"Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that
He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or
wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish."
That, as says the Word, is the church that Christ will present to
Himself when He comes. He loved that church, the church, and gave
Himself for it; and whosoever will be of that church when it shall
be the glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, must love the church, and give himself for it.
That is the church by whom God will give His last message to this
world "in this generation." But He can not have that church by whom
He can give that message, until He shall find a people who will love
the church and give themselves for it.
This is in the philosophy of things, as well; for is not it
written, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus"?
And when that mind in Him led Him to love the church, and to give
Himself for it, what will that mind do in any other person? I need
dwell no longer upon that.
The church is the body of Christ in the world. It is Christ
manifested in the world; it is Christ Himself incarnate in the
world. And that church, being His body, being Himself manifested,
to love that church and give myself for it, is nothing less, and can
not be anything more, than to love Him and give myself for Him.
Membership in that church, then, comes not by belonging to the
church in order to belong to Christ, but by belonging to Christ in
order to belong to the church. And the difference between these two
things is the difference between Christianity and the mystery of
iniquity. The difference between these two things is the difference
between the mystery of God and the mystery of iniquity. The mystery
of iniquity exalts the form, the name, the idea, of the church, and
then calls, and sweeps, and forces, all the world into that church,
in order that it may be what the mystery of iniquity designs,--not
for salvation, for salvation is not in it; not for righteousness,
for righteousness is not in it. The people are the same as before,
though they bear a different name. They conform to different forms
of things than they did before; but in character, in life, in all
that they ever were, they are the same as though they were not
members of the church at all.
But the church, the church of Christ, is Himself manifested.
Therefore to belong to this church we must belong first to Him. And
membership in this church depends altogether upon our membership of
Him. and being in this church depends altogether upon our being in
Him. Then when we come into the church by coming into Him, and be
in the church by being in Him, that makes a new people. That
changes the individual into another man. That makes him a
Christian, such as is Christ, Christ manifest.
Then we need to consider ourselves daily, each one for himself, and
ask, "Am I a member of the church? Not because I am enrolled on the
books of the church. Not, Am I a member of the church because I
have joined the church, and that is my dependence? But, Am I a
member of the church because my name is in the book of life? Am I a
member of the church because I have given myself to Christ, and
belong to Him, and live and move, and have my being in Him?" Such
as these are the only members of the church that there are on this
earth. It matters not how much we have our names on the church
book, nor how long we have been members of the church by joining
what is an idea of the church in form, a collection of individuals.
It matters not how much we do that, nor how long it be done, we will
never be members of the church that way.
And though it should be that opportunity or circumstances prevent
your name from being on any book on earth, or in any collection of
individuals on the earth, yet if you are joined to Him, and live in
Him, you are a member of the church, though you be the only soul on
earth. That is the only true membership of the church of Christ,
and that is the only way to membership in the church of Christ.
Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, in order that He
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word;
in order that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy
and without blemish. Therefore this same mind must be in every one,
in order that we should be Christians. The only thing for us to do
is to love the church, and give ourselves for it, that we may be
sanctified and cleansed with the washing of water by the Word, that
we may be presented to Him, a glorious church, not having spot or
wrinkle or any such thing.
Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. We are familiar
with the thought that Christ "loved me, and gave Himself for me."
And we read in that, with other scriptures to the same purpose,
that, in loving me, and giving Himself for me, He loved me and gave
Himself to me.
It is the same with the church. He loved the church, and gave
Himself for the church; and in loving the church, and giving Himself
for the church, He has loved the church, and given Himself to the
church. Then when I from Him, with His mind, and by Him, love the
church, and give myself for it, I love the church, and give myself
to it, so that I literally belong to the church.
A few words upon that. It is a common expression, "Such and such
person belongs to the church," "I belong to the church." The
question for us to ask nowadays is, Do I belong to the church, or do
I belong to the world? Do I belong to myself or to the world; or am
I possessed, owned, and held by the church, so that I literally
belong to the church? Have I surrendered myself to the church? to
Christ?
That is the kind of church that Christ left when He went away, or,
at least, that He had in a few days afterward, when He bestowed the
Holy Spirit. That is the kind of church, in other words, that He
sent into the world to begin His great work on the earth. And that
church of that kind, few in numbers, reached the world with Christ's
message in that generation, that was half gone when they began. It
is not a question of numbers, nor of the sie of the world, nor
anything of that kind that is for us to consider today in giving
this message to the world. The one thing for us to consider is, Do
the Seventh-day Adventists all belong to the Church? That one
question settled, with the seventy-five thousand Seventh-day
Adventist today, --that these seventy-five thousand, each,
individually, for himself, belongs to the church,--the easiest
problem that could ever occur on the earth would be to give the
third angel's message in this generation.
There were one hundred and twenty Christians to begin with that day
when Pentecost fell. There are now enrolled not less than 75,000
Seventh-day Adventist. The world is not as much bigger today than
it was when the apostles began from Pentecost, as the numbers of
Seventh-day Adventists are more than the number then. Then when
that little company could preach the gospel to the world so that the
Scripture could say "to every creature under heaven," in the
generation that was then half gone, because they belonged to the
church, so, today, it is perfectly easy for this number to reach the
world in the rest of this generation, if only we shall all belong to
the church. There is abundant means. Seventh-day Adventists have
plenty of money, but it does not all belong to the church. There
are enough facilities, there is enough talent, there is enough
ability, all the supplies that are ever needed, or ever shall be
needed, if only those facilities, this talent, those faculties,
shall belong to the church.
And it is a question worth asking, If my money belongs to the world,
do I belong to the church? If my talents, my abilities are put into
the work of the world, as of the world, and not into the work of the
church, as of the church, then the question is worth considering, Do
I belong to the church myself?
That turns our attention to the question, How much does it take to
compose me? How much is there of a man? Could you have a man
here, and his faculties yonder, his abilities in another place, and
the fruit of his faculty, the fruit of his abilities, the results of
his life and endeavor, in yet another place? Could that be, and the
man be here, --all of him? --No, sir. All my faculties, all the
fruit of my life, must be where I am, if I myself am to be there.
We can not escape that. Then do I belong to the church? Do I?
That is the question. Do these 75,000 Seventh-day Adventists belong
to the church? Do we? That is the question.
To illustrate: Suppose that I have my name on the church book,
belonging to the church. I am a school-teacher, and I spend all my
time, all my endeavor, all my ability, and all my faculty as a
school-school-teacher n the world's school-teaching; and, teaching
in the world's school, in the world's way, in the world's education,
it is worth asking, Do I belong to the church? Am I loving the
church and giving myself for it? Whatever I may profess, my
faculties, my life, what I am in the ability which God has given me,
I am giving it to the world, for the world's work, and to the
world's purposes. That is so. Then am I loving the church and
giving myself for it? Do I belong to the church?
Suppose I am a physician, and I give my ability, my talent, my
faculties, my life, and my endeavor to the world's way of what is
called medicine, the world's way of treating disease. I stand as a
member of the church, as belonging to the church, and I am to be
sanctified and cleansed with the washing of water by the Word of
God, and in that Word of God there is given to the church the
divine, the true system of medical treatment, the true philosophy
and treatments with regard to health, disease, right living, and all
these things. i belong to the church, to be sanctified and cleansed
with the washing of water by that Word. Instead of doing what that
Word gives to me, to which I am committed as belonging, I take what
the world gives, and devote to the world that which I get from the
world, and I belong to the church. Do I?
I belong to the church for the purpose of being sanctified and
cleansed with the washing of water by the Word of God, to the
church. There is in that Word, and that Word itself is, a system of
education. That is the true and is the only true education. I say
i belong to the church, but I am satisfied with the world's
education, with the world's system of education, with the world's
philosophy of education, and I devote my life to that. I want to
know, Do I really belong to the church? It is precisely so also as
to medical or any other profession.
I am a man of other affairs in the world, whether it be business, or
farming, or carpenter work; I mean the every-day, commercial,
business world. I stand as belonging to the church, and in the
efforts which I put forth of thought, of endeavor, the blessing of
God upon it all, increase comes. I put it in the worldly bank. I
am not a speculator; I belong to the church. but here is the means
God has given to me as a member of the church, and I put it into the
worldly bank; I loan it to worldly men to be used in worldly
business, instead of in the work of the church, to which I belong.
Then it is a fair question for me to ask, Do I belong to the
church? And every one here knows that if all the Seventh-day
Adventists in the United States, from this day and forward, would
really belong to the church, you yourself will confess that there is
no question at all but that this message could be given to the world
in this generation. You can all say amen to that. You know that
that is so. Then you see brethren, the problem is not difficult.
It is just this question to be decided, by each one, for himself, Do
I belong to the church?
And now shall not I, finding myself, my faculties, or my means
wrapped up in the work of the world, used in behalf of the world, or
engaged in the world's work, --shall not I, will not you, whirl it
away from there, and put it into the church's work, enlist it in the
cause of the church in the earth, to which I belong? Let that be
done, and you know that spiritually it would shake this world out of
its place. Think of it! If all the Seventh-day Adventist in the
United States would really consider this, and love the church, give
themselves, with their children, for the church, and to the church,
how would our school work stand? It would stand where it ought.
And such consecration as that would bring such power from heaven
that the teaching would be easy. The lack of teachers would not be
such as it is now.
And so, with all the rest, if all the Seventh-day Adventists in the
land would turn their families unto Christian education, unto the
education that becomes the church, and that the world is calling for
the church to give, and for the want of which, and because of the
lack of which, the world itself is saying that the church in
education is a distinctly diminishing quantity,--if this were done,
the world could easily be reached in this generation.
It is time that there should be one church in the world that would
arise and be, not a diminishing quantity in education, but be the
whole thing in education. If the Seventh-day Adventists would
really give themselves to the church, loving it and giving
themselves for it, with all their talents, and all their means, and
all their powers, then the whole problem would be solved. The
world's facilities are abundant. In Brother Daniell's discourse
last night that was presented to us all. Brother Conradi today
showed how the fields are open and all ready unto the harvest. The
prophecies, so abundant, showing that now is the time have been
presented. Oh, let this people present ourselves to Christ today,
loving the church and giving ourselves for it! Let this people, I
say, present ourselves to Christ as His church, to love that church,
to give ourselves for it, and to give ourselves to it, with all our
effort and all the fruit of our effort, of whatsoever kind. Then,
oh, it will be as it was before; this will be a holy church, not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
The church is the pillar and the ground, the support and the stay,
of the truth in the world. The only means by which this world can
ever obtain truth is by the church. It may be that the church, like
the church of Israel and Judah, will not of itself voluntarily
spread that truth abroad to the world. The people may, like Israel
and Judah, shut themselves within themselves, and turn the truth of
God away, put other things in its place, and shut them selves away
from the world, and thus fail to give it to the world. But if that
must be so, then that church will be scattered, as was Israel and as
was Judah, amongst the nations of the heathen; and there, in
oppression and in bondage, the nations will find the truth through
the church. So, whichever way it may be, the only way that the
nations can get the truth is from the church The only way that
God's truth can reach the nations is through the church; therefore
this is how it is that the church of Christ, which is the body of
Christ, is the pillar and the ground, the support and the stay, of
the truth in the world. It is that which keeps alive the truth in
the earth.
How, then, can the world obtain the truth from me, as of the church,
when all my efforts are enlisted and spent in the world's occupation
and in the world's philosophy of occupation? can that be done? --
No, sir. The world can not see the church in me in that condition
of things. In order for the truth to reach the world by me, who am
of the church, it is essential that I shall do the work as the work
of the church. If I am a farmer, I farm as of the church. If I am
a teacher, I am a teacher as of the church, a representative of the
church. If I am a physician, I am a representative of the church,
and I do my work as the work of the church. Therefore this calls
that every one of us who professes to belong to the church, shall so
really belong to the church that everything in our lives, in our
actions everything that comes into the course of our lives, shall be
distinctly of the church, shall relate to the church, and we will
hold it up to the glory of God as of the church.
Then, oh, then, that church will be so filled with the truth, and
will be so sanctified by the truth with which she is filled, that
the glory of God which is in that truth will shine forth, and the
world will see her, that glorious church. The glory of the Lord
shall be seen upon thee, and the word will be fulfilled that she
shall arise and shine, for her light is come, and the glory of the
Lord is risen upon her. You know that that is so.
Now, all this is only to have said, in other words, that in the days
of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the
mystery of God shall be finished, as He hath declared to His
servants the prophets.
That mystery of God finished is the gospel preached to all the
world, that the end may come. That mystery of God finished in the
world is the work of God finished in preaching the gospel to the
nations.
And it is more than that, along with that. The mystery of God is
God manifest in the flesh. The finished mystery of God is the
completion, the perfection, of the manifestation of God in the
flesh, in the believers in Jesus who belong to the church. Thus
there are two places occupied in the finishing of the mystery of
God. One place is the world itself, to which the gospel is to be
preached; the other place is the lives of the believers of the
truth. We might preach and proclaim in words to the ends of the
earth, to every soul on earth in our generation, so that phase of
the work would be completed, and would be finished; yet if the
manifestation of God in the lives of those who preach that is not
completed also, we could preach that thing ten thousand years, and
the end would never come. It is not simply that the gospel shall be
preached to all the world, and fill all the world; but it is that
when that is done, there shall be a people ready to meet Him at the
end. Without the finishing of that manifestation of God in the
flesh of each believer, there can be no finishing of the mystery of
God. That mystery finished, God manifest in the flesh, --mark it, --
means that only God is to be seen in every act of life of the
believer; so that in his life God is manifest. Only that is the
finishing of the mystery of God, in the way that it counts. And you
know that if that way were wide open, and God were to take
possession and fill the lives of the 75,000 professed believers
today, it would be the easiest thing in the world to reach all the
nations, so that the end should come.
Again: You know that the mystery of God is "Christ in you, the hope
of glory." Then the finished mystery of God is the finishing of the
growth, the manifestation of Christ in the believers, so that we
shall stand in this world in the image of Jesus Christ, reflecting
only Him, that when the believers shall be seen, only Christ will be
seen; everything that is said, everything that is done, every tone
of the voice, all that we are, will tell only of Christ. Only that
is the finishing of the mystery of God in truth, in the way that it
counts. And that is what has to come, before the end can come.
That is the church that He presents to Himself.
But more; the gift of the grace of God and of His Spirit is to the
church "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of, the
ministry, for the building of the body of Christ," the building up
of the church, till we all come, do not forget it, "till we all come
in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the stature of the
fullness of Christ;" that we shall stand in this world as Christ
stood when He was here. Only that is the finishing of the mystery
of God.
But this is not difficult. It need not take long, because
Christianity is creation, not evolution, --Christianity is creation,
not evolution. God speaks, and it is so. It takes not a long
series of ages to develop, to evolve. No. We are His workmanship,
created in Christ unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. All that is needed is surrender. All
that is needed to put this denomination, this whole collection of
people, so into the church, and to make us so of the church that the
work shall be finished in this generation, is unconditional
surrender to Jesus Christ, and that surrender everlastingly
maintained.
And this finishing of the mystery of God is only, in another way,
the story of the cleansing of the sanctuary. When the angel talked
on the subject of the twenty-three hundred days, he did it
differently from the way that I used to present it, and from the way
that I have heard many others talk. When the angel of God came to
talk to Daniel on the subject of the two thousand and three hundred
days, he began thus: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people
and upon thy holy city." They will begin at the "going forth of the
commandment to restore and build Jerusalem," and will
continue "sixty-nine weeks, unto the Messiah the Prince;" and then,
after that, eighteen hundred and ten and one-half years, which will
bring it to 1844, and then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. That is
in it, but that is not the angel's sermon here.
Listen: This is what the angel said, and this is what he preached
in the twenty-three hundred days: "Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint
the Most Holy." Any preaching of the sanctuary, any study of the
sanctuary, any proclamation of the sanctuary, that does not preach
and proclaim the finishing of transgression in the life of him who
preaches it; that does not mean, and manifest itself in, the making
an end of sins in his life; that does not include the making
reconciliation of iniquity in him who gives the message; that does
not bring everlasting righteousness into the life of him who is
preaching; is not preaching the message of the cleansing of the
sanctuary at all. The messenger leaves out the very thing that the
angel of God, in presenting it, makes the substance of the whole
story.
Yet brethren are in this audience today who know of men who could
run the gamut of the twenty-three hundred days, giving by rote every
chapter and every verse, yet who did not know in their lives the
finishing of transgression, that did not know the making an end of
their sins, who knew no reconciliation for their own iniquity, and
had no everlasting righteousness brought in to keep them back from
sinning. You know that that is so. Then that kind of preaching of
the sanctuary and of its cleansing will never bring the cleansing of
the sanctuary, and will never bring us to the end. No, sir.
There is a cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven. That is true. And
while that is going on in heaven, and there is the making an end of
sins there, and a reconciliation of iniquity there, and finishing of
transgression there, and all that, yet if that is not also done in
the saints and believers on the earth, then that cleansing of the
sanctuary can never end. We never could, in that case, come to the
end of this world. So the cleansing of the church of the saints on
earth must keep equal pace, must be exactly in proportion with the
cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven, or that church will not be up
to date.
Now let me put it the other way: Though I preach the finishing of
transgression in the lives of individuals; and though I preach the
making an end of sins, and the making of reconciliation for
iniquity, and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, in the
life of the individual; and yet do not preachy with it the sanctuary
and its cleansing, that is not the third angel's message. That
great day can not come till the sanctuary is cleansed. The
sanctuary can not be cleansed until transgression is finished in
your life and mine; till an end of sins is made in your life and
mine; and reconciliation made for the sins that have been committed;
and then, oh, then in place of it all, everlasting righteousness
brought in, to hold us steady in the path of righteousness.
You know what difficulties we have had of keeping righteousness in
the life. We love it; we give ourselves to it, in surrender; but
this comes up, and that comes up, and the other, and we grow feeble,
and fail, and lose the power of that righteousness out of the life
that alone can make it everlasting righteousness. Oh, then, in this
Seventh-day Adventist Church, amongst these people who stand as
belonging to the church, there is need of such a cleansing of the
sanctuary, such an idea of the cleansing of the sanctuary as will
finish transgression in the life of every Seventh-day Adventist,
will make an end of sins there, and will make reconciliation for all
sins that have ever been there, and bring in, oh, to bring in
everlasting righteousness, --a righteousness that comes to stay, a
righteousness that comes to abide, a righteousness that comes to
rule, everlasting, and to keep us unto that everlasting inheritance,
and take us to everlasting mansions!
Your hearts and minds witness that only that can be any true
cleansing of the sanctuary. And your hearts and minds will witness
also to this, that if there can be such consecration, such
surrender, as that; if there can be the receiving of such cleansing
as that; and belonging to the church, indeed as this is; the giving
of this message, the finishing of this work, with delay no longer,
can be accomplished in the generation that remains.
Then here we are. Now shall we not, oh, shall we not, truly give
ourselves to belong, literally to belong, to the church, loving the
church, giving ourselves for it, giving ourselves to it, that thus
we may be cleansed in this day of the cleansing of the sanctuary,
with the washing of water by the Word; that Christ may present it to
Himself, as He has been longing, longing, all these years to do, a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but
holy and without blemish?
A. T. Jones
(This article is a reprint of a sermon delivered by Elder A. T.
Jones at the 1903 General Conference meetings of Seventh-day
Adventist.)