Section

Introduction
Bosch's Perspective on Action in Hope Reviewed

Transforming Mission
Classic Texts in Mission & World Christianity

The Determinative Angel Message Elements in an Adventist Theology of Mission

First Angel's Message
Second Angel's Message
Third Angel's Message
Angel Message Elements Taken Together

Conclusion

This brief paper reviews the thought of David Bosch on the eschatological dimension of mission, from the Seventh-day Adventist perspective. The unconventional nature of the Adventist eschatological perspective calls for a sufficient elaboration of the Adventist theology of mission in order to provide a clarification for the critique of Bosch's thought.

When Augustine wrote his epoch-changing City of God, he so revamped the discussion that eschatology was swept aside for an age. The Roman Catholic Church (RCC), perceived to be the visible expression of God's kingdom on earth pursued its version of Christianity and marched to its own drumming, and widespread interest in eschatology went on a long vacation. The Magesterial Protestant reformers, in identifying themselves contra to RCC did manage to take a step forward in prophetic reawakening as they followed the pointing finger of prophecy and saw it targeting the antichrist. Yet it took the deeper extraction from co-corrupting church-state relationships as began to be expressed in the Radical reformation to make eschatology accessible once again. If the "eschatology office" was so long closed,⁽¹⁾ it is not surprising that its rediscovery came first in Protestantism.⁽²⁾

Bosch sees as pivotal the re-emergence of the historical essence of Christian faith-the recognition of God's continual "acting in history."⁽³⁾ Although the enlightenment soon reduced issues to those of causality, it offered no hope in the place of the world-view that it replaced. The limits of human reason would not become completely apparent until the closing of the modern era and the arising pessimism of post-modernism. Echoes of the enlightenment's over-optimism continued to wash through the Christian thinking of its day. Post-millenialism was cresting at full-flood when William Miller came with a very different message. The pre-millenial scheme derived from his study of the Bible diverged 180 degrees from the mainstream thinking of his age. Bosch leaps over the whole of the formative years of Millerite/Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) movement with the mere recognition that what was commonly evidenced in that era was a post-millenialism "optimistic in the extreme."⁽⁴⁾ Even as far along as the Edinborough World Missionary Conference of 1910 he notes that, still, eschatological thinking was scarcely evidenced.⁽⁵⁾

Uncompelling views that continued to dominate for many years are reviewed by Bosch- views wherein eschatology becomes merely a term for the "ultimate and transcendant."⁽⁶⁾ Again, Bosch notes the a view of "history as a whole" being end-time, so that any actual end-ness to history becomes immaterial.⁽⁷⁾ Only in the line of the salvation-historical school does Bosch find a perspective that "takes history seriously."⁽⁸⁾ He finds the ahistorical eschatologies wanting as far as meeting the needs of real people.

To Bosch, several points seem to favor an eschatology linked to a historically significant package that includes meaningful emphasis on the end-time. In the reign of God between the future as "split in two,"⁽⁹⁾ he notes the nature especially of the time in which we live; a time of the spirit of mission:

Mission is the most important characteristic of and activity during this interim period. It fills the present and keeps the walls of history apart...'History is kept open by mission.'⁽¹⁰⁾

Lest we think Bosch is part of our "Adventist" camp, we need to apply the brakes. His faint praise toward the views of religious bodies such as ours is evident when he comments on Hal Lindsey, fanaticism, and those who hold unduly heightened views:

It would not do to simply label all millenarians as crackpots. The validity of their views lies in the anger and protest they voice against the complacency of the main Christian body, and against an understanding of history as a crisscrossing of chance impulses, an accidental flow of bodies tumbling over the cataract of time to their destruction.⁽¹²⁾

Far be it from us to identify closely with Hal Lindsey! But Lindsey cannot be said to be representative of millenarianism in general. There are other names, including such notables as George Eldon Ladd that Bosch could mention. Is Bosch right when he suggests that preoccupation with the end means paralysis in respect to mission?⁽¹³⁾ This question will be reprised later, but let it be noted that even the author mentions exceptions, including the New Testament! It "knows no other progress in history than that the end is drawing near."⁽¹⁴⁾

Bosch likes Freytag and Cullmann, who persist in their "unflagging insistence that there is no authentic mission without a fundamental eschatological disposition."⁽¹⁵⁾ He agrees with Braaten, who suggests that without the eschatological dimension, the gospel is reduced to mere ethics.⁽¹⁶⁾ Adventists can approve what Bosch writes in the concluding pages of his book: "We need an eschatology for mission which is both future-directed and oriented to the here and now."⁽¹⁷⁾ Perhaps he could have discovered something threateningly close to his ideal.

Before turning to that ideal, it may profit to consider some of the readings presented by Thomas.⁽¹⁸⁾ Several from among his ten readings offer valuable insights into themes generally evident in Bosch. Four themes emerge:

1. Recognition that we live in a period between the first and second coming of Christ and exist within the eschatological tension produced by our time location.⁽¹⁹⁾

2. The various authors frequently come right up against the edge of the great controversy (a theme discussed shortly), although they cannot expound what they have not adequately seen.⁽²⁰⁾

3. A recognition that the churches mission itself is an eschatological ministry-a service to God lived within the brightening incandescent intensity of the end-time.⁽²¹⁾

4. A repetitious unwillingness to concede the possibility of humankinds' playing any kind of meaningfully decisive role in heaven's end-time scenario.⁽²²⁾

More interesting, is the repeated approach to the great controversy outline so cherished by Seventh-day Adventists. Although these authors probably have no meaningful acquaintance with this theme in its full Adventist expression,⁽²³⁾ they repeatedly reveal that they have glimpsed one of its edges. Consider, for example, Moltmann's remark that "Transforming mission...regards the world as an open process in which the salvation and destruction, the righteousness and annihilation of the world are at stake."⁽²⁴⁾ Again, "The call to obedient moulding of the world would have no object if this world were immutable."⁽²⁵⁾ He sees how we have a part here-how we must lay hold upon that part "and realize it in the direction of the promised future..."⁽²⁶⁾

Likewise, C. Rene Padilla sees the edges:

Although the midpoint of the timeline has appeared, the consummation of the new age still remains in the future. The same God who has intervened in history to initiate the drama is still acting and will continue to act in order to bring the drama to its conclusion.⁽²⁷⁾

Another example worth noting is Jean-Marc Ela, who suggests that we must

get back to ground level where the kingdom of God is built day by day. For the hope of a new world that is built in the framework of justice, peace, and freedom is the heart of the Christian message. We must get involved in this experience and use it as a starting-point for a radical critique of all that is happening before our eyes.⁽²⁹⁾

Next, we turn to key understandings within the SDA community of faith for added insight into mission as action in hope...
 

It would not be far afield to consider the explained purpose behind writing the book Great Controversy (GC)⁽³⁰⁾ as highly illustrative of dominant elements that compose the Adventist Mission.⁽³¹⁾ For nearly a century, Revelation 14:12 appeared under the name of the flagship periodical of our denomination.⁽³²⁾ But with the its first issue of 1939, this concise, encapsulization of heaven's end-time prophetic movement was discontinued-it has been suggested-"because of a diminishing historical consciousness of the SDA self-image."⁽³³⁾ Our self-image is intimately tied together with the overarching great controversy theme-a theme, in its fullest expression-absolutely unique to Adventism.

One of two passages from among many possible that can encapsulate this theme, is found in Ellen White's book Patriarchs and Prophets, which we quote at length:
 

The plan of salvation had a yet broader and deeper purpose than the salvation of man. It was not for this alone that Christ came to the earth; it was not merely that the inhabitants of this little world might regard the law of God as it should be regarded; but it was to vindicate the character of God before the universe. To this result of His great sacrifice-its influence upon the intelligences of other worlds, as well as upon man-the Saviour looked forward when just before His crucifixion He said: 'Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.' John 12:31, 32. The act of Christ in dying for the salvation of man would not only make heaven accessible to men, but before all the universe it would justify God and His Son in their dealing with the rebellion of Satan. It would establish the perpetuity of the law of God and would reveal the nature and the results of sin.⁽³⁴⁾

Dennis Priebe has marked out the issue in a concise way:

When Satan first challenged God's right to rulership, he chose God's laws as the focal point of his attack. If God's rules could be shown to be faulty, then it would also be clear that God's system of government was founded on a faulty foundation, and this would be very persuasive evidence that God's character itself was flawed. When Jesus came to earth, His most important task was to reveal the character of God to fallen and unfallen beings, so that God could be completely cleared of the charges brought against Him by Satan.⁽³⁵⁾

Satan declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the law of God....Christ...removed every excuse from fallen man that he could urge for a reason for not keeping the law of God.⁽³⁶⁾

A. The universe-wide scope of the conflict, not just in regard to humankind. Can the universe be rendered secure from sin rising up again?
B. The vindication of God's character before the universe.
C. The perpetuity of the law of God and the revelation of the nature of sin.
D. Whether fallen man could obey God's law.

And to what do we owe this theme? Although we can support the great controversy theme entirely from Scripture, and do it quite well, we plainly acknowledge that the great controversy theme is rooted in the visions of Ellen G. White.⁽⁴⁰⁾ Perhaps even this multiplex them can be boiled down to two points: bringing ultimate closure to the sin problem in the universe, and saving humankind.

The vast soteriological cleavage between western Christianity's traditional legal orientation (substitutionary atonement), and eastern Christianity's healing emphasis (theosis), presented an insurmountable obstacle to humanity living out a concrete expression of what grace can do.⁽⁴¹⁾ This has in the past made it impossible for God to produce a group⁽⁴²⁾ that would show the dynamic experience of overcoming that He wished to demonstrate to the onlooking universe.⁽⁴³⁾ It thus remained for heaven to providentially reintegrate these themes through the ministry of John Wesley. Both of these themes find strong expression in the writings of Ellen G. White, but within the broader scope of the great controversy motif-a theme which neither Wesley nor any previous reformer saw in its richest expression. Therefore it is no surprise to us that neither Bosch nor anyone else or any other group, outside of Seventh-day Adventism, can explicate the theme. Because Bosch does not see these things, he never expresses a theology of mission that includes preparing people to receive the seal of God,⁽⁴⁴⁾ to live without sinning during a time when God's people live in the sight of a holy God without a Mediator.⁽⁴⁵⁾
 

Seventh-day Adventists are an eschatological people. They find their very raison d'tre in the angel messages of that chapter. As James White said, "the Advent cause owes its very existence to the first and the second angel's messages of Revelation 14."⁽⁴⁶⁾ It is therefore crucial to an SDA theology of mission to examine these messages, albeit briefly.
 

The first angel's message of Revelation 14:6-7 presented the arrival of the hour of judgment, the cleansing of the sanctuary. Daniel 8:14 and the 2300 day/year prophecy was understood by Miller and the Advent believers to culminate with the literal physical second coming of Christ to execute judgment upon the lost and to take with Him the redeemed, in 1843/1844. It was an Elijah-style message, a call to personal heart-searching and preparation.
 

This message was eventually rejected by the various organized religious structures in its day, which led to the giving of the second angel's message (Revelation 14:8). This message announced the moral fall of those religious bodies that rejected heaven's light on the first angel's message. This message especially provided the impetus for the separation of Adventists from bodies that rejected the message. At a time a few years after the disappointment of 1844, Ellen White was shown in vision that "Satan has taken full possession of the churches as a body."⁽⁴⁷⁾
 

The third angel's message (Revelation 14:9-12) became clear a few years after the disappointment of 1844. In essence, it bore some similarity to the first angel's message: it led to a personal heart-searching. The seal of God was understood to be His law placed in the heart, and victorious living over sin. Either this would be received, or the mark of the beast would be accepted for those who obeyed Satan's law and kept his false sabbath.
 

Finally, Revelation 18:1-5 portrays another angel similar to the secondl, who "lightens the earth with his glory." This angel repeats the second angel's message of Revelation 14:8, "with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the various organizations that constitute Babylon, since that message was first given, in the summer of 1844."⁽⁴⁸⁾ Here is portrayed a final call out of compromised religious structures that have rejected light from heaven and have passed the point of turning back. While these structures contain many true Christian persons ("My people," Revelation 18:4), the structures themselves have no spiritual legitimacy. A fascinating parallel is apparent between the first and third angel messages and between the second and fourth.
 

If we recall the four distinct great controversy theme elements before given, we discover that all of them are in evidence in the angel messages. Yet these angel messages form no part of any conventional religious organization's primary proclamational emphasis.

The theology of mission that flows forth from the great controversy theme and the angel messages is absolutely unique in Christianity. Our self-identity is vastly different,⁽⁴⁹⁾ our conception of the gospel is vastly different-even our historic understanding of the humanity of Christ. We are an eschatological people.

But our identity is slipping. Although clear statements came from the General Conference⁽⁵⁰⁾ and from the Adventist Review in the 1970s, no such answers have recently come forth.⁽⁵¹⁾ And we are still here. "Seventh-day Adventists must be awake to their destiny before they can consummate it. Their first order of business is to clarify their mission to themselves."⁽⁵²⁾ It remains with us to "remove the conditions that keep Jesus waiting."⁽⁵³⁾

All this brings us back to Bosch and an attempted synthesis. What can we say about Adventists as a people of hope in the eschatological vein after pondering Bosch's insights on mission and some reflection upon our own unique heritage?
 

What about Adventism's eschatological self-identity? Has it resulted in a neutralized interaction with the world? Is Bosch correct when he calls the kind of pessimism he thinks is inspired by millenialism an "essentially Manichean view" of history?⁽⁵⁴⁾ At least the statistics don't seem to follow Bosch's analysis. By 1980,

The Seventh-day Adventist church is the most widespread of all Protestant denominations, the largest of all Protestant missionary societies, with the greatest number of missionaries in the field (ca. 3200), and the most comprehensive single movement to advance the gospel into all the world.⁽⁵⁵⁾

Based upon the remarks of Bosch, we would appear to fit in with his misguided millenarians. But are the millenarians so misguided? By no means. Millenarianism does not require that one be a fatalist or a hyper-sovereignist. If God is recognized as sovereign, then can He not choose to limit Himself in His dealings with His creatures? It is evident already that He has, for although of purer eyes than to look upon evil,⁽⁵⁶⁾ He withholds His wrath against sin during the present transitive epoch⁽⁵⁷⁾ so that He might save some.⁽⁵⁸⁾ If it better meets God's purpose of placing the whole of His limitless realm on a experiential foundation so secure that sin will not rise up again,⁽⁵⁹⁾ can He not choose to delegate a critical task to His people on His behalf, and to be achieved by His power and under His superintendence?

While the idea is not prominent in Bosch, the readings in Thomas' book repeatedly affirm that humankind can do nothing to hasten or impact the time of the parousia.⁽⁶⁰⁾ Today in Seventh-day Adventism some are affirming the same thing.⁽⁶¹⁾ We cannot fault Bosch for not having the light that we have, although we may fault ourselves for a lack of aggressive expression of that light I our word and life. We see more because we are entrusted with more. We must honor Bosch as far as he sees, and he seems to see a good deal. We can affirm much of what he says in regard to eschatology.
 

Bosch's theology of mission and in particular his interest in the eschatological dimension of mission, is helpful as far as it goes. But neither he nor we must get caught in a perpetual state of between-ness in relation to the first and second comings of Jesus. Our push is on toward the second coming and beyond. Our mission-a larger view than what Bosch sees-is to bring to an end the sin problem in the universe. The salvation of people is an important item on God's agenda, but I am convinced that it is a distant second place. Oh yes, He would have come here to die for even just one lost being if it could be saved. But how much more vigorously and carefully could God the Father pursued ultimate closure to the sin problem. This must not be forgotten in Adventist mission.

Furthermore, we must own up to clear inspired statements that we, not might have delayed the second coming, but indeed, that we have delayed and continue to delay it. These must become elements of an Adventist theology of mission, both recognized and responded to unless we too want to die in the wilderness and be at least tangentially involved in the further suffering of a globe awash in the scream of sin. In all the universe, one shattered planet screams in agony awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God.⁽⁶²⁾ When will we let our God manifest His love through us in this way?

Bosch, David. Transforming Mission. New York: Orbis Books, 1991.

Damsteegt, P. Gerard. Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977.

Douglass, Herbert E. The End. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1979.

Oosterwall, Gottfried, et al, Servants For Christ: The Adventist Church Facing the 80's. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1980.

Thomas, Norman E., ed. Classic Texts in Mission & World Christianity. New York: Orbis Press, 1995.

White, Ellen G. The Desire of Ages. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1950.

________. Evangelism. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1946.

________. The Great Controversy. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1950.

________. Patriarchs and Prophets. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1890.

________. Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4. Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1884. A supplement by Arthur L. White.

________. Spiritual Gifts, vol. 1. Battle Creek, MI: James White, 1858.

________. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948.

Zurcher, J. R. Touched With Our Feelings. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1999.
 

Adams, Roy. "Why Are We Still Here?" Adventist Review, 6 October 1994, 36-38.

Priebe, Dennis E. "Is It Essential." Our Firm Foundation, March 1991.

White, Ellen G. "Sin Condemned in the Flesh." ST 16 January 1896, 5.

White, Ellen G. "A Crucified and Risen Saviour." ST 12 July 1899.

________. Ms. 1, 1892.
 

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. "1973 Annual Counsel Appeal." http://www.GreatControversy.org/documents/papers/19731974.html

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. "1974 Annual Counsel Appeal." http://www.GreatControversy.org/documents/papers/19731974.html

1. David Bosch, Transforming Mission (New York: Orbis Books, 1991), 498.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid., 499.

4. Bosch, 501.

5. Bosch, 501.

6. Ibid., 502.

7. Ibid., 503.

8. Ibid.

9. Between the first and second coming of Christ.

10. Bosch, 503. In the last portion of the phrase he quotes Hoekendijk.

11. Ibid., 504.

12. Ibid., 504.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid., 505.

15. Ibid., 506.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid., 508.

18. Norman E. Thomas, Classic Texts in Mission & World Christianity (New York: Orbis Press, 1995), 307-322.

19. Jurgen Multmann, quoted in Thomas, 314, 316.

20. Walter Freytag, quoted in Thomas, 311; Jurgen Moltmann, quoted in Thomas, 314-316; C. Rene Padilla, quoted in Thomas, 315; Jean-Marc Ela, quoted in Thomas, 318.

21. Oscar Cullmann, quoted in Thomas 308; Hans J. Margull, quoted in Thomas, 313.

22. Oscar Cullmann, quoted in Thomas, 308-309; Walter Freytag, quoted in Thomas, 310-311.

23. Unfortunately, even within Adventism this theme is not well understood.

24. Moltmann, quoted in Thomas, 314.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid.

27. C. Rene Padilla, quoted in Thomas, 315.

28. I coined this phrase to express that fatalism which hides under the wing of "God is sovereign" language and sereptitiously denies Him the use of His sovereign option to limit Himself or to present humankind with co-operative, non-merit-bearing purposes within His plan.

29. Jean-Marc Ela, quoted in Thomas, 318.

30. Ellen G. White, Great Controversy (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1950).

31. "[1] To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error, [2] to reveal the wiles of Satan, and the means by which he may be successfully resisted, [3] to present a satisfactory solution to the great problem of evil, shedding such a light upon the origin and final disposition of sin as to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealings with His creatures; and [4] to show the holy, unchanging nature of His law, is the object..." of Adventism's existence. Ellen White, GC xii. (Enumeration in brackets is added).

32. P. G. Damsteegt, Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), footnote p. 193. (Hereafter as Foundations). This once proud flagship of the denomination has been reduced to a piteous propaganda weapon of the relentless pro-women's ordination subculture within the church. See Adventists Affirm, vol. 12, No. 3, fall 1998.

33. Ibid.

34. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1890), 68-69.

35. Dennis Priebe, "Is It Essential," appearing in Our Firm Foundation, March 1991. This article presents in a concise way the thrust of this issue within the great controversy.

36. Ellen G. White, "Sin Condemned in the Flesh," ST 16 January 1896, 5.

37. "Satan, the fallen angel, had declared that no man could keep the law of God after the disobedience of Adam." Ellen White, Ms. 1, 1892.

38. For the latest and most comprehensive work on this topic, see J. R. Zurcher, Touched With Our Feelings (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1999).

39. We need to here them expressed more often by SDA missiologists.

40. Initial elements of the great controversy theme were revealed to Ellen White in vision in 1848, but the great comprehensive great controversy vision occurred on 13-14 March 1858 at Lovett's Grove, near Bowling Green, Ohio. For more detail on this see Ellen White's Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4 (Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1884), 507-549, a supplement by Arthur L. White.

41. Colossians 1:27-29.

42. See Revelation 14:1-5, 12.

43. 1 Peter 1:10-12; Ephesians 3:10, 21.

44. See Ellen G. White's Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948), 207-235; and her GC, 613-634.

45. Ellen G. White, GC, 425.

46. Damsteegt, Foundations, 189, Quoting James White from "Call to Remembrance of the Former Days," RH 13 January 1852, 76.

47. Ellen White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 1, 189. That is, the churches that had rejected the first angel's message.

48. GC 603.

49. In his Foundations, Damsteegt quotes Paul Schwarzenau's insight: "Prior to and underlying every particular church doctrine, however objectively it may be based on biblical exegesis and theological argument, are experiences of faith which have left an indelible mark on that doctrine and are the source which consciously or unconsciously determines the questions, inquiries, and teachings of the church in question," xiii.

50. See the 1973 and 1974 General Conference Annual Counsel Appeals for extraordinarily clear statements to this issue. One source (presently) of these documents is on the internet at the URL http://www.greatcontroversy.org/documents/papers/19731974.html.

51. Among the most unfortunate items published in recent years was an article by Roy Adam's appearing in the special 150 year anniversary issue of the Adventist Review commemorating the great disappointment (6 October 1994). The result was one of the most heart-sickening documents to find print under the churches presses in recent years. After stating in his article (36-38) that the question of the delay "will weigh us down-spiritually and emotionally-if we do not at some point break free of that history and see the crass presumptuousness of it," it is apparent that to Adams and those sharing his views, the eschatological essence of the mission of Seventh-day Adventism is an impediment to the accomplishment of Adventism's mission. After suggestions in this vein Adams closes the article hiding in hyper-sovereignism.

52. Herbert E. Douglass, The End (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1979), 142.

53. Douglass, 19.

54. Bosch, 505.

55. Gottfried Oosterwall, et al, Servants For Christ: The Adventist Church Facing the 80's (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1980), 1. This material is somewhat dated, but nonetheless makes the point.

56. Habakkuk 1:13.

57. Psalms 50:3.

58. 1 Corinthians 9:22.

59. "Every question of truth and error in the long-standing controversy has now [by the brief period immediately following the second resurrection and before the final attack upon the New Jerusalem in Revelation 20:9] been made plain. The results of rebellion, the fruits of setting aside the divine statutes, have been laid open to the view of all created intelligences. The working out of Satan's rule in contrast to with the government of God has been presented to the whole universe. Satan's own works have condemned him. God's wisdom, His justice, and His goodness stand fully vindicated...The history of sin will stand for all eternity as a witness that with the existence of God's law is bound up the happiness of all the beings He has created." Ellen White, GC 670. "It was in order that the heavenly universe might see the conditions of the covenant of redemption that Christ bore the penalty in behalf of the human race. The throne of Justice must be eternally and forever made secure, even tho the race be wiped out, and another creation populate the earth. By the sacrifice Christ was about to make, all doubts would be forever settled, and the human race would be saved if they would return to their allegiance. Christ alone could restore honor to God's government. The cross of Calvary would be looked upon by the unfallen worlds, by the heavenly universe, by Satanic agencies, by the fallen race, and every mouth would be stopped. In making His infinite sacrifice Christ would exalt and honor the law. He would make known the exalted character of God's government, which could not in any way be changed to meet man in his sinful condition." "A Crucified and Risen Saviour," Signs of the Times, (ST) 12 July 1899. "It was God's purpose to place things on an eternal basis of security, and in the councils of heaven it was decided that time must be given for Satan to develop the principles which were the foundation of his system of government. He had claimed that these were superior to God's principles. Time was given for the working of Satan's principles, that they might be seen by the heavenly universe." Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, 759. "The whole universe will have become witnesses to the nature and results of sin. And its utter extermination, which in the beginning would have brought fear to angels and dishonor to God, will now vindicate His love and establish His honor before the universe of beings who delight to do His will, and in whose heart is His law. Never will evil again be manifest. Says the word of God: "Affliction shall not rise up the second time." Nahum 1:9. The law of God, which Satan has reproached as the yoke of bondage, will be honored as the law of liberty. A tested and proved creation will never again be turned from allegiance to Him whose character has been fully manifested before them as fathomless love and infinite wisdom." "The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean." GC 678.

60. See Thomas' quoting Cullman, 308-309, and Freytag, 30-311.

61. Roy Adams, "Why Are We Still Here," RH 6 October 1994, 38. "So why are we still here? Ultimately, only God knows. And ultimately only God needs to know!" But the actual situation is the exact opposite of what Adams claims. God is not the only one who knows. He shared with His people a century ago exactly why we are still here: "It should be remembered that the promises and the threatenings of God are alike conditional....Had the whole Adventist body united upon the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus [immediately following the great disappointment in October 1844] how widely different would have been our history!

"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 murmering, rebellion, and hatred, and he could not fulfill His covenant with them.

"For forty years did unbelief, murmering, 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" Ms. 4, 1883 in Evangelism 695-696.

"We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel; but for Christ's sake, His people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of action." Letter 184, 1901 in Evangelism, 696.

62. Romans 8:18-30.

Last Modified 23 March 2000