“Till I See Jesus”: Looking for Jesus and Finding Him Near

Spectrum Website
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The sun rose as usual on October 23, 1844 but received no welcome from the disappointed ones who had waited all night for the coming of Jesus. Now, they found themselves the objects of ridicule as both deceivers and deceived, in the undeniable certainty that Christ had not come. These believers in the Advent Near had based their expectations on the study of biblical prophecies and prophetic charts, but they had also immersed themselves in the apocalyptic descriptions of the New Earth and lived in the parables of Jesus. These texts, too, provided the imagery that shaped their hopes. Their disappointment was not so much in getting the date wrong but in not seeing Jesus. The hope of the second coming was the hope of seeing the Lord they loved coming to take them home. In her letter to the Review, Tryphena Elliot described her expectations:

I then expected to see my Saviour coming with clouds, in power and great glory, to take the throne of his father David, and reign forever and ever; but the two thousand and three hundred days ended, and the Lord did not come. But as I had come out of Babylon, I had no desire to return again, therefore the last five verses of the 10th of Hebrews were very precious to me. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward; for ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.1

The phrase, “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry,” was a frequent refrain. The hope remained firm. God’s people remained steadfast. The Lord would return as he had promised, in his own good time.

In the meantime, God’s people continued to prepare for his return. J. B. and Charlotte S. Bezzo encouraged the scattered flock in the work at hand and reassured them of the blessed hope awaiting them:

We are still holding fast to the truth, and endeavoring to learn the doctrines of the Bible as fast as we can. We take great pleasure in searching the Word of God, in which there are such hidden stores of knowledge, and we rejoice in the prospect of the soon coming of Christ; when the saints’ blessed hope will be realized.2

Although many deserted the Advent movement after the Great Disappointment, a faithful, if scattered, band clung to their belief that Jesus would be coming soon. The “little flock” grew to treasure the communications with “those of like precious faith” found in the pages of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, their weekly meeting place. They continued their immersion in biblical study with the dual purpose of discovering where they had misinterpreted the prophecies and identifying previously overlooked scriptural insights. They expanded their investigation to review all major aspects of their belief and praxis. They were determined to test their beliefs by Scripture, to ensure that they were grounded in Scripture alone, rather than simply following the traditions of men. R. F. Cottrell explained it this way:

The only way open before us is to return to the fountain of living waters, the written word which God has given us, and no longer hew out to ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Let vain traditions go, and embrace and heartily obey the truth, and it is possible that we may yet be saved. Who will do so? Who will renounce the false traditions of men, and cleave to God alone and obey his word?3

Renouncing the traditions of men meant in many cases renouncing their church homes and communities. E. A. Poole described his long struggle to identify with the Advent movement even though he was attracted to its teachings. He wrote,

Our trials, in separating from cherished friends and associations, have been severe, and still more ensnaring; but if we are not deceived, we are in some measure getting the victory….The line is being drawn between those who keep the commandments of God, on the one hand, and those who reject them that they may keep their own tradition, on the other.4

J. Clarke placed the discussion on a larger stage when he connected the Adventist effort to uncover the basic truths of the Bible, uncontaminated by human traditions, with the work of the reformation. He said, “The reformers only began the work: it falls to the lot of the present generation to fully complete what was then so gloriously begun.”5

The focus on discovering Bible truth necessarily compelled self-examination as believers sought to conform their lives to the will of God. This was what they meant by preparing to meet Jesus. God’s truth is not just to be understood; it must be lived out in their daily lives. Years after the Great Disappointment, the faithful ones harkened back to the imagery of the second coming and their longing to see Jesus. In words rich with biblical allusions, Emma C. Downer wrote:

For some time past I have had a desire to say to the brethren and sisters through the Review that I too am striving to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, in order to be prepared to meet Jesus when he comes to make up his jewels, and have a part in his glorious kingdom….I would not exchange the hope I have in Christ for all the world and its momentary pleasures. I want to be one of that happy company whose motto and watchword is, Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Time is hasting to its close. Prophecy has been fulfilled. Jesus soon is coming with all the holy angels to take his people home; and oh, I want to be ready. It is a great question, Who shall be able to stand? I want the protection of the almighty arm, that I may have a place of refuge when the time of trouble comes upon the world. I hope that it may be my privilege to stand on mount Zion with the 144,000, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, and have an inheritance in the earth made new.6

The letters of the Review frequently expressedthe longing for heaven, the longing to be with Jesus, the longing for the kingdom of God to be established in the earth made new. Whatever the form used to articulate the heart-felt longing, at its core it was a longing for the presence of God. Lois J. Richmond evoked much of that imagery in her determination to stand firm in the last days. She showed the vital role of an active spiritual life in fulfilling that desire when she wrote, “But we must see to it that we are shielded with the word of God; for the enemy is on the alert, and if possible will hinder our prayers, and draw us away from God.”7

Sr. Richmond realized that a thorough knowledge of “the truth” is not enough to live a holy life. A cognitive understanding of God is not enough to satisfy the soul. We must also experience a relationship with God and resist the temptations of “the enemy” to “draw us away.” J. N. Pike explained the importance of experience to those who are “almost persuaded” to keep his commandments. “Make a trial,” he urged. He then described his own experience:

Do not delay as I have done, in matters that interest the eternal welfare of the soul. I was brought to see the necessity of a change of heart when a youth, but got into a backslidden state, and remained there some five and thirty years; not without some strivings of the Spirit at different times, and often would I resolve anew to start and serve God, yet remained where I was until I was led to see and put in practice the keeping of God’s Sabbath, since which time a flood of light has shown in upon my soul that I never before saw, for which I feel to praise and bless God.8

Sr. Richmond and Br. Pike understood that learning the theory of truth is not enough. It must lead to an encounter with God and a subsequent transformation of the heart to be complete. The pilgrim was to proceed in faith, experience what it means to keep the Sabbath fully, and then watch the “flood of light” shine upon the soul.

In this way, through an understanding of God’s law and a commitment to obey it fully, the soul draws near to God. In these letters recounting their own spiritual experience, these faithful believers described the path of spiritual growth. E. W Darling marveled that anything could find a higher place in our affections than the love of God. “Strive to change the channel of thy thoughts and thy affections, and let them center more on thy Creator,”9 he said. The more we draw near to God, the more we see the love and holiness of his character. The clearest description of what it means to draw near to God appeared in an article in 1857, which we include here in its entirety:

Drawing Near to God

The spiritual Psalmist said that it was good for him to draw near to God. He spoke from experience. Some of my readers have had a similar experience. It is a comfort to believe that this article will be read by some who know that it is good to draw near to God. What are some of the effects of so doing—effects which led the Psalmist to pronounce it good?

By drawing near to God, we are made to feel that he is love. It is not difficult to form some conception of the power, wisdom and justice of God. We can do all this while we remain at a distance from him. But to know the meaning of the expression, God is love, we must draw near to him. When we are near to him, we are in an atmosphere of love. We feel that God is love. All dread and distrust are banished. We see the propriety of the expression, God is love. We have some knowledge of its meaning. It is the most precious knowledge that we can possess.

By drawing nearer to God, the love of sin is destroyed. No man feels any desire to sin when the love of God is shed abroad in his soul as it must needs be, when he really draws near to God. The love of sin still remaining in the converted soul, is the great obstacle to progress, and the great source of sorrow. It is the great business of Satan to multiply occasion for exciting that love, and causing it to lead to action. In repressing it and subduing it, consists the warfare that is carried on by every regenerate soul. While we are near to God, sin has no power. The soul is absorbed in an object so lovely that it can see no beauty in sin. So long as the soul is near to God, so long is the love of sin in abeyance.

By drawing near to God, we forget the world, its distracting cares, and its tendency to mar our peace, and to lead us astray from duty. We are constrained to have daily intercourse with the world, and it is impossible for us not to be influenced by the scenes and circumstances by which we are surrounded. So far as those influences are unfavorable to holiness, we need at times to withdraw from them, and to fortify ourselves against them. This can be effectually done, only by drawing near to God. Then the world is no longer seen in a false light, and its influence for evil is destroyed.

By drawing near to God, we get clearer views of the beauty of holiness. This is the great end of life, the great end of our being, to be holy as God is holy. When we are near to God, we are near to the great exemplar of holiness. We see its beauty and desirableness as we can see it no where else. Being thus in the immediate presence of perfect and infinite holiness, we are, in a measure, transformed into the same image. The more we draw near to God, the more holy we shall become. Truly it is good for us to draw near to God.10

To draw near to God is to know him as a God of love, a transforming knowledge that banishes all dread, destroys the power of sin, negates the appeal of the world, and draws us into the beauty of holiness. As we draw nearer, God transforms us more fully into his image. For the believers who waited all night to see Jesus, finding this growing nearness to God was a foretaste of heaven. For them, obedience to the law brought with it the joy of increasing knowledge of God’s will. The Sabbath, especially, brought the joy of intimate connection with God and with each other. Elizabeth Degarmo, a lonely believer in keeping the fourth commandment, wrote that “it brings such sweet peace that I often in the night, while meditating on the beauty of the commandments am led to speak out in praise to God.”11 Letters frequently included salutes to fellow Sabbath-keepers who shared the commitment to keep the commandments whatever the cost. Cornelia A. Hilton, for instance, wrote:

I praise God for the light of the present truth, which shines forth from the sacred page and the prophetic chart. I have been trying for the past year to keep all of God’s commandments and the faith of Jesus….My heart is drawn out in love toward God’s dear people who are looking for the coming of Christ on the white cloud. I love to read the letters from the dear brethren and sisters in the Review. It gives me new courage to press my way on to that glorious city.12

The writers of these letters, using the imagery of pilgrimage, continued to press on to the glorious city. Though they were no longer concerned about when Christ would return, their goal was ultimately to see him. Elizabeth Degarmo expressed it well, “My course I mean shall be onward and upward till I see Jesus.”13 But what is also clear from their testimonies is that they are already basking in the presence of Jesus. Their hopes have been realized, not yet in the Second Coming, but in drawing near to God and experiencing directly, as David did, that God is love and that near him, “we are in an atmosphere of love” and participate in a community of love. We have the companionship of Jesus now when we reach out in love to our brothers and sisters. We are with Jesus when we trust in God’s love and transforming power and when we are drawn to the beauty of holiness. It is important to remember that as we focus on Christ’s coming in a future time, we run the risk of not seeing Jesus now, and miss the joy of drawing near to God. We, too, as the spiritual heirs of those living in the “patient waiting time,”14 can look forward to the future when “he that shall come will come,” while currently rejoicing in the peace, fulfillment, and satisfaction of living in the presence of God.

Notes & References: 1. Tryphena N. Elliot, “From Sister Elliot,” Review and Herald 12, no. 10 (July 22, 1858): 79. 2. J. B. & Charlotte S. Bezzo, “From Bro. & Sr. Bezzo,” Review and Herald 4, no. 18 (November 8, 1853): 142-43. 3. R. F. Cottrell, “Tradition Preferred to Truth,” Review and Herald 31, no. 17 (April 7, 1868): 268. 4. E. A. Poole, “From Bro. Poole,” Review and Herald 3, no. 5 (July 8, 1852): 39. 5. J. Clarke, “The Reformation,” Review and Herald 19, no. 6 (January 7, 1862): 46-47. 6. Emma C. Downer, “From Sister Downer,” Review and Herald 23, no. 7 (January 12, 1864): 54-55. 7. Lois J. Richmond, “From Sister Richmond,” Review and Herald 5, no 11 (April 4, 1854): 87. 8. J. N. Pike, “Begin New: Spoken from Experience,” Review and Herald 9, no. 25 (April 23, 1857): 198. 9. E. W. Darling, “Love to God,” Review and Herald 24, no. 12 (August 16, 1864): 91. 10. “Drawing Near to God,” Review and Herald 10, no. 25 (October 22, 1857): 195 11. Elizabeth Degarmo, “From Sister Degarmo,” Review and Herald 6, no. 2 (August 22, 1854): 15. 12. Cornelia A. Hilton, “From Sister Hilton,” Review and Herald 13, no. 17 (April 7, 1868): 267. 13. Degarmo, 15. 14. Sister Betsey E. Sage, “From Sister Sage,” Review and Herald 3, no. 18 (January 20, 1853): 143.

Beverly Beem from Walla Walla University (ret.) and Ginger Hanks Harwood from La Sierra University (ret.) have worked together in mining the nineteenth-century Review and Heraldto find what our pioneers said about their spiritual experience. They have published their work in Spectrumand Andrews University Seminary Studies. They wish to acknowledge the generous support given by Walla Walla University and La Sierra University for the research behind this article.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash.

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at http://spectrummagazine.org/node/8800
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#2

I read this article with interest and found a pretty stark contrast between the bald spirituality expressed in emotional terms, compared to the academic analysis favored by many Adventists today. These pioneers talked so openly about how communing with the Lord and reading the Bible made them feel. In my own, lifelong SDA experience, emotional spirituality has usually been warned against in favor of proof texts and parsing of EGW ad infinitum. Remember, don’t trust your feelings because they are always changing! Just the facts, ma’am, amazing though they may be.

6 Likes
#3

Yes, they were desperately disappointed.

(But should have known better: “No man knoweth the day nor the hour “)

Not only were they disappointed, they were EMBARRASSED.

Regrettably, in a frantic face saving manoever to sugar coat and soft pedal their SHAME, they grasped at a flimsy/fragile/feeble and highly tenuous explanation for their gullibility:
the sanctuary/investigative judgement theology.

In the subsequent one hundred seventy years after this charade, no other reputable theological seminary/theologian/denomination/church entity, has endorsed nor signed onto this face saving farce.

Time for us to jettison a doctrine that .does not “hold water “.

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#4

Thanks to Bev and to Ginge! Our early Adventist writing about their spiritual experience is warm and vital and so authentic. We can do it too even as we engage in academic analysis. Ellen White herself wrote in this fashion. This is why I must differ with your attitude to Ellen White.

@ezbord
Robin, you seem to have a huge theological chip on your shoulder. I would contend that the sanctuary and investigative judgment theology was not at all a face-saving invention but a faith construct about their living saviour, they having followed Him by faith into the very presence of God.

How many people clung to the doctrine of the Sabbath when these pioneers adopted it. How many people had found the truth of the true nature of humanity (the non-immortality of the Soul) when they adopted it. Truth should never be decided on, as a popularity contest.

The fact is that the sanctuary truth was dimly understood by the English Puritans, as the work of Dr Bryan Ball has outlined it.

My 3 brothers are graduates of Harvard, Toronto and London! Yet their conclusions are no more valid than mine. Truth is not a popularity contest nor subject to the whims of the masses.

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#5

OK, I’ll bite…what is my attitude to Ellen?

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#6

Perhaps MORE are familiar with the Sanctuary model of the Book of Hebrews.
And so do not need the SDA Model.

Off topic – Convention of States. com.
any one know what thei ramifications of this might end up???
Heard it named on the radio today.

#7

Those who continued to express their longing for Christ’s return after the disappointment were, I believe, truly sincere. Hopefully we remember that people expressed their feelings differently then than many of us do now. Religion in general was more emotional.

Sadly, had the believers been less emotional and more thoughtful some unfortunate errors and disappointments could have been avoided. How could they have overlooked the plain teaching that “we know not the hour”? Perhaps because their desire to see Jesus was more emotional than rational.

I treasure my Adventist heritage deeply as I move into my senior years. But I can no longer speak of “soon”, having watched my g-grandparents, grandparents, and parents expect a “soon” return than never happened. In fact, hearing “soon” from the pulpit brings a sense of regrettable bitterness to me because I can give it no credibility. I now prefer the words faith and hope to the word soon. Someday we’ll understand. In the mean time, I recommend patient faith, even if we probably won’t see Jesus return in our lifetime.

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#8

you’re right. VERY off topic.

#9

Dear Peter,
I was in the Adventist church in downtown Nice, France, where I own a home.

Behind the pulpit, they displayed a sign, in French, of course:

BEHOLD I AM COMING SOON

Our KJV English Bible states , BEHOLD I COME QUICKLY,
which confuses the meaning and not as clear as the word SOON.

The French Bible says SOON.
My Dutch Bible also,translates the word as SOON.

In the last chapter of Revelation, Christ most emphatically and
unequivocally says THREE TIMES, (in French and in Dutch )
that he is coming SOON.

Was he lying?

More to the point, had his Heavenly Father not informed Him
of some remote task he had to perform, nearly two millennia
later (1844), that would of necessity negate this
emphatic promise of coming SOON.??

#10

Peter,
Harvard has nothing to do with it.

I myself was on the Harvard faculty, many years ago (the1960’s )

Please read my response, elsewhere in this blog, to the other Peter,
and explain how Christ could emphatically claim in Revelation,
(.written 60 AD )
BEHOLD I AM COMING SOON,
if He had some REMOTE task to,perform nearly two millennia later,
(1844).

The math does not add up!!

2 Likes
#11

Robin,
"was he lying? - are you asking or suggesting? Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true:

“Soon” is a relative adverb often given with the context of a paragraph or statement (e.g. soon after sunrise). Also, 2000 years being like two days to Jesus (2 Pet 3:8) could be understood as “soon”, but even so, I don’t believe this is the right answer.
In this particular case, the statement is given in Rev 22:7, where John is shown what happens “after” the time of the end, where he sees “the new Heavens and the new Earth” described in Chapter 21, so it should be read in the right biblical context:

"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. " (Habakkuk 2:3).

Also earlier in Rev. 12, at the start of the visions describing the end time" “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end…” Rev. 12:4

Since this vision was not to be revealed or understood until the time of the end, “Soon” in Chapter 22 is meant within “the time of the end”, or within the time that started in 1844. This is made even clearer when you consider the command given to John in Rev 22:10 "And he saith unto me, Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand. " This is the message to be understood by us, those living in the time of the end

I hope you don’t find yourself in the group of people described in 2.Pe 3:3 " knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4 and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?.."

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#12

Habakkuk 2:3 – This is God’s reply concerning the vision in Chapter 1.
HOW does this relate to OTHER SCRIPTURES??

Jesus was very direct in telling listeners of His day to “Study” Daniel.
Apparently, Jesus did. And there was information in it they should know.

Rev. 22:10 – “DO NOT SEAL UP the prophetic words in this book. For the
time is near.[at hand]” Written around 90 to 100 A.D.

#13

Robin
@c_scriven

Yes, I agree! Harvard has little to do with it. Yet several times you have complained on this blog site that Adventists still dare to accept the sanctuary and investigative judgment when no scholars and academics do. The fact that God chose to hid his truth from those whom the world counts wise and reveal it to those without worldly credentials is just the way he often works.

Yes, at times God has chosen academics and intellectuals to reveal his truth too. Take the apostle Paul, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Wesley. But then on the other hand God can choose people such as John Bunyan (the son of a pot mender, and a person with a third grade education) and Ellen White (the daughter of a hatter, and a person with a third grade education).

I am not all-knowing concerning the language of imminence the Bible uses. Perhaps George’s ideas above have some merit. Also, if I am not mistaken, Bacchiocchi’s ideas concerning ‘lover’s time’ have merit too. Bacchiocchi uses the experience of Jacob serving an extra seven years before gaining Rachel, the love of his life, observing as Genesis says, that “those seven years seemed but a few days to him because of the love he had for her.” Perhaps for those who love his appearing, time will be measured in a similar way.

As far as your dismissal of the sanctuary/ investigative judgment doctrine is concerned, please consider this. Perhaps Prof Fernando Canale is correct when he has observed a great gulf fixed between evangelical hermeneutics and Adventist hermeneutics. The first of these arises from the neoplatonist view of a timeless God living in an eternal present on the one hand. On the other hand, the second arises from a view of a God of history whose mode of relating with humanity is best illustrated in the sanctuary as the bible conceives it where promise, sacrifice, mediation and judgement all are provided from the sanctuary. Furthermore, a ‘historical’ God is well able to describe his prophetic timetable for humanity in terms of time prophecies. And certainly 1844 would fit into this as would 538 and 1798.

If the scenario outlined in the paragraph above has merit, then one should not agonize as to why and how the Adventist understandings of the sanctuary have not been embraced in wider Christian circles.

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#14

The heartfelt commitments to God are palpable in these excerpts; but are we to assume there were no struggles to DO AWAY WITH THE IDOLS in our lives (commandment #2); TO NOT TAKE GOD’S NAME IN VAIN #3; NOT TO MURDER (Jesus’ version in Mtt.5); NOT TO COMIT ADULTERY (Jesus’ version in Matt. 5); NOT TO COVET #10?

“These are they that kept commandmentS of God” does not zero in on just the fourth commandment. By defining faithfulness to God with exclusively the fourth commandment is to break at least the second.

1 Like
#15

For those who dare to face SDA history, and to see James, Ellen and other SDA pioneers as humbled students, themselves, who were constantly learning . . . then we can see that when Ellen once wrote about the ‘long delay’, she was not blaming us who were not yet even born, but the Advent pioneers, themselves, among whom she was a leading figure.
So why would we wish to beat down the crushed, any further ?

“Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward. But in the period of doubt and uncertainty that followed the disappointment, many of the advent believers yielded their faith. . . . Thus the work was hindered, and the world was left in darkness. Had the whole Adventist body united upon the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, how widely different would have been our history!” {Ev 695.3}

"It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be thus delayed. God did not design that His people, Israel, should wander forty years in the wilderness. He promised to lead them directly to the land of Canaan, and establish them there a holy, healthy, happy people. But those to whom it was first preached, went not in “because of unbelief.” Their hearts were filled with murmuring, rebellion, and hatred, and He could not fulfill His covenant with them." {Ev 696.1}
“For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord’s professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years.”–Manuscript 4, 1883. {Ev 696.2}

After this Manuscript 4 was written by Ellen in 1883, it was still a few years later when Waggoner and Jones – the help Ellen had prayed for after her husband James died – finally began to merely finish the long-unfinished sentence of Revelation 14:12’s 3rd Messenger. Independently they both studied into, received and began proclaiming,
’. . . and the faith of Jesus’, in conjunction with the ‘righteousness of Christ’ (enabling Him to be the new Lord ‘Adam’ of a ‘reborn’ human race) and the ‘2 Covenants’ that Paul had explained to the Galatians long ago. . . and the SDA GC attacked them in what Ellen described as ‘Korah’s Rebellion’:

 “Just as soon as a man separates from God so that his heart is not under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit, the attributes of Satan will be revealed, and **he will begin to oppress his fellowmen**. An influence goes forth from him that is contrary to truth and justice and righteousness. This disposition is manifested in our institutions, not only in the relation of workers one to another, but the desire shown by one institution to control all others. Men who are entrusted with weighty responsibilities, but who have no living connection with God, **have been and are doing despite to the Holy Spirit**. They are **indulging the very same spirit as did Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and as did the Jews in the days of Christ.** (See Matthew 12:22-29, 31-37.) Warnings have come from God again and again for these men, but they have cast them aside and ventured on in the same course.”  {14MR 116.2} 
 “Read the words of Christ in Matthew 23:23: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." These denunciations are given as a warning to all who "outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within" "are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." They say, We are delivered to do all these things. They also say, "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. "Wherefore," said Jesus, "**ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.**" What lessons are here; how fearful and decisive! Jesus said, "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city." This prophecy was literally fulfilled by the Jews in their treatment of Christ and of the messengers whom God sent to them. **Will men in these last days follow the example of those whom Christ condemned?**”  {14MR 116.3}  
 “These terrible predictions they have not as yet carried out to the full; but if God spares their lives, and they nourish the same spirit that marked their course of action both before and after the Minneapolis meeting, they will fill up to the full the deeds of those whom Christ condemned when He was on the earth.”  {14MR 117.1}

To those modern SDAs who point to the too-late confessions of pioneer SDA leaders during the post-‘1888’ era, and thereby try to ease the guilt of SDA church leadership which had humiliated Christ, again . . . Well, Hitler may have confessed his sins before dying, but that confession would not have brought back to life the millions he was responsible for destroying, nor would it have restored the valuable contributions those millions may have made to the world, had they lived.

“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts,
“and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts." Zechariah 1:3

#16

Do you believe that the things that have, or haven’t happened in the SDA church, are what controls when Jesus returns?

4 Likes
#17

Exactly !

Right after the ‘3rd Angel’s Message’ – the SDA church’s purpose for existence are the last messages – comes a harvest scene. The messages are supposed to cause a ‘ripening’, maturing, ‘perfecting’ response, and the ‘latter rain’ of the Holy Spirit’s ‘teaching of righteousness according to righteousness’ (Joel 2:23, margin) is that maturing perspective of truth that plumps up the ‘grain’ for the last time before it is harvested at the prime instant of full ripeness . . . That’s why Jesus – the Harvester – comes ‘soon’ before the ripe grain rots in the field.

But, when the ‘Latter Rain’-perspective of truth comes and the SDA GC leaders put up umbrellas and obstacles to keep the church and the world dry from ‘the last message of mercy’ – as they very clearly did 130 years ago – there can be no fully-ripened ‘crop’ and the Harvester must wait. So, we now have the plague of ‘Laodicean’ hypocrisy infecting the field: A church that claims to preach the soon coming of Jesus, but also robs Him of a fully-ripe ‘crop’, preventing a successful ‘harvest’.
What farmer would harvest unripe grain ?

Our current SDA problems did not drop out of the sky. They grew from our roots, and they are cumulatively related from our past history. That’s what makes understanding our SDA history the key to solving today’s problems. Just like any true diagnosis of dis-ease.

#18

This would mean that the Adventist church holds the whole world, and Jesus in heaven, hostage. Misery, death and suffering will continue until the SDA church gets it right?

Doesn’t scripture teach that when “the Gospel” has gone into all the world, then the end will come?

Matt 24:14 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

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#19

How do people get this so twisted? Creating all kinds of perfection to reach before God will accept them. That’s what the non-God deities demand. Such demands make nothing of the Gospel Gift of eternal life–a gift. They all want to attach strings.

But the Scriptures say “No one knoweth…except the Father” when the second coming will be.

Matt 24:14: And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

I used to wonder, how will we ever bring the Gospel to China? Iran? Iraq? North Korea?

This one baffled me so much before women pastors ordained in China by order of the government and social media. God sent Adventist women pastors to set up home churches that grew into our largest churches anywhere.

God knows what He is doing.

We are way out of line to teach anything like reaching perfection or depressing the voices of women from authorized pastoring.

It’s the Gospel, the free gift of eternal life through Jesus’s death for us, that story we are to tell the nations. Not a falsehood of perfection holding back the Second Coming.

May every available voice proclaim the Gospel to all parts of our globe.

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#20

Christians have been preaching the Gospel for 2,000 years, so they are the one’s who have done the lions share of the work, and still are today, don’t you think?

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