The word "gospel" means good news. It is usually applied to the New Testa' ment teaching of salvation from sin through faith in Christ. One who truly preaches the gospel must preach salvation from sin. The message may be clothed in such language as capacity, training, and feeling may enable the speaker to use, influenced by the operation of the Holy Spirit; yet to be the gospel, it must relate in some way to deliverance from sin through faith in the crucified and risen Saviour.
When the angel of the Lord revealed to Joseph that his espoused wife was to be the mother of the Messiah, he said, "She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins." That message of salvation from sin constitutes the gospel, which pays the penalty for past sins, and provides power to live a new life by faith. Both are essential for salvation, and salvation from sin is the best news ever proclaimed to man, or heard from the lips of man.
Again and again Christ spoke of His work on earth as a mission of saving the lost. "The Son of man is come to save that which was lost," is stated in Matthew. And again, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." That was Christ's mission on earth. To make this possible He lived and died and was raised from the dead.
When we speak of the cross, we think not of the wood of which it was built, nor of the nails that were driven through Christ's hands, nor alone of the physical agony that He suffered as He hung dying on the tree; but we include all the events that cluster in His life, His death, and His resurrection. No one event in the life of Christ sums up all the gospel. It takes all—His life, death, and resurrection, all focussing in the cross—to make the full gospel of salvation to be proclaimed to a lost world.
There may be lectures, uplifting, inspiring, educational; but without the cross of Christ, there is no gospel.
Stories may amuse, many things may instruct, personality and manner may attract attention to the speaker; but he who would preach the gospel must preach the crucified and risen Saviour. It is a life-and-death matter with those who hear whether they believe in Christ. Often they are impressed to believe or not to believe from the tone, the words, the actions, of the one who speaks. When one preaches the gospel, his preaching can save sinners only as he preaches the crucified and risen Christ.
The cross of Christ with all that centers there is the highest theme ever studied by man; it is deeper than all the philosophy and science taught in the advanced schools of earth; it has more uplifting cultural qualities than all the arts known to man; it is the sum of all wisdom; imagination can never soar as high as it reaches. It is so supreme, so infinite, that through all the ages of man's career there has never been one who has made his life's study center around the cross of Christ who did not cry out, when he had reached his full capacity of comprehending and understanding, Beyond there are heights incomprehensible and depths unfathomable. The eternal ages will never dim the wondrous worth of the cross.
All history centers around the cross of Christ. The ages from Adam to Calvary merge toward that event; all that is of enduring value looks to the promised Messiah. Man's failure to redeem himself from the bondage of sin; nations rising, and sinking into oblivion; a lost world wandering hopelessly into deeper and deeper sin,—all constitute one great cry for help outside of what man can do for himself.
So, too, with the history of man this side of the cross—all points backward to that greatest of all tragedies. All that is excellent in music and painting and architecture, all that is humane and uplifting to mankind, all that seeks to alleviate pain and provide a refuge for the afilicted,—all points to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Nor is this all. The whole future of man centers in Calvary. Without the cross there can be no atonement for sin, and without the atonement man is forever lost. Heaven with all its glories fades into nothingness without Christ. The cross is the center of the whole universe. It is the beginning and the ending of all hope and expectancy for nations and for individuals.
There is before man nothing to hope for without Calvary. Civilization without that event is confronted with irremediable ruin. Without it nations can expect nothing but to repeat the wars and disasters and desolations of the past. Obliterate Calvary, and all is lost. Black darkness and hopelessness reign supreme. Calvary is the one hope of a lost world.
The gospel is the only remedy for sin. It is the only religion preached among men that has power to transform and save sinners. All else only palliates the weaknesses with which we are encompassed—is only an ointment that soothes what must be amputated and utterly destroyed. The gospel, the good news that Christ the Son of God has died to meet the penalty of sin, will save all who believe.
I.H.E.
Essentials and Nonessentials
An the great essentials of the faith kI we are gratifyingly united in our understanding. But in the interpretation of certain prophecies, or features of prophecies, which are helpful and interesting, but not vital to salvation, considerable difference of view obtains. This simple fact, frankly stated, is neither strange nor alarming, for so it was both among our pioneers, and has been throughout our denominational history, as a survey of our literature through the years clearly discloses.
More than that, millions of saints and martyrs through the ages past were without any clear understanding of the intent of these secondaries, as they may be termed. And thousands of our native believers today in Africa, South America, and other continental mission fields are still unaware of their intent. This is no bar to their salvation. But it does confirm our contention that these minor matters of discussion and divergence are not fundamental to salvation. And, firmly and intelligently held in such a subordinate position, they will not create perplexity nor division.
This must not be misunderstood as in any degree minimizing the importance of knowing Bible truth, nor of ardently searching for all possible light on truth. We should unceasingly study, search, and compare. But we should always differentiate sharply between primaries and secondaries, fundamentals and accessories, or to phrase it differently, essentials and nonessentials. With such clear understanding of relationships, secondaries will be calmly and carefully studied without any nervousness or tension, and wholly without any spirit of suspicion or challenge of those whose viewpoint may differ.
There can be highest respect and affection for a brother along with a definite differing on subsidiaries. Holding fast our personal liberty, we should always be willing calmly and dispassionately to weigh any evidence disclosed by the researches of a fellow pilgrim. And in our quest for truth let us possess and exhibit the fair, dispassionate spirit of the scholar, and the open-mindedness of the pioneer and explorer. This alone will honor God and exalt truth.
We face the future, not the past.
Your faces are set toward the dawn. The light that shines "more and more" is for us. A spirit of repressive conservatism that crystallizes into rigid form, or an attitude of "we are the people possessing all the truth for the hour" that degenerates into a mere contention for a position held in the past, can be viewed only with apprehension. It must not attain the ascendancy.
Our pioneers were honest men. As such, they ever sought advancing light, and when they found an additional ray, never hesitated to walk in it. This frequently led them to make certain readjustments in the field of these secondaries. They desired their positions to be in agreement with all known facts, and to harmonize with all related truths. Many a detail was consequently altered to conform to this right principle, and many an early position that was hazy was later clarified because of this honest and commendable attitude.
As their spiritual heirs and assigns, it is incumbent upon us to maintain the same frank, honest, progressive spirit. We have not hesitated denominationally to supplant almost to a man the former teaching that the Huns rather than the Alemanni constituted one of the ten kingdoms that divided Western Rome, for stubborn historic facts settled that point; or that the seven heads of the compoSite beast of Revelation 13 are successive kingdoms, rather than seven forms of the Roman government. The acceptance of neither one view nor the other was necessary to salvation. But always honesty of purpose and fidelity to truth as discerned does remain a basic requisite.
Let us not look askance at others who, loving the message as devoutly as we, having sacrificed for it as much, having championed it as loyally and propagated it as effectively, seek to clarify and perfect the accuracy of these features which are admittedly of but relative importance. Nor let us be beguiled into believing that God has committed to a select few the preservation of orthodoxy. Self-appointments are easy; but no one has patent rights upon this movement. God alone reads hearts, and He alone has the ultimate truth. Therefore criminations and recriminations as to orthodoxy have no rightful place whatever in this message.
Let us greet every man who subscribes to the saving essentials and call him brother. If he differs or errs on minor points, let us faithfully tell him why we think so, submitting our evidence for his examination. But let us distinguish between primaries and secondaries. Such a spirit will foster peace, mutual confidence, and joy in service, and it will inevitably lead to greater unity in the truth.
L. E. F.
Spiritual Inheritors and Consummators
We of the advent movement are the spiritual inheritors of all the light and truth that have been recognized and expounded in generations past. These divergent rays of varying brilliance and hue are designed in the purpose of God to be focused through, the lens of present truth to illuminate the final section of the pilgrim path as with a flood light.
Others have labored, and we have entered into their labors. Others have laid the foundations, and we have builded thereon. Thank God for this. We are not some strange new sect with unheard-of truths and expositions. But from "here a little, and there a little," truth has been separated from error, fact from fancy, and sound exegesis from untenable interpretation. These, fused into one coordinated whole, when clarified, intensified, and vivified by the light of the sanctuary truth, have produced a message foretold for this hour, therefore due and here at this hour, and designed to meet the full needs of these unparalleled times.
The prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation have through the centuries been known and pondered. They have been understood and taught, though in a fragmentary way. Persons have had a fairly sound interpretation of such leading historic features as the four world powers of Daniel 2 and 7. But intermingled with sound exposition were strange vagaries and misconceptions that had to be discarded; for the features that were yet future were hazy and unintelligible until the time of the end, the time of understanding. God has signally blessed us in our study of these books. But we have not exhausted the light of truth. According to the clear word of the Spirit of prophecy, there is much more light for us.
Let us now go on to perfection. Let us pray, study, and ponder. Let us consult, discuss, and advance. The hour has come for consummation. The fullness of ultimate light and truth is before us as our rightful heritage. It is a glorious day in which to live. We thank God for our high privileges.
L. E. F.
