Our Day Part 35

But in the light of the Scripture prophecy and of events, we can see clearly the hand of G.o.d leading that little baud into the right pathway when the year of 1844 came; and the work there begun has grown into the world-wide movement of today.

Nearly two thousand years before, it had been written in the "sure word of prophecy" that when the hour of G.o.d's judgment came, a people keeping G.o.d's commandments would arise and spread forth into all the world with the last gospel message. The long prophetic period of Daniel 8 had fixed the year 1844 as the time when the judgment hour would begin and when the people of the prophecy must appear.

When the year came, that people appeared, keeping "the commandments of G.o.d, and the faith of Jesus." When the hour struck, the work began. This advent movement was born of G.o.d in fulfilment of prophecy. And the mission of the movement is to lift up again the standard of truths obscured by tradition and trodden underfoot, and to call all men to the New Testament platform of the "commandments of G.o.d, and the faith of Jesus," where every believing soul may find safe refuge in these closing moments of the judgment hour in the courts above.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A CHRISTIAN MOTHER EXHORTING HER DAUGHTER TO MARTYRDOM

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve;... as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.]

THE JUDGMENT-HOUR MESSAGE

THE GOSPEL FOR OUR DAY

The gospel message for this time of the judgment hour is set forth in the vision of Revelation 14:

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TWO BEASTS OF REVELATION 13

"Fear G.o.d, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come."

Rev. 14:7.]

"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear G.o.d, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 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 G.o.d, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of G.o.d, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:6-12.

When this message has been heralded to all nations, according to prophecy the end will come, for the next scene brought before the prophet's vision was the coming of Christ to reap the harvest of the earth:

"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." Verse 14.

The outline of the message given here reveals certain main features:

1. A Gospel Message

It is not a new or another gospel. There is but one gospel. This message is "the everlasting gospel" in terms that meet the situation in the time of the judgment hour. The advent movement carries the blessed message of full salvation from sin by faith in Jesus Christ.

2. A Solemn Warning

The message is G.o.d's final answer to the age-long perversions of His truth. Even the warnings uttered vibrate with the saving grace and winning power of G.o.d's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the vision of Daniel 8, the prophet was shown the working of apostasy in the latter times, as it "cast down the truth to the ground" and "practiced and prospered." But in answer to the question, "How long?"

the great prophetic period of the 2300 years was given, at the end of which (in 1844) the judgment work in heaven was to begin. When that work is finished, Christ's glorious appearing will end the reign of sin and error.

And while the closing judgment work is proceeding in heaven, this message of the judgment hour lifts up on earth the standard of truths trodden underfoot, and the Lord utters His last warning against sin and apostasy. It is a terrible word that He speaks. Bengelius described it as--

"that threatening p.r.o.nounced which is the greatest in all the Scriptures, and which shall resound powerfully from the mouth of the third angel."--_"Introduction to Apocalypse," Preface xxix (London, 1757)._

The Lord is in earnest with men in this hour when the judgment, now pa.s.sing on the dead, must also soon seal the eternal destiny of all the living. Hence the message challenges every soul to a decision.

Looking forward to the time when this message should be due, John Wesley wrote:--

"Happy are they who make the right use of these divine messages."--_"Notes on New Testament," on Revelation 14._

These warnings are part of the "everlasting gospel." Whosoever, therefore, preaches the full gospel of Christ in these last days must sound this solemn call.

3. A Call to Loyalty to G.o.d

"Fear G.o.d," is the call, "Worship Him." In the preceding vision of the thirteenth chapter, the Lord had shown the prophet the work of an ecclesiastical power, symbolized by a leopardlike beast, that was to speak great things, and that was to persecute believers through long centuries, warring against G.o.d's truth and His sanctuary. "All the world wondered after the beast." The prophet said,

"All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb." Rev. 13:8.

While worldly influence and the voice of popular religion exalt this ecclesiastical power and give glory to it, the gospel message calls all men to worship G.o.d.

"Fear G.o.d, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark,[I] ... the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of G.o.d."

The issue, it is clear, involves the question of authority. Shall G.o.d be recognized as supreme? or shall this ecclesiastical power, whose rise and work were foretold in the prophecy, be recognized as the great authority?

The Work of the Papal Power

Any comparison between this leopard beast of Revelation 13 and the "little horn" of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, shows plainly that the same power is represented in each. The same voice is heard "speaking great things," the same persecuting spirit is shown, the same warfare against G.o.d's truth. It is the Roman Papacy, in its exaltation of human authority above the divine, that "lawless one" of Paul's prophecy, setting itself forth as G.o.d in the temple of G.o.d, treading underfoot the word and the law of the Most High, as foretold by Daniel:

"He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws." Dan.

7:25.

Against the recognition of the a.s.sumed authority of this power, the gospel message of Revelation 14 sounds its solemn warning: "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark."

The Image to the Papacy

What is this image? Plainly an image to the Papacy must be some religious authority or federation not organically of the Papacy itself, but adopting papal principles and seeking to enforce these principles by civil power, just as the Papacy has ever done, where possible. This development in likeness of the Papacy was shown the prophet in the latter part of the vision of Revelation 13. He saw the image formed, and in vision witnessed its determined efforts to enforce upon men the mark, or sign, of the Papacy:

"He exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.... And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast." Rev. 13:12-17.

The Mark, or Sign, of Papal Authority

The Roman Papacy sets forth the Sunday inst.i.tution as the mark of the authority of the church to subst.i.tute ecclesiastical tradition and custom for the Word of G.o.d. Thus, Monsignor Segur, in "Plain Talks about the Protestantism of Today," says: