Stones to Remember – Part I

The name, Joshua, comes from the Hebrew word Yehoshua, which means Saviour or Deliverer. The Greek word that is equivalent to the Hebrew word Yehoshua is the word Iesous, and that is where we get the English word, Jesus. So Joshua is the same name as Jesus, just in the Hebrew language.

It was Joshua who took the children of Israel into the land of Canaan. “And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them saying, Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, from out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; and Joshua said to them: Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you? Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever. And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.” Joshua 4:1–9.

This event was not simply something that Joshua decided to do. It was something for which the Lord gave him special instructions, and the Lord worked a miracle so that His people did not have to build any pontoons or bridges. Even though it was in flood season, the Lord miraculously caused the waters of the Jordan River to stop flowing.

Lest We Forget

The Lord told Joshua,

“You are to do something to make a memorial of what I did here, so that in the future when your children come to you and they say, ‘What are these stones here?’ you can tell them the story of what the Lord did. You are to make a memorial so that the whole nation will remember what God did here.”

It is important for us today to remember and to know the leading of the Lord in our past history. In fact, it is so important that Ellen White wrote that we have nothing to fear for the future except as we forget how the Lord has led us in our past history and His teaching. (See Review and Herald, October 12, 1905.)

What do these stones mean? The stones are a memorial of what God will do for the children of Israel to bring them into the Promised Land. God has been leading in the second advent movement. God has been leading in the revival and reformation movement in Adventism that has been going on now for a number of years. We need to understand and know how the Lord has led us.

Of course, there are people saying that the Lord has not led us. We get a lot of phone calls and letters along that line. Some people say we are being led by the devil. Such an accusation is not anything new. Jesus had to meet that same accusation. It was said that He was performing miracles through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. (See Matthew 12:22–28; Mark 3:22–26; Luke 11:15–20.)

The apostles had to meet it. The reformers had to meet it. John Wesley had to meet it. James and Ellen White had to meet it. And we will have to meet it until the end. There are going to be people saying that the Lord is with them and that we are being led by the devil, that we are going the wrong way.

Do you know who is leading you? How can you tell who is leading?

Signs and Miracles

You cannot tell who is leading you because of signs or miracles. If you decide that the Lord is leading you because of certain signs and miracles, the devil can provide those things and lead you down the wrong path. The New Testament teaches that false miracles are going to happen more and more as we approach the close of time.

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume [destroy] with the breath [spirit] of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the [lawless one] is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9.

There are going to be miracles. These verses are referring to the antichrist power. The devil is the chief antichrist, but he has human agents who are also antichrists. Verse 10 tells us, “And with all deceitfulness of unrighteousness among those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved.”

The Scripture goes on to say how the Lord is going to send them strong delusions because they are having pleasure in unrighteousness. (See verses 11, 12.) If you are having pleasure in something that you know is not right, you need to go to the Lord and pray about that, because unless the Lord delivers you from that pleasure in unrighteousness, you will be deceived at the end.

We see in this passage of Scripture that we cannot depend on miracles to know that the Lord is leading us. Revelation 16:13, 14 talks more along these lines. In those verses is the description about Armageddon, and about three unclean spirits coming up like frogs out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. It talks about them working signs and miracles. Those signs and miracles are going to be so successful that the whole world is going to be gathered together for the great battle. They are going to think, of course, that they are getting together for a millenium of peace. They are going to walk right into Armageddon. No, we cannot depend on miracles or signs to know that the Lord is leading us.

Can we Count on Numbers?

Not only can we not depend on miracles or signs, but we cannot count on numbers! Never before in Adventism have I seen the importance of numbers being used, as they are today.

In the mail we received information from someone who was going to India, and they said they were going to baptize 50,000 people there. We have sent workers to countries such as India, and we have conducted evangelistic campaigns with the native workers in some of these countries. We have baptized people in these countries, but we have never baptized them by the thousands. Not yet! Again I say that we cannot ever depend on numbers to know whether God is leading us.

In Constantine’s time, do you know what he did to increase the baptisms? He had a very innovative method. He gave everyone, who would consent to be baptized, a new exchange of clothes (we would call it a new suit of clothes) and a piece of gold. He got a lot of people baptized in just a short time. He baptized full armies of people. People thought at that time that they were experiencing a wonderful evangelistic success.

The Latter Rain?

I remember reading an article in a Review and Herald, published a short time after World War II. One of our leading ministers wrote how Seventh-day Adventists had gone into some of the countries, which had not had freedom before World War II, and baptized thousands of people. He said he thought this was the beginning of the latter rain. This article was printed in 1948, but I was reading it in the 1990s. When I read that, I wondered, if indeed that really was the beginning of the latter rain, why are we still here?

If we were depending on numbers, Noah would have been a complete flop! If we were depending on numbers, Jesus, when He dwelt among men in the flesh, would have been a total failure, too. The night that Jesus was betrayed, He only had twelve disciples and a few faithful women who were following Him, and one of those twelve denied Him! So we cannot depend on miracles, and we cannot depend on numbers to know that the Lord is leading.

We have been warned that, as we approach the end, there will be many confusing voices saying, “Come, follow me; I have great light.” Do you see that happening today? It is going to happen more and more.

Every one of us should know that the Lord has been leading us. We should also know that the Lord has been leading in the second advent movement and in the revival and reformation movement in Adventism. There are two or three points that we always need to check when we are challenged about whether or not the Lord is leading.

Troublers of Israel

Ellen White saw, in vision, the true and faithful people during the time of trouble. (See Maranatha, 209.) She said that the wicked people were coming to the true and faithful and saying, “We have the truth!” And they would say, “Angels are walking among us and there are miracles among us. The Lord is leading us, and if you would not be so stubborn, He would lead you too.”

She wrote that the wicked would say that the whole world was at peace and in harmony with the Sunday law. They are going to have the numbers, and they are going to have the miracles, and they are going to say to the true and faithful, “If you would come into harmony, then everything would be all right. You are the fly in the ointment. You are the reason for the trouble, because you are at variance with everybody else in the world. The Lord is leading us. We know it, because the angels are walking among us and there are all these miracles happening. The whole world is converted—except you! You are going the opposite of everybody else, so you must be led by the devil.”

We are going to encounter this sort of thing more and more, right up to the end. It is not going to stop; it is going to get worse. God’s people are going to be just a little, tiny handful of people compared with the world’s population.

Is God Leading Us?

We must know for sure that God has been leading us, or we will not make it. Here is a way to be assured that God is leading us.

If God is leading us, He will always, without exception, be leading us in harmony with His law. In Matthew 7:21–23, we have the record of a number of people who thought that the Lord was leading them, yet they come right up to the end of time and find out that they have made a terrible mistake. They are so sure that they are right, though, that they start arguing with the Lord.

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

These people are not in harmony with God’s law, but they think that God has been leading them. They are mistaken. If God is leading you, He will always, without fail, be leading you in harmony with His law.

Of Which Spirit are We?

Another interesting text from the Old Testament addresses this point: “To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20. The context of this text, beginning in verse 19, is talking about spirits, or those who are led by or instructed by spirits. So this verse would apply either to spirits or to prophets especially.

Martin Luther is an example of men whom God has used who were not in harmony with all of His law, because they did not know any better. This verse, however, is not talking about men and women. A man or a woman could be used of God even if they were mixed up on some points about the law or about theology. It is not talking about just anybody in this text. It is talking specifically about spirits, and it would apply to anyone who is led or instructed by spirits, so it would apply to a prophet. This verse is one of the tests for anyone who claims to be a prophet. It is a test for any spirit that gives any instruction to anybody. A spirit is never in the situation that Martin Luther, or any other Protestant reformer in the sixteenth century, was in where he did not know all the truth.

A spirit is either a spirit from God and knows the truth, or it is a spirit from the devil and there is no light in him. One of God’s angels will never instruct you contrary to His law or to His word. So, if a spirit gives you any instruction that is contrary to God’s law or to His word, there is no light there. It is a wrong spirit, no matter how many miracles there are and no matter how many numbers there are.

Blessed Assurance

God’s children are going to be tempted on this point even during the time of trouble. Ellen White wrote about meeting all of this opposition, about people saying, “You are wrong!” What do you do after you have been told 500 times that you are wrong? Does it have an affect on you? Mrs. White mentions two things that will give assurance to God’s people during the time of trouble. She says their conscience and the word of God assure them that they are correct. (See The Great Controversy, 610.) So it is important to know, from the word of God, that the Lord is leading you. Remember,

“We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 196.

If you look at that quotation closely, you will realize that Mrs. White is assuming that we know that the Lord has led us. Have we forgotten how the Lord has led us? The Lord has been leading us individually; the Lord has been leading the second advent movement, and the Lord has been leading the revival and reformation movement in Adventism. But we need to remember how.

Overwhelming Evidence

The evidences of the Lord’s leading in the second advent movement are overwhelming. We could go clear back to before the War of 1812 and show how the Lord arranged events and prepared the world for the first angel’s message, which William Miller began to preach in the United States in 1831.

We could show what happened in 1843 and 1844 with the many signs and wonders whereby the Lord showed unequivocally that He was guiding this movement. We could go to the ministry of Ellen White, God’s special messenger to the Advent movement, and we could show over and over again how God showed to us, through her, that He was leading.

You have perhaps heard of the vision that Ellen White had in which she saw church leaders doing and saying certain things. At least once in public she was going to relate this vision, but as she began to tell it, her mind went blank and she could not relate it.

Several months later an early morning (5:30 a.m.) meeting was being held at camp meeting. Ellen White was elderly at this time, so her son, William C. White, was not going to wake her up to go to the early meeting; he was just going to get up and go to the meeting himself. But as he passed her room, he noticed that the light was on in her room. He knocked and asked if she intended on going to the 5:30 meeting. She replied that she was.

Then he asked, “Do you have some message from the Lord to declare to the people?” And she responded that she most certainly did. At this meeting she related what the Lord had shown her in vision. It became very, very quiet. The Lord had shown her that the brethren—some of the ministers, some of the editors, and some of the writers—did not want to talk about the Sabbath in the religious liberty magazine. They said the magazine would be much more successful if the Sabbath was not openly presented in it.

She related all that the Lord had shown her about that and how wrong it was. When she finished, there were some pale-faced people in the meeting. A brother stood up, and he said, “What you have related to us as having happened, just happened last night. We had a meeting that lasted almost all night, and everything that you said happened. We were saying these very things that you were talking about.”

You see the Lord had shown her exactly what they were going to say and what they were going to do a long time before they even did it or said it. That is why the Lord made her mind go blank when she was trying to relate it before, so she could not relate it until it happened. Things like that happened on a number of occasions, friends. You and I serve a God who knows everything. (See Manuscript Releases No. 1033: The Salamanca Vision and the 1890 Diary, 64, 65.)

Leading Us Home

After Ellen White died, in 1915, did the Lord continue to lead the advent movement? Yes! Is He going to lead us until the end? Yes! So, we need to study and to remember—just as the children of Israel put up a memorial when they went across the Jordan River—how the Lord has led us, not just up until 1915 but up to today.

In the development, in the understanding, and in the proclamation of the three angels’ messages, the Lord has been leading. We should know how the Lord has led, and we need to recognize how the devil has attacked and what the Lord has done in return. Our faith, as Adventists, must be grounded in the Bible.

To be concluded . . .

The Cleansing of the Temple – Part II

The Living Temple—The Church

Not only was the temple in Jerusalem representative of the temple of our hearts and minds, but it also represented the church. “The church of Christ is spoken of as a holy temple. Says the apostle, ‘Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.’ [Ephesians 2:19–22.]” Review and Herald, June 5, 1888. (See also 1 Corinthians 3:9–17; Hebrews 3:6; 1 Peter 2:1–10; Isaiah 28:16; Zechariah 6:12, 15.)

Living Stones

God had a plan for the earthly temple in Jerusalem, and He has a plan for the spiritual temple as well. Christ is represented as the chief Cornerstone, and “All the followers of Christ are represented as stones in the temple of God. Every stone, large or small, must be a living stone, emitting light and fitting into the place assigned it in the building of God. How thankful we should be that a way has been opened whereby we may each have a place in the spiritual temple!” Ibid.

“His church is to be a temple built after the divine similitude, and the angelic architect has brought his golden measuring rod from heaven, that every stone may be hewed and squared by the divine measurement and polished to shine as an emblem of heaven, radiating in all directions the bright, clear beams of the Sun of Righteousness.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 17.

“We want the cleaver of truth to do its work for us. We are taken from the quarry of the world. The material must not be a dead substance but living souls, and these souls must be brought out of the quarry of the world, where the hand of God can fit them for the temple in heaven. We are here as probationers, and we must pass under the hand of God. All rough edges and rough surfaces must be removed and we must be stones fitted for the building. We are brought into church capacity with defects of character, but we must not retain them. We must be fitted and squared for the building. We must be ‘laborers together with God,’ for we are ‘God’s husbandry,’ we are ‘God’s building.’ In view of this we must see that our temple is not defiled with sin. We should be lively stones, not dead ones, but live ones that will reflect the image of Christ. We must be worshipers in spirit and in truth.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 231, 232.

We are each one a temple, a lively stone. All these lively stones together make up the spiritual temple, or the church. How does this temple fit together, or how is the church to work together? “The word of God represents the power of the Christian church to be an individual dependence upon Christ and unity between the members. The union between the members of the church and the leader is illustrated by a temple and its foundation. The whole weight of the temple rests upon the foundation, without which it could not stand. So the members of the church of Christ are to build upon Him; for He is the only true foundation.—Letter 20, 1896, p. 4, 5. (To Brethren Colcord, Daniells, and Faulkhead, August 25, 1896.)” Ibid., vol. 5, 374.

Christ the Center

The problem with the earthly temple and its services at the time of Christ was that He was no longer made the center of all its ceremonies and services. After the temple had been twice cleansed and twice again defied, after the divine presence had been rejected and refused, the temple was destroyed. Though at one time a place of habitation for the Most High, it was, after the rejection of Christ, no more than a building. Remember, it was the presence of Christ that made the temple sacred. (See The Desire of Ages, 161.) It was not the forms of ceremonies and services in themselves that were of merit and benefit; it was what they represented that was so important.

Jesus sought earnestly to teach this lesson to the Jews before it was forever too late. “Christ’s prediction regarding the destruction of the temple was a lesson on the purification of religion, by making of none effect forms and ceremonies. He announced Himself greater than the temple, and stood forth proclaiming, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ He was the one in whom all the Jewish ceremony and typical service was to find its fulfillment. He stood forth in the place of the temple; all the offices of the church centered in Himself alone.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 399.

Human Authority in the Temple

If there is a conflict between the human keepers of the temple and Christ, who is the Christian to obey? There was a conflict in Christ’s day. The keepers of the temple laid many human restrictions and rules on the people. The authorities at the temple would not have wanted the people to read any literature, watch any videos or go to any meetings which were not approved by “properly constituted church authority.” But Christ set His followers free (see Matthew 12:1–8) from these rules and restrictions. It was not Christ’s will that any of His followers should ever again be subject to proscribed human rules of religion.

“The disciples were to teach what Christ had taught. That which He had spoken, not only in person, but through all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament, is here included. Human teaching is shut out. There is no place for tradition, for man’s theories and conclusions, or for church legislation. No laws ordained by ecclesiastical authority are included in the commission. None of these are Christ’s servants to teach.” The Desire of Ages, 826.

Jesus came to set the captives free. In the church, during the time of the apostles, there was a constant effort to again bring men and women under the control of human religious rules and regulations. The apostle Paul was set for the defense of the gospel. (See Galatians 5 and Colossians 2.)

The exaltation of human authority until divine authority becomes secondary has been the curse of the professed church in all ages. The great apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2) was largely the result of exalting human authority until church legislation was considered more important, authoritative and dependable than the word of God.

This hypothesis is even substantiated by the Catholics themselves. The Archbishop of Reggio, at the Council of Trent, stated: “‘The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only. They profess to hold the Scripture alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the Church has apostatized from the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestants’ claim, that they stand upon the written word only, is not true. Their profession of holding the Scripture alone as the standard of faith, is false. PROOF: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they do truly hold the Scripture alone as their standard, they would be observing the seventh day as is enjoined in the Scripture throughout. Yet they not only reject the observance of the Sabbath enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted and do practise the observance of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the Church. Consequently the claim of “Scripture alone as the standard,” fails; and the doctrine of “Scripture and tradition” as essential, is fully established, the Protestants themselves being judges.’” Editor’s Note, Rome’s Challenge, TEACH Services, Inc., Brushton, NY, 1995, 23.

There is every danger that Protestants, including Seventh-day Adventists, will in practice do the same thing as described above. While verbally denying it, they will be making church creeds, church manuals and policies until these are followed in place of the word of God. It was this very fear that caused our church leaders in 1883 to reject the idea of having a church manual. The very fact that we have a church manual today would, no doubt, be looked upon by our pioneers (who got along without one for nearly 100 years) as a mark of apostasy.

When the devil has been unsuccessful in getting the professed people of God to exalt church authority above the divine authority of God’s word, he has attempted to achieve the same result by a variant of the same false teaching. Men, who saw that the exaltation of church authority resulted in terrible abuses, went to the opposite extreme of saying that they would not counsel with their brethren at all, because they were taught directly by the Holy Spirit. This happened in the days of Luther. “Counterfeit holiness, spurious sanctification, is still doing its work of deception. Under various forms it exhibits the same spirit as in the days of Luther, diverting minds from the Scriptures and leading men to follow their own feelings and impressions rather than to yield obedience to the law of God. This is one of Satan’s most successful devices to cast reproach upon purity and truth.” The Great Controversy, 193.

They would accept no man’s say-so. Thus they were subject to no authority but their own minds. This reaction to the abuse of church authority has led to much fanaticism among Christians and has also led to the development of atheistic socialism.

God’s professed people today are still subject to these snares. The one extreme is the exaltation of human authority—an attempt to enforce the will of the clergy or church leaders upon all by means of what is commonly called “properly constituted church authority.”

From whom are we to obtain counsel? Only from those who give evidence of being led by the Holy Spirit. “God is dishonored and the gospel is betrayed when His servants depend on the counsel of men who are not under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” The Desire of Ages, 354.

“The greater the responsibilities placed upon the human agent, and the larger his opportunities to dictate and control, the more harm he is sure to do if he does not carefully follow the way of the Lord and labor in harmony with the decisions arrived at by the general body of believers in united council. . . .

“In his ministry, Paul was often compelled to stand alone. He was specially taught of God and dared make no concessions that would involve principle. At times the burden was heavy, but Paul stood firm for the right. He realized that the church must never be brought under the control of human power. The traditions and maxims of men must not take the place of revealed truth. The advance of the gospel message must not be hindered by the prejudices and preferences of men, whatever might be their position in the church.” The Acts of the Apostles, 199, 200.

In Jesus’ day, what was thought to be properly constituted church authority was made null and void by the teaching and practice of Jesus. (See Matthew 15:14; 16:10–23; Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.)

A Cleansing Again

Christ has promised to again cleanse the temple. We have learned that Christ does not cleanse the heart as He cleansed the earthly temple, but what about the spiritual temple, His church? “He will purify His church even as He purified the temple at the beginning and close of His ministry on earth” Last Day Events, 153.

There are some interesting things to note in the first cleansing of the earthly temple. First of all, when Christ came into the temple with His divine presence, who was it that fled? It was the priests, rulers, money-changers, and the crowd that fled. Christ had read the deceitfulness of their hearts. “They felt as if before the throne of the eternal Judge, with their sentence passed on them for time and for eternity.” The Desire of Ages, 162. They could not endure His presence, the divine, spotless Son of God. How sad it was. Jesus loved them. He longed to save them. “For a time they were convinced that Christ was a prophet; and many believed Him to be the Messiah. The Holy Spirit flashed into their minds the utterances of the prophets concerning Christ. Would they yield to this conviction? Repent they would not. . . . Because Christ discerned their thoughts they hated Him. . . . They determined to challenge Him as to the power by which He had driven them forth, and who gave Him this power.” Ibid.

The Majority

Yes, the priest and rulers fled. But they were not alone. The majority of the people went with them. Ellen White refers to them as “the crowd.” (See Ibid., 163.) When contrasted to the priests, she says, “The people were comparatively innocent.” Ibid., 164. “The sin of the desecration of the temple rested, in a great degree, upon the priests. It was by their arrangement that the court had been turned into a market place.” Ibid., 163, 164. But, please notice what it was that led the people to reject the Saviour. “With them the influence of the priests and rulers was paramount.” Ibid., 164.

Oh, friends, when will we ever learn not to put men in the place of God, whomever they may be or whatever position they might hold. The majority of the people in Jerusalem lost their salvation because they made flesh their arm. “They regarded Christ’s mission as an innovation, and questioned His right to interfere with what was permitted by the authorities of the temple. They were offended because the traffic had been interrupted, and they stifled the convictions of the Holy Spirit.” Ibid.

The Poor

Both the priests and the people rejected the pleadings of the Holy Spirit. Would there be any that would accept the working of the Holy Spirit upon the heart? “When they fled, the poor remained behind; and these were now looking to Jesus, whose countenance expressed His love and sympathy. With tears in His eyes, He said to the trembling ones around Him: Fear not; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. For this cause came I into the world.” Ibid., 163.

It was a wonderful time for the poor. They had found a Friend in Jesus. They told Him all their sorrows and woes. They brought to Him their sick to be healed and their children to be blessed. “Hope and gladness filled their hearts. Peace came to their minds. They were restored soul and body, and they returned home, proclaiming everywhere the matchless love of Jesus.” Ibid.

Like Nicodemus (see John 3; The Desire of Ages, 176), the seeds of truth had been hidden in their hearts, and at the crucifixion they did not join with the maddened throng. After Jesus’ death, “They listened to the preaching of the apostles, and . . . became agents of God’s mercy, and instruments of His salvation.” Ibid.

The poor had accepted the working of the Holy Spirit upon their hearts, and if we are to accept the working of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts, we too must become poor—poor in spirit. Jesus said, “Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3.

The Cleansing of the Review

It is an interesting fact that those who professed to be the people of God fled from His presence when He cleansed the earthly temple. Friends, we have just read that He is going to cleanse the spiritual temple (the church) as, or in the same way, He cleansed the earthly. How will it be today? The cleansing is going to happen, friends.

Of the fire at the Review office in Battle Creek, Michigan, Ellen White wrote, “Three nights before the Review office burned, I was in an agony that words cannot describe. I could not sleep. I walked the room, praying to God to have mercy upon His people. Then I seemed to be in the Review office with the men who have the management of the institution. I was trying to speak to them and thus to help them. One of authority arose and said, ‘You say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we; therefore, we have authority to do this thing and that thing and the other thing. But the word of God forbids many of the things that you propose to do.’ At His first advent, Christ cleansed the Temple. Prior to His second advent He will again cleanse the temple. He was there cleansing the temple. Why? Because commercial work had been brought in, and God had been forgotten. With hurry here and hurry there and hurry somewhere else, there was no time to think of heaven. The principles of God’s law were presented, and I heard the question asked, ‘How much of the law have you obeyed?’ Then the word was spoken, ‘God will cleanse and purify His temple in His displeasure.’” The Publishing Ministry, 170, 171.

The cleansing of the Review office involved judgments from God. If God cleansed the Review by fire because of what was happening, then what are we to expect today? Inspiration tells us, “Brethren, God is in earnest with us. I want to tell you that if after the warnings given in these burnings the leaders of our people go right on, just as they have done in the past, exalting themselves, God will take the bodies next. Just as surely as He lives, He will speak to them in language that they cannot fail to understand.” Ibid., 171.

He Will Thoroughly Purge His Floor

“Just how soon this refining process will begin I [Ellen White] cannot say, but it will not be long deferred. He whose fan is in His hand will cleanse His temple of its moral defilement. He will thoroughly purge His floor.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 373.

Oh, friends, when Jesus comes to cleanse the temple, what will He find? Jesus cleansed the earthly temple two times before it was eventually destroyed, because it had been a means of blinding men’s eyes and of hardening their hearts. He cleansed the institutions at Battle Creek by fire more than once. Do we realize what is coming, friends?

It is Jesus’ plan to cleanse sin from the temple of our hearts and from our church. If we will not let go of sin, we must be destroyed with it. May God help us make the needful preparation, so when the cleansing comes, we will not be destroyed.