"This Generation Shall Not Pass"

8/14/2019 "This Generation Shall Not Pass"

1/11

"This

Generation

Shall Not Pass"

by

Vernon Sparks

"This

Generation

Shall Not Pass"


2/11


3/11

This Generation Shall Not Pass

By Vernon Sparks

SOME 160 years ago the Millerite Movement carried to the thenknown world the message of Christs soon return. Through thestudy of Biblical prophecy they came to understand that Christ

would return to this earth on October 22, 1844. But they were bitterly

disappointed. Those who searched the scriptures for the reason of their

disappointment came to an understanding of the Biblical truth of Christentering into the Most Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary on Octo-ber 22, 1844 to there officiate in the antitypical day of atonement, at theend of which Christ will indeed return in glory to this earth. For nearly

another 160 years our ministers and evangelists have been preaching ofChrists soon return.

In our evangelistic meetings we have explained countless times thesigns of Christs return recorded in Matthew 24:2930. Immediately

after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and themoon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven. and the

powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign ofthe Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven withpower and great glory. We have given the date of May 19, 1780 for thefulfillment of the first two and November 13, 1833 for the fulfillment ofthe stars falling. For many decades we have emphasized the soon com-

ing of Christ by then referring to the words of Christ in Matthew 24:3335. When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at thedoors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all thesethings be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shallnot pass away.

But time has prolonged and generations have passed, and continue

to pass, away. With reason, some question Have Christs words passedaway? Certainly, this facet of our message is becoming less credible

and more difficult to present.It is obvious that the same generation who witnessed the dark day

(and night) of May 19, 1780 witnessed, 53 years later, the falling of thestars. By 1876, however, that generation was reaching the century mark

and was passing away. That year, James White, commenting on theabove words of Christ, stated:


4/11

4 "This Generat ion Shal l Not Pass"

In this prophetic discourse, He leads over the events of the Chris-tian age, mentions the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and then de-clares that this generation shall not pass away till all these things be

fulfilled. . . .But we do not believe that the phrase, this generation, marks any

definite number of years. Some suppose that our Lord designed to teach

that some who were witnesses of the dark day in 1780 would live towitness the second coming of the Saviour. But it is our opinion that theLord designed to teach that the people who should live at the time of the

fulfillment of the last sign (the falling stars of 1833), and should hear theproclamation of the coming of Christ, based partly upon the fulfilled

signs, should witness the scenes connected by His coming. The Sec-ond Coming of Christ: or A Brief Exposition of Matthew Twenty-

Four, 3435.

But even this generation described by James White reached thecentury mark in 1933, some 67 years ago and Christ has not come.Have we, and are we teaching error?cunningly devised fables?What has gone wrong? Is there a reasonable explanation for this appar-

ent embarrassing aspect of our message? As difficult (as painful) as it

may be we need to be accountable for the message that we are giving tothe world. We need to give a reasonable explanation of Christs wordsthis generation.

The position of many Adventists is that there has been no real delayin Christs coming. It is only an apparent delay because of our finite

understanding and knowledge. God has a time table and Christs secondcoming will prove to be right on schedule. In 1994, the Review andHerald Publishing Association published a 120 page book by Pastor Arnold

Wallenkampf entitled The Apparent Delay. In formulating his positionhe states the following on page 91:

Neither our procrastination of planting the gospel seed nor our sin-

fulness will obstruct or derail Gods plan for our planet or for the uni-verse. God knows the moment for the harvest, and it will be at the timeHe has seen and set rather than when we think it ought to have been.

Twenty-one years earlier, a contrasting view was presented in a126 page book by the same publishers entitled Too Late Getting Off. Its

author, Marjorie Lewis Lloyd, stated on pages 5455:As I was growing up, the words This generation shall not pass

were heard loud and clear. There was general agreement among Sev-enth-day Adventists as to what those words meant. The generation thatsaw the stars fall would not completely disappear until our Lord wouldcome. Many a sermon echoed that theme.


5/11

5"This Generat ion Shal l Not Pass"

And then the words seemed to fade from Adventist preaching likea band marching into the distance. The drumbeat was gone.

Why? Hushed voices discussed it. Its been too long now. God

couldnt keep a person alive this long.I disagreed. Violently. And I will defend to the death my contention

that God could keep a man alive for a thousand years if necessary to

fulfill His word. That would be easy. We dont need to go around em-barrassed for our God as if He has made a promise and found it toodifficult to keep. Not the God I worship.

But evidently it is we who need to be embarrassed.Is there merely an apparent delay to Christs return? Or is it a real

delay, and if so, what are the cause or causes? The correct answer maybe a matter of life and death. Is there any word from the Lord?

The messenger of the Lord tells us that the generation of the Great

Disappointment of 1844 could have witnessed Christs second coming.Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast

their faith, and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God,receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy

Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of

God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the workwould have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this toreceive His people to their reward. Selected Messages, book 1, 68.

In 1856 the Laodicean message was first acknowledged to be appli-cable to us as a people. The Spirit of Prophecy intimates that Christ

would have come within a few years if the revival started in response tothe Laodicean message in 1856 had continued.

I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to Gods

people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished agreater work is because of the hardness of their hearts. . . . Nearly allbelieved that this message would end in the loud cry of the third angel.

But as they failed to see the powerful work accomplished in a shorttime, many lost the effect of the message. I saw that this message wouldnot accomplish its work in a few short months. It is designed to arousethe people of God, to discover to them their backslidings, and to lead tozealous repentance, that they may be favored with the presence of Jesus,

and be fitted for the loud cry of the third angel. As this message affectedthe heart, it led to deep humility before God. Angels were sent in everydirection to prepare unbelieving hearts for the truth. The cause of Godbegan to rise, and His people were acquainted with their position. If thecounsel of the True Witness had been fully heeded, God would havewrought for His people in greater power. Testimonies for the Church,


6/11


vol. 1, 186187.In 1896 Ellen White wrote that the light of the loud cry that was to

have lightened the whole earth was resisted and rejected by us in 1888.

See Selected Messages, book 1, 234235.Gods messenger to the remnant clearly states that Christ would

have come before 1896 if His people had done their appointed work His

way.If those who claimed to have a living experience in the things of

God had done their appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole

world would have been warned ere this, and the Lord Jesus would havecome in power and great glory.Review and Herald, October 6, 1896.

In 1901, God, through Ellen White, made it clear that Christs delayis the result of our insubordination or rebellion against His leadership andnot due to any fault of His.

His people have been far behind. Human agencies under the divineplanning may recover something of what is lost because the people whohad great light did not have corresponding piety, sanctification, and zealin working out Gods specified plans. They have lost to their own disad-

vantage what they might have gained to the advancement of the truth if

they had carried out the plans and will of God. Man cannot possiblystretch over that gulf that has been made by the workers who have notbeen following the divine Leader. We may have to remain here in thisworld because of insubordination many more years, as did the childrenof Israel, but for Christs sake, His people should not add sin to sin by

charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of ac-tion. Spalding-Magans Unpublished Manuscript Testimonies ofEllen G. White, 202.

Clearly, our insubordination has delayed Christs return. But the prob-lem goes deeper. Insubordination is the result of failure to experiencetrue conversion, a failure to allow Christs character with the fruits of

the Spirit to be reproduced in us. By allowing the transformation of sanc-tification to take placethe full ripening of the wheatwe hasten Christsreturn. When we fail to cooperate with the sanctification process, wedelay His return to the extent our cooperation would have hastened it.

When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle,

because the harvest is come. Christ is waiting with longing desire forthe manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christshall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claimthem as His own.

It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but tohasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, (2 Peter 3:12, margin).


7/11


Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quicklythe whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly thelast great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather

the precious grain. Christs Object Lessons, 69.Though Adventisms most unique truth is that of the Antitypical Day

of Atonement beginning in 1844, we have failed to enter in with Christ

into the day of atonement experience. We must arouse and be serious inour warfare against sin:

We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the typical

service, while the high priest was making the atonement for Israel, allwere required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin and humiliation

before the Lord, lest they be cut off from among the people. In likemanner, all who would have their names retained in the book of lifeshould now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their

souls before God by sorrow for sin and true repentance. There must bedeep, faithful searching of heart. The light, frivolous spirit indulged by somany professed Christians must be put away. There is earnest warfarebefore all who would subdue the evil tendencies that strive for the mas-

tery. The work of preparation is an individual work. We are not saved in

groups. The purity and devotion of one will not offset the want of thesequalities in another. Though all nations are to pass in judgment beforeGod, yet He will examine the case of each individual with as close andsearching scrutiny as if there were not another being upon the earth.Everyone must be tested and found without spot or wrinkle or any such

thing.Solemn are the scenes connected with the closing work of the

atonement. Momentous are the interests involved therein. The judgment

is now passing in the sanctuary above. For many years this work hasbeen in progress. Soonnone know how soonit will pass to the casesof the living. In the awful presence of God our lives are to come up in

review. At this time above all others it behooves every soul to heed theSaviours admonition: Watch and pray: for ye know not when the timeis. Mark 13:33. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on theeas a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.Revelation 3:3. The Great Controversy, 489490.

Yes, Gods people must be fully surrendered to Christ the Refinerbefore they are prepared to meet Him in the clouds of glory:

Says the prophet: Who may abide the day of His coming? andwho shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiners fire, andlike fullers soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: andHe shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that


8/11


they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Malachi 3:2,3. Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christshall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God

without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters mustbe purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God

and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with

evil. While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, whilethe sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary,there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin,

among Gods people upon earth. This work is more clearly presented inthe messages of Revelation 14.

When this work shall have been accomplished, the followers ofChrist will be ready for His appearing. Then shall the offering of Judahand Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in

former years. Malachi 3:4. Then the church which our Lord at Hiscoming is to receive to Himself will be a glorious church, not havingspot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Ephesians 5:27. Then she will lookforth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as

an army with banners. Song of Solomon 6:10. Ibid., 425.

The reason why the Bridegroom delays is because He islongsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but all shouldcome to repentance. The Youth Instructor, September 20, 1894.

Tragically, too many generations of Seventh-day Adventists havebeen content with Having a form of godliness, but denying the power

thereof. 2 Timothy 3:5. Yes, tragically, however embarrassing it is, wemust admit to ourselves, to our audiences, and to our God that weoursins, our Laodicean defectshave delayed for nearly 160 years the

soon coming of the Lord in glory. With reason, we needs weep be-tween the porch and the altar if we sincerely desire that our generationbe this generation of Christs promised return.

But, praise God, our delaying reluctance to participate with Christ inthe cleansing of the sanctuary has not caught Him unprepared.

Since the days of Daniel the Prophet a prophetic clock indicatedthat the great day of Atonement would begin on October 22, 1844. Onthat day, Christ entered the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly sanctuary

for the Antitypical day of Atonement service and the Angels messageof Revelation 10:6 that there should be time no longer went into ef-fect.

This time, which the angel declares with a solemn oath, is not theend of this worlds history, neither of probationary time, but of prophetictime, which should precede the advent of our Lord. That is, the people


9/11


will not have another message upon definite time. After this period oftime, reaching from 1842 to 1844, there can be no definite tracing of theprophetic time. The longest reckoning reaches to the autumn of 1844.

The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 971.Although God revealed, thousands of years in advance, the exact

beginning of the Day of Atonement, there are no time prophecies lead-

ing to its end. Events, such as the beginning of the day of atonement,which God carries out unilaterally are prophesied unconditionally. Events,however, which are codependent upon actions of man are conditionally

prophesied. Thus, Christs prophesy of this generation shall not passof Matthew 24 is conditional upon His finding a generation willing to

participate with Him in the cleansing of His Sanctuary from sin.The servant of the Lord refers to the time since 1844 without a

prophetic, definite-time clock ticking as the waiting time. But the waiting

is not of inaction.What is our position in the world? We are in the waiting time. But

this period is not to be spent in abstract devotion. Waiting, watching, andvigilant working are to be combined. Testimonies, vol. 5, 276.

The dark sun, the moon without light, and the falling of the stars of

Matthew 24:29 preceded the beginning of the Great Day of Atonement.The generations which witnessed any or all of these three signs couldhave been this generation of verse 34. As we have seen Christ couldhave cleansed the sanctuary and returned to earth within a few years of1844, or 1856 or 1888 ifany of those generations would have worked

with Him in the putting away of sin.But there is a fourth event mentioned in Matthew 24:29 which will

help us to understand more fully this generation of verse 35: and the

powers of the heavens shall be shaken. The servant of the Lord tells usthat this phrase is not referring to the first three events listed but to aseparate shaking of the heavenly bodies at the voice of God:

December 16, 1848, the Lord gave me a view of the shaking of thepowers of the heavens. I saw that when the Lord said heaven, ingiving the signs recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, He meant heaven,and when He said earth He meant earth. The powers of heaven arethe sun, moon, and stars. They rule in the heavens. The powers of earth

are those that rule on the earth. The powers of heaven will be shaken atthe voice of God. Then the sun, moon, and stars will be moved out oftheir places. They will not pass away, but be shaken by the voice ofGod.Early Writings, 41.

This is the voice of God from the throne stating It is done. Itshakes the heavens and the earth and delivers the living saints, the 144,000,


10/11


from the terrors of Jacobs trouble. See The Great Controversy, 636637. This is the generation who have entered with Christ into the cleans-ing of the sanctuary experience of a full and final putting away of sin.

This is this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.The day of atonement ended, probation closed, and this generation

the 144,000 live through the time of Jacobs trouble without a Mediator

and see Jesus come in the clouds of glory, and without seeing death theyare caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall they ever be withthe Lord. This generation will be a special group throughout Eternity.

Matthew 24:2935 is stating (a prophecy) that it was Gods plan forthe 1844 generation of believers, which had witnessed the Dark day and

night of 1780 and the falling stars of 1833 to also be the generation of the144,000 to witness the shaking of the powers of heaven at the voice ofGod and see Jesus come without seeing death. But it was a conditional

prophecy dependent upon the participation of that generation in the greatday of atonement.

God has offered this special experience of the 144,000 to everysucceeding generation of believers from that day to this. Thank God, He

offers it still! He offers it to you and I, to our generation. We are to strive

to be this generation:We are to copy no human being. There is no human being wise

enough to be our criterion. We are to look to the man Christ Jesus, whois complete in the perfection of righteousness and holiness. He is theauthor and finisher of our faith. He is the pattern Man. His experience is

the measure of the experience that we are to gain. His character is ourmodel. Let us, then, take our minds off the perplexities and the difficul-ties of this life, and fix them on Him, that by beholding we may be changed

into His likeness. . . . As we look to Him and think of Him, He will beformed within, the hope of glory.

Let us strive with all the power that God has given us to be among

the hundred and forty-four thousand. Review and Herald, March 9,1905.

In tough-love we need to confront ourselves with our Laodiceancondition:

These wrongs and sins, which have brought the people of God in

their state of wretchedness, blindness, and poverty, must be seen, andthey arouse to zealous repentance, and a putting away of these sinswhich have brought them into such a deplorable condition of blindnessand fearful deception. The pointed testimony must live in the church.And this alone will answer to the message to the Laodiceans. Wrongsmust be reproved, sins must be called sins, and iniquity must be met


11/11


promptly and decidedly, and put away from us as a people. Reviewand Herald, September 16, 1873.

By Gods grace and power let us determine that our generation will

not also perish in the wilderness. Let us individually, and thus corpo-rately, enter in with Christ into the cleansing process of the great day of

atonement in order that we might be the this generation that shall not

pass.

Documents

"This Generation Shall Not Pass"