Restore enthusiasm for the Second Coming

One cannot read Ellen White’s writings without getting a sense of urgency. Her personal relationship with Jesus began during the expectation of Jesus’ soon coming in 1844, and even though she came to understand that other events would take place before the Second Coming, she lived her life energized by that enthusiasm. Predictions of God’s coming in judgment and deliverance are a common denominator with many of the Old Testament prophets. Again and again they predicted the coming of the “day of the Lord” ^{15E.g., see Isaiah 13:6; Ezekiel 30:2-4; Joel 1:15; Zephaniah 1:6-8; Obadiah 1:15.} The New Testament writers took up this theme in their writings. ^{16E.g., see 2 Peter 3; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 5:3; and James 5:7, 8.}UEGW 246.2

Belief in the soon coming of Jesus has been the precursor for change and the driving force for the rapid spread of the gospel throughout most of the Roman Empire. It is also this belief in the soon coming of Jesus that inspired the growth and spread of Adventism from a few hundred believers to a worldwide movement numbering millions. George Knight remarks that, for Ellen White, Jesus’ coming “was not only a future reality, but it had a sense of immediacy that demanded urgency in preaching its message to all the world in as short a time as possible” ^{17George Knight, Meeting Ellen White: A Fresh Look at Her Life, Writings, and Major Themes (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald®, 1996), 118.} She wrote: “The Lord is coming. We hear the footsteps of an approaching God. . . . We are to prepare the way for Him by acting our part in getting a people ready for that great day” ^{18EGW, Evangelism (Washington, DC: Review and Herald®, 1946), 218, 219.}UEGW 246.3

This expectancy for the second coming of Jesus provided the orientation for her life and work. For some, a belief in the soon coming of Jesus led to fanaticism, ^{19For a very readable introduction to the fanatical landscape of post-1844 Millerism, see George Knight, William Miller and the Rise of Adventism (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press®, 2010), 209-227.} but because Ellen White’s belief was firmly anchored in Scripture, her writings provide a wonderful example of the delicate art of living between now and eternity. Rather than unfitting her readers for a useful life, it is precisely this belief that motivates us to live our lives conscious of our individual and collective need to prepare a world for the coming of Jesus. Her letters and articles are full of case studies in making practical plans for the building up of God’s kingdom while all the time focusing on the Second Coming.UEGW 246.4