The
Perils and Privileges of the Last Days
Part 1
Review and Herald Articles
E.G.
White
November
29, 1892
The Perils and Privileges
of the Last Days
“For
the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us
that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly, in this present world: looking for that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” {RH November 22, 1892, par. 1}
To
the early church the hope of Christ’s coming was a blessed hope, and they were
represented by the apostle as waiting for his Son from heaven, as loving his
appearing. As long as this hope was cherished by the professed followers of
Christ, they were a light to the world. But it was not the design of Satan that they should be a
light to the world; and because iniquity abounded, the love of many waxed cold,
and the unfaithful servant is represented as saying, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” As a result of loss of faith in the
appearing of Jesus, the unfaithful servant begins to smite his fellow-servant, and to eat and drink with the drunken. Satan was at work to cause
apostasy in the early church; and in accomplishing his purpose,
doctrines were
introduced through which the church was leavened with unbelief in Christ and
his coming. The
adversary of God and man cast his hellish shadow athwart the path of the
believers, and dimmed their star of hope, even their faith in the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. {RH November 22, 1892, par. 2}
The
hope which had been so precious to them lost its attractions; for the specious delusions of Satan
almost wholly extinguished the light of salvation through the merits of a
crucified and risen Saviour, and men were led to seek to make an atonement
through works of their own,—by fasts and penances, and through the payment of
money to the church.
It was more agreeable to the natural heart thus to seek justification than to
seek it through repentance and faith, through belief in, and obedience
to, the truth.
During the ages of apostasy, darkness covered the earth,
and gross darkness the people; but the Reformation aroused the inhabitants of
earth from their death-like slumber, and many turned away from their vanities
and superstitions, from priests and penances, to serve the living God, to
search in his holy word for truth as for hidden treasure. They began diligently
to work the mine of truth, to clear away the rubbish of human opinion that had buried up
the precious jewels of light. But as soon as the work of reformation began, Satan with
determined purpose sought the more zealously to bind the minds of men in
superstition and error. When he found that he could not prevent them from
investigating the word of God, or deter them from accepting the truth, through
forcing erroneous doctrines upon their attention, he thought to
intimidate them by threatening and persecution, and thus to quench the heavenly
light that was shining upon men, revealing the character of God, and making
manifest the malignity of the arch deceiver. {RH November
22, 1892, par. 3}
That
which Satan has led men to do in the past, he will if possible lead them to do
again. The early church was deceived by the enemy of God and man, and apostasy was brought into the
ranks of those who professed to love God; and today, unless the people of God awake out of sleep,
they will be taken unawares by the devices of Satan. Among those who claim to
believe in the near coming of the Savior, how many are back-slidden,
how many have lost their first love, and come under the description written of
the Laodicean church, denominating them as neither cold nor hot. Satan will do his utmost to
keep them in a state of indifference and stupor. May the Lord reveal to the people the perils that are
before them, that they may arouse from their spiritual slumber, and trim their
lamps, and be found watching for the Bridegroom when he shall return from the
wedding. {RH November 22, 1892,
par. 4}
The
days in which we live are eventful and full of peril. The signs of the coming
of the end are thickening around us, and events are to come to pass that will be of a more
terrible character than any the world has yet witnessed. “For
when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” But to those who have the
light of truth, it has been written, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that
that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and
the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as
do others; but let us watch and be sober.” “And that, knowing the time, that
now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed. The
night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” “Watch ye
therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at
midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he
find you sleeping.” {RH November 22,
1892, par. 5}
There
is great need that our weakening faith should be quickened, and that we should
ever keep before the mind the evidences that our Lord is soon coming, that we
may ever be found not only waiting, but watching and working. We are not to be found in idle
expectancy; for this leads to carelessness of life, and deficiency of
character. We are
to realize that the judgments of God are about to fall upon the earth, and we
should most earnestly present before the people the warning that the Lord has
commissioned us to give: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” “Men’s hearts
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on
the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see
the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these
things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth
nigh.” {RH November 22, 1892, par. 6}
Let
every one who claims to believe that the Lord is soon
coming, search the Scriptures as never before; for Satan is determined to try
every device possible to keep souls in darkness, and blind the mind to the
perils of the times in which we are living. Let every believer take up his
Bible with earnest prayer, that he may be enlightened by the holy
Spirit as to what is truth, that he may know more of God and of Jesus Christ
whom he has sent. Search for the truth as for hidden treasures, and disappoint
the enemy. The
time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already
begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning
Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall
fill the whole earth. For it is the work of every one to whom the message of
warning has come, to
lift up Jesus, to present him to the world as revealed in types, as shadowed in
symbols, as manifested in the revelations of the prophets, as unveiled in the
lessons given to his disciples and in the wonderful miracles wrought for the
sons of men. Search the Scriptures; for they are they that testify of him. {RH November 22, 1892, par. 7}
If
you would stand through the time of trouble, you must know Christ, and
appropriate the gift of his righteousness, which he imputes to the repentant
sinner. Human
wisdom will not avail to devise a plan of salvation. Human philosophy is vain, the fruits of the loftiest powers of man are worthless,
aside from the great plan of the divine Teacher. No glory is to redound to man;
all human help and glory lies in the dust; for the truth as it is in Jesus is
the only available agent by which man may be saved. Man is privileged to connect
with Christ, and then the divine and the
human combine; and in this union the hope of man must rest alone; for it is
as the Spirit of God touches the soul that the powers of the soul are
quickened, and man becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. He was manifested to bring
life and immortality to light. He says, “The words that I speak unto you, they
are spirit and they are life.” The psalmist declares, “The entrance of thy
words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” {RH November 22, 1892, par. 8}
Then let us study the word of God, that
we may know him in whom there is no darkness at all. Jesus says, “He that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The theme that attracts the heart of the sinner is Christ, and him crucified. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus stands revealed to the
world in unparalleled love. Present him thus to the hungering multitudes, and the light of his love will win men from
darkness to light, from transgression to obedience and true holiness. Beholding
Jesus upon the cross of Calvary arouses the conscience to the heinous character
of sin as nothing else can do. It was sin that caused the death of God’s dear Son, and sin is
the transgression of the law. On him was laid the iniquities of us all. The sinner then consents unto
the law that it is good; for he realizes that it condemns his evil deeds, while
he magnifies the matchless love of God in providing for him salvation through
the imputed righteousness of Him who knew no sin, in whose mouth there was found
no guile. {RH November 22, 1892, par. 9}
(Concluded next week.) [See part 2]