PRESENT TRUTH by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 21, 1880

PRESENT TRUTH.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

TEXT: "Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth." 2 Pet. 1:12.

WHY talk so much about the coming of the Lord? Can we know anything about when it is to occur? Does not the Bible say, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man"? And, even if we could know when it was coming, what is the use of saying so much about it? If we are only prepared to die, are we not prepared for the coming of the Lord? Why make division by stirring up the people on this point? Would it not be better to unite with others in converting souls to God by preaching Christ and repentance instead of making a separate party by talking about the coming of Christ? All believe that he will come sometime.

These are some of the most common objections that Adventists meet wherever they go; and to answer them, is the object of this article. No doubt they seem reasonable to those who make them. Yet we think that they are entirely unscriptural. Our text speaks of "the present truth." Not that Peter is speaking of our times, but it shows that there was in his days, and hence, that there may be at other times, what he denominates "present truth"—that is, a truth which is applicable at one time, but is not at another. Some truths are always equally true and applicable; as, There is a God; we should love him; men should repent of their sins, etc. These truths should always be preached. But other truths have a more local and temporary application, but yet are equally important at the time. Noah's case will illustrate this. God, at the proper time, gave him a message to warn the world with regard to the coming flood. This he did for about a hundred and twenty years, till it came. It was important that he should warn the world of that impending calamity. God blessed him in doing it. But suppose that, after the flood was over, Noah had continued to preach that the flood was coming, just as he had before it did come, would there have been any propriety in his action, or any force in his preaching? Would it have been true? Certainly not. The time had passed for that message to be proclaimed. It had been present truth to the generation that perished in the flood; but it was not present truth after the flood was passed; nor would it have been, a thousand years before it came.

Take another case. When God sent Jonah to Nineveh, the prophet cried, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Was it important that that warning should be given to Nineveh? We well know that it was, from God's dealing with Jonah when he refused to give it; and when the prophet delivered his message, behold, how mightily it stirred that great city. It caused them to repent in dust and ashes. It was the means which God used for their salvation. It was present truth to them at that time, and if they had neglected it they would have perished. But suppose that Jonah, because God so greatly blessed that proclamation, had kept right on preaching the same thing for years afterward, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown," would that have been sensible? would it have been true? Certainly not; it had been present truth, but could be no longer.

Take still another case. At the first advent of Christ, God raised up John the Baptist in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isa. 40:3; Matt 3:3, and sent him with a special message to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. John preached the baptism of repentance, telling them that they should believe on him who should come after him. That was a special message, a special warning. God was in it, and greatly blessed it.

While John was preaching, his message was the present truth for that people. Those who heeded it were blessed of God, while those who did not heed it, rejected the counsel of God against themselves. Luke 7:29, 30. "And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him." But after Christ had come and the gospel had been fully introduced, would it have been proper for the apostles, or any others, to preach the same message that John did a few years before? It would have been entirely out of order. It would not have been truth, and God would not have blessed it. See this fact illustrated in Acts 18:22-28; 19:1-7. Apollos, some fifteen years after the resurrection, did preach and baptize after the manner of John; yet, when Paul came there, he baptized these same individuals over again, into the then present truth of a risen Christ. Illustrations of this kind might be multiplied to any extent, but these are sufficient to show the meaning and import of "present truth."

All must agree with us that there are important, stirring truths which the people should hear at one time, which, if preached at any other, would not be true. People are continually asking us, If these things are true which you are preaching about the coming of Christ, why were they not found out and preached before? In the light of facts already stated, the answer is plain: The time had not come, and therefore it would have been entirely out of place. For a Noah, or a Jonah, or a John the Baptist, to have preached what they did a thousand years before the events came to pass, would have been out of place. So it would have been entirely out of place for the people to proclaim the immediate coming of Christ a thousand or even a hundred years ago, when it was not at hand. But when the fullness of time has come, and that event is just at hand, then it will be present truth. Then it will be the all-important truth to be proclaimed to the world. Christ himself illustrates it in this manner:—

After stating the signs which should mark his second coming, and further stating that it should be at that time as it was in the days of Noah, he says, "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?" Who then, that is, at that time, at the time of his second coming, is a wise servant, and will be found giving the household meat in due season? Look at the illustration—"meat in due season." Here is a man keeping boarders. During the winter, he provides bread, meat, potatoes, and other food commonly used in winter. This they consider proper food for the household during the winter, and no one complains; but, by and by, spring draws near, and early vegetables come, but he provides none for his table. Strawberries and raspberries are ripe, but he buys none for his boarders; cherries and apples are in the market, but not any appear on his table. He provides for them exactly the same food that he did during the winter. Would there not be some complaining in that household? Yes, and justly, too; for he does not provide for them food according to the seasons.

This parable of our Lord beautifully illustrates the importance of instructing the church of God with the proper truths which are due at different ages of the world. This, and this only, will keep the church alive. And here we may suggest that the grand failure which many learned theologians make, lies in the fact that they do not keep up with the times, and preach living truths, which are due in their days. They go back and study the writings and theological systems of eminent men who lived ages before them. Those men were alive to the truths applicable in their days, and with these they stirred the world; and after those days were passed, and circumstances were changed, these men now take up the same line of argument, fill their minds with these old, dead issues of the past, and dwell upon them, while other plain and living truths of their own times are neglected. Hence God cannot use them in his work. He has to choose some poor shepherd, fisherman, or mechanic, whose mind is open to receive the light of present truth. Such humble men, with the living, stirring truths which are applicable to their days, go forth with them and stir the world. Here is where the teachers of the people, the scribes and the Pharisees, erred in their days. Christ upbraided them for not being able to discern the signs of the times. Matt. 16:13. Jerusalem was overthrown because the people knew not the time of their visitation. Luke 19:41-44.

This brings us to consider another important truth: God always reveals his truth to his people as fast as it is due to the world. Thus Amos says: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. This text states the great truth which we are trying to demonstrate, viz., that God never leaves his people in the dark concerning any important event which materially affects them. Before the event comes, those of his people who are walking with the Lord are always duly informed with regard to it. Notice a few examples: Noah was informed of the time of the flood, that it was to be after one hundred and twenty years. Gen. 6:3. A short time before it came, the Lord revealed to him the very time it should commence. Gen. 7:4: "Yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights."

The time of the sojourn of the children of Israel in Egypt was foretold to Abraham. Gen. 15:13, 14. "They shall afflict them four hundred years," said the Lord, "afterward they shall come out with great substance." When the Lord proposed to destroy Sodom, he said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" Gen. 18:17. Then he proceeded to inform Abraham concerning what he was about to do. Lot, also, was warned, and fled out of the city. Through Joseph, God revealed the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine which were to come on Egypt. Gen. 41:26-30. When the time of Israel's deliverance from Egypt drew near, God raised up Moses to deliver them. Moses knew that the time had come, and that he was to deliver them; for thus we read of him: "For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not." Acts 7:25. Moses understood it, though some of the people did not. The number of years that they should wander in the wilderness was foretold. Num. 14:34. The seventy years' captivity in Babylon was revealed to his people: "And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." Jer. 25:11. The very year that the Messiah should come was revealed. Dan. 9:25: "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks." The 1260 years of papal supremacy were foretold. Dan. 7:25.

At Christ's first advent it was revealed to holy men and women that they should see him before they died, which, also, they did. See Luke 2:25-30, 36-38. Indeed, they generally expected him at that time. God raised up John the Baptist to go before Christ and prepare the people for his coming. Did John know that the advent of the Messiah was at hand? He did, and told them to believe on him who should come after him. John's mission was no mere guess-work. He knew definitely what his message was, and what prophecy he was fulfilling. Thus we read: "Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." John 1:22, 23. Here was a prophecy given hundreds of years before. When the proper time came, John was raised up to deliver that message; and he did it, knowing and claiming that he was fulfilling it.

Thus we might show that every important event connected with the work of God and God's people in every age has been revealed to his church just before these events came to pass. When the generation had come who was to witness them, God raised up men to warn the people of their coming. The true servants of God, who were in the light and were walking with the Lord, were always informed in regard to them, and were ready when they came. At the same time, there always was another class, who were not only ignorant with regard to these events, but opposed those who proclaimed them.

Now we appeal to the reader, If those minor events, such as the flood, the fall of Sodom, coming out of Egypt, destruction of Nineveh, the first advent of Christ, etc., were revealed to the people of God, and a special message was given with regard to them just before they came, is it reasonable to believe that the last great day will come and the people of God know nothing about it, no warning be given concerning it? Those events affected only the generation then living, sometimes only a small portion of that, and yet the Lord thought them of sufficient importance to reveal them to his people, and instruct that generation with regard to them. But when the Judgment of the great day shall come, when Christ shall appear King of kings and Lord of lords, when the dead shall be raised, when the

world shall end, and all things earthly shall be closed up, how vastly more important will this event be than all others! In this grand event all will have an interest, both the living and the dead, from Adam to the last child born. Before this grand and awful event all others sink into insignificance. Shall, then, such an event as this come upon the people of God and the world, and God's servants know nothing about it, and the world be unwarned concerning it? Reason itself would teach us that it could not be so. The history of God's dealings with his people in the past shows that it will not be so, besides which, we have abundance of direct testimony that God will do in the last days as he always has before, viz., instruct his people and warn the world.