"These things . . . are written for
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."
1 Corinthians 10:11. The warning comes sounding down along the
line to our time:
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said,
Today if ye will hear His voice,
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke:
howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses." Hebrews
3:12-16.
Cannot we who are living in the time of
the end realize the importance of the apostle's words: "Take
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief, in departing from the living God"? Verse 12.
Upon us is shining the accumulated light
of past ages. The record of Israel's forgetfulness has been preserved
for our enlightenment. In this age God has set His hand to gather
unto Himself a people from every nation, kindred, and tongue.
In the advent movement He has wrought for His heritage, even
as He wrought for the Israelites in leading them from Egypt.
In the great disappointment of 1844 the faith of His people was
tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Had the
Adventists in the early days still trusted
to the guiding Hand that had been with them in their past experience,
they would have seen of the salvation of God. If all who had
labored unitedly in the work of 1844 had received the third angel's
message and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the
Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood
of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago the inhabitants
of the earth would have been warned, the closing work would have
been completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption
of His people.