Jesus and His Treasure

“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.” Ex. 19:5.

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a an spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.” Mal. 3:16-18.

Therefore, “let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:24,25.

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Dan. 12:3.

How? “For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Cor. 4:6,7.

By—“He (God) hath remembered his covenant forever, the word which He commanded unto a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” Ps. 105:8,9.

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth… Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come… And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God… Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:6-12 (abbr.)

“The three angels of Revelation 14 are represented as flying in the midst of heaven, symbolizing the work of those who proclaim the first, second and third angel’s messages. All are linked together. The evidences of the abiding, every living truth of these grand messages, that mean so much to the church, that have awakened such intense opposition from the religious world, are not extinct. Satan is constantly seeking to cast a shadow about these messages, so that the people of God shall not clearly discern their import, their time and place; but they live and are to exert their power upon our religious experience while time shall last.

“The influence of these messages has been deepening and widening, setting in motion the springs of action in thousands of hearts, bringing into existence institutions of learning, publishing houses, and health institutions. All these are intrumentalities of God to cooperate in the grand work represented by the first, second and third angels, the work of warning the inhabitants of the world that Christ is coming the second time with power and great glory.” 6T 17,18.

Commencement! 1844!

“A spirit of solemn and earnest prayer was everywhere felt by the saints. A holy solemnity was resting upon them. Angels were watching with deepest interest the effect of the message, and were elevating those who received it, and drawing them from earthly things to obtain large supplies from salvation’s fountain. God’s people were then accepted of Him. Jesus looked upon them with pleasure, for His image was reflected in them. They had made a full sacrifice, an entire consecration, and expected to be changed to immortality.” EW 239.

1852, 8 years later… “As I have of late looked around to find the humble followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, my mind has been much exercised. Many who profess to be looking for the speedy coming of Christ are becoming conformed to this world and seek more earnestly the applause of those around them than the approbation of God. They are cold and formal, like the nominal churches from which they but a short time since separated. The words addressed to the Laodicean church describes their present condition perfectly.” EW 107.

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot… As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Rev. 3:14, 15, 19.

1856–“I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God’s people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished a greater work is because of the hardness of their hearts. But God has given the message time to do its work. The heart must be purified from sins which have so long shut out Jesus. This fearful message will do its work. When it was first presented, it led to close examination of heart. Sins were confessed, and the people of God were stirred everywhere. Nearly all believed that this message would end in the loud cry of the third angel. But as they failed to see the powerful work accomplished in a short time, many lost the effect of the message. I saw that this message would not accomplish its work in a few short months… God will prove His people. Jesus bears patiently with them, and does not spew them out of His mouth in a moment… If the message had been of short duration as many of us supposed, there would have been no time for them to develop character… Lest His people should be deceived in regard to themselves, He gives them time for the excitement to wear off, and then proves them to see if they will obey the counsel of the True Witness.” 1T 186.

1873. “Very many feel impatient and jealous because they are frequently disturbed with warnings and reproofs which keep their sins before them. Says the True Witness: ?I know thy works’… Those who are reproved by the Spirit of God should not rise up against the humble instrument. It is God, and not erring mortal, who has spoken to save them from ruin. Those who despise the warning will be left in blindness to become self deceived. But those who heed it, and zealously go about the work of separating their sins from them in order to have the needed graces, will be opening the door of their hearts that the dear Saviour may come in and dwell with them. This class you will ever find in perfect harmony with the testimony of the Spirit of God.” 3T 256-257.

1876–“The Laodicean message applies to the people of God who profess to believe present truth. The greater part are lukewarm professors, having a name but no zeal. God signified that He wanted men at the great heart of the work to correct the state of things existing there and to stand like faithful sentinels at their post of duty. He has given them light at every point, to instruct, encourage, and confirm them, as the case required. But notwithstanding all this, those who should be faithful and true, fervent in Christian zeal, of gracious temper, knowing and loving Jesus earnestly, are found aiding the enemy to weaken and discourage those whom God is using to build up the work. The term ?lukewarm’ is applicable to this class. They profess to love the truth, yet are deficient in Christian fervor and devotion. They dare not give up wholly and run the risk of te unbeliever, yet they are unwilling to die to self and follow out closely the principles of their faith.” 4T 87.

1882—“The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting. The light has been shining clear and definite upon her pathway, and the light of 1882 calls her to an account. If her talents are unimproved, if her fruit is not perfect before God, if her light has become darkness, she is indeed found wanting.” 5T 83, 84.

Where is the treasure?
“The pure and the base metal are now mingled that only the discerning eye of the infinite God can with certainty distinguish between them. But the moral magnet of holiness and truth will attract together the pure metal, while it will repel the base and counterfeit.

“ ‘The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly;’ but where do we behold the true advent spirit? Who are preparing to stand in that time of temptation which is just before us? The people to whom God has entrusted the sacred, solemn, testing truths for this time are sleeping at their post. They say by their actions: We have the truth; we are ?rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;’ while the Witness declares, ?Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.’” 5T 101.

“The church has received warning after warning. The duties and dangers of God’s people have been plainly revealed. But the worldly element has proved too strong for them. Customs, practices, and fashions which lead the soul away from God have been for years gaining ground in defiance of the warnings and entreaties of the Holy Spirit, until at last their ways have become right in their own eyes, and the Spirit’s voice is scarcely heard.” 5T 103.

Increasing Intensity
“I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders.

“The church has turned back from following Christ, her leader and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power. Doubt, and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere.” 5T 217.

By 1888—“Spiritual death has come upon the people that should be manifesting life and zeal, purity and consecration by the most earnest devotion to the cause of truth. The facts concerning the real condition of the professed people of God speaks more loudly than their profession, and make it evident that same power has cut the cable that anchored them to the eternal rock, and that they are drifting away to sea without chart or compass.” RH, July 24, 1888.

Effect on the Message
“The third angel’s message is to be given with power… We are in danger of giving the third angel’s message in so indefinite a manner that it does not impress the people. So many other interests are brought in that the very message which should be proclaimed with power becomes tame and voiceless.” 6T 60.

“It is a solemn and terrible truth that many who have been zealous in proclaiming the third angel’s message are now becoming listless and indifferent! The line of demarcation between worldlings and many professed Christians is almost indistinguishable. Many who once were earnest Adventists are conforming to the world—to its practices, its customs, its selfishness. Instead of leading the world to render obedience to God’s law, the church is uniting more and more closely with the world in transgression. Daily the church is becoming converted to the world. How many professing Christians are slaves of mammon! Their indulgence of appetite, their extravagant expenditure of money for selfish gratification, greatly dishonors God.

“And through lack of zeal for the promulgation of the third angel’s message, many others, while not apparently living in transgression, are nevertheless as verily lending their influence on the side of Satan as are those who openly sin against God. Multitudes are perishing; but how few are burdened for these souls! There is a stupor, a paralysis, upon many of the people of God, which prevents them from understanding the duty of the hour.” 8T 118-119.

Revelation 3:16 Imminent. “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

“To those who are indifferent at this time Christ’s warning is: (Rev. 3:16 quoted). The figure of spewing out of His mouth means that He cannot offer up your prayers or your expressions of love to God. He cannot endorse your teaching of His word or your spiritual work in anywise. He cannot present your religious exercises with the request that grace be given you.” 6T 408.

Hence – “Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to the earth, to unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message. Great power and glory were imparted to the angel, and as he descended, the earth was lightened with his glory. The light which attended this angel penetrated everywhere as he cried mightily with a strong voice, ?Babylon the great, is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird’… The work of this angel comes in at the right time to join in the last great work of the third angel’s message as it swells to a loud cry.” EW 277.

“In 1888 in the General Conference held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, the angel of Rev. 18 came down to do his work.” ”Taking Up a Reproach (By A.T. Jones, quote from EGW).

“The time of test is just upon us, for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth.” (RH, Nov. 22, 1892) also, 7BC 984.

Detail of 1888
“The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of te whole world. It presented justification through faith in the surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God… This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.” TM 91,92.

Received? “The great object of the advent of the Holy Spirit is distinctly specified by Christ. ?When He is come,’ He said, ?He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.’ This light has been kept before our people for years. The power of the Holy Spirit has been largely manifested at Battle Creek, the great heart of the work, to be communicated to those in the highways and hedges, that the mass of human beings under Satan’s sway of sin and death might be reformed and renovated by the Spirit’s power. But when light has come to those at the centre of the work, they have not known how to treat it. The testimonies God has given His people are in harmony with His word.”” TM 401-402.

“Men who are entrusted with weighty responsibilities, but who have no living connection with God, have been and are doing despite to His Holy Spirit. They are indulging the very same spirit as did Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and as did the Jews in the days of Christ. (See Matt. 12:22-29, 31-37). Warnings have come from God again and again for these men, but they have cast them aside and ventured on in the same course.

“Read the words of Christ in Matt. 23:33, ?Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!’… ?Wherefore, behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city.’ This prophecy was literally fulfilled by the Jews in their treatment of Christ and of the messengers whom God sent to them. Will men in these last days follow the example of those whom Christ condemned?
“These terrible predictions they have not as yet carried out to the full; but if God spares their lives, and they nourish the same spirit that marked their course of action both before and after the Minneapolis meeting, they will fill up to the full the deeds of those whom Christ condemned when He was upon the earth.

“The perils of the last days are upon us. Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God. Some have been cultivating hatred against the men whom God has commissioned to bear a special message to the world. They began this Satanic work at Minneapolis. Afterward, when they saw and felt the demonstration of the Holy Spirit testifying that the message was of God, they hated it the more, because it was a testimony against them. They would not humble their hearts to repent, to give God the glory, and vindicate the right. They went on in their own spirit, filled with envy, jealousy, and evil surmisings, as did the Jews. They opened their hearts to the enemy of God and man. Yet these men have been holding positions of trust, and have been molding the work after their own similitude, as far as they possibly could…” TM 78-80.

“An unwillingness to yield up preconceived opinions, and to accept this truth, (that the moral law is the schoolmaster of Gal. 3:24 that leads us to Christ) lay at the foundation of a large share of the opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message from Brethren E.J. Waggoner and A.T. Jones. By exciting that opposition, Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost. The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren, has been in a great degree kept away from the world.” 1 SM 234, 235.

But note, recall 7BC 984, “The loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth.”
“The work of this angel comes in at the right time to join in the last great work of the third angel’s message as it swells into a loud cry.” EW 277.

“The work will grow deeper and become more earnest to the very close of time. And all who are laborers together with God will contend most earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. They will not be turned from the present message, which is already lightening the earth with its glory.” 1896—2 SM 114. SDA Comment re: 1888 in “Story of the Church” p. 246.

“It marked the beginning of a great reform.”
Still hope for rejectors—recall TM 79, “…if God spares their lives, and they nourish the same spirit that marked their course of action both before and after the Minneapolis meeting, they will fill up to the full the deeds of those whom Christ condemned when He was upon the earth.”

Another call, 1902. “God calls for a spiritual revival and a spiritual reformation. Unless this takes place, those who are lukewarm will continue to grow more abhorent to the Lord, until He will refuse to acknowledge them as His children.
“A revival and a reformation must take place under the ministration of the Holy Spirit. Revival signifies a renewal of spiritual life, a quickening of the powers of the mind and heart, a resurrection from spiritual death. Reformation signifies a reorganization, a change of ideas and theories, habits and practices.” Christ Our Righteousness—compiled by A.G. Daniells, p. 121. EGW quote.

Heeded? 1903. “After I received word in regard to the excellent meeting of confession and unity that had been held in Battle Creek I was writing in my diary and was about to record the thankfulness I felt because a change had come, when my hand was arrested, and there came to me the words: ?Write it not. No change for the better has taken place. Teachings that are turning souls from the truth are being presented as of great worth. Doctrines are being taught that lead into forbidden paths; doctrines that lead men to act in harmony with their own inclinations and to work out their unsanctified purposes; doctrines that, if received, would destroy the dignity and power of God’s people, obscuring the light that would otherwise come to them through God’s appointed agencies.” 8T 231.

The Gathering of the Jewels (The Remnant)
Will the church fall? “The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths.” 2 SM 380.

Definition of Church—“The church is God’s fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world… From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth.” AA 11.

“I know that the Lord loves His church. It is not to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms. There is not the least consistency in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be.” 2 SM 68,69.

“As we near the final crisis, instead of feeling that there is less need of order and harmony of action, we should be more systematic than heretofore: All our work should be conducted according to well defined plans. I am receiving light from God that there should be wise generalship at this time more than at any fromer period of our history.” 3 SM 26.
Observe Separation of Chaff from Wheat since 1888

“Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” Matt. 24:44. This is our message, the very message that the three angels flying in the midst of heaven are proclaiming. The work to be done now is that of sounding this last message of mercy to a fallen world. A new life is coming from heaven and taking possession of all God’s people. But divisions will come in the church. Two parties will be developed…

“The work will grow deeper and become more earnest to the very close of time. And all who are laborers together with God will contend most earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. They will not be turned from the present message, which is already lightening the earth with its glory.” 2 SM 114.
AMEN