What evidence have we that this special message is needed in the world in this generation? Some one may reply that there is certainly a need of telling the world that the coming of the Lord is near. But if that is all there is to this message, then there are thousands who are giving it who perhaps have never heard of Seventh-day Adventists. What is the real purpose of this special message? Is it not to prepare a people to meet the Lord? What kind of a people will be developed by this message? “Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?” “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.” In this time of the blotting out of sin in the heavenly sanctuary, there must be a special experience of salvation from sin among those who wait for the coming of the Lord. “While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God’s people upon earth. This work is more clearly presented in the messages of Revelation 14.” There are in the world to-day many outward appearances of prosperity in the work of giving the gospel to the world. Very large sums of money are spent annually in the different departments of Christian effort. Costly places of worship are being built in Christian lands. Universities and colleges are being endowed by the wealthy. Auxiliary organizations of various kinds have been formed in order to strengthen the work of the church. What need is there, then, that another denomination should arise, without worldly treasure, without men of note as leaders of thought in the world, in order to give the gospel to the world? It may help to answer this question in a clearer manner if we call to mind the times and the work of John the Baptist. Why was it necessary that an obscure man should come forward to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah? The elaborate ritual of the temple was being regularly performed. The words of the prophets were read “every Sabbath day.” There was a general expectation that the Messiah was at hand. The priests were exhorting the people to hold fast their confidence. From the human standpoint it would seem as though every preparation had been made for the coming of the Messiah. What need was there then of the work of John the Baptist? In the first place we may be sure that there was a need of his message, or the Lord would never have sent him to the world with it; but we can now see clearly the need of his message. “The words of the prophets were uncomprehended. To the masses of the people, death was a dread mystery; beyond was uncertainty and gloom. . . . In ‘the region and shadow of death,’ men sat unsolaced. . . . Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating and worshiping their own conceptions, the heathen had lost a knowledge of God, and had become more and more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man can save himself by his own works, lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this principle. Wherever it is held, men have no barrier against sin.” This is the explanation of the whole situation. With all their forms of religion men had no defense against sin, because they were seeking to save themselves by their own works of righteousness. The very service which the Lord himself had given to his people as a means of revealing to them the truth of the gospel of salvation from sin had been perverted into an excuse for sin. The prayers were long, and the widows’ houses were devoured. The phylacteries were broad, but the wearers made no effort to lift the burdens of men. The Messiah was looked for, but he was a Messiah who would serve their ambitious projects of political triumph over the hated Romans, rather than one who would lead them to regard sin as the most hateful thing in the universe, and deliverance from sin the greatest possible triumph. There was the greatest need that one should arise who would be a voice for the words of the prophets, and who should point out the Messiah as “the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” The people needed a Saviour from sin. The false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees needed to be counteracted. The true light concerning the Messiah needed to shine. We hardly need to draw the parallel. The great difficulty at the present time is that there is much form of Christianity, but great lack of the power. There is no sufficient barrier against sin even in the professed church of Christ. The strong tide of evil is sweeping before it the so-called pillars of the church. Iniquity abounds, and the love of many is waxing cold. There is the same need to-day that the message of John the Baptist be again taken up, and it should be said, with a loud voice, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away6the sin of the world.” And this should be done to prepare the way of the Lord. One thought more. If this closing message is not so given that it brings into the lives of those who accept it a power which saves them from sin, there is something wrong. If this message of righteousness by faith is perverted into righteousness by works, by putting the keeping of the commandments as the means of salvation rather than the evidence of salvation, it will provide no barrier against sin, and the way of the Lord will not be prepared. In this day of great intellectual light many hearts have almost lost hope because sin has dominion over them. It is not oratory which is needed now. It is not the well-rounded sentence and the convincing logic for which the world is waiting. It is the gospel of Christ as the Saviour from sin for which the world is suffering. This is ‘the everlasting gospel’ of this third angel’s message. Let it be given to the world in its simplicity and power. It will prepare a people to stand in the day of God.