The Southern Watchman
January 10, 1905
A Message to the Church
From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” SW January 10, 1905, par. 1
The prophetic words of Malachi have been meeting their fulfilment in the proclamation of the Lord's truth to the Gentiles. God, in his infinite wisdom, chose Israel as the depositary of priceless treasures of truth for all nations. He gave them his law as the standard of the character they were to develop before the world, before angels, and before the unfallen worlds. They were to reveal to the world the laws of the government of heaven. By precept and example they were to bear a decided testimony for the truth. The glory of God, his majesty and power, were to be revealed in all their prosperity. They were to be a kingdom of priests and princes. God furnished them with every facility for becoming the greatest nation on the earth. SW January 10, 1905, par. 2
Through disloyalty, God's chosen people developed a character exactly the opposite of the character he desired them to develop. They placed their own mold and superscription upon the truth. They forgot God, and lost sight of their high privilege as his representatives. The blessings they had received brought no blessing to the world. All their advantages were appropriated for their own glorification. They robbed God of the service he required of them, and they robbed their fellow-men of religious guidance and a holy example. Like the inhabitants of the antediluvian world, they followed out every imagination of their evil hearts. Thus they made sacred things appear a farce, saying, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these,” while at the same time they were misrepresenting God's character, dishonoring his name, and polluting his sanctuary. SW January 10, 1905, par. 3
Long and patiently God bore with his people. Through Jeremiah he declared to the impenitent nation: “The Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.” SW January 10, 1905, par. 4
As a last resource, God sent his Son, saying, “They will reverence my Son.” But they rejected him. Christ bore a plain message regarding their impenitence, and pronounced their doom. “Woe unto you!” he exclaimed, “for ye build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchers. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.” SW January 10, 1905, par. 5
Paul and Barnabas declared to the Jews, “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. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” SW January 10, 1905, par. 6
Today God's faithful people are giving a message of mercy to a world as yet unwarned of Christ's soon-coming. John prophesies of an angel flying “in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” SW January 10, 1905, par. 7
The gospel invitation is to be given to all the world,—“to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” The last message of warning and mercy is to lighten the whole earth with its glory. It is to reach all classes of men, rich and poor, high and low. As surely as this message shall be proclaimed in all the earth, so surely shall be fulfilled the prophecy given through Malachi: “From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” SW January 10, 1905, par. 8
Mrs. E. G. White
Sanitarium, Napa Calif.