The very name Minneapolis carries with it interesting connotations to our Adventist ministry, for it was in our church there that the important General Conference was held in 1888. The accompanying picture of delegates in attendance is interesting. Many stirring messages came to the brethren assembled at that time, and the pulpit shown here is the very one from which the messenger of the Lord proclaimed the great truth of righteousness by faith, and from which other important messages were given by individuals whose names at that time were household words among Adventists.
In March of this year the quadrennial session of the Northern Union Conference was held in this same city. And this same pulpit was used. It is the regular pulpit used by the church there. The accompanying picture shows the writer holding the book Evangelism in which an important message appears from the pen of Ellen G. White, written from Australia in 1895. I was emphasizing that the messages given at that historic General Conference in 1888 on the subject of righteousness by faith came in the providence of God to meet a definite need. "Many had lost sight of Jesus," wrote Sister White later. "They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family." This statement appears in Evangelism, pages 190, 191. Her appeal to the ministers and leaders was to uplift the Saviour and reveal Him "as the Lamb slain" yet "sitting upon the throne, to dispense the priceless covenant blessings, the benefits He died to purchase for every soul who should believe on Him."
That is the very heart of the everlasting gospel that the Advent Movement has been raised up of God to carry to earth's far ends. Whatever else we teach and whatever methods we use today, the outstanding central feature of the three angels' messages is Christ crucified, risen, and ministering and coming again in glory.
There were some at that conference seventy-one years ago who did not fully sense all the issues involved, and they had the impression that this rather unusual emphasis on Christology might lead many away from the definiteness of our distinctive message. The clear counsels of the Lord, however, at the time of the conference and during the next few years, left no room for misunderstanding. It was not a new message, or even a change in the message of God, but rather a changed emphasis that was called for. This is made abundantly evident in the clarifying statement in Evangelism to which we have already referred.
To impress this upon the present-day workers of the Northern Union gathered at Minneapolis, the old pulpit was referred to. It is the same pulpit. True, an electric reading lamp has been fastened to it. And within more recent years a microphone has also been attached, but the pulpit itself remains the same; a significant symbol of the great message we have been commissioned to give to the world.
During the intervening years techniques have been developed and new methods have been devised to help in our work, all of which we appreciate. We thank God for the invention of electric light, radio, television, projectors, slides, evangelistic and mission films, and more recently—black light. These and a score of other very important things are invaluable to us today. Think of how much we owe to the microphone! Not only does it make clear the preacher's voice to his immediate congregation, but through the microphone we are enabled to reach the ears of millions around the world. But neither our microphones nor all our electrical devices add a single thing to the message itself. The puipit is the same; the message is unchanged.
Too often we have failed to sense the full truth of that message, and at times secondary issues have been emphasized to the neglect of the central primary truths that are the heart of the everlasting gospel. We all recognize that what we need today, as our forefathers needed then, is a clearer understanding of Christ and His place in both our doctrines and our prophecies. We repeat, it is not a new message but a new emphasis that is needed. And only such an emphasis will bring the outpouring of the Spirit of God in the latter rain.
No greater hour ever challenged the church than that in which we live. How desperately God needs "able messengers of the new covenant," men who can set forth the fullness of Christ. The following words of counsel should stir every worker in the Advent cause:
More people than we think are longing to find the way to Christ. Those who preach the last message of mercy should bear in mind that Christ is to be exalted as the sinner's refuge.............. Many people are sadly ignorant in regard to the plan of salvation; they need more instruction upon this all-important subject than upon any other. . . . Bear with a certain coice an affirmative message. Lift Him up, the Man of Calvary, higher and still higher. There is power in the exaltation of the cross of Christ. . . . Gather up the strongest affirmative statements regarding the atonement made by Christ for the sins of the world. Show the necessity for this atonement... Make the gospel the glad tidings of salvation.. —Evangelism, pp. 185-187.
