The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 76

January 24, 1899

“The Sermon. Our God Is a Consuming Fire” ¹ The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 76, 4, pp. 51, 52.

THE Lord is coming. He is coming with power and great glory. And “our God is a consuming fire.” Of the times and seasons, you have no need that I should speak; for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape. And though it is true that of the times and seasons you need not that I should speak, there is that connected with his coming, of which it is altogether essential to speak, and to think upon, all the time; and that is, the effect of his coming; for he comes “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And all these will be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 51.1

Again, it is written: “And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. So when he comes in his glory, it is a consuming glory, burning up all the wicked, and all that have any wickedness about them. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 51.2

Yet again it is written: “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.... And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity.” Isaiah 13:9, 11. And “who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?” Malachi 3:2. That is the question. As he is a consuming fire: and as, when he comes, we shall see him as he is, we shall see him as he is, we shall have to meet him as that consuming fire that he is, and there is no escaping it. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 51.3

When he comes, he is no more of a respecter of persons than before he comes. “There is no respect of persons with God.” Just as certainly as he is as he is; as certainly as he comes as he will; and as certainly as we shall see him as he is, so certainly will we all—each one of us—be dealt with as we are. There is no change of character, there is no room for change in us in that day. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.1

However, in that day, as in all other days, it is not upon men themselves that God’s wrath is visited; but upon the sins of men, and upon men only as they are identified with their sins. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven,” not against all ungodly men, not against all unrighteous men, but “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Romans 1:18. And only as the man clings to his ungodliness, only as he holds down the truth in unrighteousness, shall it be that the wrath of God will be revealed from heaven against him: and even then not against him primarily, but against the sin to which he clings, and will not leave. And as he has thus made his choice, clinging fast to his choice, he must take the consequences of his choice, when his choice shall have reached its ultimate. So it is written, and I read it again, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth [who hold down, who press back the truth] in unrighteousness.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.2

Continuing from where we read a moment ago, “Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” “Believed not the truth.” They knew of it; it was presented to them; their hearts told them, the Spirit of God told them, that it was the truth; their own consciences approved of it all: but they would not believe the truth; they “had pleasure in unrighteousness,” and held down, and pressed back, the truth in unrighteousness; and “for this cause” it is that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, and strikes them. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.3

Yet, as already stated, the wrath of God is not primarily against them, but against the thing which they love; against the thing which they cling to, and will not be separated from. And at last, in that great day when the judgment is set, and on the right and on the left are all the people who have ever lived, those on the left will depart “into everlasting fire, prepared”—not for them, but “for the devil and his angels.” The Lord has done his utmost that they might never see it. He gave his Son to save them, that they might never know it. It was not prepared for them. He does not desire that they should be lost; but they have to go there because there is the company which they have chosen; that is the place with which they have connected themselves, and from which they would not be separated. Therefore, he says, “depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.4

Not prepared for you. God in that day,—the Lord Jesus Christ in that hour,—when that word shall be spoken, will be just as sorrowful as he was in the hour of the cross. He will be just as sorry that these have to go into that place, which was not prepared for them, as he was in the hour of the cross. It is not his pleasure that any should be there. They are there because of that sin to which they have inseparably joined themselves. And that being their irrevocable choice, they simply have the opportunity now of receiving indeed, and to the full, that which they have chosen. They always had their choice; they made their choice; they stuck to their choice: and when they receive the consequences of their choice, indeed there is no room for complaint. God has done all that he could do, but they would not have it. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.5

So, though it is a fact that the Lord does not desire any of this to come upon any man, yet, as “God is a consuming fire,” that is the way that he must come. Being a consuming fire, and coming as he is, he comes in flaming fire to visit upon wickedness that which is due; and whoever is joined with the wickedness has to go the same way. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.6

“Taking vengeance on them that know not God.” They had an opportunity to know God. Multitudes professed that they did know God, but in their works they denied him. They had the form of godliness,—the profession,—but they denied the power thereof. You know the words: “In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ... reprobate concerning the faith.” And destruction comes to them, not because they had no chance, but because they despised all the chances they had: not because they had no opportunity to know God, but because they rejected every opportunity that God ever gave them to find him out, and know him when he revealed himself. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.7

God is altogether clear; for Jesus said: “If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him.” John 12:47, 48. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.8

Now let us find out that “one.” It is not Jesus Christ: he says it is not. It is not God; for the Lord Jesus said, “If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not.” That is not the “one.” But there is “one” that judges him, and I think we can find him out. Look again: “If any man hear my words.” That word is the word of God. It is the word of life of God, because it is the word of God. The word of life of God is eternal life, because eternal is the life of God. Then there is the word of eternal life. That word is spoken. All men hear it. “If any an hear my words, and believe not;” and “he that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words,“—that word being the word of life, when it comes to you, or to me, or to that other man, eternal life comes to you, or to me, or to that other man. In the “words of eternal life,” eternal life comes to him to whom the word comes. And when he rejects the word, he rejects eternal life. And in choosing to reject eternal life, he chooses eternal death. It is his own choice to reject eternal life; and in rejecting that, he chooses death. Then when that death comes to him which he has chosen—who brought him to it? Who counted him worthy of death? Who judged him? Who sentenced him to death?—Only himself. Nobody else is concerned in it at all. God did all that he could: he set eternal life before him; he surrounded him with every possible inducement, and every persuasion, to receive it; he made it attractive to him; it was adorned, decorated, made as beautiful as God’s truth itself could be made, and his own heart approved of it; the Spirit of God said to him, “That is the right thing, that is the truth:” but he “had pleasure in unrighteousness.” He rejected the word, and in rejecting the word of eternal life, he rejected eternal life; and in that he chose eternal death. And when he receives eternal death, it is only what he chose. He himself is the only one who counted himself worthy of it. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.9

When Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch, and the Jews contradicted and blasphemed against those things which were spoken by Paul and Barnabas to the Gentiles, these men of God waxed bold, and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Acts 13:46. Mark; it was not said, We judge you unworthy of eternal life. No; you “judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life.” Every man who meets destruction passes upon himself the judgment of that destruction. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.10

All the Scripture is founded upon this thought,—that it is not against the person, but against the thing to which the person has fastened himself, that the wrath of God comes. Then as the Lord executes vengeance primarily only against sin, as his wrath is only against ungodliness and unrighteousness, and he has done everything he could to get the people to separate from sin, then in that burning day when he comes, and reveals himself to the world, and the world sees him as he is, it will still be only sin against which he will execute vengeance. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.11

What more could God do than he did do to take away sin? He gave his only begotten Son; Christ gave himself, that whosoever would believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He pledges himself to every soul who will believe, that he shall not perish. The word does not read, as too often it is misread, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. No such thing. The next verse has the “might” in it: “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” It may be, too. When God gave his Son, in that gift he established the eternal possibility that every soul in this world might be saved. But there is where the “might” is. There is where the “maybe” is. Because, whether any one is saved, depends upon what he chooses. The Lord will not save us in spite of ourselves. He has made it possible, in the gift of Christ, for every one of us to be saved. It depends upon us whether we choose the salvation that he has given; whether we will take the cross, and adopt the means, that will make it certain to us. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.12

But when one has chosen Christ, and believes in him, there is no “maybe” about it any more. It shall be, then. Then the verse comes in where the shall is, and reads: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not [not, “might not”] perish, but have everlasting life.” Believing in Jesus Christ takes away all the “maybe” that there ever was in it, and makes it an eternal shall be. So, then, to every soul who believes in Jesus, God says, I pledge myself that you “shall not perish.” To every soul in this world, wicked as he may be, God’s message is that the has made the provision, he has established the thing, and so firmly fixed it that just as certainly as a soul believes in Jesus Christ, that soul “shall not perish.” That is a good offer. It is infinitely fair, and infinitely generous. It is as fair and generous as is God. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 52.13

(To be continued.)

“Editorial” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 76, 4, p. 56.

“THE knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith, is more important than any other knowledge that can be attained.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.1

Faith is the expecting the word of God to do the thing which that word speaks, and the depending upon the word only to accomplish the thing which that word speaks. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.2

Abraham is the father of all them which be of faith. The record of Abraham, then, gives instruction in faith—what it is, and what it does for him who has it. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.3

What shall we say, then, that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the faith, has found? What saith the Scripture? ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.4

When Abram was more than eighty years old, and Sarai his wife was old, and he had no child, God “brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.5

And Abram “believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:5, 6. Abram accepted the word of God, and expected by the word what the word said. And in that he was right. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.6

Sarai, however, did not put her expectation upon the word of God only. She resorted to a device of her own to bring forth seed. She said to him, “The Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her.” Genesis 16:2. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.7

Abram, for the moment, swerved from the perfect integrity of faith. Instead of holding fast his expectation and dependence upon the word of God only, he “harkened to the voice of Sarai.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.8

Accordingly, a child was born; but the whole matter proved to be so unsatisfactory to Sarai that she repudiated her own arrangement. And God showed his repudiation of it by totally ignoring the fact that any child had been born. He changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and continued to talk about making him the father of nations through the seed promised, and of making his covenant with Abraham and the seed that was promised. He also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, because she should “be a mother of nations” through the promised seed. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.9

Abraham noticed this total ignoring of the child that had been born, and called the Lord’s attention to it, saying, “O, that Ishmael might live before thee!” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.10

But “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.” Genesis 17:15-21. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.11

By all this, both Abram and Sarai were taught that, in carrying out the promise, the fulfilling of the word of God, nothing would answer but dependence upon that word only. Sarai learned that her device brought only trouble and perplexity, and delayed the fulfilment of the promise. Abram learned that in harkening to the voice of Sarai, he had missed the word of God; and that now he must abandoned the whole scheme, and turn again to the word of God only. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.12

But now Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and Sarah was eighty-nine. And, if anything, this seemed to put farther off than ever the fulfilment of the word, and called for a deeper dependence upon the word of God—a greater faith than before. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.13

It was perfectly plain that now there was no possibility of dependence upon anything whatever, but the naked word only: they were shut up absolutely to this for the accomplishment of what the word said. All works, devices, plans, and efforts of their own were excluded, and they were shut up to faith alone,—shut up to the word alone, and to absolute dependence upon that word only for the accomplishment of what that word said. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.14

And now that the way was clear for “the word only” to work, that word did work effectually, and the promised “seed” was born. And so “through faith,“—though helpless, total dependence upon the word only,—“Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.15

And “therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.” Hebrews 11:12. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.16

And thus was fulfilled the word spoken to Abram, when God “brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: ... so shall thy seed be.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.17

This is a divine lesson in faith. And this is what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith. For this was imputed to Abraham for righteousness, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.18

Yet “it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:23-25. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.19

And all “they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” All they who, excluding—yea, repudiating—all works, plans, devices, and efforts, of their own, depend in utter helplessness upon the word of God only to accomplish what that word says,—these are they which be of faith, and are blessed with faithful Abraham with the righteousness of God. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.20

O, “understanding how to exercise faith: this is the science of the gospel”! And the science of the gospel is the science of sciences. Who would not strain every nerve to understand it? ARSH January 24, 1899, page 56.21

“The Shaping of Events” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 76, 4, p. 58.

IN the year A.D. 1862, by the Spirit of prophecy the following words were written, referring to the “United States,” “England,” and “other nations:“— ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.1

“This nation will yet be humbled into the dust.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.2

“If England thinks it will pay, she will not hesitate a moment to improve her opportunities to exercise her power, and humble our nation.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.3

“When England does declare war, all nations will have an interest of their own to serve, and there will be general war, general confusion.”—“Testimonies for the Church 1:259. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.4

Now please read carefully the following extract from the address by Hon. Carl Schurz, at the annual convocation of the Chicago University, Jan. 4, 1899, and notice how easily the way is being opened for just such a tangle as is spoken of in the Testimony:— ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.5

A singular delusion has taken hold of the minds of otherwise clear-headed men. It is that our new friendship with England will serve firmly to secure the world’s peace. Nobody can hail that friendly feeling between the two nations more warmly than I do, and I fervidly hope it will last. But I am profoundly convinced that if this friendship results in the two countries setting out to grasp “for the Anglo-Saxon,” as the phrase is, whatever of the earth may be attainable,—if they hunt in couple, they will surely soon fall out about the game; and the first serious quarrel, or at least one of the first, we shall have will be with Great Britain. And as family feuds are the bitterest, that feud will be apt to become one of the most deplorable in its consequences. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.6

No nation is, or ought to be, unselfish. England, in her friendly feeling toward us, is not inspired by mere sentimental benevolence. The anxious wish of many Englishmen that we should take the Philippines is not free from the consideration that, if we do so, we shall for a long time depend on British friendship to maintain our position on that field of rivalry, and that Britain will derive ample profit from our dependence on her. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.7

British friendship is a good thing to have, but, perhaps, not so good a thing to need. If we are wise, we shall not put ourselves in a situation in which we shall need it. British statesmanship has sometimes shown great skill in making other nations fight its battles. This is very admirable from its point of view, but it is not so pleasant for the nations so used. I should loath to see this republic associated with Great Britain in apparently joint concerns as a junior partner with a minority interest, or the American navy in the situation of a mere squadron of the British fleet. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.8

This would surely lead to trouble in the settling of accounts. Lord Salisbury was decidedly right when, at the last lord mayor’s banquet, he said that the appearance of the United States as a factor in Asiatic affairs was likely to conduce to the interests of Great Britain, but might “not conduce to the interest of peace.” Whether he had eventual quarrels with this republic in mind, I do not know; but it is certain that the expression of British sentiment I have just quoted shows us a Pandora’s box of such quarrels. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.9

Ardently desiring the maintenance of the friendship between England and this republic, I can not but express the profound belief that this friendship will remain most secure if the two nations do not attempt to accomplish the same ends in the same way, but continue to follow the separate courses prescribed by their peculiar conditions and their history. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.10

We can exercise the most beneficent influences upon mankind, not by forcing our rule or our goods upon others that are weak, by the force of bayonets and artillery, but through the moral power of our example,—by proving how the greatest, as well as the smallest, nation can carry on the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, in justice, liberty, order, and peace, without large armies and navies. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.11

Let this republic and Great Britain each follow the course which its conditions and its history have assigned to it, and their ambitions will not clash, and their friendship will be maintained for the good of all. And if our British cousins should ever get into very serious stress, American friendship may stand behind them; but then Britain would depend upon our friendship, which, as an American, I should prefer; and not America on British friendship, as our British friends, who so impatiently urge us to take the Philippines, would have it. But if we do take the Philippines, and thus entangle ourselves in the rivalries of Asiatic affairs, the future will be, as Lord Salisbury predicted, one of wars and rumors of wars, and the time will be forever past when we could look down with condescending pity on the nations of the Old World, groaning under militarism, with all its burdens. ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.12

Not we ourselves, but our rivals and possible enemies, will decide how large our armies and navies must be, and how much money we must spend for them. And all that money will have to come out of the pockets of our people, the poor as well as the rich. Our tax-paying capacity and willingness are indeed very great. But set your policy of imperialism in full swing, as the acquisition of the Philippines will do, and the time will come, and come quickly, when every American farmer and workingman, when going to his toil, will, like his European brother, have “to carry a fully armed soldier on his back.” ARSH January 24, 1899, page 58.13