The 1888 message the Lord sent was far more than a mere re-emphasis of a neglected doctrine inherited from the past. It brought the Conference delegates face-to-face with Christ as they were confronted with His message. This confrontation involved the humbling of their souls into the dust, and for this they were not prepared. Their disdain for the Lord's entreaty proved their ignorance of true justification by faith which is defined in this way by the Lord's messenger:
"What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust."
And what will happen when this knowledge is perceived?
"When men see their own nothingness, they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ."
The world-wide Seventh-day Adventist Church has been taught for years through authoritative publications that the 1888 message was accepted in that generation by the predominant leadership, and has been the secure doctrinal possession of the church ever since. This remains the perennial proclamation. But the weight of history will not support this. Had the integrity of Ellen White's counsels been accepted years ago there would have been no question about the truth, and to a degree this fact came to be recognized by the time of the 1988 Minneapolis Centennial. In 1896, Ellen White plainly told leadership the truth that we have for generations doubted:
"Satan succeeded in shutting away from God's people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. ... The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world."[2]
Ellen White insists that the message the Lord sent was unique and we may therefore know that if it had not been "kept away from the world," current history would be different than it has been. The message was to bring "before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world." Popular evangelical Christianity would have been confronted with powerful convincing truth, for the message "presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God." This "obedience" involves an understanding of the seventh-day Sabbath which is a prime factor in the final conflict that separates the Protestant world from the remnant church of prophecy.
But more than this, "The Lord in His great mercy sent [this] most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones." It was not the work of some select committee. Straight from heaven it came to direct the human family to the merits of Christ, that they might see:
"All power is given into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto all men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure"[3]
The world is still waiting for this message in its fullness. It will yet be proclaimed and do its work to bring humanity to a decision--but not until God's people in strict integrity see their history and understand their mandate.
Notes: