INTRODUCTION
If Jesus Himself were guest speaker in
your church this coming Sabbath. what would His message be?
The answer is simple. He is Guest
Speaker already; and His message is readily available for all to
hear-the message addressed "unto the angel of the church of the
Laodiceans."
Probably more sermons have been
preached among us and more words written about the Laodicean message
than any other single topic for the past hundred years. Yet for some
strange reason, the change the message calls for seems never to have
taken place. As the decades roll on relentlessly, it appears that the
tragic spiritual conditions that call for change have become even more
serious.
Has the familiar language of Revelation
3: 14-21 become so common to us that it is blase? Do we flog ourselves
with periodic harangues based on this message until we have become bored
with the masochistic ritual?
When will the last sermon on the
Laodicean message be preached that will result in action that fulfills
the "counsel" given by the True Witness?
This book is not intended to be a
rehash of tired cliches applied in a fault-finding spirit. We will look
at our Lord's message from an uncommon perspective — that of the 1888
message of Christ's righteousness. The familiar words of Jesus to the
seventh church may take on a new and startling significance in the light
of our post-1888 history. They become "present truth." It is
God's plan that truth shall bring His people into a perfect working
unity. May the principles presented here help us all to unite upon the
foundation of eternal
truth, so that we can learn to glorify
our Lord both as individuals and as a body, and truly act upon His
"counsel" in the Laodicean message. Strident voices tell us
there is no hope for the church; there is hope if we will do what our
Lord says: "Be zealous therefore, and repent"
History is no sad paean of woe; it is
rather a reiterated call to repentance.
— G. Ernest Wright, The
Challenge of Israel's Faith
The Lord has declared that the history
of the past shall be rehearsed as we enter upon the closing work.
— Ellen G. White, MS 129, 1905 (2SM 390)
We cannot escape history. In the long
run there is no appeal from history to any higher court for the simple
reason that history has been woven on God's loom.
— Abraham Lincoln
Again and again I have been shown that
the past experiences of God's people are not to be counted as dead
facts. We are not to treat the record of these experiences as we would
treat a last year's almanac. The record is to be kept in mind; for
history will repeat itself. —
Ellen G. White, MS. D-238, 1903
The
Seventh-day Adventist Impasse |
