The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 77

January 16, 1900

“The Third Angel’s Message. What Is It in Spirit and in Truth?” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 3, p. 40.

ALL that is accomplished by this great threefold message is done in view of the fact that “the hour” of God’s “judgment is come.” Therefore the one great object of the Third Angel’s Message is to prepare the world for the judgment: to prepare to stand in the judgment all who receive the message; and to ripen the world for the judgment in all who, by refusing the message which will prepare them to stand in the judgment, subject themselves to the judgment itself, in all its terror. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.1

The word of the message itself is that “the hour of his judgment is come;” not that it will come, but that it “IS come.” To every one, therefore, who receives this message, the judgment of God becomes an ever-present reality. All these stand always before the judgment seat, and put themselves voluntarily under all the tests of the judgment. This is so in the very nature of belief of the message; for when a message of God declares that “the hour of his judgment is come,” what can such a message amount to in the belief of a person to whom it is not a present reality that “the hour of his judgment is come”? And when it is held by the believer that it is the truth that “the hour of his judgment is come,” what can such a belief amount to if that person does not place himself in the very judgment itself, as a present thing, and does not willingly subject himself to all the searching realities of that judgment? ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.2

This is emphasized by the further fact that this message is to make ready a people prepared to meet the Lord when he comes in the clouds of heaven,—a people who will be alive on the earth when the Lord comes, and who will be translated without seeing death. And all those who will be ready must be “accounted worthy to escape” all the evils that come upon the earth, and “to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:36. They must be accounted worthy before that coming occurs, or else they will not be worthy at his coming, and, therefore, can not be saved by him at his coming. And in this counting of each person worthy, or otherwise, the decisive word is, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Revelation 22:11. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.3

Thus, by the very nature of the decision of the judgment in the cases of these living ones, in the time of the message that “the hour of his judgment is come,” it is evident that there is no long process of examination and of balancing of accounts one against another; but that it is simply the recognition of the condition of each person, according as that condition is by his own choice. Just what he is at the moment when the crisis of the decision in his case is reached, that he forever remains. If he is righteous, the judgment recognizes it, and pronounces the word, “Let him be righteous still.” And this word is so pronounced at that moment simply because he was already what this says that he shall be “still.” If he is unjust, then the word of the judgment is, “Let him be unjust still;” and this is so said simply because that is what he is at the moment, whether the judgment were pronounced or not; and the judgment, coming to his case just at that moment, finds it so, and recognizes it, and says, “Let him be unjust still.” ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.4

And why should it not be thus? Here is a message of God proclaimed to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people, saying to all, “Fear God, and give glory to him,” especially because “the hour of his judgment is come.” On one hand, here are the people who have received the message. That message has in it all the divine power of the everlasting gospel fully to fit them for the judgment; and their very acceptance of the message is a confession that they recognize the fact that “the hour of his judgment is come,” and that they are in this “hour.” And if, in spite of this, any of them lives as if he were not in “the hour of his judgment,” and so shall be unprepared for the blessed word to be pronounced, “Let him be righteous still,” and is prepared for the awful word, “Let him be unjust still,” surely none but himself can be in any wise to blame for that. The decision is as it is because of his disregard of the very thing that he professed to hold, and the very thing that had called him to the profession which he holds. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.5

On the other hand, here is a message, proclaimed to all the world,—to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people,—saying, with a loud voice: “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” And here are vast multitudes of people who refuse to believe that there is any truth in the statement that “the hour of his judgment is come.” They, therefore, go on in their way, utterly regardless of the truth that they are in the presence of the judgment. Then, when the case of any individual among these is reached, and the word must be, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still,” this also is simiply because of his own decision: the judgment pronounced is simply a recognition of the condition in which he is, and which he himself has fixed by his disregard of the message that would have altogether changed his condition, and fitted him for that other word, “He that is righteous, let him be righteous still.” ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.6

A number of letters have been received at this Office, within the last few weeks, asking whether it is true that word had come by the Spirit of Prophecy that the judgment has already begun upon the living. As to that, we know of no word that has expressly said so. But why should any believer of the Third Angel’s Message be asking any such question? Does not the very message itself—the message which he professes to believe—say to him plainly, as plainly as the Lord can speak, “The hour of his judgment is come”? Has not this message said the same thing to every Seventh-day Adventist from the day that he first heard it? ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.7

This being so, is it possible that any Seventh-day Adventist has not yet learned that “the hour of his judgment is come,” when that very word is what he heard, and has professed to believe from the day he heard it? And if any professed believer of the Third Angel’s Message does not believe this word of God, which, all this time, he has professed to believe, when it tells him that the hour of God’s judgment is come, then would he believe it if the Lord should tell him again? Is it possible that any one has lived under a profession of belief of this message, even for a day, and yet has not placed himself in the presence of the judgment, and has not subjected himself to all the searching tests of the judgment? Is it possible that any one of these professing to believe the word that “the hour of his judgment is come,” has not believed it at all, and has been acting all the time as he would not act if he did believe in reality that “the hour of his judgment is come”? ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.8

So far as concerns every believer of the Third Angel’s Message, each individual has fixed it that, with himself, the judgment has begun upon the living; for he is alive, and has accepted a message from God which declares to him that the hour of God’s judgment is come. Being alive, and having accepted such a message from God, by the very force of his profession, simply by the virtue of his belief, he enters alive, hourly, into the judgment. He lives in the presence of the judgment. He opens his life to all the searching tests of the judgment. And this being so with him, he will never have any inquiry to make as to whether any word has come that the judgment has begun upon the living. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.9

There will be yet more on this; for this is the Third Angel’s Message. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.10

“The Millennium” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 3, pp. 40, 41.

WE have found by the word of the Lord that the Millennium begins at the coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the righteous; that at that time all the righteous are taken away from the earth, and all the wicked are slain upon the earth, and that thus the earth is left desolate; and that, as the righteous reign as kings and priests with Christ a thousand years before returning to the earth, and the wicked “lived not again until the thousand years were finished,” the earth is left desolate during the Millennium. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.1

This is abundantly confirmed by other scriptures and other considerations. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.2

1. The Millennium is in “the day of the Lord.” And the day of the Lord begins in connection with the second coming of the Lord; for the prophet Joel, in proclaiming and describing the coming of the Lord, the same coming that is described in Revelation 19:11-21, says: “The Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” Joel 2:11. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.3

And, again, after declaring that the Lord of Hosts would rise up against Babylon and “cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew,” “make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water,” and “sweep it with the besom of destruction,” he says: “This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” Isaiah 14:22-27. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.4

And Jeremiah says: “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.” Jeremiah 4:23-29. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.5

Accordingly, Joel proclaims the coming of this “day of the Lord,” and describes it thus: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.” Joel 2:1, 2. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.6

This clause, “as the morning spread upon the mountains,” is very expressive. It is description of a dark and gloomy morning, in which fogs and mists rest upon the earth, in dismal weirdness, as if there were no atmosphere. And this is precisely the condition of things in the Millennium; for when the Lord comes, the atmospheric heaven departs “as a scroll when it is rolled together” (Revelation 6:14); it passes away “with a great noise.” 2 Peter 3:10. And when the atmosphere shall have thus passed away, there is nothing left to cause the mists and fogs to float; and so they settle upon the earth, in dismal darkness and gloom, just as it was when first the world was spoken into existence. Before the atmosphere was created, “the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep;” even as described by Jeremiah in the day of the Lord: “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.7

2. This desolation of the earth is further confirmed by the teaching concerning the sabbatic year of the old dispensation. It is stated in 2 Chronicles 36:21 that, by the people’s being carried captive to Babylon, the land was left desolate, that she might enjoy her sabbaths. And the land lay desolate for seventy years, “until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill three-score and ten years.” That is, Israel for four hundred and ninety years had failed to observe the sabbatic year in giving the whole land the rest that God had provided for it in that year, and now they have to go into captivity, and the land must lie desolate, until all the Sabbaths of which they had robbed the land in those four hundred and ninety years, which made seventy years, should be made up. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 40.8

And in this all men are taught definitely by the word of the Lord that since the whole earth has been obliged to pass along for six thousand years without any rest at all, it having been robbed of all the sabbatical years in this whole time,—until the curse has “devoured the earth,” and it is “utterly broken down” (see Isaiah 24:4-6, 19, 20),—the whole earth—must lie desolate one thousand years, to make up the sabbaths of which the earth has been robbed in these six thousand years under the weight of the curse that has been heaped upon it by the sins of men. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.1

Accordingly Isaiah says: “The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.” Isaiah 24:3. And Zephaniah says, “I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord.... Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God; for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests [Revelation 19:17, 18].... The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness: ... the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zephaniah 1:2-18. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.2

And that is the Millennium, though there is even yet more to say upon it. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.3

“Studies in Galatians. Galatians 3:16, 17” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 3, p. 41.

“NOW to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, can not disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.1

God’s covenant with Abraham was not a covenant of law, but of promise: not of works, but of faith. This covenant, as we have seen, and as is even here said, was not only confirmed, but was even doubly confirmed, “in Christ,” at the time of the making of the covenant. Then, since the covenant, even though a man’s, once confirmed, can not be disannulled, neither can anything be added to it, it is perfectly plain that the law, which entered four hundred and thirty years afterward, was never intended to change the character of the covenant. The law did not enter in any sense to take the place of the promise. In the entering of the law there was never any purpose in the mind of God that the works of the law should take the place of righteousness by faith. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.2

But just here was the great mistake that was made by Israel: they utterly mistook their own standing, and the meaning of what the Lord gave to them, and his purpose in the giving of all that came after that covenant was confirmed. If the covenant with Abraham had been held in faithfulness, nothing else would have ever been needed to enter. But, when the real truth and virtue of that covenant were not discerned, and men went further into unbelief and darkness, the Lord followed them, and employed means and gave instruction to bring them from unbelief and darkness to the faith, light, and blessing of the covenant that he had made. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.3

For, “if man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity for the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant of which circumcision was a sign, they would never have been seduced into idolatry, nor would it have been necessary for them to suffer a life of bondage in Egypt. They would have kept God’s law in mind, and there would have been no necessity for it to be proclaimed from Sinai, or engraved upon the tables of stone. And had the people practiced the principles of the ten commandments, there would have been no need of the additional directions given to Moses. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.4

“The sacrificial system, committed to Adam, was also perverted by his descendants. Superstition, idolatry, cruelty, and licentiousness corrupted the simple and significant service that God had appointed. Through long intercourse with idolaters, the people of Israel had mingled many heathen customs with their worship; therefore the Lord gave them at Sinai definite instruction concerning the sacrificial service.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, 364. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.5

The law entered in written form, ordinances were established, and all only because of their unbelief and transgression. None of these things were ever necessary to the covenant, nor were they parts of the covenant: the covenant was complete in itself when it was confirmed, and being confirmed, nothing could possibly be added to it. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.6

Therefore nothing that ever came afterward was essential to the covenant. But because of their unbelief and transgression, these things were essential to them, to help them to the place where they could discern the truth, the light, and the purpose of the covenant; and where in faith they could enjoy all its blessings and its power. In other words, these things were all to help them to an enlightened faith—the true faith of the covenant—the faith of Christ. Accordingly, in another place, it is written: “The law entered that the offense might abound [to make sin appear “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful”]. But, where sin abounded grace did much more abound, that, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Thus the object of the entering of the law was to bring men to Jesus Christ. And the object of all that came in after the covenant was made and confirmed was to help them to a true knowledge of that covenant. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.7

But instead of receiving all these things in this light, and using them for this purpose,—the purpose only of coming to the full faith of the covenant of Abraham,—Israel made the mistake of putting all these things in the place of the covenant, and using these, instead of God’s covenant, as the way of salvation. Thus the law of God which, as we have seen, entered to give the knowledge of sin, and so impress the need of the Saviour provided in the covenant with Abraham, Israel turned into the way of salvation by their own endeavors to do the law. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.8

The law of the Levitical priesthood, which was instituted to instruct them with respect to the true,—the Melchisedec, priesthood of the covenant with Abraham,—Israel turned from this purpose, and made it the final priesthood, and expected salvation and perfection by it. Hebrews 7:11. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.9

The earthly sanctuary and its services, which were given in connection with the Levitical priesthood, and which were given to instruct them concerning the true,—the heavenly sanctuary and its services, in which Christ was to be priest after the order of Melchisedec,—this Israel also perverted, and made it the final service, and expected salvation by this service. Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 6:13-20; 7:9-22, 28; 8:1-5; 9:2-28; 10:1-17. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.10

Thus they lost sight altogether of the covenant with Abraham,—the true way of salvation,—and all these things which were given to them in their unbelief and transgression to lead them to the light and to instruct them unto the covenant with Abraham and the true way of salvation, they put in the place of that. And this was only to put their own perverse views in the place of the truth of God; to pervert to the inventions of their own carnal minds, the sacred ordinances which the Lord had given to lead them to spiritual mindedness, it was only to make themselves their own saviors, it was to put themselves in the place of God. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.11

But when these things which, in his love, God had given to help them to faith, were thus perverted to their own carnal views, all life was taken out of them, and they found in them no help whatever to righteousness. And, as in this way which they had gone, everything depended upon their own doing, this caused them to go yet further, and add to these things that God had given, that vast multitude of fine-spun distinctions, legal exactions, and pharisaic traditions, which was manifested in the ceremonialism of the Jews in the days when Jesus came, and which “the Pharisees which believed” thought to fasten upon Christianity, by which they confused the Galatians. And this it was which called forth from the Lord the epistle to the Galatians, to show to both Jews and Gentiles the truth of God’s everlasting covenant and the true relation of the law, both moral and ceremonial, to that covenant. And this instruction is needed to-day just as well as then, or ever; because it is the bane of human nature to be ever ready to put its own views in the place of the truth of God; to put its own works in the place of the righteousness of God; to put ordinances and ceremonies in the place of faith; to put the inventions of the carnal mind in place of the work of God; to put self in the place of God. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 41.12

“Back Page” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 3, p. 48.

A BILL was introduced in the United States Senate Thursday, to become a law of the United States by act of Congress, providing that “when all insurrection against the authority and sovereignty of the United States in the Philippine Islands shall have been completely suppressed by the military and naval forces of the United States,” then “all military, civil, and judicial powers necessary to govern the said islands shall, until otherwise provided by Congress, be vested in such persons, and shall be exercised in such manner, as the president of the United States shall direct, for maintaining and protecting the inhabitants and protecting the inhabitants of said islands in the full enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion.” That is a proposition that the principle of absolute authority—one-man power—shall be definitely recognized by Congress and established by its act. An administration correspondent says of this, “It is a new and novel question in American politics;” and “the exceedingly lively interest” taken in it “is one of the signs of the times.” Indeed, it is. It is one of the most remarkable of the signs of the times. Do you see what it is a sign of? As the approach of the Romans armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may “the repudiation of Protestant and republican principle be a sign to us.” It would be impossible to repudiate republican principle more certainly than is steadily being done by this nation. ARSH January 16, 1900, page 48.1