PRESENT TRUTH by J. H. Waggoner

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 23, 1860

PRESENT TRUTH.

By J. H. Waggoner

BY J. H. WAGGONER.

Those who teach a probationary future age are mostly professed believers in the near approach of the second advent of the Saviour. But solemn as are the scenes connected with that great event, there is nothing in the doctrine that can possibly assist in the work of preparation for that great day. It has been admitted by them that it is not present truth—does not inculcate present duty—does not contain a present test of character. They do not even profess to think that those who hear the gospel in this age can be benefitted by the probationary system of that. Therefore could they prove it to be truth, according to their own admissions, by no possible effort can they benefit any by its proclamation.

But we look beyond these admissions of the uselessness of the doctrine. We consider it injurious. It is not merely a theory devoid of life and power, destitute of the vital principle of present truth, but it is opposed to present truth, and is therefore a most dangerous enemy of souls in these fearful times. Some have endeavored to amalgamate it with the third angel's message, but this has ever proved a failure. When Eld. Curry, in 1856, undertook to defend it, he was obliged to take positions subversive of his own professed faith. He then said he could harmonize his two positions; but a few months convinced him to the contrary. In the fall of 1858 Eld. Stephenson told me his mistake had been in trying to harmonize the third angel's message with the Age-to-Come. He had become convinced it could not be done. But how do they avoid our arguments for the message? Not by proving them inconsistent with the scripture, but by endeavors to place the message far in the past or in the future age. Whether in the past or in the future seems to them immaterial, if it can only be removed from the present.

Those who argue that the third angel's message was given in the past uniformly locate it in the days of Luther. It needs but little argument to refute this position. The three messages of Rev. xiv must retain their relative order, as well as their relation to other parts of the book. Verse 6 says the first message was given by “another angel.” As the book of Revelation consists of several lines or chains of prophecy, reaching to the same point, to wit, the coming of Christ, by considering the relation of the various links of the chains to that event we may easily discover the parallels in each. The vision of the sounding of the trumpets reaches to the coming of Christ. Chap. xi, 15–19. Chap. xiv reaches to the same time and embraces the same events revealed in chap. xi, 15–18. John had seen seven angels with trumpets, but he always speaks of them in the numerical order in which they appeared, as “the first angel,” “the second angel,” &c. When “the fourth angel” had sounded he saw “an angel,” not of that order or number, proclaiming woes upon the earth. The first woe was under the sounding of the fifth angel, commencing in 1299. See Croley and Litch. This continued 150 years, or till 1449. The second woe under the sixth angel continued 391 years, or till 1840. After this another angel was seen before the seventh angel sounded. This was the second angel not embraced in the seven. In chapters xii, xiii, are a series of events covering the same time as the trumpets, and chap. xiv, may be called a sequel to these. This chain also reaches down to the coming of Christ. As the word, another, in chap. xiv, 6, shows that reference is made to one in the past, we turn back to find the preceding relative to this. If the angel of Rev. viii, 13, which announces the woes, is the other one intended in the prophecy, then it must be allowed that that of chap. xiv, 6 is identical with that of chap. x, 1, which would locate the messages after the second woe, and of course not in the Reformation. But if the identity of these be denied,

then we must look to chap. x for the one next preceding chap. xiv, 6; but as the chronology of that of chap. x is fixed to a certainty, this view would bring the first message still a little later; in either case the messages are brought into the present century.

“The hour of his judgment is come,” is the declaration of the first message. That the judgment comes under the seventh trumpet or third woe, is shown by Rev. xi, 15–18. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying: The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and shalt be; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” This message was not given by the apostles, for they preached that God had appointed a day in which he would judge the world, but they never spoke of it as then present. Neither did Luther, for he said he thought it would be about 300 years in the future from his time. They all preached in harmony with the Saviour's fulfillment of prophecy. Compare Isa. lxi, 1–3, with Luke iv, 16–21. “The acceptable year of the Lord,” or “accepted time,” was as far as the Saviour and his disciples or the reformers declared the fulfillment of the prophecy; it was reserved to the angel of Rev. xiv, to announce the fulfillment of the remainder in its appointed time. And if Luther and the reformers had not come up to the first message in their day they certainly did not give the third.

Again, the third message is founded on the series of facts in Rev. xiii. By comparing the first ten verses of this chapter with Dan. vii, and both with historical facts, we find it to be a symbol of the Roman hierarchy. The wound on this beast refers to a deprivation of power in 1798, as the end of the forty-two months. Verse 5. This shows the work of the two-horned beast to be since 1798, as it causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast who had received the deadly wound (and yet lived); and to receive a mark in their foreheads or in their hands. The third angel's message is founded on these facts, and therefore cannot apply to any past generation.

But most of the advocates of the Age-to-Come profess to believe that the three messages of Rev. xiv, 6–12, will be given after the second advent. The evidence to disprove this theory is most plain and positive.

The announcement of Rev. xiv, 6, 7, “The hour of his judgment is come,” belongs to this dispensation, preceding the advent. To evade this, and place the message in the future, a new rendering of the original has been offered. The words from which the everlasting gospel is translated are euanggelion aionion. A book entitled “Bible vs. Tradition,” renders it “the gospel of the [millennial] age.” As the author of the book

professes to have a critical knowledge of the language, we can but think that he was aware of the fact that euanggelion is the noun, and aionion the adjective; and of course such a rendering is unwarranted. The age-lasting gospel gives a very good idea of the original, but the “gospel of the age” does not. The evidence is clear that this message was given by the body of advent believers up to 1844. This was the faith of those engaged in that work. The Advent Shield, published in that year, says:

“We look upon the proclamation which has been made, as being the cry of the angel who proclaimed, ‘the hour of his judgment is come.’ Rev. xiv, 6, 7. It is a sound which is to reach all nations; it is the proclamation of ‘the everlasting gospel,’ or ‘the gospel of the kingdom.’ In one shape or other, this cry has gone abroad through the earth wherever human beings are found, and we have had opportunity to hear of the fact.” Art. Rise and Progress of Adventism, by J. Litch. See also tract entitled, “The Last Hour,” published at the Advent Herald Office.

The precise nature of the work announced by this message we have not time and space here to investigate, but would refer to our published works on the subject of the sanctuary. The difficulty we have to contend with on this point in the minds of opposers is not a difficulty in regard to the facts, but to opinions; the opinions of the majority, on the judgment, being most vague and indefinite. On this subject we introduce another quotation from the Advent Shield, the sentiment of which is widely different from the common views, but, as far as it goes, fully accords with ours:

“We are inclined to the opinion that the judgment is after death, and before the resurrection: and that before that event the acts of all men will be adjudicated; so that the resurrection of the righteous is their full acquittal and redemption—their sins being blotted out when the times of refreshing shall have come [Acts iii, 19], while the fact that the wicked are not raised proves that they were previously condemned.” Review of Prof. Bush on the Resurrection, by S. Bliss.

There is a third class not referred to in the above extract; the righteous who do not sleep, but are changed at the coming of the Lord. Their judgment must also be prior to the resurrection, as their translation is equivalent to a resurrection; and of course, their judgment takes place while they live upon the earth. To them the announcement of the judgment come is of the deepest importance, and they alone will be benefited by the subsequent messages.

That the second message, “Babylon is fallen,” belongs to a period prior to the advent, is made plain by considering the order of events laid down in the scripture. In Rev. xiv, 8, is the simple announcement of the fall of Babylon, with the reason, while in chap. xviii, 1–5, a mighty angel announces the fall and its consequences. This angel gives the following events and call in order:

Babylon is fallen.
She is become the habitation of devils.
Come out of her my people.
In one day shall her plagues come.

By this we see also that the fall of Babylon is not her destruction as is often claimed, but it is a moral fall; for she becomes the habitation of devils after her fall; God's people are called out of her after she becomes the habitation of devils; and her destruction is threatened after the people of God are called out of her. The location of the plagues is shown in connection with the third message. This message says, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation,” &c. We might argue various points to show that this message is inappropriate to a future age, as the powers symbolized by the beast and image will be destroyed at the coming of the Lord, but the plain declarations of Scripture make an argument unnecessary. In chap. xvi, is given a description of the “seven last plagues,” in which is filled up the wrath of God. That this

is identical with the wrath of God threatened in the third angel's message is evident, as the first plague falls on the very individuals denounced in the message. It says, “The first [angel] went and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.” Rev. xvi, 2.

By verses 12–15 we learn that six of the plagues will be poured out before the Lord comes. They read: “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

This is conclusive evidence that the Third Message precedes the plagues, and the plagues precede the coming of Christ.

Again, we have proved that the shaking of heaven and earth, or the powers of the heavens, as the Saviour expresses it, is by the voice of God, and in immediate connection with the advent. But this voice is heard under the pouring out of the seventh—the last—plague. Under this plague the judgment is consummated upon great Babylon. Here is the great battle of the day of the Lord. Here is the complete overthrow of God's enemies, and the eternal redemption of his people. Here the full separation takes place. While the slain of the Lord are from one end of the earth to the other, ungathered, unburied, unlamented (Jer. xxv), food for the fowls of heaven who are called to the supper which the great God has prepared for them, to feed on the rich, the proud, the great of this earth (Rev. xix), the servants of God, who have stood stiffly for the truth, who have kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, despite the rage of the Beast and False Prophet, are caught away by their glorious Head to the New Jerusalem, the mansions in heaven, to sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. How different the fates of the two classes! And to be decided by the present truth, the Third Angel's Message. And this Message is doing its work, calling out a people to attend to present duty, to prepare for the great events impending at the close of the present age, and the setting up of God's everlasting kingdom.

The work of the Third Angel's Message, though despised by the world, and small in their sight, like that of Noah among the antediluvians, is great in its consequences; and to it may be truly applied the words of the prophet: “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” Acts xiii, 41.