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Heavenly Visions

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    NOTES ON EARLY TIMES IN THIS ADVENT MOVEMENT NO. 4. HOW THE MESSAGE CAME THAT MADE THE MOVEMENT

    THIS advent movement of Revelation 14 did not come by man’s planning or by human foresight.HEVI 102.1

    Our pioneers of 1844 did not at first understand that they were launching such a movement as we see today. It was not that any group got together and proposed to themselves, Now let us start a work corresponding to this prophecy of Revelation 14. The ways of Providence in launching this work in 1844 made such a thought forever impossible.HEVI 102.2

    Note the facts. As we look at the picture of the prophecy we see three special features which distinguish this advent movement:HEVI 102.3

    1. The Sabbath.HEVI 102.4

    The people of the movement were to “keep the commandments of God.” They bear a message of Sabbath reform.HEVI 102.5

    2. The Sanctuary.HEVI 102.6

    They must understand the truth of Christ’s ministry in the sanctuary in heaven. It was this truth, so long trodden underfoot, that would enable them to give the message, “The hour of His judgment is come.”HEVI 102.7

    3. The Spirit of Prophecy.HEVI 102.8

    From the last verse of Revelation 12 it is plain that in the development of the people of the movement, who keep the commandments of God, the Lord was to restore to the remnant church the gift of the “testimony of Jesus,” which “is the Spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10.HEVI 102.9

    Note how these three features appeared as the time came:HEVI 102.10

    1. Sabbathkeepers in New Hampshire.HEVI 102.11

    In 1844 a church of Adventists believers in the village of Washington, New Hampshire, saw the truth of the commandments of God. They began to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. The year of the prophecy had come, and here was a little nucleus of Adventists believers keeping the commandments of God.HEVI 102.12

    But they knew nothing of a definite movement yet to come, or of the real meaning of the judgment hour. Nor did they understand that the Spirit of prophecy was to come as one agency to lead out the movement, even as the Lord used that gift to lead forth and guide the exodus movement, as stated in the text: “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.” Hosea 12:13.HEVI 102.13

    2. The Sanctuary Understood in New York.HEVI 102.14

    Again, in the western part of the State of New York, there was another group of Adventist believers to whom, in 1844, came light regarding the sanctuary in heaven. They understood the meaning of the cleansing of the sanctuary and of the judgment hour. Here was an essential, a key feature, of the message to be borne. But those who held this sanctuary teaching knew nothing of the special Sabbath reform message, nor did they understand about the gift of the Spirit of prophecy that was to come.HEVI 102.15

    3. The Spirit of Prophecy in Maine.HEVI 102.16

    In the days of 1844 the Lord was manifestly seeking the agent through whom He might speak guiding messages by the Spirit of prophecy. There came to one member of the Adventist groups, in the State of Maine, a call to exercise the prophetic gift. The call came in 1844. It was accepted, and reassuring and guiding messages began to come to the believers in Christ’s soon coming. But these believers in Maine knew nothing of the Sabbath reform, and they did not understand the truths of the heavenly sanctuary and the judgment hour.HEVI 102.17

    Thus in three separate places, in 1844, there appeared three distinctive features of truth that were to be major factors in this definite advent movement. They are all key truths that have stood out prominently in our teaching all the way along, the power of God attending the preaching of each feature.HEVI 102.18

    When those representing these truths were later brought into communication with one another, each imparting the special light and truth possessed by him, the full advent message began to take the definite form in which it comes to us today.HEVI 102.19

    It was not something devised by men. As the hour came in 1844, the three special features of the message appeared, but among different groups, and in different parts of the country.HEVI 102.20

    It was manifestly the Lord who led each group into the light as the time of the prophecy came in 1844. Then His providence brought them together and welded them into one movement, with the harmonious message for the judgment hour.HEVI 102.21

    This is by no means to suggest that these special features were all the truths into which the pioneers were led. The movement proclaims the “whole counsel of God,” as the apostle Paul summed up the gospel of Christ that he preached. It carries to every nation and tongue the full-rounded saving message of “the everlasting gospel” that the prophet John saw carried to all the world. Remarkably the Lord guided the early pioneers in their search for Bible truth. Within a few years they had discovered the great system of doctrinal truths which Seventh-day Adventists are preaching in all the world today. W. A. S. review and herald, November 2, 1939.HEVI 102.22