p. 11 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 44. (10/30/1907)

Earlier text: The Divine Program of Missions

Power of the Word to Save

By ABDIEL

“No word from God shall be void of power.” Luke 1:37.

JESUS the Nazarene had been teaching for hours, and from His lips had fallen the words of the wonderful Sermon on the Mount. His teaching astonished the people; “for He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” His word was with power and it reached hearts.

As He came down from the mountain, great throngs of eager people pressed around Him. To the company came one uninvited and unwelcome. Forgetting in his longing the imposed cry of the law as he approached his fellows, “Unclean, unclean,” he pressed to the presence of Jesus. The crowd divided as he approached, shrinking from the diseased leper with loathing. The disciples drew back from contact with this living death. Would the Teacher so treat him? This evidently was the thought in his mind as he came before the Master with the half-doubting, half-hoping cry: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” The great Teacher can, but will He stoop to notice such an object?—Aye, He will. The very plea touched the heart of divine love. The plea was for cleansing even more than cure. And Jesus, the Loving and Fearless, put forth His hand and touched him, and said: “I will; be thou clean,” and immediately the power of eternal life passed thru every fiber of his being, and he stood before the Master cleansed from sin, cleansed from the death of disease, cured from his malady. Matt. 8:1-3.

The potent word of Jesus Christ wrought the miracle. So let the sinner come with his deep-dyed, crimson and scarlet sin. There is power in the divine word to wash as white as snow.

Another incident: The travel-dusty Teacher nears the little city of Nain with His disciples on His mission of ministry and life-giving. They meet a throng filing mournfully on in the opposite direction toward the city of the dead. They bear on a bier a young man, the only son of a widow. The heart of Jesus was touched; to the widow He said, “Weep not.” He stopped the procession. The wailers spoke of the dead. Even the agonized mother did not expect that her words of mourning endearment could pierce the ear of the son, fast locked in death’s sleep. But a divinely penetrating voice speaks, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” And the dead heard, and arose, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Luke 7:11-17. Even so can His word quicken the heart dead in trespasses and sins. Eph. 2:1-5.

He Sent His Word.

Once more, reader: Jesus and His disciples enter Capernaum. The news of His approach had gone before Him, and at the city’s very entrance a centurion meets the Master with the pitiful plea: “Lord, my servant lieth in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. . . . I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. . . . And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour.” Matt. 8:5-13.

The power and worth of one’s word is measured by his ability and willingness to perform it. In man this is in all cases an uncertain quantity. Sickness, death, untruthfulness, dishonesty, opposition, are always factors to be reckoned with. Not so with God. All that He promises He has power to perform. In Him is life; His word is a living word. “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12, A.R.V.

“He sent His word and healed them,” is the record of God’s dealing with His people of old. Who is he that has labored for the salvation of souls that has not seen the very creative power of God pass over a troubled soul’s face by that soul’s reception of the promise, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. The burden of sin rolled away. The despair was changed to joy. The soul passed from the kingdom of darkness into “the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Like the cleansing of the leper, the giving life to the widow’s son, the healing of the centurion’s servant, the new heart and joy was in the creative, life-giving word. “Now ye are clean thru the word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. Not the word of man, nor received as the word of man, will it or can it do the work; but the word of the living God, received as the word of God, “worketh effectually” in them that believe. 1 Thess. 2:13.

And God is eternal. His word has not lost its creative life. It is a standing testimony for the ages that “no word from God shall be void of power.” Luke 1:37, A.R.V. It is still filled with the potentiality of God.

Perverted, deleted, mutilated as it may be in “Christian” lands and “Christian” pulpits, the true missionary of Christ still finds that word effectual in the interior of idolatrous lands, among savage tribes, sodden with superstition. Head-hunters and cannibals, students and soul-thirsty heathen teachers, bow to its claims and acknowledge its power. The Gospel message is life among the dead and dying religions of the world.

Fellow servant of God, preach the word, preach on. It is God’s everlasting promise that it “shall not return void.” Even so shall souls be born of incorruptible seed,” thru the word of God which liveth and abideth. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth: but the word of the Lord abideth forever.” 1 Peter 1:23-25. — ABDIEL.

To the World in This Generation

By A. G. Daniells, President S. D. A. Foreign Mission Board

THERE is a very definite idea in the Christian church that the Gospel of Christ can, should, and will be given to all the world in this generation.

This idea is not a mere suggestion—a superficial, half-fanatical sentiment. It is an intelligent, well-defined belief, a positive, deep-seated conviction. It is being expressed and emphasized by thousands of earnest Christians in a definite, practical way.

This conviction is based upon the Scriptures, and what are believed to be God's overruling providences. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," is Christ's parting command to His church.

In giving this command the Master was careful to add, "All power [authority] is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." In these words Christ left the most positive assurance that His command to the church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature would be obeyed.

The Evangelization of the World.

This scripture and others of like import lead thousands of ardent Christians to believe that the Gospel can, that it should, and that it will be carried by the church to all the world in this generation. "The Evangelization of the World in This Generation," is the ringing, thrilling, daring watchword of the Student Volunteer Movement. May the fullest success crown this Scriptural, and therefore consistent and timely, effort of this great movement.

The Student Volunteer Movement was set on foot twenty-one years ago. Its purpose is fourfold; namely: (1) to awaken among all Christian students of the United States and Canada intelligent and active interest in foreign missions; (2) to enroll a sufficient number of properly qualified student volunteers to meet the continuous demands of missionary boards in North America; (3) to help all such intending missionaries to prepare for their life-work; (4) to lay an equal burden of responsibility on all students who are to remain as ministers and lay workers at home. Its special field of operation is the students attending the colleges, seminaries, and universities in all Christian lands. It is a recruiting society for missionary enterprises thruout the world. Since its inauguration in 1886 this movement has supplied various mission boards with three thousand missionaries who have been sent to foreign lands. It is in touch with nearly a thousand educational institutions. In the classes formed in those schools there are twelve thousand different students carrying on a progressive study of missions. These students and their professors contribute about $100,000 annually to the support of foreign missions. This movement has extended from the United States, where it had its inception, to all lands where Christian institutions of higher learning have been established.

A Definite Work for This Generation.

Let it not be forgotten that that which created this great movement and still continues to stimulate the strenuous, never-ceasing activities of its members is the profound conviction that Christ's Gospel of salvation must be given to all the world in this generation.

Why in this generation more than any other?—The principal reason given by the leaders of this movement is this: "We who live now and have this message must carry it to those who live now and are without it. It is the duty of each generation of Christians to make Jesus Christ known to their fellow creatures." This reason is both Scriptural and logical. It is based upon the general teaching of the Bible.

But there is a stronger and a more definite reason to be given. The Scriptures specifically point to this generation as the one in which the Gospel must without fail be given to all the world. The following is one of the scriptures upon which this assertion is based: "And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24: 14. These words were spoken by Christ in answer to the question asked by His disciples, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" The Teacher's answer was as simple, direct, and sincere as the question. He gave a number of signs, and one of them was that the Gospel of His coming kingdom was to be preached in all the world. This was to be a witness to all nations that His coming was at hand, and when this world-wide witness has been borne, then the end will come. All the other signs mentioned by Jesus have occurred. This one must now appear before the eyes of all the world. It is to fulfil this word of Christ that His Spirit has led the church to carry forward the splendid missionary endeavors of the last century. This is why there is at this time laying hold of the church such a deep conviction that the Gospel must be given to all the world in this generation.

This world-wide missionary movement, given by Christ to His disciples as a positive sign of His coming, was revealed in greater detail by the Holy Spirit to the beloved John on the Isle of Patmos. This is John's description: "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come." Rev. 14: 6, 7. Every Bible student knows that the judgment is a last-day event. It had not come in Paul's day, for he reasoned of a "judgment to come." Acts 24: 25. When this Gospel message declaring that the "hour of His judgment is come," has been given to all the world, then will be seen what John described—"a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." Rev. 14: 14.

It is because the judgment hour has come that there is now such activity on the part of the church to quickly give the Gospel to all the world.

Overruling Providences.

And, now, what are the possibilities and prospects for making the Gospel known to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" on the globe in this generation? The possibilities are all that could be desired, and the prospects are as certain as the certainty of the fulfilment of God's word. Much that pertains to exploration, discovery, invention, education, and the world's progress generally has surely been stimulated and controlled by an overruling Providence.

Exploration and discovery have given civilized nations a clear, well-defined knowledge of the whole world. This is the first time in the history of the world that all the habitable parts, and all the people inhabiting them, have been known the world over. As late as the opening of the nineteenth century, not more than half of the world was known to civilized people, but, during the century, explorers, navigators, and discoverers have found every land, ascended every navigable river, and have found their way to the very heart of nearly every nation and tribe on the face of the earth. This has opened India, China, Japan, Africa, the island groups of the Pacific, South America, and all other lands to Western civilization and Christian missionary endeavors. Only the North Pole and the South Pole remain undiscovered, but so great is the activity, the perseverance, and the daring of explorers that two thousand ships have been

destroyed, four thousand seamen have been sacrificed, and multiplied millions of dollars have been expended in the hitherto unsuccessful efforts to reach the North Pole.

To the World in This Generation.

(Continued from Page 10.)

Transportation Facilities.

While explorers have been bringing to the knowledge of the world the location, distribution, and conditions of all the races, inventors and capitalists have been hard at work providing transportation facilities for safely and yet quickly reaching any and every part of the world. When the nineteenth century opened there was not an ocean steamer afloat, nor was there a mile of railroad on the planet. Now there are steamship lines traversing the seas to every important port on the globe, while the railway lines reach the enormous total of 600,000 miles—enough to belt the globe twenty-four times. These railroad lines cross continents, traverse sandy deserts, bridge rivers, and scale and tunnel mountain ranges. By means of these transportation facilities a journey can be made around the world in a month, and almost the remotest mission station in a heathen land can be reached from an administrative center in a Christian land within the same time.

The captains of industry, who have provided these transportation facilities at the expense of untold millions of dollars, have had only the world's commerce in their plans, but God has had in view the evangelization of the world in this generation, and has thus kindled their desires and directed their energies.

The Diffusion of Information.

By means of the public-school systems, the printing-press, the public libraries, the telegraph and cable lines, the telephone system, and the scientific, historical, and geographical societies, information can now be easily and speedily conveyed to the great masses thruout the world. There are sixty thousand newspapers published in the world, and they are distributed thruout all lands. The Bible is now being printed in more than four hundred and ninety languages and dialects. One hundred years ago it was printed in only ten languages. During the century 300,000,000 Bibles, New Testaments, and parts of both, have been circulated. The Sacred Scriptures are now placed within the reach of nearly the whole population of the world. These, with the aid of the enormous output of Christian literature in all lands and the personal service of the living missionaries stationed in the midst of nearly every tribe on the globe, certainly make it possible for an awakened church to tell the story of the Cross to all the world in an incredibly short time.

Never has the church faced such opportunities and possibilities before. Nor has she ever faced such vast responsibilities. The day of the Lord's preparation is here. The hour of His judgment has come. This Gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world that the glory of the Lord may lighten the earth. This must be done in this generation.

It is with profoundest gratitude that we see in active, vigorous progress the precise work for which all these marvelous openings and facilities have been, by God's providences, created. The advent message for which the SIGNS OF THE TIMES stands is now being proclaimed in all the continents and island groups of the world. It is being heralded from mission stations already planted in nearly every main division of every continent. Only a few places remain yet unentered. The gaps must now be filled so that the rays of light will touch, and then the Lord by the outpouring of His Spirit will, thru His channels, flood the world with His light and glory. Every one who loves Christ and yearns for the salvation of a lost world and the final consummation of the Gospel, should pray now as never before that the Lord will baptize His church, and especially His ministers and missionaries, with a full measure of His Holy Spirit.

The Great Missionary

By Mrs. E. G. White

"Leaving you an example that ye should follow His steps."

INTO this world came our Lord Jesus Christ as the unwearied Servant of man's necessity. He "took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," that He might minister to every need of humanity. He came to remove the burden of disease and wretchedness and sin. It was His mission to bring to men complete restoration; He came to give them health and peace and perfection of character.

The Saviour's work was not restricted to any time or place. His compassion knew no limit. Wherever there were hearts ready to receive His message, He comforted them with the assurance of their heavenly Father's love. All day He ministered to those who came to Him; in the evening He gave attention to such as thru the day must toil to earn a pittance for the support of their families.

Jesus carried the awful weight of responsibility for the salvation of men. He knew that unless there was a decided change in the principles and purposes of the human race, all would be lost. This was the burden of His soul, and none could appreciate the weight that rested upon Him. Thru childhood, youth, and manhood, He walked alone. Yet it was heaven to be in His presence. Day by day He met trials and temptations; day by day He was brought into contact with evil, and witnessed its power upon those whom He was seeking to bless and to save. Yet He did not fail nor become discouraged.

In all things He brought His wishes into strict abeyance to His mission. He glorified His life by making everything in it subordinate to the will of His Father. When in His youth His mother, finding Him in the school of the rabbis, said, "Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us?" He answered,—and His answer is the keynote of His life-work,—"How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?"

His life was one of constant self-sacrifice. He had no home in this world, except as the kindness of friends provided for Him as a wayfarer. He came to live in our behalf the life of the poorest, and to walk and work among the needy and the suffering. Unrecognized and unhonored, He walked in and out among the people for whom He had done so much.

He was always patient and cheerful, and the afflicted hailed Him as a messenger of life and peace. He saw the needs of men and women, children and youth, and to all He gave the invitation, "Come unto Me."

During His ministry, Jesus devoted more time to healing the sick than to preaching. His miracles testified to the truth of His words that He came not to destroy, but to save. He made each work of healing an occasion for implanting divine principles in the mind and soul. This was the purpose of His work. He imparted earthly blessings that He might incline the hearts of men to receive the Gospel of His grace.

By the sea, on the mountainside, in the streets of the city, in the synagogue, His voice was heard explaining the Scriptures. Often He taught in the outer court of the temple, that the Gentiles might hear His words. The subject of Christ's teaching was the word of God. He met questioners with a plain, "It is written," "What saith the Scriptures?" "How readest thou?" At every opportunity when an interest was awakened by either friend or foe, He presented the word. With clearness and power He proclaimed the Gospel message. His words shed a flood of light on the teachings of patriarchs and prophets, and the Scriptures came to men as a new revelation. Never before had His hearers perceived in the word of God such depth of meaning.

He passed by no human being as worthless, but sought to apply the healing remedy to every soul. In whatever company He found Himself, He presented a lesson appropriate to the time and the circumstances. Every neglect or insult shown by men to their fellow men only made Him more conscious of their need of His divine-human sympathy. He sought to inspire with hope the roughest and most unpromising, setting before them the assurance that they might become blameless and harmless, attaining such a character as would make them manifest as the children of God.

Often He met those who had drifted under Satan's control, and who had no power to break from his snare. To such a one, discouraged, sick, tempted, fallen, Jesus would speak words of tenderest pity, words that were needed and could be understood. Others He met who were fighting a hand-to-hand battle with the adversary of souls. These He encouraged to persevere, assuring them that they would win; for angels of God were on their side, and would give them the victory.

At the table of the publicans He sat as an honored guest, by His sympathy and social kindness showing that He recognized the dignity of humanity; and men longed to become worthy of His confidence. Upon their thirsty hearts His words fell with blessed, life-giving power.

Never was there such an evangelist as Christ. He was the Majesty of heaven, but He humbled Himself to take our nature, that He might meet men where they were. To all people, rich and poor, free and bond, Christ, the Messenger of the covenant, brought the tidings of salvation. His fame as the great Healer spread thruout Palestine. The sick came to the places thru which He would pass, that they might call on Him for help. Hither, too, came many anxious to hear His words and to receive a touch of His hand. Thus He went from city to city, from town to town, preaching the Gospel and healing the sick—the King of glory in the lowly garb of humanity.

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