Time Is Short

Ellen White had the same urgency that compelled New Testament writers to say: “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awaken out of sleep; ... The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Romans 13:11, 12); “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37, quoting Habakkuk 2:3, 4); and for Jesus Himself to tell John: “Surely I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:20).MOL 487.6

But since 1844, urgency has had a fresh time frame. Since 1844, Christ could have returned within the generation that saw the heavenly signs and that understood the impact of Christ’s ministry in the Most Holy Place as the closing phase of His mediatorial work. ^{13For a list of Ellen White statements regarding a delayed advent, see Herbert E. Douglass, The End (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1979), pp. 161-167.}MOL 487.7

From 1845 onward, Ellen White had strongly counseled against time-setting—a practice that some Millerite Adventists continued after 1844, including Joseph Bates up to 1851. Yet time had always been presented to her as “almost finished.” ^{14Early Writings, 58, 64, 67.}MOL 487.8

One charge has been that in 1850 she insisted that Jesus would return “in a few months.” The emphasis of the paragraph is on character preparation for the crisis of the last days: “Some of us have had time to get the truth and to advance step by step, and every step we have taken has given us strength to take the next. But now time is almost finished, and what we have been years learning, they will have to learn in a few months. They will have much to unlearn and much to learn again.” ^{15Early Writings, 67.}MOL 487.9

In 1854 similar counsel was given to a church beset with an adultery problem and neglect of children: “It is too late in the day to feed with milk.... Truths that we have been years learning must be learned in a few months by those who now embrace the third angel’s message. We had to search and wait the opening of truth, receiving a ray of light here and a ray there, laboring and pleading for God to reveal truth to us. But now the truth is plain; its rays are brought together.... It is a disgrace for those who have been in the truth for years to talk of feeding souls who have been months in the truth, upon milk.... Those who embrace the truth now will have to step fast.” ^{16Ms 1, 1854, cited in Manuscript Releases 1:33, 34.}MOL 487.10

These references to the apostle’s admonition in Hebrews 5:12-16 have always applied to serious Christians, but never more than to those who believe they are proclaiming the messages of the three angels of Revelation 14. Obviously, some day there will be a “last generation.” Ellen White links the sealing work of Revelation 7 and 14 with a people who have permitted the Holy Spirit to make them ready for God’s seal. ^{17Early Writings, 36-38, 44, 48.} This preparation should be the last-day Christian’s highest priority. That urgency compelled Mrs. White to urge believers in “present truth” to learn and apply as much of this truth as fast as possible. Christians must mature in the truth and not remain babies who must be spoon-fed and given milk.MOL 488.1