WHY DELAY ?

I want to dig into this piece about the Advent movement's history. It opens by pointing out that more than 120 years had passed since the great second Advent message began to be preached. And the keynote was that Christ was coming very soon. So soon that only urgent immediate preparation would suffice. That urgency really struck me. 

Saya ingin mendalami tulisan mengenai sejarah gerakan Advent ini. Tulisan tersebut diawali dengan catatan bahwa lebih dari 120 tahun telah berlalu sejak pesan besar tentang kedatangan Kristus yang kedua mulai diberitakan. Pesan utamanya adalah bahwa Kristus akan segera datang—begitu segera, sehingga hanya persiapan yang mendesak dan dilakukan saat itu juga yang dianggap memadai. Urgensi semacam itu sungguh membekas bagi saya.

1. Apa pesan utama pergerakan Advent? 

2. Dan berdasarkan pekabaran apa yang memadai?

Right. And it wasn't vague. The expectation at first centered on a specific date, October 22nd, 1844, when they believed God would appear and the righteous would be translated. 

Benar. Dan hal itu tidak samar. Pada awalnya, harapan mereka berpusat pada tanggal tertentu, yaitu 22 Oktober 1844; saat itu mereka meyakini bahwa Tuhan akan menampakkan diri dan orang-orang benar akan diubahkan (diangkat).

3. Di tanggal berapa; Apa harapan mereka? 

Of course, >> >> that didn't happen the way they expected. 

Tentu saja, hal itu tidak terjadi seperti yang mereka harapkan.

But it's important how the passage frames that disappointment. They were bitterly disappointed because they hadn't understood the true meaning of the cleansing of the sanctuary. But the Lord gave them light on the matter and they went forth to prophesy again before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings, drawing on Revelation 10:11. 

Namun, cara bagian tersebut menggambarkan kekecewaan itu sangatlah penting. Mereka mengalami kekecewaan yang mendalam karena belum memahami makna yang sesungguhnya dari penyucian bait suci. Akan tetapi, Tuhan memberikan terang mengenai perkara tersebut, sehingga mereka pun maju untuk bernubuat kembali di hadapan banyak bangsa, kaum, bahasa, dan raja—sebagaimana tertulis dalam Wahyu 10:11.

4. Kenapa mereka mengalami kekecewaan? 

So the disappointment wasn't the end. It was a correction and the mission continued. What gets me is what happened next. Generation after generation, marvelous were the self-sacrifice and devotion of the Advent pioneers. But a progressive relaxation of zeal marked the second, third, and fourth generations. That's a sobering pattern. Spiritual intensity fading over time. >> 

And the theological shift that came with it is really the heart of this piece. They lost sight of the truth that Christ's coming is hastened or delayed by the attitude of the church. Because if people turn from giving their best to God's service toward their own earthly interests, the coming is delayed and delayed. >> 

Which is a direct active view of prophecy. Our choices actually affect the timing. But then a counter teaching crept in to excuse the coldness. >> >> A new philosophy arose that the Lord had set a certain predetermined unalterable date unknown to us. And all believers had to do was wait, since nothing they did would change the date. >> And the effect of that belief was basically spiritual sleep. It gave rise to great complacency. And the church settled down to slumber until the final call should announce the immediate coming of the bridegroom. >> That's exactly the parable image. Waiting to trim the lamps only at the last moment. But the passage insists that's not what scripture actually teaches. >> No, and it grounds that correction in Peter. Peter wrote, "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God?" 2 Peter 3:11-12. Hasting isn't passive waiting. It's active pursuit. >> And Ellen White apparently repeats the same point. By giving the gospel to the world, it is in our power to hasten our Lord's return. Had the church of Christ done her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before this have been warned. And the Lord Jesus would have come to our earth in power and great glory. >> That's a striking claim. That the delay is genuinely on us. Not on some hidden divine timetable. The Great Controversy quote pushes it further with the 1844 generation specifically. If all who had labored unitedly in the work in 1844 had received the third angel's message and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. Years ago, the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned. The closing work completed and Christ would have come. >> And then it draws the parallel to Israel, which I think is the real interpretive key here. It was not the will of God that Israel should wander 40 years in the wilderness. He desired to lead them directly to Canaan, but they could not enter in because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:19. In like manner, it was not God's will that Christ's coming be so long delayed. But unbelief separated them from God. And as they refused the appointed work, others were raised up to proclaim the message. So the wilderness generation becomes a mirror for the modern church. That's humbling. And the passage is careful to defend God in all this. >> Definitely. There's a whole section basically saying, don't blame God. These statements make clear it was God's plan for his people to already be in the heavenly Canaan. That they are not is no fault of God's. For he has done everything needed on his part. It is the failure of his people that is the problem. >> And there's a matching quote reinforcing it. For 40 years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. What I appreciate is that it doesn't stop at collective blame. It turns personal. The Laodicean message comes in here. >> Right, behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, >> >> I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me. Revelation 3:20. And the passage stresses that this call is to the individual, not something you can outsource to the church at large. >> Which guards against a kind of spiritual passivity. I'll wait for the church to get its act together. >> >> No, each person is responsible for their own response. Then it turns to a harder critique. The ways the church might justify its own delay. It mentions things like growth and giving being used as proof everything's fine. >> Yes, but the passage pushes back hard on that comfort. Against that stands the incessant witness of time. The years go by and the latter rain, >> >> whereby the work will be finished, has not fallen. A candid evaluation would acknowledge that the spiritual condition necessary for the outpouring of heaven's power is shrinking, not maturing. >> And even in terms of raw mission math, multitudes more are being born into the world than are being reached by the Advent message. >> >> So ground is being lost, not gained. But it's careful not to say people aren't trying. That part surprised me. It's not a lack of effort. >> No, quite the opposite. There's no suggestion the church isn't working hard. On the contrary, she's working with great energy, perseverance, and intensity. Possibly no other organization labors harder. But the testimony of time declares this work isn't achieving the objective. Something is lacking. >> And the diagnosis is precision of method, not volume of effort. The forest illustration makes that vivid. >> >> A man may expend tremendous energy trying to fell a forest giant, but unless the effort is directed through the right tools in the right way, he'll accomplish little. Likewise, the church may devote all her energies to the task, but unless it's expended rightly, the goal will never be reached. >> So, it's not push harder, it's change direction. >> Exactly. And the passage names how hard that is psychologically. Possibly nothing is more difficult than convicting someone long devoted to a cause that the method so deeply committed to must be abandoned for a revised program. It isn't natural to halt and reform the whole procedure. It's much easier to continue in the old ways. >> Yet that resistance has to be overcome, according to the passage, because the stakes are described as severe. >> That's the part that landed hardest for me. What exactly does it say happens if this doesn't change? >> It will mean the commission to finish the work passes to another people, while the Advent folk go on as blindly as the Jews, who still believe they have both the truth and the divine commission to herald it. And it will mean having no part in the last great work, and no place in the eternal mansions. >> That's about as sobering a warning as you can find. It's not just try harder, it's your whole understanding of your own faithfulness might be self-deceived. The way it says the Jews still believed they were right. >> Which is exactly why the passage ends the way it does, calling for real self-examination rather than comfortable self-congratulation. It's a call to earnest, deliberate, intense study until the answers are found and acted upon. >> A fitting close. The whole piece really turns on that single principle from Peter, that we are to be hastening the day of God, not simply waiting it out. >> A challenging but clarifying read. It reframes delay not as mystery, >> >> but as responsibility.