In 1884 these words were published:
"... it was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be so long delayed and His people should remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow." (4SP 292.1)
We are now looking backwards through time at this period of time that Christ's coming was "so long delayed". The author's previous paragraph gives us a clue as to when that delay began.
"The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of the past experience of the Adventist body. God led His people in the Advent movement, even as He led the children of Israel from Egypt. In the great disappointment their faith was tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Had they still trusted to the guiding hand that had been with them in their past experience, they would have seen the salvation of God. If all who had labored unitedly in the work in 1844, had received the third angel's message and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago the inhabitants of the world would have been warned, the closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of His people." (4SP 291.1)
So in 1884 Christ would have come "years ago"! The time necessary to finish God's work on earth was "so many years" less than 40! What happened? Why didn't He come?
Here is part of the answer;
"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 where 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" (Manuscript 4, 1883, par 55).
If that 40 year delay was "so many years" longer than necessary, then using kindergarten math, the length of the delay between 1844 and our day equals: So many years + so many years + so many years + so many years + a half of so many years + a couple more years longer than necessary! An obvious question is; who learned their lessons faster, the Israelites or the Adventists? Ancient Israel graduated in 40 years. When is modern Israel going to graduate?
There is an answer to that question; but it contains two variables.
The First Variable
"God 'hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world.' Acts 17:31.
Christ tells us when that day shall be ushered in. He does not say that all the world will be converted, but that,
“this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).
So the ending date is simple. It is when the job is completed. In elementary school we learned that this is a variable. Its value is dependent on other factors. A little bit of introspection here reveals that, as a church, we have problems with the factor the variable is dependent on.
There are multiple gospels espoused in our church papers and from our pulpits; not to mention our television, radio, and online ministries. Most of them claim that their brand of the gospel is the Three Angels’ Messages and the message of Righteousness by Faith. It is "this gospel" singular, not "these gospels" plural, that will complete Christ’s commission. Question is; which one?
In 1882 Ellen White wrote this to be read at the camp meetings that year.
"I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders. The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader and is steadily retreating towards Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power... Let each put the question to his own heart: 'How have we fallen into this state of spiritual feebleness and dissension?' " (5T 217.1-3).
Can you preach a gospel that you do not live?
A decade later she wrote:
“The result of the last General Conference has been the greatest, the most terrible sorrow of my life. No change was made. The spirit that should have been brought into the whole work as a result of that meeting was not brought in because men did not receive the testimonies of the Spirit of God. As they went to their several fields of labor, they did not walk in the light that the Lord had flashed upon their pathway, but carried into their work the wrong principles that had been prevailing in the work at Battle Creek. The Lord has marked every movement made by the leading men in our institutions and conferences. It is a perilous thing to reject the light that God sends.” (18LtMs, Lt 17, 1903, par. 10-11)
What gospel were they preaching?
What was the result of the 2025 General Conference session? Was the result simply have another one in 2030? Did anyone notice a change in the principles “prevailing in the work”? Or should we recognize that “No change was made”? What is the general opinion of the church today? Are we flourishing? Are we headed towards Canaan or Egypt?
Shall we ask the General Conference president? Or should we ask God? Which sign would God place in front of our churches?
‘We have been preaching the soon coming of Christ for a looooong time’
'Welcome! We are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked, and proud of it. Please join us, misery loves company.'
You see the conundrum here; we can blame the delay on God’s big clock, or the pope dragging his feet enforcing the Sunday law, we can change the wording of our second coming doctrine to help mask the long delay from public view, we can deny that we are in the Laodicean condition, we can throw away Ellen White and reinterpret the words of the Bible so we can stay comfortable in our present condition, but the fact remains that we are still here on planet earth. And that speaks louder than any mitigation we can contrive.
Just a note of warning for sailors; the same author that used the ship analogy also used this one:
“In the balances of the sanctuary the Seventh-day Adventist church is to be weighed. She will be judged by the privileges and advantages that she has had. If her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence: ‘Found wanting.’ By the light bestowed, the opportunities given, will she be judged” (8T 247.2 April 21, 1903).
There is no safety in copying the drunken sailors on board whose hearts are “overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life…” Luke 21:34
“For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Cor. 10:12).
We cannot set our standards by the norms of the church or its leading men, because “if” she is “Found wanting” in the day of judgment we will share her destiny
The Second Variable
The second factor of the end-time equation is revealed in Rev. 7:3, "...till we have sealed the Servants of God in their foreheads". This is portrayed in the following passages.
"Then I saw an angel with a commission from Jesus, swiftly flying to the four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and waving something up and down in his hand, and crying with a loud voice- 'Hold! Hold! Hold! Hold! until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads'" (PT August 1, 1849, par 15).
“None of us will receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul-temple of every defilement. Then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost.” (CET 189.2)
“The long night of gloom is trying, but the morning is deferred in mercy, because if the Master should come, so many would be found unready. God’s unwillingness to have His people perish has been the reason of so long delay.” 2T 193.3, 1868
That was written just 24 years after 1844! So for visualization purposes let’s use the kindergarten equation to see where we stand today. 1844 + so long delay + so long delay + so long delay + so long delay + so long delay + so long delay + so long delay + a half of so long delay + a couple more years = God’s mercy endureth for ever!
The sealing is an individual work. It involves eliminating detrimental traits of character and building positive qualities. When individuals actually live the one true gospel they will be sealed. And when they combine their efforts with God and each other it will result in corporate synergy. This will give the gospel both the impetus and credibility that it needs to arrest the attention of the entire world. The sealing and the great gospel commission are inseparably linked and will culminate together.
"When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.' Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:12, margin). Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain" (COL 69.1-2).
Christ is waiting. Longing! The four angels have been holding a very, very long time! With each passing day the world's burden of suffering and sorrow grows heavier! Billions of people, longing for something better, go to bed at night with their candle of hope burning a little dimmer than the night before. How many of these candles will completely fade away before God's people arouse from their lethargy, recognize their individual and corporate condition, make the necessary reforms, trim their lamps, and become a beacon of hope in this dying world?
The end of time equation, reduced to the simplest common denominators is: Receive the seal of God. + Share the gospel with the world. = Time to enter Heavenly Canaan.
The mournful bells have sounded and another year, 2025, has just been buried in the annals of church history. Shall we prepare a casket or a chariot for 2026?
Each year that passes is a silent, yet glaring, indictment that the professed people of God have not completed their assignment, and they are not ready for the final test. No living Christian can escape that indictment. It falls alike on the dedicated and devoted as it does on the indolent and careless. No ministry is exempt; television, radio, online, medical, or any other form of ministry, they must all confess the obvious; we are still here on planet earth! It is absurd for any ministry to celebrate the number of years that they've been in operation? Every passing year only amplifies the reality of their impotence! Shall we gather on the border of Canaan and celebrate with hugs, vegi-cheers, and fireworks the fact that we are still wondering in the wilderness? Or would it be more appropriate to don sackcloth and weep between the porch and the altar? How did you ring in the new year in January?
“We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel; but for Christ’s sake, His people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of action” (Letter 184, 1901, par 17).
A modern proverb says that it is insanity to continue doing the same things and expect different results. The Lord’s messenger frequently reminded God’s people to “learn to reason from cause to effect”; in the physical, social, financial, and the spiritual realms. We know the effect; Christ has not returned to claim us as His own. It is high time we recognize and remedy the cause.
Each new day dawns as a reality check:
Still here on earth = Not ready + Work not finished.
We cannot change history but we can shape the future.
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Marvin Engelkemier, a brother in the Great (deferred) Hope
