Passing the Torch of Truth
By Ted N. C. Wilson
As the new year begins, we sometimes think about making New Year’s resolutions. Resolutions have been around a long time. Thousands of years ago a resolution rang out from the Israelites as they trembled at the foot of Mount Sinai: “All that the Lord has said, we will do!” (see Ex. 19:8; 24:3, 7). Unfortunately, like many resolutions, it didn’t last long.
On the other hand, many people have found that focusing on mission, rather than on resolutions, can bring lasting, eternal results.
A Mission-driven Life
Jesus is our best example of a mission-driven life. By age 12 He had a clear understanding of His mission. When returning to Nazareth as an adult, He plainly articulated His mission to those of His hometown. While in the synagogue, Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah. He turned to the place where the Messiah’s mission is described, beginning with the words “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me” (see Isa. 61:1, 2). As Jesus explained this passage (a prophecy about Himself), “He spoke of the Messiah as a reliever of the oppressed, a liberator of captives, a healer of the afflicted, restoring sight to the blind, and revealing to the world the light of truth.”1 The hearts of the hearers were moved, and “they responded with fervent amens and praises to the Lord.”2
The rejoicing, however, ended abruptly when Jesus announced, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). As the meaning of Christ’s words began to sink in, the people of Nazareth were deeply offended. “They, Israelites, children of Abraham, had been represented as in bondage. They had been addressed as prisoners to be delivered from the power of evil; as in darkness, and needing the light of truth. Their pride was offended, and their fears were roused.”3 Because their idea of the Messiah’s mission and the truth revealed by Jesus didn’t agree, they tried to kill Him.
Mission-focused
Throughout His earthly life Christ’s mission to seek and save the lost was the focus of everything He did. When His mission here was accomplished, His parting words to the disciples became known as the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19, 20). Following Pentecost, Christ’s early followers carried out the Great Commission and turned the world upside down! Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Satan to be about his mission, seeking to confuse, discourage, neutralize, and destroy the early Christian church. By the middle of the second century A.D. a false form of Christianity was in place, which no longer taught or observed the plain truths of Christ. God’s faithful followers, as predicted in Revelation 12:6, had to flee “into the wilderness” for 1,260 years. During those dark ages many were martyred for their faith as they stood firmly for Bible truth.
Mission of the Reformation
Toward the end of that time, Reformers such as Wycliffe, Huss, Jerome, Luther, Zwingli, Berquin, Tyndale, and others began drawing attention to biblical truths that had been distorted or hidden over the centuries. Christ’s true teachings began to emerge as God’s Word was brought to people in their own languages.
People of large and of little public prominence were part of God’s great reforming movement that swept Christianity, returning it to God’s original purpose for His church based on righteousness by faith—God’s package plan of grace that justifies us, sanctifies us through daily growth through the Holy Spirit, and ultimately will glorify us—all through Jesus Christ, our Savior.
A Prophetic Mission
Out of that great Protestant Reformation movement grew the Seventh-day Adventist Church with a prophetic mission based on Daniel 8:14, Revelation 12:17; 14:6-12; 18:1-4; 19:10, and other dynamic texts. That mission continued the reformation by turning people back to the true worship of God by focusing on Christ and His truth found in the Bible and the Bible alone. Seventh-day Adventists have long understood that their very character and unique mission springs from the prophecies found in the books of Daniel and Revelation, specifically the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14. A correct theological understanding of these prophecies will drive a correct approach to mission. Seventh-day Adventist theology and mission are inseparable—our Christ-centered mission is driven by our Christ-centered message.
Are Adventists Unique?
To deny the special message that God has given to us and claim that we aren’t so different from other Christians is one of the fastest and most effective ways to neutralize the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Across the world today, 2.18 billion people identify themselves as Christian. Additionally, approximately 41,000 Christian denominations and organizations have been identified worldwide.4
Of course, these Christians of various denominations love Jesus and appreciate His sacrifice on the cross, as do Seventh-day Adventists. So what makes us different? Many people sincerely ask that question, and we should be prepared to answer them.
A Mission of Truth
Most first-generation Seventh-day Adventists will tell you that they chose to become Adventists because they “found the truth.” Jesus Himself knows the longings of the human heart, and much of His earthly mission involved healing and teaching. Another word for “teaching” is “doctrine,” and at the heart of every one of our 28 fundamental beliefs or doctrines is Jesus Christ. The Jews wondered how it was that Jesus was so knowledgeable, and He “answered them . . . , ‘My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority’?” (John 7:16, 17). In his letter to Timothy, Paul instructs the young minister to be “nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed,” and to “give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” He then admonishes Timothy to “take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Tim. 4:6, 13, 16).
Our God-given Mission
So what is our mission as Seventh-day Adventists? It is to “make disciples of all people, communicating the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12, leading them to accept Jesus as personal Savior and unite with His remnant church, discipling them to serve Him as Lord, and preparing them for His soon return.”5 “We pursue this mission under the guidance and through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit through preaching, teaching, healing, and discipling.”6
Is this movement destined to become simply one of many religious denominations? The answer is a resounding “No!” This remnant church was called and formed by God at a specific time in earth’s history to proclaim the last warning message to the world. Some may say that in today’s world of political sensitivities the messages of Revelation 14 are not appropriate to bring to the forefront of our mission. But the three angels’ messages constitute the final appeal of God to this world to help everyone prepare to meet Jesus.
“In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. . . . They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.”7
Every Seventh-day Adventist—regardless of age, gender, race, or nationality—is called to share the truth as it is in Jesus with a dying world. The time has come when all must work as one. Everyone has a part to play in proclaiming God’s final message. We will talk more about this in the future. As the theme of our upcoming 2015 General Conference session reminds us: “Arise! Shine! Jesus is coming!” This is your mission and mine!
1 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898), p. 237.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 “General Statistics and Facts of Christianity,” from: Christianity.about.com.
5 From the “Mission Statement of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,” voted by the Executive Committee at the Annual Council session in Silver Spring, Maryland, on October 13, 2009. For the complete statement, visit adventist.org and search for “mission statement.”
6 Ibid.
7 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 9, p. 19.
Ted N. C. Wilson is president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
