p. 300 | God's Power to Save by Editor

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 9, 1879

God's Power to Save.

By Editor

A WRITER in the Sabbath Recorder on the parousia (coming, advent), says:—

"Millenarians and Adventists assume that the world is growing more and more wicked, and is thus ripening for destruction. Thus assuming that the gospel has proved itself insufficient to destroy sin and the works of the devil, and hence the Lord must resort to physical power or force, to regain his lost dominion or to hold his own, and is driven to the necessity of burning the world and all the wicked, the devil not excepted, in order to restore peace, and to have a heaven. To me such a view ignores the gospel as the power of God to save."

We have too much confidence in the writer to impute to him any designed irreverence for the words which the Lord hath spoken; and too much confidence in his church relation to believe he is intentionally aiding the cause of Universalism. But were it not that we know the author, and have a personal respect for him, we should hardly be able to stretch the mantle of our charity over such ideas as he has here presented.

There is no question at issue as to what God can do, or cannot do, or what the gospel might accomplish, if God so designed it. The only question with us is what he will do, and what he has declared the object of the gospel to be. One thing is undeniable, that, in the centuries past, the gospel has not destroyed sin except in individual cases. Shall we therefore declare that it has thus far been a failure? That it has not yet proved the power of God to save? It has done exactly what it was designed to do. It has made it possible for all to be saved. It has given a free invitation to all to come. And though the majority has refused, it has still accomplished what God foresaw it would; it has taken out of the nations a people for the name of God. Acts 15. But the Saviour's words have proved true, all through the ages, that few find the way to life, while many walk the way to destruction. Must this be reversed in order to prove that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation? Who so bold as to affirm that it will ever be reversed?

Prof. Finney, of Oberlin, once framed an argument on the same ground, against the idea of the advent near, and in favor of the conversion of the world. He made the full conversion of the world a matter of necessity; being based on the attributes of God. Thus: The majority of mankind has wicked in the past, and if the present dispensation should soon close, or if the majority of future generations should also be wicked, the ultimate number of the wicked would greatly overbalance the number of righteous, and so the majority of mankind would be lost. But to say that the majority will be lost is to say that God's plan of salvation is deficient in power or benevolence; for infinite power could save the majority, and infinite benevolence would save it. Hence, God's attributes are a sufficient guarantee that the majority will be saved. For we can only judge the attributes of Deity by their manifestation; and, if he should fail to save the greater number, malevolence, and not benevolence, would predominate in his character.

But this argument involves the character and government of God in the most serious consequences. For,

1. If it proves anything, it proves universal salvation. For if the benevolence of God must be measured by the proportion of the saved and the lost, there could be none lost, as his benevolence is infinite, and he has no malevolence to claim its share.

2. To say that if a majority is lost, it is proof of a deficiency in the divine plan, is to say that the number saved must be according to the number embraced in the plan; and therefore the plan could not embrace all.

3. It directly denies the free agency of man, making it necessary for God to save a majority, without regard to their choice or willingness to be saved. Or,

4. It makes the character or nature of the plan of salvation contingent on man's acceptance of it. That is, it is benevolent if a majority accepts it; if not, it is malevolent. And then, if man is free to choose, he has it in his choice to make God benevolent or malevolent, and so make the attribute of the Creator to depend on the action of the creature!

5. It denies the infinity of God's benevolence by making it a question of degrees. For, according to that argument, if the majority is saved, his benevolence would predominate; but if the majority is lost, his malevolence would predominate. And, of course, if the number of the saved and the lost were about equal, it would be impossible to determine the character of God!

And the argument actually charges the worst of these conclusions on the divine government; for the Scriptures plainly say that the number of the saved will be to that of the lost as the few to the many. But the benevolence of God, and the love of his Son, are determined, not by the number that will come, but by a provision of free salvation for all, so that whosoever will, may come, and have eternal life. The Saviour said, "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." So the failure to be saved is in their wills, not in the divine plan.

The writer says the Adventists "assume" that the world is growing more wicked and thus that the gospel has proved a failure, &c. In this we differ with him; we do not assume that in the last days perilous times shall come, and that evil men shall grow worse and worse; 2 Tim. 3. We do not assume that the number of the saved compared to that of the lost will be as the few to the many. To the contrary, these writers assume that the gospel must accomplish that for which there is neither promise nor prophecy. Was the preaching of Jesus a failure because the multitude rejected him? Was the mission of Noah a failure because the inhabitants of the world would not accept the warning? Was it proof of the inefficiency of divine provision for deliverance that the Lord "resorted to physical force or power" to sweep off a guilty generation?

The Saviour said that in the day when the Son of man is revealed it will be as it was in the days of Noah and of Lot. But this writer "assumes"—and the assumption is equaled only by the presumption—that at the coming of Christ it will not be as in the days of Noah and of Lot, for then the Lord did "resort to physical force or power" to subdue his enemies. He assumes that the enemies of Jesus will not be broken with a rod of iron, and dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel; Ps. 2:9; that they will never be put under his feet; Heb. 10:12, 13; that he will not be revealed taking vengeance on them that know not God; 2 Thess. 1:7, 8; that he will not slay his enemies who will not have him to reign over them; Luke 19:27; that he will not gather them as bundles of tares to be burned; Matt. 13:30, 40-42. In a word that, when he comes he will bring to them all the good which he has not promised, and none of the evil which he has threatened.

When to Abraham it was promised that his seed should come in possession of that land, the fulfillment was deferred four hundred years because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. Gen. 15:13-16. So in the last days: Jesus said the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels; the Son of man, at his coming, will send forth his angels to gather his elect, and to bind his enemies to the burning. Compare Matt. 13 and 24. By the prophet Joel the Lord says, of that day:—"Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great." Joel 3:13. Therefore the wrath of God is manifested in the seven last plagues, which terminate in the battle of the great day of God. Rev. chapters 14, 15, 16, and 19. But the time would fail us to offer any considerable part of the testimony of the Scriptures to this point.

But one truth we should notice in justice to both the reader and to those who "assume" so much that is contrary to God's revealed word. The Lord has pointed out that, when his coming is near, certain ones will strive to quiet the minds of the people by denying that he is coming. Matt. 24:48-51; 2 Peter 3:3, 4. Paul says, "the Lord himself shall descend with a shout," &c., and when that day is near, certain ones will cry, "Peace and safety." They who say that the Lord will put forth his mighty power to overthrow the rebellious world, as he did in the days of Noah. But the word of God must not be hid. He says, "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. 5:3. We might quote many scriptures to the same intent, but further witness is not needed.

We would exhort those who deny the coming judgments of God when "the wrath of the Lamb" shall be manifested, to heed the admonitions given to the kings of the earth, "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little." Ps. 2:12. Many live, and write, and even preach, as if the Son never would be angry; as if the day of his wrath would never come; as if the Lord Jesus never would take vengeance. But the day will come, and they who presume on his mercy will awake to a bitter disappointment.