Early Writings
by Ellen G. White
The Third Angel's Message
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The fourth commandment reads just as it did when spoken by
the voice of God in solemn and awful grandeur upon mount Sinai.
Illustration ©
Review and Herald Publ. Assoc. |
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[See Appendix]
As the ministration of Jesus closed in the holy place, and
He passed into the holiest, and stood before the ark containing the law of God,
He sent another mighty angel with a third message to the world. A parchment was
placed in the angel's hand, and as he descended to the earth in power and
majesty, he proclaimed a fearful warning, with the most terrible threatening
ever borne to man. This message was designed to put the children of God upon
their guard, by showing them the hour of temptation and anguish that was before
them. Said the angel, "They will be brought into close combat with the
beast and his image. Their only hope of eternal life is to remain steadfast.
Although their lives are at stake, they must hold fast the truth." The
third angel closes his message thus: "Here is the patience of the saints:
here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
As he repeated these words, he pointed to the heavenly sanctuary. The minds of
all who embrace this message are directed to the most holy place, where Jesus
stands before the ark, making His final intercession for all those for whom
mercy still lingers and for those who have ignorantly broken the law of God.
This atonement is made for the righteous dead as well as for the righteous
living. It includes all who died trusting in Christ, but who, not having
received the light upon God's commandments, had sinned ignorantly in
transgressing its precepts. {EW
254.1}
After Jesus opened the door of the most holy, the light of
the Sabbath was seen, and the people of God were tested, as the children of
Israel were tested anciently, to see if they would keep God's law. I saw [255]
the third angel pointing upward, showing the disappointed ones the way to the
holiest of the heavenly sanctuary. As they by faith enter the most holy, they
find Jesus, and hope and joy spring up anew. I saw them looking back, reviewing
the past, from the proclamation of the second advent of Jesus, down through
their experience to the passing of the time in 1844. They see their
disappointment explained, and joy and certainty again animate them. The third
angel has lighted up the past, the present, and the future, and they know that
God has indeed led them by His mysterious providence. {EW 254.2}
It was represented to me that the remnant followed Jesus
into the most holy place and beheld the ark and the mercy seat, and were
captivated with their glory. Jesus then raised the cover of the ark, and lo!
the tables of stone, with the ten commandments written upon them. They trace
down the lively oracles, but start back with trembling when they see the fourth
commandment among the ten holy precepts, with a brighter light shining upon it
than upon the other nine, and a halo of glory all around it. They find nothing
there informing them that the Sabbath has been abolished, or changed to the
first day of the week. The commandment reads as when spoken by the voice of God
in solemn and awful grandeur upon the mount, while the lightnings flashed and
the thunders rolled; it is the same as when written with His own finger on the
tables of stone: "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." They are amazed as they
behold the care taken of the ten commandments. They see them placed close by
Jehovah, overshadowed and protected by His holiness. They see that they have
been trampling upon the fourth commandment of the decalogue, and have observed
a [256]
day handed down by the heathen and papists, instead of the day sanctified by
Jehovah. They humble themselves before God and mourn over their past
transgressions. {EW 255.1}
I saw the incense in the censer smoke as Jesus offered their
confessions and prayers to His Father. And as it ascended, a bright light
rested upon Jesus and upon the mercy seat; and the earnest, praying ones, who
were troubled because they had discovered themselves to be transgressors of
God's law, were blessed, and their countenances lighted up with hope and joy.
They joined in the work of the third angel and raised their voices to proclaim
the solemn warning. But few at first received it; yet the faithful continued
with energy to proclaim the message. Then I saw many embrace the message of the
third angel and unite their voices with those who had first given the warning,
and they honored God by observing His sanctified rest day. {EW 256.1}
Many who embraced the third message had not had an
experience in the two former messages. Satan understood this, and his evil eye
was upon them to overthrow them; but the third angel was pointing them to the
most holy place, and those who had had an experience in the past messages were
pointing them the way to the heavenly sanctuary. Many saw the perfect chain of
truth in the angels' messages, and gladly received them in their order, and
followed Jesus by faith into the heavenly sanctuary. These messages were
represented to me as an anchor to the people of God. Those who understand and
receive them will be kept from being swept away by the many delusions of Satan.
{EW 256.2}
After the great disappointment in 1844, Satan and his angels
were busily engaged in laying snares to unsettle the faith of the body. He
affected the minds [257] of persons who had had an
experience in the messages, and who had an appearance of humility. Some pointed
to the future for the fulfillment of the first and second messages, while
others pointed far back into the past, declaring that they had been there
fulfilled. These were gaining an influence over the minds of the inexperienced
and unsettling their faith. Some were searching the Bible to build up a faith
of their own, independent of the body. Satan exulted in all this; for he knew
that those who broke loose from the anchor he could affect by different errors
and drive about with divers winds of doctrine. Many who had led in the first
and second messages now denied them, and there was division and confusion
throughout the body. {EW
256.3}
My attention was then called to William Miller. He looked
perplexed and was bowed with anxiety and distress for his people. The company
who had been united and loving in 1844 were losing their love, opposing one
another, and falling into a cold, backslidden state. As he beheld this, grief
wasted his strength. I saw leading men watching him, and fearing lest he should
receive the third angel's message and the commandments of God. And as he would
lean toward the light from heaven, these men would lay some plan to draw his
mind away. A human influence was exerted to keep him in darkness and to retain
his influence among those who opposed the truth. At length William Miller
raised his voice against the light from heaven. He failed in not receiving the
message which would have fully explained his disappointment and cast a light
and glory on the past, which would have revived his exhausted energies,
brightened his hope, and led him to glorify God. He leaned to human wisdom
instead of divine, but being broken with arduous labor in his Master's cause
and [258]
by age, he was not as accountable as those who kept him from the truth. They
are responsible; the sin rests upon them. {EW 257.1}
If William Miller could have seen the light of the third
message, many things which looked dark and mysterious to him would have been
explained. But his brethren professed so deep love and interest for him, that
he thought he could not tear away from them. His heart would incline toward the
truth, and then he looked at his brethren; they opposed it. Could he tear away
from those who had stood side by side with him in proclaiming the coming of
Jesus? He thought they surely would not lead him astray. {EW 258.1}
God suffered him to fall under the power of Satan, the
dominion of death, and hid him in the grave from those who were constantly
drawing him from the truth. Moses erred as he was about to enter the Promised
Land. So also, I saw that William Miller erred as he was soon to enter the
heavenly Canaan, in suffering his influence to go against the truth. Others led
him to this; others must account for it. But angels watch the precious dust of
this servant of God, and he will come forth at the sound of the last trump. {EW 258.2}
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