some great evil upon a people, he has given them a warning of what he was about to do. There are numerous instances of this on record. Some of these instances are seen in the warnings given to the antediluvians, the Sodomites, the Ninevites, and the Jewish people before their final dispersion among all nations by the destruction of their city and temple. And, in fact, God has promised that he will not depart from this rule. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7.
Of all the evils that God has ever brought upon men, none have equaled those that are to come in the great day of the Lord, emphatically called the great day of his wrath. See Isa. 13:6-9; Zeph. 1:14-18; Rev. 6:17. According to all his past dealings with men, and according to his promise quoted above, we have a right to expect that God will send a warning to herald the approach of that great and terrible day. And this is clearly promised through the prophet Joel: “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.” This is a prophecy in the form of a command. It signifies that when that day is near at hand, the trumpet will be blown, the alarm will be sounded. And the people of God living at that time are to be the agents by which the warning is to be given. The command of God to them is, “Blow ye the trumpet,” etc.
We have an illustration of the fulfillment of a prophetic command on record. It took place when Christ rode into Jerusalem. Hundreds of years before the event, God had said by his prophet, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Zech. 9:9. When Jesus thus entered Jerusalem, the people did shout and rejoice greatly. And it was imperative—there must be shouting—accordingly Jesus said, “If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” It was a necessity, for the promise of God must be fulfilled. Even so the warning must be sounded by the people of God, just before the coming of the day of the Lord. God has promised it, and his word cannot be broken.
The terms of the promised warning are more fully given in Rev. 14:6-12. Here are given in detail the promised “gospel of the kingdom,” which should be preached in all the world for a witness, immediately before the coming of the end. Matt. 24:14. The burden of the first proclamation of the everlasting gospel is, “Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his Judgment is come.” Such a message must be heard by the inhabitants of the earth at the time when the coming of the Lord is at hand. Can this be done, and yet the day of the Lord come upon men as a thief in the night, that is, unexpectedly? Yes, it can, to those who do not believe the warning; and the Scriptures assure us that this will be the case.
These last messages of probationary time will be preached by men, though they are foretold under the symbol of angels. God has chosen men as his agents to preach the gospel; and when he commissioned his disciples to preach the gospel he said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Men will therefore be the agents through whom the closing messages of the gospel will be preached. And it is certain that those who proclaim these warnings will be believers in the advent of Christ at hand. Those who do not believe that the Judgment, the coming of Christ, and the resurrection, are at hand will never preach these messages. This is self-evident.
And now the question arises, Do the signs of the times warrant us in believing that we are in the last days? Those who make the study of the prophecies a specialty, universally believe that the end is at hand; and the impression is growing in the popular mind that the day of the Lord and the battle of Armageddon are at hand. The fearful corruption of our times has called forth the acknowledgment from some who do not profess to be Adventists that the present state of society answers to the prophetic description of the last days, as given by Paul in 2 Tim. 3, and in other scriptures. If we are in the last days, and the coming of the great day of the Lord is at hand, then it is time that these promised warnings should be heard. When God's promises become due, they never fail of their fulfillment. Where are the promised messages of warning? Who are proclaiming them? There are about two hundred thousand Adventists in the world; and if the predicted warnings are being given, it is evident that they are being given by those who believe that the second coming of Christ is at hand.
But the grand test of these Advent, or Judgment, messages is upon the commandments of God and the faith of Christ. Those who proclaim and heed these warnings are described as those “who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Now it is a fact that Adventists are not all agreed in respect to the commandments of God. Some hold that the ten commandments are not now binding; that they have been abolished, and superseded by the faith of Jesus. Do they fill the prophetic description? Not at all. To apply to them, it should read, “Here are they that are released from the commandments of God by the faith of Jesus.” They differ from the apostle Paul in that they make void the law through faith. See Rom. 3:31.
Dear reader, the prophetic description of those who heed the last message of probation, and are to be translated at the coming of Christ, is, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Is it possible for any to be so deceived as to think that they are the people, while they break the commandments of the moral law and teach men so, holding that the commandments written by the finger of God have been superseded and done away by the faith of Christ?
Who are proclaiming the promised warning? It must be heard before the end, and the end is most evidently near. It is impossible that it should be preached by any but believers in the advent near; all others will be far from preaching it. And of Adventists none can be the people described but those who keep the commandments of God as well as the faith of Christ. And is there a class who teach the perpetuity of the whole moral law, in connection with the soon-coming of Christ? There is. And as John the Baptist understood his mission to be the fulfillment of the predicted “voice of one crying in the wilderness,” so these believe it to be their special work to proclaim the last warning to mankind, to prepare a people for the second advent,—a people who, instead of following the beast and his image, will “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” And this message is going to “many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”
Who believes the prophetic word of God? Who believes that God still lives, and is fulfilling his word of promise? The day of the Lord is at hand; and the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to his servants. He has promised a warning before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come; and he is fulfilling his promise. Ancient prophets foretold these things; and the Spirit of the living God is moving his people to fulfill these predictions. He reveals these things to his servants; and those who believe his word and providence understand the work he has called them to do. By the aid of the Spirit they will fulfill their mission.
Already this message is being published in seven different languages. Several presses are employed in spreading the news, the good news, the gospel of the everlasting kingdom. In America it has spread from ocean to ocean, and several missionaries in Europe are sounding it forth by the voice and by the press. Oh! solemn thought. The trumpet of the final warning is being sounded. God has called upon his people to sound an alarm, and it is being sounded. He foretold these things by his ancient prophets and by his apostles, and he is fulfilling his word; consequently, unbelievers are left without excuse. The great white throne will remain immaculate, though we should not heed the warning, and so be lost. “The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?”
R. F. COTTRELL.