General Conference Bulletin, vol. 6

Bible Study - IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING THE WORD

A. O. TAIT

May 25, 9:15 A. M.

We are here for a definite purpose, to further prepare us for the definite work we have to do in this generation. As Seventh-day Adventists, we are preparing for a very definite work. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.6

How much of the Bible can we use in this work? You will say, All the Bible. But you can use no more than you have in your mind and heart. When we labor for sinners, all we can use of the Bible is what we have learned beforehand, and have treasured in mind and heart. I can use only those portions effectively which have appealed to me personally; which have taken hold of me as an individual, and have lifted me up out of some difficulty; or which have given me a nearer view of the Son of God, something of the power there is in the living Word. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.7

Let us notice the familiar scripture: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.8

How many know what book in the Bible that is in? [Calling for show of hands.] Very good. How many know the chapter? [Smaller show of hands.] Very good; but not so many as before. The rank and file of Seventh-day Adventists must improve in the matter of a definite knowledge of the Bible. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.9

How many, now, can tell the book, the chapter, and the verse? The hands are thinning out a bit. Where is it? [Voices: Matthew 24:14.] GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.10

When the Master made that sublime utterance, he was standing in person in the land of Palestine. At that time Rome filled the world. The Roman law was that any individual who would attempt to worship a god that was not recognized in the calendar of the Roman gods should be prosecuted, and, if necessary, put to death, unless he would recant. The Master had been preaching for almost three years and a half, and had gathered out something like a dozen fishermen and other men of lowly degree; but he kept them in the great university of which he was the Master for three years and a half. Those men had accepted great principles of truth. There were others in whose hearts the truth had found lodgement. The Master, by his divine foreknowledge, was able to look down through the history of time, and see the effect that that truth would have upon the hearts of men; he saw the great Reformation; he saw the work that was to follow; and he was able to stand there in the full power of divine foreknowledge, and proclaim, in no uncertain tones, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.11

Great lines of prophecy point to this generation; and when we come to this generation in which they all converge, the divine Book has made a perfect photograph of the situation as it is in the world to-day, so that any one who will read the sacred page, and take the events as they are occurring in the world to-day, placing them side by side, will see that the world of to-day is that which corresponds to the picture made by the prophets anciently in the divine Book. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.12

Let us run over a few of these. Take the great increase of knowledge that was to come into the world, making it possible that this gospel of the kingdom could be given within a single generation. Continent after continent has been joined, until not only are all the nations of the earth in touch each with the other, but through the wireless telegraph, even the man who goes down into the sea in ships is not isolated from the world. He can talk with his fellows of the issues in the world as he is journeying across the ocean depths. The people of this world are like a great congregation from pole to pole, and from zone to zone, so that every issue that comes up, which affects the third angel’s message, may be heralded to every part of the world. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.13

Elder Tait here referred to some of the present-day issues that stand out as signs of the times, asking the congregation to give chapter and verse of scriptures referred to. We can only suggest the outline:— GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.14

The increase of wealth. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.15

The development of the trusts. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.16

The preparations for war and the talk of peace. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.17

In these developments, prophecy is being fulfilled; yet how few recognize any significance in them. It is written, “None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:10. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.18

Why can not the wicked understand? “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.19

That question, “Where is the promise of his coming?” shows that there are some people who are believing in his coming, and teaching it, and here are certain scoffers that do not like that doctrine. The key is contained in the statement that they walk after their own lusts. The Lord does not want men to he has something infinitely better to offer them. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.20

While those walking after their lusts are saying, “Where is the promise of his coming,” the evidence that his coming is at hand is being thundered out in the fulfillment of the great lines of prophecy. Unbelief is saying that all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world which then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.21

About the time this advent message was due to the world, Satan stirred up a great revival of skeptical learning. The Bible record was attacked; the story of creation and the flood were ridiculed. Men said there was no evidence outside of the Bible that Abraham ever lived, or that other people spoken of in his time in the Bible record ever had an existence. Geology and archaeology made their attacks upon the written Word. GCB May 26, 1909, page 156.22

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were of old;” and there stands the record that men would have to be willingly ignorant of, in order to reject evidence that God would give. At this same time, also, men of education, men of training, began to turn their attention toward the buried cities of the East. With picks and shovels, men began digging into the old ruins of Syria and Babylon and elsewhere. GCB May 26, 1909, page 157.1

They found stones with inscriptions upon them, hieroglyphics, but none could read them. Finally, in 1798,—a remarkable date, too,—I believe, the French found that celebrated Rosetta stone, having an inscription in three different forms of writing. It was apparent that the lower inscription was in the ancient Greek, and so men began studying it. One man, Dr. Young, spent fourteen years gathering evidence and working upon that Rosetta stone, until he was able to find a key to decipher the Egyptian monuments. With that knowledge, they went back among those old documents that were being picked up, and found a tablet bearing the names of five kings mentioned in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, who made war with Abraham. GCB May 26, 1909, page 157.2

This brings us to another scripture that we need very much to study at this time: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Where is this found? (2 Peter 1:16.) GCB May 26, 1909, page 157.3

The real object of this study is not so much to bring out something to entertain you, or to have you enjoy, as to emphasize the fact that we do not know the Bible as we ought to; that we must awaken and study our Bibles; because the Lord desires us to present this truth to our next-door neighbor. How cunningly set forth are many of the doctrines in the world at the present time! The doctrines themselves do not appeal especially to the people, but the glamour and charm in which they are presented turn the people to them. But the Master inspired Peter to tell us that we are not following cunningly devised fables, when we make known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is our work not only to make known the coming of the Lord, but to make known the power of the Lord. GCB May 26, 1909, page 157.4

Now, I am sure every hand will come up as I call for the next Scripture reference. In what book, and in what verses, do we find described a definite message of the coming of the Lord, declaring the hour of his judgment come, and calling all to worship him that made heaven and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters? [Voices: Revelation 14:6, 7.] These scriptures must be so familiar to us that we can speak them accurately at any time. We should have the Bible so strongly implanted in our hearts that when we quote from it our words will not be hesitating, but ringing with an earnestness and exactness that will draw souls to Christ. This scripture takes us back to the fourth commandment and the great Sabbath truth, putting us in touch with the mighty power of God as Creator and Redeemer. GCB May 26, 1909, page 157.5

The Lord promises to cut the work short in righteousness. He will clothe us in his righteousness, forgiving all our transgressions; for he has taken our sins and put them behind us, and he stands before us in the great field with his own righteousness. By his power upon his people, the message is to be carried to every land. GCB May 26, 1909, page 157.6

And so he says: [Reading Isaiah 54:13-17.] GCB May 26, 1909, page 157.7

Brethren, that is a foundation good enough to stand on. That is enough power. There is no more. There is no more power, except the power that God has. God has all the power in the heavens and the earth; and he says: “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations.” He will supply the righteousness, the power, the peace, and the joy, and we can go forward in his name. GCB May 26, 1909, page 157.8