The Prophetic Faith of Seventh-Day Adventists (Conclusion)

Early Churchmen Discerning Students of Bible Prophecy

I WOULD like to present the faith of Seventh-day Adventists in compari­son with, and contrast to, that of the other denominational groups comprising Protestant­ism. At the same time I will endeavor to pre­sent Protestant Advent­ist faith in comparison with, and in contrast to, the Roman Catholic faith, as revealed through the perspective of history.

This, I believe, can best be done through recourse to their respective relationships to Bible prophecy—once sedulously studied by most leaders in the early centuries of the Christian church, and similarly mold­ing the thinking and actions of the found­ing fathers of Protestantism.

Each Followed by a Falling Away From Early Positions

The names of conspicuous early church­men, well known to all of us, were the earliest Christian expounders of prophecy —men such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Lactantius, Chry­sostum, and Jerome. Some were remarka­bly clear and sound. Jerome's expositions, for example, were considered the "ulti­mate." And not until several centuries had passed did the early interest and proclivity in prophecy wane and distorted departures from that early faith come to prevail. That was indeed a tragic and perilous hour for the expanding church.

But why, it may be asked, do you deal primarily with prophecy rather than the usual churchly doctrines, and place so much stress upon it? Because prophecy was given as an inspired guide to the church that she might order her ways in relationship thereto, and to give her understanding of the times, assurance as to their destined outcome, and her responsibility in and through it all. In fact, such a tracement of prophecy, and its developing exposition, really involves and embraces all the basic doctrines of the Christian faith leading up inevitably to the eschatological climax of the age.

Master Key Unlocking Mysteries of Future

Prophecy is the inspired revelation of things to come, the only true explanation of things past and present. Prophecy is God's great index finger, as it were, point­ing the way through for a world increas­ingly engulfed in confusion, disillusion­ment, and despair. It is Heaven's infallible answer to man's questions on the how and why of all things. As such it is a priceless boon, to be cherished by all.

Prophecy is the master key that unlocks the baffling mysteries of the past. It like­wise draws aside the veil that hides the des­tined outcome of the future, and brings into focus the supreme event toward which all creation moves. Only inspired prophecy solves the riddle of human destiny, and its tragic deviations and recoveries. Hence its supreme practical importance to us.

Moreover, prophecy is God's inspired timetable of the divine plan and specifica­tions for the salvation of lost men. It dis­closes the pre-determined schedule of the all-encompassing redemptive plan of the ages. It foretells the sequence of empires and the devious course of the church in relation to the destined establishment of the kingdom of God at the climax of his­tory, which is the goal of the ages.

Provides Only True Philosophy of History

Prophecy thus reveals the molding hand of God over human history, and discloses the pattern embraced within the otherwise hopelessly tangled skein of human affairs. It reveals God's undeviating and tran­scendent purpose in relation to human des­tiny. Moreover, it provides the only true philosophy of history. Otherwise all is in hopeless conflict and confusion, without adequate cause or effect or outcome.

Prophecy embraces the sweep of the ages in its scope—but as viewed through the eyes of God. It furnishes the reason and the occasion for the turning points of history. Otherwise the future is simply a vast, im­penetrable unknown, a trackless desert, an uncharted sea. Only through the disclo­sures of prophecy does the darksoine jour­ney of life become the lighted way, as God desires and designed it to be. That is the boon of prophecy.

The Twin Focal Points of Redemption

There are two distinct categories of Bi­ble prophecy—first, the overall outline prophecies, marking out the sequence of major events and epochs, spanning the ages, on to the grand climax. Second, there are the superimposed time prophecies—constituting God's inspired measuring rod for identifying certain allocated epochs and events. These comprise His timetable of the centuries that we might know where we are in God's revealed plan of the ages. And these were recognized in Jewish, Cath­olic, and Protestant circles.

In this over-all plan and provision there are two determining centers to redemptive prophecy and divine activity—the first and second advents of Jesus Christ to this earth. These are the twin focal points of redemp­tion that compass time and eternity. These two contrasting advents constitute the in­dispensable key to the divine movements of the ages. Everything leads up to, and in turn radiates from, these two transcendent events.

And time, it might be added, is that pe­riod marked off from eternity for the re­demption of the lost human race. It is wedged in between the eternity of the past and the eternity of the future. It is the pe­riod of the tragic experiment of sin, met and overcome by the redemptive provi­sions of God. Such is God's master plan for man.

Sequence of Nations, Ecclesiastic Innovations, and End of Events

The basic outline prophecy of Daniel 2 —the ABC of all Bible prophecy, and un­dergirding all others—discloses the pre­dicted sequence of empire in the ebb and flow of nations, leading inexorably on to the climax of human destiny and the final establishment of the coming kingdom of God through divine interposition at Christ's second coming.

Next, in the elaborated prophecy of Daniel 7 the grand outline is repeated, but into it is introduced the deeper ecclesiasti­cal conflict of interests involved, and the commingling of church and state staged across the ensuing centuries. But all is set in the framework of the same four world powers of history, and the Roman Empire's fateful division of its aftermath. These four world powers of prophecy—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia. and Rome—can be identified as clearly as the famous four figures carved out of Mount Rushmore. And the basic exploits of the ecclesiastico­political power that succeeded Rome's breakup are spelled out explicitly.

The prophesied kingdom of God ends the sequence, following that final period of human history specifically called the "last days," the "latter times," the "time of the end," and God's great "judgment hour," climaxing with the Second Advent in power and glory. Those "latter times" are the mo­mentous days in which we now live.

Final Accounting for All in the  Great Assize

Then Daniel 8 follows, presenting the final accounting to God of all human conduct in the world and the church, aggre­gate and individual, in the great assize. That is the confrontation of today. Such is the majestic over-all picture of prophecy set forth in the book of Daniel. Then the paralleling, augmenting prophecies of the Apocalypse amplify and enforce Daniel's grand outline, and elaborate on the mo­mentous final issues and tests, and present the sure outcome. There is nothing like it in all inspired or secular writings. It is the climax of prophecy.

Missing the Chief Point of History

History is really His-story—the story of God's dealings with mankind, the nations, and the church. None are without account­ability and control. And unless we see back of and through the play and counterplay of human events, the overruling outworking of the divine plan of the ages, we have missed the chief point and fundamental lesson of history—its real, inner, illumi­nated meaning. And such loss is tragic. That was the reason for the intensive study of divine prophecy by the Church of the early centuries, then by the founders of the Protestant Reformation, and now by Sev­enth-day Adventists.

There are immutable laws that govern the rise, continuance, and fall of nations—the divine law of cause and effect, and amenability to moral principle. The moral law and government of God operate in and behind the outward scenes of the world's affairs. And the gospel of His grace is the sole saving provision.

These are the determining principles and provisions that run all through the course of history, foretold in prophecy. We must never miss them. To be blind to them is to fail to grasp the divine scheme of the ages.

Each Major Development Recognized  as Fulfilled

Furthermore, as fast and as far as history has fulfilled each major event and epoch of prophecy, discerning men at the time of fulfillment have recognized each one as it came to pass, and awaited the next great predicted development. That is the law of prophecy: "These things have I spoken unto you that when it is come to pass ye may know." There have always been those who discerned the times and have brought their lives into harmony with divine expec­tation. That was the supreme purpose of prophecy and the privilege of the church.

Catholicism and Protestantism Both Abandoned Original Positions

Never is it to be forgotten that there is nothing in this old world more powerful than a prophetic truth and provision whose time has come. Nothing can stay the pur­pose of God. And added to this is the fact that the Protestant Reformation founders simply recovered and carried forward the next major recognition in the exposition of the prophecies that the leading early churchmen had begun to glimpse with re­markable unanimity, but which had been abandoned by their successors.

In time Protestantism likewise aban­doned its interest in, and sound exposition of, prophecy, a large proportion adopting the avowed Roman Catholic futurist in­terpretation projected by Francisco Ribera in the Counter Reformation—thrusting the great "falling away" and the predicted "an­tichrist" into the far future, and adopting the revolutionary gap theory. Thus the wit­ness to prophetic truth was again due for revival in these latter times of human his­tory. That is where Seventh-day Adventists enter the picture.

Adventists but Restorers and Consummators of Past Prophetic Position

Seventh-day Adventists have simply restored and carried forward to the next and final step the exposition first nobly be­gun by the early Christian church, and then of the advanced positions of Protestantism which the Catholic Church had abandoned. Both groups, alas, forsook those basic posi­tions.

We are not innovators, but rather are actually the continuators and consumma­tors of the sound prophetic exposition built up through centuries of fulfillment, car­ried on to its ultimate application for these latter days in the time of the end. We are not discoverers of what is new, but recov­erers of what is old and true. Ours is there­fore not an invention, but a retention of what others have let slip.

First, we believe ourselves to be the torchbearers of the light of prophecy now due the world and which is being pro­claimed at this very hour. That is our rela­tionship to Roman Catholic positions on prophecy, when she had forsaken the teach­ings of her early church forefathers.

Second, we are carrying forward the sound exposition begun but tragically dropped by the great Protestant Reforma­tion and Post-Reformation leaders. And this very emphasis on full-rounded proph­ecy involves and embraces the distinctive teachings of Adventism on all the great doc­trines of Holy Scripture and the eternal verities of the everlasting gospel.

That is why Adventists are here—to pro­claim the lost truths of the prophecies in the final setting of the everlasting gospel, and to complete the work of the arrested Reformation. That is a conspectus of our message, and explains our sense of mis­sion.