 GCO Mission and Goals | GCO Ministry Testimonials | Projects | Resources/Donations/Contact | SEARCH | |
Four Seventh-day Adventist Sins That Prevent the Advent, Pt. 5: Strife Among the Lord’s Professed People
Larry Kirkpatrick, Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church, May 14, 2005
Document URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kir-4sdasinspt5.php
Review
Today part five in our series about preventing the Advent. We have considered the experience of the Hebrews in the wilderness as they left Egypt for Canaan. At the very borders of the promised land, they were turned back. Four sins kept them out of Canaan. God could not fulfill His covenant with them because they themselves refused to cooperate with His conditions. Thus they must go round for another lap. We want to draw lessons from the examples they have left us, so that we can get off the merry-go-round and see the face of Jesus at last.
Inspiration reveals four specific sins that kept them out and that made it so that virtually that whole generation died in the wilderness. Not only that; we also learned that the same sins have kept modern Israel out of Canaan. Consider again the inspired analysis:
God had committed to His people a work to be accomplished on earth. The third angel’s message was to be given, the minds of believers were to be directed to the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ had entered to make atonement of His people. The Sabbath reform was to be carried forward. The breach in the law of God must be made up. The message must be proclaimed with a loud voice, that all the inhabitants of earth might receive the warning. The people of God must purify their souls through obedience to the truth, and be prepared to stand without fault before Him at His coming.
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!
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.
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 (Evangelism, pp. 695, 696).
Those four paragraphs again speak loud and clear. We are delaying the return of Jesus. We’ve already given some consideration to unbelief, and worldliness, and unconsecration. Today then, at last, we face the fourth item in the list: strife among the Lord’s professed people.
Strife Among the Lord’s Professed People
Now we need to consider the character of the strife manifest among the Lord’s professed people when they were in the Desert, in 1844, and today. We proceed:
The Character of Strife Among the Hebrews in the Desert
First, the Hebrews in the desert. Recall the conflict: twelve spies return, ten leave God out of the equation and say they cannot go up, two insist that through God’s help, God’s people will be victorious. What is interesting here is that the strife among the Hebrews was not, at least in any overt way, doctrinal in nature. It was more about faith. Would they or wouldn’t they follow the lead of God to closure? He led them through the desert. The goal of the Exodus was to establish His people in the promised land. His people were being taken to where they could fully experience His rest. The Sabbath is never far from the Exodus. The goal of Exodus is Sabbath.
Likewise, today Adventists are not experiencing in full the Sabbath. We have not crossed over Jordan. We are in the wilderness, looking across the border. The Hebrews had important pieces of it, but they were still in the desert. Earth is on journey from Eden to Eden, from original Sabbath, through a wilderness wandering that will resolve the issue of sin, and back finally to Eden restored, Sabbath realized in full, no separating veil of any kind between ourselves and our Savior. It is hard to get back fully to the Sabbath. The journey out of slavery isn’t as straight a shot as it looks.
The Character of Strife Among Adventists Circa 1844
The strife that came with the disappointment in 1844 was, again, less doctrinal than about faith. Had God led them? Was the reason for the disappointment the result of defects in how God led, or defects in how God’s people followed? Consider:
Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right message at the right time. But as the early disciples declared, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand,’ based on the prophecy of Daniel 9, while they failed to perceive that the death of the Messiah was foretold in the same scripture, so Miller and his associates preached the message based on Daniel 8:14 and Revelation 14:7, and failed to see that there were still other messages brought to view in Revelation 14, which were also to be given before the advent of the Lord. As the disciples were mistaken in regard to the kingdom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks, so Adventists were mistaken in regard to the event to take place at the expiration of the 2300 days. In both cases there was an acceptance of, or rather an adherence to, popular errors that blinded the mind to the truth. Both classes fulfilled the will of God in delivering the message which He desired to be given, and both, through their own misapprehension of their message, suffered disappointment.
Yet God accomplished His own beneficent purpose in permitting the warning of the judgment to be given just as it was. The great day was at hand, and in His providence the people were brought to the test of a definite time, in order to reveal to them what was in their hearts. The message was designed for the testing and purification of the church. They were to be led to see whether their affections were set upon this world or upon Christ and heaven. They professed to love the Saviour; now they were to prove their love. Were they ready to renounce their worldly hopes and ambitions, and welcome with joy the advent of their Lord? The message was designed to enable them to discern their true spiritual state; it was sent in mercy to arouse them to seek the Lord with repentance and humiliation.
The disappointment also, though the result of their own misapprehension of the message which they gave, was to be overruled for good. It would test the hearts of those who had professed to receive the warning. In the face of their disappointment would they rashly give up their experience and cast away their confidence in God's word? or would they, in prayer and humility, seek to discern where they had failed to comprehend the significance of the prophecy? How many had moved from fear, or from impulse and excitement? How many were halfhearted and unbelieving? Multitudes professed to love the appearing of the Lord. When called to endure the scoffs and reproach of the world, and the test of delay and disappointment, would they renounce the faith? Because they did not immediately understand the dealings of God with them, would they cast aside truths sustained by the clearest testimony of His word?
This test would reveal the strength of those who with real faith had obeyed what they believed to be the teaching of the word and the Spirit of God. It would teach them, as only such an experience could, the danger of accepting the theories and interpretations of men, instead of making the Bible its own interpreter. To the children of faith the perplexity and sorrow resulting from their error would work the needed correction. They would be led to a closer study of the prophetic word. They would be taught to examine more carefully the foundation of their faith, and to reject everything, however widely accepted by the Christian world, that was not founded upon the Scriptures of truth (Ellen G. White, The Great Controlversy, pp. 352-354).
The failure of the Adventists to in 1844 understand their position was due to “an acceptance of, or rather an adherence to, popular errors that blinded the mind to the truth.” It was the resuilt “of accepting the theories and interpretations of men, instead of making the Bible its own interpreter.” It was because of a failure “to examine more carefully the foundation of their faith, and to reject everything, however widely accepted by the Christian world, that was not founded upon the Scriptures of truth.”
Thus, with the arrival of the most severe stage of the testing time, it would separate those living by faith from those living by sight. Hearts were tested. There were doctrinal reasons for the false expectation, but the collapse of unity would arise not from those, but rather, from lack of faith.
Remember the clear word from inspiration:
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!
So the Great Second Advent Awakening, the Millerite movement, the Adventist movement, collapsed. This was in the 1840s. Those who remained faithful would progress ultimately to the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 1860s. The strife that arose then in the 1844 period would seem to have been built upon the unfinished theological work where Adventists then failed to reject the then-popular theory in their midst of what the sanctuary was (“the earth”) which was not well founded on the Scriptures. Failure to come to clarity here led directly to the great disappointment and the separation of Millerite believers into nominal Adventists, Seventh-day Adventists, and those who rejected their entire experience. This would seem to be the parallel: failure to unite on the advancing platform of present truth.
Thus the rise of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 1860s was a second-best plan, the first being that the whole 1844 group would, led by the opening providences of God, have come to clarity, and unitedly finished the work.
The Character of Strife Among Adventists Circa 2005
After 1861 we have the Seventh-day Adventist Church in existence, then the 1888 collision, then the challenges early in the new century with the Kellogg apostasy, then in the 1950s the Questions on Doctrine debacle, then about 1980 the Desmond Ford crisis. While these are not the only crises, Seventh-day Adventist historians would almost certainly have consensus that they represent the key list of strivingss among the Lord’s professed people.
Yet many Adventist historians would react much more cooly to the idea that the early 1970s revival attempted in what might be called the Pierson/Douglass/Wood era was meaningful. Yet, if the central issues in the 1888, Kellogg, and Ford controversies generally involved the gospel/sanctuary/righteousness by faith/atonement areas, then it is very interesting indeed that the 1973 and 1974 Annual Appeals voted by the General Conference Annual Councils for those years bear directly upon the same ultimate issues! Although these urgent calls for revival have been largely ignored, their significance is tremendous. Here, at the top level of leadership, the Church sounded the trumpet call of LGT (Last Generation Theology).
God’s Urgent Plea of 30 Years Past
Our leaders told us that as a people we were delaying the Advent. Want samples? Try these:
We believe that the return of Jesus has been long delayed, that the reasons for the delay are not wrapped in mysteries, and that the primary consideration before the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to reorder its priorities individually and corporately so that our Lord’s return may be hastened….
Becoming like Jesus in word and deed is the goal of the process called ‘righteousness by faith’: ‘The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin; it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of heart and life to the indwelling principles of heaven’ (The Desire of Ages, pp. 555, 556)….
As delegates to this Annual Council we believe that this is the heart of the church’s need—understanding and experiencing all that is meant by the phrase, ‘righteousness by faith.’ Such righteousness is God’s will lived out by continual faith in His power. God is waiting for a generation of Adventists who will demonstrate that His way of life can truly be lived on earth, that Jesus did not set an example beyond the reach of His followers, that His grace ‘is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish’ (Jude 24 RSV)….
As delegates to this Annual Council we are much aware of one factor that delays the coming of Christ: the unfinished task of carrying the three angel’s messages to the entire world (Revelation 14 and 18). We believe that Mrs. White made clear that Christ cannot come until the entire world has had a fair opportunity to hear God’s saving message. For example, she wrote: ‘Had the purpose of God been carried out by His people in giving to the world the message of mercy, Christ would, ere this, have come’ (Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 450)….
God was willing to bring His work to a swift triumph following 1844, in 1888, and again in 1901 (among other times). Why then the delay? What can be done now? ….
That moment of final decision for mankind the world over, often called the close of probation, is long overdue. God has wanted to complete His work on earth at several significant moments since 1844, but many of His people have failed to understand what He waits for; others have been unwilling to cooperate. In 1879 Ellen White wrote: ‘Because the time is apparently extended, many have become careless and indifferent in regard to their words and actions. They do not realize their danger and do not see and understand the mercy of our God in lengthening their probation, that they may have time to form characters for the future, immortal life. Every moment is of the highest value. Time is granted them, not to be employed in studying their own ease and becoming dwellers on the earth, but to be used in the work of overcoming every defect in their own characters and in helping others, by example and personal effort, to see the beauty of holiness. God has a people upon the earth who in faith and holy hope are tracing down the roll of fast-fulfilling prophecy and are seeking to purify their souls by obeying the truth, that they may not be found without the wedding garment when Christ shall appear’ (Testimonies, vol. 4, pp. 306, 307)….
We solemnly appeal to our church leaders and members everywhere, to think carefully as to whether they are hindering or hastening the return of Jesus. Our Lord is waiting to intervene in behalf of His church in ways beyond human comprehension, to open doors that will remain closed to human effort—both in the personal lives of dedicated church members and in the breakthrough of public evangelism that will one day startle the world with its clearness and power….
The question Why do we keep Him waiting? should hover over every Adventist home, over every church meeting, large or small. We believe that God is willing to do through this generation what He has wanted to do for many decades. We believe that He ought to be given the opportunity to show through His people today that His grace is sufficient to keep men from falling (See Jude 24), that men and women living amidst temptation and sin can conquer even as Jesus conquered (see Revelation 3:21), and that His way of life produces the happiest, kindest, most trustworthy people on earth….
Here was a force precisely opposite that of the opposers in 1888, Kellogg at the turn of the century, and QOD in 1957. It made the completion of the atonement in the sanctuary in heaven and in the lives of Lamb-followers here on earth its central concern. It called on all the church. It was the voice of Caleb and Joshua.
The Voice of Caleb and Joshua
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not (Numbers 14:6-9).
Were Caleb and Joshua, in upholding God’s covenant agreement with His people, in asserting that in His strength they were well able to go up and possess the land, engendering strife? They were among God’s professed people then. They were inciting to action. This was what Seventh-day Adventists did by creating the church structure in 1861. They were inciting to action. It was what our leaders sought to do in 1973-1974. It is what some of us are endeavoring to accomplish today. For, you see, our position today—precisely—is the position of Caleb and Joshua.
Jude urges God’s people that they “should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” The voice today that goes out is the same voice. It is the same message our heavenly Father has especially called His leaders to give in these last days always. We are no more troublers of the people today than our General Conference President Elder Robert Pierson was in pressing home this call then.
Conclusion
The next talk in this series will be its conclusion. Today, we recognize that the key problem in previous wilderness wanderings was usually a lack of faith. But we also realize that the reason Adventists did not finish God”s work in the 1840s was in part because our spiritual pioneers did not do thorough enough Bible study. They kept hold of ideas that they should have expunged. They did not work with the diligence to discard popular theological errors that they should have. The result was crash and burn. Finally, we saw that in the 1970s God sought to being in a mighty revival amongst us, but it was only partly successful. Nevertheless, the voice of Caleb and Joshua was heard, and is heard again today. Grim though all things presently appear, there is cause for hope because of the present call of Caleb and Joshua in the remnant church. In our last part of the series, we shall address where we presently are. Let us pray. GCO
© 2005 by GreatControversy.org. GCO grants permission to individuals, wholeheartedly encouraging them to copy and reproduce documents and files appearing on this site, in an unaltered state, and for non-commercial use, unless otherwise noted. All other rights reserved. Other groups or entities wishing to reproduce these materials are encouraged to contact us with reproduction requests.
