10 TenTHAT MAKE THE

Great
1888 MESSAGE

Gospel

Truths
UNIQUE

THE MESSAGE OF JONES & WAGGONER

WITH BIBLE & ELLEN WHITE SUPPORT

COMPILED BY

Robert J. Wieland
 Copyright © 1998 by

THE 1888 MESSAGE STUDY COMMITTEE

8784 VALLEY VIEW DRIVE, BERRIEN SPRINGS, MI 49103

Printed in U.S.A.
1
[00143] 3M 6-98
Third printing 2-08
10
Ten THAT MAKE THE

Great 1888 MESSAGE

Gospel UNIQUE

Truths
Good News That Lifts the Heart
SELECTIONS FROM
THE MESSAGE OF JONES & WAGGONER
WITH BIBLE & ELLEN WHITE SUPPORT

COMPILED BY

Robert J. Wieland
 Foreword
“The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message
to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones,” says Ellen
White in one of her most enthusiastic endorsements.

That same message which brought joy and comfort to so many

a century ago still revives our spirit wherever it is proclaimed. In
this brief overview we hope to answer some questions:

• What was the message they brought us in the 1888 era?

• Which elements in it elicited from Ellen White her profound
gratitude when she heard it?
• Have we as a church missed something special and refreshing
that we need?
• Why for a decade did she endorse the message with
enthusiastic expressions at least 374 times?
• Why did she say it was the clearest statement of justification
by faith she had ever heard publicly presented?
• What did she see in it that caused her to label it the
“beginning” of the loud cry of Revelation 18, and initial
“showers from heaven of the latter rain” that must go with
the loud cry?
• Did she seriously believe that the message would prepare a
people for translation within her lifetime? If so, why?

Answers to these questions are evident in the 1821 pages of

The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials. But the ultimate test of truth
is the Bible itself. This compilation may be helpful to the busy
reader in that it brings together in easily readable form ten of
the essential elements of the 1888 message that make it unique,
stated in the words of the 1888 “messengers” themselves, with
biblical and Ellen White Support.

1888 Message Study Committee

Editorial Committee
 GOSPEL C hrist has already accomplished something
for every human being. He died the second
death for “every man,” and thus elected “all
TRUTH

#1
men” to be saved. In that sense, it is true
that “He saved the world.” Appreciating what
Christ accomplished by His sacrifice, lukewarm
Laodiceans will learn the meaning of faith, and
how to glory in the cross.

The Bible Teaching

(a) When Christ “died for all,” He tasted “death for every one”
(2 Corinthians 5:14 Hebrews 2:9). It had to be the second death
that He “tasted” because what we call death the Bible calls “sleep,”
which everyone experiences except those who will be translated (John
11:11-13; 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17). Therefore there is no reason why
anyone should at last have to die the second death except that he
has resisted or rejected the salvation already given him “in Christ” (cf.
Hebrews 2:3; the Greek word “neglect” in the King James Version means
“despise,” see Matthew 22:5).
(b) At Christ’s baptism, the Father “accepted” the human race in
Him (Matthew 3:17). Thus He is already “the Savior of all men” (John
4:42); no one can any longer doubt that the Lord has accepted him/her
“in Christ.” But Christ is “especially” the Savior “of those who believe”
(1 Timothy 4:101). Our salvation does not depend on our initiating a
“relationship” with Him; it depends on our believing/responding to the
“relationship” He has already initiated with us.
(c) Christ “has abolished death” (the second; 2 Timothy 1:10).
Since no one need be lost at last unless he chooses to reject what Christ
has already accomplished for him, the only reason he can be lost is his
unbelief (John 3:16-19). Christ has “brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). For “every one,” believers and
unbelievers, He has brought “life,” and for those who believe, He has
also brought “immortality.”
(d) In Romans 5:15-18 Paul sets forth what Christ accomplished
on His cross. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863
illustrates that “verdict of acquittal” or “justification” for “all men.”

1
 Lincoln granted every slave in the Confederate Territories a legal
freedom; but none could experience it until he (1) heard the good news,
(2) believed it, and (3) let it motivate him to walk out into liberty.

How Jones And Waggoner

Understood This
“Now [Christ] has done all that freely. For how many people did He
do this? Every soul? [Congregation ‘Yes, sir.’] Gave all the blessings He
has to every soul in this world; He chose every soul in the world; He
chose him in Christ before the foundation of the world, predestinated
him unto the adoption of children and made him accepted in the
Beloved.2
“Whether you or I let Him have, us, that is not the question just
now. Before the foundation of the world He bought me. Then whose
are we? [Congregation: ‘The Lord’s.’]
“How is it possible for one to get into doubt as to whether he is
the Lord’s or not? ‘He that believeth not God has made him a liar.’ He
may not do that in so many words, but when he gets into doubt as to
whether he is the Lord’s, he has allowed unbelief to overthrow him and
Satan to get the advantage and sweep everything away.
“But still the Lord will not take what He has bought without our
permission. There is a line which God has set as fixing the freedom
of every man and He Himself will never go over that line a hair’s
breadth without our permission, whether man or angel. But when the
permission is given, the He will come for all that is He is.

The practical value of this truth. “Well, suppose you get up in the
morning with a headache and your digestion has not worked very well
and you don’t feel just right. How do you know you are the Lord’s?
[Congregation: ‘Because He says so.’] Sometimes people say when we
ask them, ‘Have your sins been forgiven?’ ‘Yes, I was convinced that
they were, for awhile.’ ‘What convinced you?’ ‘I felt as though they
were forgiven.’ They did not know anything about it. They did not, in
that, have a particle of evidence that their sins were forgiven. The only
evidence that we can have that these things are so is that God says so.
Don’t look to feelings. Feelings are as variable as the wind.
“We need not have any more doubt as to whether we are the
Lord’s. But there are some people who have not submitted themselves
2
to the Lord and are not practically His. He has made them His by
purchase; now how can they know that they are His? By His word.

Does this Good News give license to sin? “But now we sometimes
hear people talk as though that was going to sanction sin. No. It will not
do that. It will save you from sinning. When a man’s choice is to be the
Lord’s, then God works in him both to will and to do of his own good
pleasure. The divine power is in this thing. There is no sanction of sin
about it. In fact, it is the only way to keep from sanctioning sin.
“When was it that he bought us? [Congregation: ‘Before the
foundation of the world.’] What kind of folks were we before the
foundation of the world? Sinners, just as we are? Evil beings and willing
to go into evil ways? Making no profession of religion and not particularly
wanting to? Did He buy us then? [Congregation: ‘Yes.’] And He bought
our sins. Isaiah describes it—wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
no soundness at all.
“Then the choice is forever with me as to whether I would rather
have my sins than to have Him, isn’t it? [Congregation: ‘Yes.’] When sin
is pointed out to you, say, ‘I would rather have Christ than that’” (Jones,
General Conference Bulletin, 1893, sermon No. 17, condensed).

What Christ Accomplished. “God has wrought out salvation for

every man, and has given it to him, but the majority spurn it and throw
it away. The judgment will reveal the fact that full salvation was given
to every man and that the lost have deliberately thrown away their
birthright possession” (Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p. 14).
“Someone may lightly say, ‘Then we are all right; whatever we do
is right so far as the law is concerned, since we are redeemed.’ It is true
that all are redeemed, but not all have accepted redemption. Many
say of Christ, ‘We will not have this Man to reign over us,’ and thrust
the blessing of God from them. But redemption is for all. All have been
purchased with the precious blood—the life—of Christ, an all may be,
if they will, free from sin and death” (ibid., p. 61).

Ellen White’s Illustrations

“Jesus knows the circumstance of every soul. The greater the

sinner’s guilt, the more he needs the Saviour. His heart of divine love
and sympathy is drawn out most of all for the one who is the most
hopelessly entangled in the snares of the enemy. With His own blood
3
He has signed the emancipation papers of the race” (Ministry of Healing,
pp. 89, 90).
“[Christ] took His grasp the world over which Satan claimed to
preside as his lawful territory, and by His wonderful work in giving His
life, He restored the whole race of men to favor with God” (Selected
Messages, book 1, p. 243).
“By His obedience to all the commandments of God, Christ
wrought out a redemption for men. This was not done by going out of
Himself to another, but by taking humanity into Himself. Thus Christ
gave to humanity an existence out of Himself. To bring humanity into
Christ, to bring the fallen race into oneness with divinity, is the work of
redemption” (ibid., pp. 250, 251).
“The redemption price has been paid for the human race” (Review
and Herald, June 3, 1890).
“For the world, Christ’s sacrifice was made” (Christ’s Object Lessons,
p. 301).
“Christ … redeemed Adam’s disgraceful fall, and saved the world”
(My Life Today, p. 323).

Note: Subheadings in bold have been added by the compiler. The quotations are not
exhaustive.
1 The Greek malista consistently has the meaning of “especially” in other New
Testament passages.
2 Ellen White applies this phrase from Ephesians 1:6 to the entire human race (The
Desire of Ages, p. 113).

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 GOSPEL B y His uplifted cross and on-going priestly
ministry, Christ is drawing “all men” to
repentance. His gracious love is so strong and
TRUTH

#2
persistent that the sinner must resist it in order
to be lost.

The Bible Teaching

(a) All the life and happiness which the world enjoys is the purchase
of Christ’s sacrifice. Every loaf of bread is stamped with His cross (John
6:32, 33, 35, 50-53; cf. The Desire of Ages, p.660). This truth of total
indebtedness to Him is the basis for all genuine Christian experience.
(b) If Christ had not died for the world, we would all have perished.
The Father laid the trespasses of the world on Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19;
Isaiah 53:5, 6). Thus, in a very real sense, Christ’s sacrifice has justified
“all men” by giving them a legal “verdict of acquittal” in place of that
“judgment” of “condemnation” “in Adam” (Romans 3:23, 24; 5:15-18,
NEB). When the sinner hears and believes the truth, he experiences
justification by faith (Romans 4:25; Ephesians 2:8-10).
(c) The lost deliberately negate this justification Christ has effected
for them, and take the “condemnation” back upon themselves (Hebrews
10:29; 2 Corinthians 6:1; cf. Steps to Christ, p. 27).
(d) Believers in Christ can say that “He Himself is the propitiation
for our sins.” But it is “not for ours only, but also for the whole world” (1
John 2:2). “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish” (John 3:16). Since
He paid the price for all our sins, the only reason anyone can be lost is
refusal to believe, to appreciate, the gift already given “in Him” (verse
18). God does not put us in double jeopardy, for “the Lord has laid
on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). How then can He lay that
iniquity on us again? Paul asks (Romans 8:33-39). The lost take it back
on themselves.
(e) All this adds up to a judicial “verdict of acquittal… and life for all
men,” just as surely as Adam’s sin brought “a verdict… of condemnation
for all men” (Romans 5:16-18, NEB). The one who believes this Good
News is motivated to total consecration of his all to Christ (2 Corinthians
5:14, 15).
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 How Waggoner Grasped
This Concept
“‘By the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life.’ There is no exception here. As the condemnation
came upon all, so the justification comes upon all. Christ has tasted
death for every man. He has given Himself for all. Nay, He has given
Himself to every man. The free gift has come upon all. The fact that it
is a free gift is evidence that there is no exception. If it came upon only
those who have some special qualification, then it would not be a free
gift.
“It is a fact, therefore, plainly stated in the Bible, that the gift of
righteousness and life in Christ has come to every man on earth .There
is not the slightest reason why every man that has ever lived should not
be saved unto eternal life, except that they would not have it. So many
spurn the gift offered so freely…
“The text says that ‘by the obedience of One shall many be made
righteous.’ Some may ask, ‘Why are not all made righteous by the
obedience of One?’ The reason is that they do not wish to be. … The
free gift comes upon all, but all will not accept it, and therefore all are
not made righteous by it. … Death has passed upon all men, because
all have sinned, and the gift of righteousness has come to all men in the
life of Christ” (Waggoner on Romans, pp. 101, 102; 1896).

Jone’s Message Was

In Full Harmony
“Who is it that the Lord justifies? [Congregation: ‘The ungodly.’] If it
were otherwise there would be no hope for me. If He justified people
who had only a little good about them, that would leave me out.
But thank the Lord, He is so good. Because He justifies the ungodly,
therefore, I have the perfect security of His everlasting salvation. Can
you imagine anything that is going to keep me from being glad?
“ ‘To Him that worketh not.’ If it required works I could not do
enough. But oh, as we read the other night, ye have ‘sold yourself for
naught’ and ‘ye are redeemed without money.’ But not without a price.
But lo, He has paid the price. I have heard brethren say, ‘I thank the
Lord I have the confidence in Him.’ I thank the Lord He has confidence
in me. It is little enough for a man to have confidence in the Lord, but
6
His confidence in me I cannot grasp. And I am thankful that the Lord
had that much confidence in His risk upon me.
“‘Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputeth righteousness without works.’ Are there some in
this house who know only the distressedness of that man, who tries to
get it by works?
“ ‘That blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ.’ When we as a people, as a church, have received the
blessing of Abraham, what then? [Congregation: ‘The latter rain.’] What
is to hinder, then, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? [Voice: ‘Unbelief.’]
Our lack of the righteousness of God, which is by faith—that is what
holds it back” (General Conference Bulletin, 1893, sermon No. 16,
condensed).

Christ did His work, long ago. “ ‘He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved.’ When did He do that? [Congregation: ‘Before the foundation
of the world.’] He did it all before we had any chance to do anything
—long before we were born—long before the world was made. Don’t
you see that the Lord is the one that does things, in order that we may
be saved and that we may have Him?
“Then we can be sure that He has chosen us. He says He has.
“We can be sure that He has predestinated us unto the adoption
of children.
“We can be sure that He had made us accepted in the Beloved.
“We can be sure of all these things, for God says so and it is so.
Then isn’t that a continual feast itself?” (ibid., No. 17, condensed).
“… All that were in the world were included in Adam; and all
that are in the world are included in Christ. In other words: Adam
in his sin reached all the world; Jesus Christ the second Adam, in his
righteousness touches all humanity. …
“Here is another Adam. Does he touch as many as the first Adam
did? That is the question. … It is certainly true that what the second
Adam did, embraces all that were embraced in what the first Adam
did. …
“The question is, Does the second Adam’s righteousness embrace
as many as does the first Adam’s sin? Look closely. Without our consent
at all, without our having anything to do with it, we were all included
in the first Adam; we were there. … Jesus Christ, the second man, took
our sinful nature. He touched us in all points.’ He became we and died
the death. And so in Him and by that, every man that has ever lived
upon the earth, and was involved in the first Adam, is involved in this,
7
and will live again. There will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the
just and of the unjust. Every soul shall live again by the second Adam,
from the death that came by the first Adam. …
“When Jesus Christ has set us all free from the sin and the death
which came upon us from the first Adam, that freedom is for every
man; and every man can have it for the choosing.
“The Lord will not compel any one to take it. … No man will die
the second death who has not chosen sin rather than righteousness,
death rather than life” (General Conference Bulletin, 1895, pp. 268,
269).

Ellen White’s View

“[Christ] took in His grasp the world over which Satan claimed to
preside as his lawful territory, and by His wonderful work in giving His
life, He restored the whole race of men to favor with God” (Selected
Messages, book 1, p. 343). “He redeemed Adam’s disgraceful fall, and
saved the world” (My Life Today, p.323).
“Every member of the human family is given wholly into the hands
of Christ. … Every gift is stamped with the cross and bears the image
and superscription of Jesus Christ” (MS. 36, 1890).
“Jesus, the world’s Redeemer, stands between Satan and every soul.
… The sins of everyone who has lived upon the earth were laid upon
Christ, testifying to the fact that no one need be a loser in the conflict
with Satan” (Review and Herald, May 23, 1899).
“As soon as there was sin, there was a Saviour. Christ knew that He
would have to suffer, yet He became man’s substitute. As soon as Adam
sinned, the Son of God presented Himself as surety for the human race,
with just as much power to avert the doom pronounced upon the guilty
as when He died upon the cross of Calvary” (ibid., March 12, 1901).
“You may say you believe in Jesus, when you have an appreciation
of the cost of salvation. You may make this claim, when you feel that
Jesus died for you on the cruel cross of Calvary; when you have an
intelligent understanding faith that His death makes it possible for you
to cease from sin, and to perfect a righteous character through the
grace of God, bestowed upon you as the purchase of Christ’s blood”
(ibid., July 24, 1888).

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 GOSPEL I t follows that it is actually easy to be saved
and hard to be lost if one understands and
believes how good the Good News is. The only
TRUTH

#3
difficult thing is learning how to believe the
gospel. Jesus taught this truth.

The Bible Teaching

(a) God does the loving and the giving; our part is to do the believing
(John 3:16, 17). “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who
believes” (Mark 9:23). But the word “believe” must be understood as
the Bible teaches it (Romans 10:10).
(b) “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,” and to resist, to “kick
against the goads,” is “hard” (Matthew 11:28; Acts 9:5; 26:14).
(c) The reason why this is true is that “the love [agape] of Christ
constraineth us.” Christ’s love is active, not passive. The one who
believes the gospel cannot continue living for self (Romans 6:1, 2, 14,
15; 2 Corinthians 5:14, KJV).
(d) Christ’s love for each individual person is infinitely greater than
that of a parent for a child (Psalm 27:10; 103:13).
(e) To “kick against the goads” is to resist the Holy Spirit’s conviction
of Good News (John 16:7-11).
(f) Light is stronger than darkness, grace is stronger than sin, and
the Holy Spirit is stronger than the flesh (John 1:5, 9; Romans 5:20;
Galatians 5:16, 17).
(g) God is leading every person to repentance, but many refuse His
leading (Romans 2:4).

How Jones Understood This

“When grace reigns, it is easier to do right than it is to do wrong.

That is the comparison. Notice: As sin reigned, even so grace reigns.
When sin reigned, it reigned against grace; it beat back all the power
of grace that God had given; but when the power of sin is broken, and
grace reigns, then grace reigns against sin, and beats back all the power
of sin. So it is as literally true that under the reign of grace is easier to do
9
right than to do wrong, as it is true that under the reign of sin it is easier
to do wrong than it is to do right” (Review and Herald, July 25, 1899).
“It can never be repeated too often that under the reign of grace it
is just as easy to do right as under the reign of sin it is easy to do wrong.
This must be so, for if there is not more power in grace than there is sin,
then there can be no salvation from sin. …
“Salvation from sin certainly depends upon there being more power
in grace than there is in sin. … [Man’s] great difficulty has always been
to do right. But this is because man naturally is enslaved to a power—
the power of sin—that is absolute in its reign. And so long as that power
has sway, it is not only difficult, but impossible to do the good that he
knows and that he would. But let a mightier power than that have sway,
then is it not plain enough that it will be just as easy to serve the will
of the mightier power, when it reigns, as it was to serve the will of the
other power when it reigned?

Do we understand the power of grace? “But grace is not simply

more powerful than is sin. … This, good as it would be, is not all. …
There is much more power in grace than there is in sin. ‘For where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound.’… Then the service of God
will indeed be ‘in newness of life’; then it will be found that His yoke
is indeed ‘easy’ and His burden ‘light’; then his service will be found
indeed to be with ‘joy, unspeakable and full of glory” (ibid., September
1, 1896).
“Take the man who does not believe in Jesus at all tonight. … If
this man wants to have Christ for his Saviour, if he wants provision
made for all his sins, and salvation from all of them, does Christ have
to do anything now, in order to provide for this man’s sins, or to save
him from them?—No, that is all done; He made all that provision for
every man when he was in the flesh, and every man who believes in
Him receives this without there being any need of any part of it being
done over again. He ‘made one sacrifice for sins for ever,” (General
Conference Bulletin, 1895, p. 268).

Waggoner Agreed
“The new birth completely supersedes the old. ‘If any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God.’ He who takes
God for the portion of his inheritance, has a power working in him for
righteousness, as much stronger than the power of inherited tendencies
10
to evil, as our heavenly Father is greater than our earthly parents” (The
Everlasting Covenant, p.66).
“We need not try to improve on the Scriptures, and say that the
goodness of God tends to lead men to repentance. The Bible says that
it does lead them to repentance, and we may be sure that it is so.
Every man is being led toward repentance as surely as God is good. But
not all repent? Why? Because they despise the riches of the goodness
and forbearance and long-suffering of God, and break away from the
merciful leading of the Lord. But whoever does not resist the Lord, will
surely be brought to repentance and salvation” (Waggoner on Romans,
p. 42).
“Abiding in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, the flesh with its lusts
has no more power over us than if we were actually dead and in our
graves. … The flesh is still corruptible, still full of lusts, still ready to
rebel against the Spirit; but as long as we yield our wills to God, the
Spirit holds the flesh in check. … This Spirit of life in Christ—the life of
Christ – is given freely to all. ‘Whosoever will, let him take the water of
life freely’” (The Glad Tidings, p. 123).
“Thank God for the blessed hope! The blessing has come upon
all men. For ‘as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift
came upon all men unto justification of life’ (Romans 5:18). God, who
is no respecter of persons, ‘has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 1:3). The gift if ours to keep.
If anyone has not this blessing, it is because he has not recognized the
gift, or has deliberately thrown it away” (ibid., p. 66).

Ellen White Supports The

Good News

“Yet do not therefore conclude that the upward path is the hard and
the downward road is the easy way. All along the road that lead to death
there are pains and penalties, there are sorrows and disappointments,
there are warnings not to go on. God’s love [agape] has made it hard for
the heedless and headstrong to destroy themselves. … And all the way
up the steep road leading to eternal life are wellsprings of joy to refresh
the weary” (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 139, 140).

11
 GOSPEL C hrist is a Good Shepherd who is seeking
His lost sheep even though we have not
sought Him. A misunderstanding of God’s
TRUTH

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character causes us to think He is trying to hide
from us. There is no parable of a lost sheep
that must seek and find its Shepherd.

THE BIBLE TEACHING

(a) This truth flows naturally and logically from the gospel as Good
News (Luke 15:1-10). The false idea is that like a shopkeeper, the Lord
regards us indifferently until we take the initiative to ferret Him out from
His hiding place. The truth is that He seeks us (Psalm 119:176; Ezekiel
34:16). 1
(b) If anyone is saved at last it will be due to God’s initiative; if
anyone is lost at last, it will be due to his own initiative (Jeremiah 31:3;
John 3:16-19).
(c) Our salvation does not depend on our maintaining a relationship
with God; it depends on our believing that He stands at the door and
knocks—seeking to maintain that relationship with us unless we break it
off (Revelation 3:20).

How Waggoner Understood

This Concept

“Not only does He call us, but He draws us. No man can come
to Him without being drawn, and so Christ is lifted up to draw all to
God. He tasted death for every man (Hebrews 2:9), and through Him
all men have access to God. He has destroyed in His own body the
enmity,—the wall that separates men from God,—so that nothing can
keep any man from God unless man builds up again the barrier.
“The Lord draws us, but does not employ force. He calls, but does
not drive. … God has purposed salvation for every soul that has ever
come into the world” (Waggoner on Romans, pp. 140, 143).
“Christ is given to every man. Therefore each person get the whole
12
of Him. The love of God embraces the whole world, but it also singles
out each individual. A mother’s love is not divided among her children,
so that each one receives only a third, a fourth, or a fifth of it; each
child is the object of all her affection. How much more so with the God
whose love is more prefect than any mother’s! (Isaiah 49:15). Christ is
the light of the world, the Sun of Righteousness. But light is not divided
among a crowd of people. If a room full of people be brilliantly lighted,
each individual gets the benefit of all the light, just as much as though
he were alone in the room. So the light of Christ lights every man that
comes into the world. …
“How often we hear someone say, ‘I am so sinful that I am afraid
the Lord will not accept me!’ Even some who have long professed to
be Christians often mournfully wish that they could be sure of their
acceptance with God. But the Lord has given no reason for any such
doubt. Our acceptance is for ever settled. Christ has bought us and has
paid the price.
“Why does a man go to the shop and buy an article? He wants it. If
he has paid the price for it, having examined it so he knows what he is
buying, does the merchant worry that he will not accept it? … It is not
a matter of indifference to Jesus whether we yield ourselves to Him or
not. He longs with an infinite yearning for the souls He has purchased
with His own blood. ‘The Son of man came to seek and to save the lost’
(Luke 19:10)” (The Glad Tidings, pp. 11, 12).

Jones Had The Same Idea

“O, it has always been Satan’s deception to get people to think
that Christ is as far away as it is possible to put Him. The farther away
men put Christ, even those who profess to believe in Him, the better
the devil is satisfied; and then he will stir up the enmity that is in the
natural heart, and set it to work in building up ceremonialism, and
putting this in the place of Christ” (General Conference Bulletin, 1895,
p. 478, condensed).
“God’s mind concerning human nature is never fulfilled until He
finds us at His own right hand, glorified. There is revivifying power in
that blessed truth. We have been content to have our minds too far from
what God has for us. But now, as He comes and calls us into this, let us
go where He will lead us. It is faith that does it; it is not presumption;
it is the only right thing to do. Here the heavenly Shepherd is leading
us; He is leading us into green pastures and by the still waters that flow
from the throne of God. Let us drink deep and live. …
13
 “Whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified,’
—He glorified. He cannot glorify them until He has justified them.
What means then this special message of justification that God has
been sending these [seven] years to the church and to the world? It
means that God is preparing to glorify His people. But we are glorified
only at the coming of the Lord; therefore this special [1888] message
of justification which God has been sending us is to prepare us for
glorification at the coming of the Lord. In this, God is giving to us the
strongest sign that it is possible for Him to give, that the next thing is the
coming of the Lord.

The Good Shepherd takes the initiative. “He will prepare us; we
cannot prepare ourselves. We tried a long while to justify ourselves,
to make ourselves just right, and thus get ready for the coming of the
Lord. But we were never satisfied; it is not done that way. No master
workman looks at a piece of work he is doing as it is half finished, and
begins to find fault with that. It is not finished yet. It would be an awful
thing if the wondrous Master Workman were to look at us as we are
half finished, and say, That is good for nothing. He goes on with His
wondrous work. You and I may say, ‘I don’t see how the Lord is ever
going to make a Christian out of me, and make me fit for heaven.’
Although we may appear all rough, marred, and scarred now, He sees
us as we are yonder in Christ.
“As we have confidence in Him, we will let Him carry on the work.
Now He says to us, ‘Let Me work, and you watch and see what I am
going to do.’ It is not our task at all. You can go outside of this Tabernacle
and look up at that window. It looks like only a mess of melted glass
thrown together, black and unsightly. But come inside and look from
within, and you will see it as a beautiful piece of workmanship. Likewise
you and I can look at ourselves and all looks awry, dark, and ungainly,
only a tangled mass. God looks at it as it is in Jesus. When we look from
the inside as we are in Jesus, we shall also see written in clear texts by
the Spirit of God: ‘Justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.’ We shall see the whole law of God written in the
heart and shining in the life. That light is reflected and shines in Jesus
Christ.
“In Him God has perfected His plan concerning us. Let us take it,
brethren. Let us receive it in the fullness of that self-abandoned faith
that Jesus Christ has brought to us. Let the power of it work in us, raise
us from the dead, and set us at God’s right hand in the heavenly places
in Jesus Christ, where He sits” (ibid., pp. 366-368, condensed).
14
 Ellen White’s Idea

“As Christ draws them to look upon His cross, to behold Him whom
their sins have pierced, … they begin to comprehend something of the
righteousness of Christ. … The sinner may resist this love, may refuse to
be drawn to Christ; but if he does not exist, he will be drawn to Jesus; a
knowledge of the plan of salvation will lead him to the foot of the cross
in repentance for his sins, which have caused the sufferings of God’s
dear Son” (Steps to Christ, p. 27).

1
There are two Hebrew verbs that are translated “seek” in our English Bibles. One
means searching for something that is lost or hard to find; but that verb is never used as
God commanding us to “seek” Him as though He is hard to find or hiding from us. The
other verb means “pay attention to” or “inquire of.” (See 1 Samuel 28:7, KJV, where
both verbs are used in one sentence. It is the verb “inquire of” in that verse that is
translated in Isaiah 55:6 as “seek ye the Lord.” What the Lord actually said is, “Inquire
of Me while I may be found,” “pay attention to Me.”)

15
 GOSPEL I n seeking us, Christ came all the way to where
we are, taking upon Himself “the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
TRUTH

#5
flesh.” Thus He is a Savior “nigh at hand, not
afar off.” He “is the Savior of all men,” even
“the chief of sinners.” But sinners have the
freedom to refuse Him and reject Him.

The Bible Teaching

(a) His names is “Immanuel, … God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

(b) Though He was “in the form of God,” He was “made a little
lower than the angels,” “made of woman, made under the law,” “in all
things … made like unto His brethren,” “made to be sin for us, who knew
no sin” (Philippians 2:5; Hebrews 2:9, 14; Galatians 4:4; 2 Corinthians
5:21).
(c) “As the children are partakers of flesh [sarx, Greek] and blood,
He also Himself likewise took part of the same” (Hebrews 2:17).
(d) He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”
(Hebrews 4:15).
(e) To deny this reality that He “is come in the flesh [sarx]” is “that
spirit of antichrist,” the essence of the Roman Catholic counterfeit of the
gospel. (1 John 4:1-3).

Waggoner Sees Christ

as “Nigh at Hand”

“Christ took upon Himself man’s nature, and as a consequence He

was subject to death. He came into the world on purpose to die; and
so from the beginning of His earthly life He was in the same condition
that the men are in, whom He died to save.
“Don’t start in horrified astonishment; I am not implying that Christ
was a sinner. One of the most encouraging things in the Bible is the
knowledge that Christ took on Him the nature of man, to know that
His ancestors according to the flesh were sinners. They had all the
weaknesses and passions that we have. No man has any right to excuse
his sinful acts on the ground of heredity. If Christ had not been made
in all things like unto His brethren, then His sinless life would be no
16
encouragement to us. We might look at it with admiration, but it would
be the admiration that would cause hopeless despair.
“From the earliest childhood the cross was ever before Him” (The
Gospel in Galatians, pp. 60-62, condensed).
“His humanity only veiled His Divine nature, by which He was
inseparably connected with the invisible God, and which was more
than able successfully to resist the weaknesses of the flesh. There was
in His whole life a struggle. The flesh, moved upon by the enemy of
all righteousness, would tend to sin, yet His Divine nature never for
a moment harbored an evil desire, nor did His Divine power for a
moment waver” (Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 28, 29).

Jones Sees the Love of God in the

Incarnation as a Powerful Truth
to Motivate the Heart

“The choice to glorify God is the choice that self shall be emptied
and lost, and God alone shall be seen, through Jesus Christ. It is that
the whole universe and everything in it shall reflect God. That is the
privilege that God has set before every human being. What did it cost
to bring that privilege to you and me? It cost the infinite price of the
Son of God.
“Did Jesus come to this world and then go back as He was before,
and thus His sacrifice be for only 33 years? The answer is that it was
for all eternity. The Father gave up His Son to us, and Christ gave up
Himself for all eternity. Never again will He be in all respects as He was
before.
“‘He who was one with God has linked Himself with the children of
men by ties that are never to be broken.’ Wherein did He link Himself
with us?—In our flesh; in our nature. That is the sacrifice that wins the
hearts of men. Many look upon it, that the sacrifice of Christ was for
only 33 years, then He died the death on the cross and went back as
He was before. In view of eternity before and after, 33 years is not an
infinite sacrifice at all. But when we consider that He sank his nature
in our human nature to all eternity,—that is a sacrifice. That is the love
of God. And no heart can reason against it. Whether the man believes
it or not, there is a subduing power in it, and the heart must stand in
silence in the presence of that awful truth. I will say it over: ever since
that blessed fact came to me that the sacrifice of the Son of God is an
eternal sacrifice, and all for me, the word has been upon my mind
17
almost hourly: ‘I will go softly before the Lord all my days’” (General
Conference Bulletin, 1895, pp. 381, 382, condensed).

Waggoner Sees Practical

Godliness in This Truth

“There were two questions handed me, and I might read them
now. One is this: ‘Was that holy thing which was born of the virgin Mary
born in sinful flesh, and did that flesh have the same evil tendencies
to contend with that ours does?’ I do not know anything about this
except what I read in the Bible. I have had my time of discouragement
and despondency. That which for years had me discouraged was the
knowledge to some extent of the weakness of my own self, and the
thought that those who in my estimation were doing right and those
holy men of old in the Bible, were differently constituted from me. I
found that I could not do anything but evil. …
“If Jesus, who came here to show me the way of salvation, in whom
alone there is hope—if His life here on earth was a sham, then where is
the hope? ‘But,’ you say, ‘this question presupposes the opposite, that
He was perfectly holy, so holy that He never had any evil to contend
with.’
“That’s what I am referring to. I read, He ‘was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin.’ I read of His praying all night, in such
agony the drops of sweat like blood fell from his face. But if that were
all make-believe, if He were not really tempted, of what use is it all to
me? I am left worse off than I was before.
“But O, if there is One—and I do not use this “if” with any thought
of doubt; I will say since there is One who went through all that I ever
can be called upon to go through, who resisted more than I can ever be
called upon to resist, who was constituted in every respect as I am, only
in even worse circumstances than I have been, who met all the power
that the devil could exercise through human flesh and yet who knew
no sin—then I can rejoice. That which He did 1900 years ago He is still
able to do to all who believe in Him.
The Immaculate Conception denies the Bible view of the nature
of Christ. “We need to settle, every one of us, whether we are out
of the church of Rome or not. Many have the marks yet. Do you not
see that the idea that the flesh of Jesus was not like ours (because we
know ours is sinful) necessarily involves the idea of the immaculate
conception of the virgin Mary?
18
 “Suppose we start with the idea that Jesus was so separate from
us, so different that He did not have in His flesh anything to contend
with—sinless flesh. Then you see how the Roman Catholic dogma of
the immaculate conception necessarily follows. But why stop there?
You must go back to her mother, and so back to Adam; and the result?
—There never was a fall. Thus you see the essential identity of Roman
Catholicism and Spiritualism.
“Christ was tempted in the flesh. He suffered in the flesh, but He
had a mind which never consented to sin. He established the will of
God in the flesh, and established that God’s will may be done in any
human, sinful flesh” (General Conference Bulletin, 1901, pp. 403-405,
condensed).

Jones Agrees

“In these days of the general acceptance of Catholicism on the part

of ‘Protestants,’ we should know for ourselves the doctrine of Christ and
the consequences in those who accept the dogma [of the Immaculate
Conception].
“We have the following statements of Catholic fathers and saints;
‘Because [Mary] being very different from the rest of mankind, human
nature, but not sin, communicated itself to her.’ ‘She was created in a
condition more sublime and glorious than that of all natures.’ This puts
the nature of Mary infinitely beyond any real likeness or relationship
to mankind. In the words of Cardinal Gibbons: ‘We affirm that the
Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, was begotten of the virgin, thus
taking to Himself from her maternal womb, a human nature of the
same substance as hers.’
“It follows, as two and two make four, that in His human nature the
Lord Jesus is ‘very different’ from mankind, infinitely beyond any real
likeness or relationship to us as we are in this world. The truth is that
the Lord Jesus in His human nature took our flesh and blood just as it is,
with all its infirmities. It will be well to know how near He really is.
“Jesus, that He might bring man back to the glory of God, in His
love followed him down even here, partakes of his nature as it is, suffers
with him and even dies with him as well as for him in his sinful human
nature. For ‘He was numbered with the transgressors.’ This is love. He
comes to us where we are, that He may lift us up from ourselves unto
God. ‘Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
He also Himself likewise took part of the same’ (Hebrews 2:14).
19
 “All the words that could be used to make this plain and positive
are here put together in a single sentence. Instead of its being true that
Jesus in His human nature is so far away that He has no real likeness
nor relationship to us, it is true that He is in very deed our kin in flesh
and blood relation. This great truth of the blood-relationship between
our Redeemer and ourselves is clearly taught in the gospel in Leviticus.
When any one had lost his inheritance, the right of redemption fell to
his nearest of kin in blood-relationship. It fell not merely to one who
was near of kin, but to the one who was nearest (Leviticus 25:24-28;
Ruth 2:20; 3:12, 13: 4; 1-12). Therefore Christ took our very flesh and
blood, and so became our nearest of kin. He is the nearest to us of all
persons in the universe.

“This is Christianity. To deny that Jesus Christ came not simply in

flesh, but in the flesh, the only flesh that there is in this world, sinful
flesh,—to deny this is to deny Christ. For ‘every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God.’ Confess to
Him your sins; He will never take advantage of you. Tell Him your
griefs. He has felt the same and can relieve you. Pour out to Him your
sorrows: ‘He hath carried our sorrows,’ He was ‘a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief,’ He will comfort you with the comfort of God”
(The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, 1894, condensed).
“If He were not of the same flesh as are those whom He came
to redeem, then there is no sort of use of His being made flesh at all.
More than this: Since the only flesh that that there is in this world which
He came to redeem, is just the poor, sinful, lost, human flesh that all
mankind have; if this is not the flesh that He was made, then He never
really came to the world which needs to be redeemed. For if He came
in a human nature different from that which human nature in this
world actually is, then, even though He were in the world, yet for any
practical purpose in reaching man and helping him, He was as far from
him as if He never had come. …
“The faith of Rome springs from that idea of the natural mind that
God is too pure and too holy to dwell with us and in us in our sinful
human nature; that sinful as we are, we are too far off for Him in His
purity and holiness to come to us just as we are.
“The true faith—the faith of Jesus, is that He has come to us where
we are; that, infinitely pure and holy as He is, and sinful, degraded and
lost as we are, by His Holy Spirit [He] will willingly dwell with us and in
us, to save us, to purify us, and to make us holy.

20
 “The faith of Rome is that we must be pure and holy in order that
God shall dwell with us.
“The faith of Jesus is that God must dwell with us, and in us, in
order that we shall be holy or pure at all” (The Consecrated Way, pp.
35, 39, condensed).

Ellen White was Not Only

Supportive, But Enthusiastic

“On Sabbath afternoon [at South Lancaster] many hearts were

touched, and many souls were fed on the bread that cometh down from
heaven. … We [Jones, Waggoner, and Ellen White] felt the necessity of
presenting Christ as a Saviour who was not afar off, but nigh at hand.
… There were many, even among the ministers, who saw the truth as it
is in Jesus in a light in which they had never before viewed it” (Review
and Herald, March 5, 1889).
“Many say that Jesus was not like us, that He was not as we are in
the world, that He was divine, and therefore we cannot overcome as
He overcame. But this is not true; ‘for verily He took not on Him the
nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. … For in
that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour
them that are tempted.’ Christ knows the sinner’s trials; He knows his
temptations. He took upon Himself our nature. … The Christian’s …
strongest temptations will come from within; for he must battle against
the inclinations of the natural heart. The Lord knows our weaknesses. …
Every struggle against sin, every effort to conform to the law of God, is
Christ working through His appointed agencies upon the human heart.
Oh, if we could comprehend what Jesus is to us!” (Christ Tempted As
We Are, pp. 3, 4, 11; 1894).
“It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of
God to take man’s nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in
Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened
by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam he accepted the
results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results
were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with
such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us
the example of a sinless life” (The Desire of Ages, p. 49).
“[Christ] took on His sinless nature our sinful nature, that He might
know how to succor them that are tempted” (Medical Ministry, p.
189).
21
 GOSPEL T he new covenant is God’s one-way promise
to write His law in our hearts, and to give us
everlasting salvation as a free gift “in Christ.”
TRUTH

#6
The old covenant is the vain promise of the
people to obey, and “gives birth to bondage.”
The spiritual failures of many sincere people
are the result of being taught old covenant
ideas, especially in childhood and youth. The
new covenant truth was an essential element of
the 1888 message, and even today lifts a load
of doubt and despair from many heavy hearts.

The Bible Teaching

(a) The old covenant “gendereth to bondage” (Galatians 4:24,

KJV, “slavery,” NEB).
(b) It is the spiritual experience of being “under the law,” under
a fear motivation (4:21).
(c) The old covenant was formed at Mt. Sinai when Israel
vainly promised, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do” (Exodus
19:8). God did not ask them to make that promise. They broke it
soon afterwards.
(d) Peter’s promise never to deny the Lord was an old covenant
promise (Mark 14:29-31).
(e) God made seven great promises to Abraham, but did not
ask him to make any promise in return (Genesis 12:1-3). God
repeated and enlarged them later, still exacted no promise from
him (13:14-17; 15:4, 5). Chapter 15:9-17 shows that the covenant
is a one-way promise.
(f) God never asks us to make promises to Him; He asks us to
believe His promises to us (15:6).
(g) Abraham is “the father of all those who believe.” Thus
he is the example of genuine righteousness by faith (Romans
4:1, 11-13, 16-18). The law, given 430 years later, became “our
tutor” (“schoolmaster,” KVJ) to lead us on a long detour back to
the experience of Abraham, to be “justified by faith” (Galatians
3:23-26).
22
 Waggoner Caught the
Bible Idea

“The covenant and promise of God are one and the same. … God’s
covenants with men can be nothing else than promises to them. …
“After the Flood God made a ‘covenant’ with every beast of the
earth, and with every fowl; but the beasts and the birds did not promise
anything in return (Genesis 9:9-16). They simply received the favor
at the hand of God. This is all we can do—receive. God promises us
everything that we need, and more than we can ask or think, as a gift.
We give Him ourselves, that is nothing. And He gives us Himself, that
is, everything. That which makes all the trouble is that even when
men are willing to recognize the Lord at all they want to make bargains
with Him. They want it to be an equal, ‘mutual’ affair—a transaction
in which they can consider themselves on a par with God” (The Glad
Tidings, p. 71).
“The gospel was as full and complete in the days of Abraham as
it has ever been or ever will be. No addition to it or change in its
provisions or conditions could possibly be made after God’s oath to
Abraham. Nothing can be taken away from it as it thus existed, and
not one thing can ever be required from any man more than what was
required of Abraham” (ibid., p. 73).
“These two convenants exist today. The two covenants are not
matters of time, but of condition. Let no one flatter himself that he
cannot be bound under the old covenant, thinking that its time has
passed. The time for that is passed only in the sense that ‘the time
past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles,
when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries’ (1 Peter 4:3, KJV)” (ibid., p.
100).
“God’s precepts are promises; they must necessarily be such,
because He knows that we have no power. All that God requires is
what he gives. When He says, ‘Thou shalt not,’ we may take it as His
assurance that if we but believe Him He will preserve us from the sin
against which He warns us” (ibid., p. 77).

Jones was in Full Harmony

“It is not you who are to do that, which he [the Lord] pleases; but,
‘it shall accomplish that which I please.’ You are not to read or hear the
23
word of God and say, I must do that, I will do that. You are to open the
heart to that word, that it may accomplish the will of God in you. …
The word of God itself is to do it, and you are to let it. ‘Let the word of
Christ dwell in you’” (Review and Herald, October 20, 1896).

Ellen White Proclaimed

This Same Good News

“You are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled

by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are
like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses,
your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited
pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you
to feel that God cannot accept you [this is what Paul means when he
says that the old covenant ‘gives birth to bondage’]. … What you need
to understand is the true force of the will. … Everything depends on the
right action of the will. … You cannot change your heart, you cannot of
yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. …
Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit
of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will
be in harmony with Him” (Steps to Christ, p. 47).
“The ten commandments, Thou shalt, and Thou shalt not, are ten
promises, assured to us if we render obedience to the law governing the
universe” (Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1105).
“There is not a negative in that law, although it may appear thus. It
is DO and live” (idem).
“The terms of the ‘old covenant’ were, obey and live. … The ‘new
covenant’ was established upon ‘better promises’—the promise of
forgiveness of sins and of the grace of God to renew the heart and
bring it into harmony with the principles of God’s law” (Patriarchs and
Prophets, p. 372).

24
 GOSPEL O ur Saviour “condemned sin in the flesh,”
conquering the problem for the human
race. He forever outlawed sin in the vast
TRUTH

#7
universe of God by defeating it in its last lair—
our fallen, sinful human flesh. Because if Him,
there is now no reason for any human being to
go on living under the frightful “dominion” of
sin. Sinful addictions lose their grip if one has
“the faith of Jesus.”

The Bibie Teaching

(a) The purpose of Christ’s coming was to “destroy the works of the
devil” (1 John 3:8).
(b) He succeeded (Hebrews 2:14, 15)!
(c) The victory was won by meeting all the temptation that Satan
can present to sinful human “flesh” or nature, and by conquering sin
there (Romans 8:3).
(d) The result: those who have faith in Him demonstrate in their
lives “the righteousness of the law” (verse 4).
(e) God’s people will “overcome even as [He] overcame” (Revelation
3:20).
(f) One who has such faith cannot continue under the “dominion”
of sin (Romans 6:14).
(g) The result of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary will be
the preparation of a people for translation, who will by faith in Christ
become “mature” or “perfect” in character (Hebrews 6:1; 7:25; 10:1;
11:39, 40; 13:20, 21).
(h) This demonstration will honor Christ as a Bridegroom (Revelation
14:1-5; 19:7, 8).

The MESSAGE OF JONES

AND WAGGONER
“‘Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.’
To do this as the Bible enjoins, to consider Christ continually and
intelligently, just as He is, will transform one into a perfect Christian”
(Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, p. 5).
25
 “[Christ] has made and consecrated a way by which, in Him, every
believer can in this world, and for a whole lifetime, live a life holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and as a consequence be
made with Him higher that the heavens. … Perfection, perfection of
character, is the Christian goal—perfection attained in [not of!] human
flesh in this world. Christ attained it in human flesh in this world, and
thus made and consecrated a way by which, in Him, every believer
can attain it. He, having attained it, has become our great High Priest,
by His priestly ministry in the true sanctuary to enable us to attain it”
(Jones, The Consecrated Way, pp. 83, 84).

Ellen White Agrees

“God was manifested in the flesh to condemn sin in the flesh, by
manifesting perfect obedience to all the law of God. Christ did no sin,
neither was guile found in His mouth. He corrupted not human nature,
and, though in the flesh, He transgressed not the law of God in any
particular. More that this, He removed every excuse from fallen man
that he could urge for a reason for not keeping the law of God. …
This testimony concerning Christ plainly shows that He condemned
sin in the flesh. No man can say that he is hopelessly subject to the
bondage of sin and Satan. Christ has assumed the responsibilities of
the human race. … He testifies that through his imputed righteousness
the believing soul shall obey the commandments of God” (Signs of the
Times, January 16, 1896).
“[Christ] made an offering so complete that through His grace every
one may reach the standard of perfection. Of those who receive His
grace and follow His example it will be written in the book of life,
‘Complete in Him,—without a spot or stain.’ … He can bring us to
complete restoration” (Review and Herald, May 30, 1907).
“Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ
shall 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 must
be 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” (The Great Controversy, p. 425).

26
 GOSPEL A higher motivation becomes realized
in the close of time than has prevailed
in the church in past ages—a concern for
TRUTH

#8
Christ that He receive His reward and find
His “rest” in the final eradication of sin. All
egocentric motivation based merely on fear
of hell or hope of reward is less effective.
The higher motivation is symbolized in the
climax of Scripture—the Bride of Christ
making herself “ready.”

The Bible Teaching

(a) An appreciation of the agape of Christ delivers from egocentric

motivation (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15).
(b) God longs to see His people “grow up” out of immature, childish
motivation (Ephesians 4:13-15).
(c) A spiritual “babe” is “unskillful in the word of righteousness”
(Hebrews 5:12-6:3).
(d) The climax of the plan of salvation is the “marriage of the Lamb”
(Revelation 19:7).
(e) It has been delayed only because “His wife [has not yet] made
herself ready” (verse 7).
(f) The making “ready” is the experience of righteousness by
faith (dikaiosune) which culminates in “the righteousness of saints”
(dikaiomata). Imputed righteousness is at last lived out in imparted
righteousness (verse 8; Romans 8:4). It is all by faith.
(g) This glorious triumph is parallel to the sealing work as the
culmination of the cleansing of the sanctuary (Daniel 8:14; Revelation
7:1-4; 14:1-5, 12).
(h) Satan maintains that it is impossible for fallen man to obey God’s
law; a people who keep God’s law demonstrate the falsehood of his
claim (Romans 13:10; Revelation 15:1-4).

What Jones and

Waggoner Understood

“When Jesus comes, it is to take His people unto Himself. It is to

present to Himself His glorious church, ‘not having spot, or wrinkle, or

27
any such thing,’ but that it is ‘holy and without blemish’ [quoted from
Ephesians 5:25-17, 32]. It is to see Himself perfectly reflected in all His
saints.
“And before He comes thus, His people must be in that condition.
Before He comes, we must be brought to that state of perfection in
the complete image of Jesus (Ephesians 4:7, 8, 11-13). And this state
of perfection, this developing in each believer the complete image of
Jesus—this is the finishing of the mystery of God, which is Christ in you
the hope of glory. This consummation is accomplished in the cleansing
of the sanctuary.
“And the blotting out of sins is exactly this thing of the cleansing of
the sanctuary; it is the finishing of all transgression in our lives; it is the
making an end of all sins in our character; it is the bringing in of the
very righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. … Therefore
now as never before, we are to repent and be converted, that our sins
may be blotted out, than an utter end shall be made of them forever in
our lives” (Jones, The Consecrated Way, pp. 123-125).
“When [the True Witness] comes and speaks to you and me, it
is because He wants to translate us, but He cannot translate sin, can
He? Then, the only purpose that He has in showing us the depth and
breadth of sin, is that He may save us from it and translate us” (Jones,
General Conference Bulletin, 1893, p. 205).
“God is now accused by Satan of injustice and indifference, and
even of cruelty. Thousands of men have echoed the charge. But the
judgment will declare the righteousness of God. His character, as well
as that of man, is on trial. In the judgment every act, both of God and
man, that has been done since creation, will be seen by all in all its
bearings. And when everything is seen in that perfect light, God will be
acquitted of all wrongdoing, even by His enemies” (Waggoner, Signs of
the Times, January 9, 1896).

Ellen White’s View

“‘When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he [the farmer]
putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come’ (Mark 4:29). Christ
is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His
church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in
His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.
“It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to
hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Christ’s Object Lessons,
p. 69).
28
 “[Jesus] raised His right arm, and we heard His lovely voice saying,
‘Wait here; I am going to My Father to receive the kingdom; keep your
garments spotless, and in a little while I will return from the wedding
and receive you to Myself’” (Early Writings, p. 55).
“I saw that while Jesus was in the most holy place, He would
be married to the New Jerusalem; and after His work should be
accomplished in the holiest, He would descend to earth in kingly
power, and take to Himself the precious ones who had patiently waited
His return” (ibid., p. 251).
“While Jesus had been ministering in the sanctuary [most holy
place], the judgment had been going on for the righteous dead,
and then for the righteous living. Christ had received His kingdom,
having made the atonement for His people, and blotted out their
sins. The subjects of the kingdom were made up. The marriage of the
Lamb was consummated. And the kingdom, and the greatness of the
kingdom under the whole heaven, was given to Jesus and the heirs of
salvation, and Jesus was to reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords”
(ibid., p. 280).

29
 GOSPEL T he Bible so clearly teaches that
righteousness is by faith. Therefore the
only element that God’s people need in order
TRUTH

#9
to prepare for the second coming of Christ is
genuine faith. The message the world needs
to hear is the truth of righteousness by faith
in the light of the cleansing of the sanctuary
—“the third angel’s message in verity.” Faith
is understood in its true biblical sense—a
heart appreciation of the agape of Christ.

THE BIBLE TEACHING

(a) “We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith” (Galatians 5:6).
(b) “By grace are ye saved through faith.” It’s “with the heart” that
we believe (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 10:10).
(c) God’s people in the end of time will be noted for having such
faith (Revelation 14:12).
(d) Such faith is an experience that constantly grows and develops
(Romans 1:16, 17).
(e) The constant prayer of those who have faith is, “Help Thou
mine unbelief” (Mark 9:23, 24).
(f) Saving faith is so closely related to agape that it is a response to it
(John 3:16; Ephesians 6:23; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8; 2 Thessalonians
1:3; Philemon 5).
(g) Agape is “shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit,” brought
from heaven vertically; immediately it flows out horizontally to our
fellow men. What flows back to God is faith (Romans 5:5; Colossians
1:4).
(h) Translation at the coming of Christ will be the final experience
of mature faith (Hebrews 11:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).
(i) How can we understand “righteousness by faith” unless we
understand what “faith” is?

What Jones and

Waggoner Understood

“The argument, concisely stated, is this: 1. Faith in God is begotten

by a knowledge of His power [agape]; to distrust Him implies ignorance
30
of His ability to perform His promises; our faith in Him must be in
proportion to our real knowledge of His power. 2. An intelligent
contemplation of God’s creation gives us a true conception of His
power; for His eternal power and Godhead are understood by the
things which He has made. 3. It is faith that gives victory (1 John 5:4);
therefore, since faith comes by learning the power of God, from His
word and from the things that He has made, we gain the victory, or
triumph through the works of His hands. The Sabbath, therefore, which
is the memorial of creation, is, if properly observed, a source of the
Christian’s greatest re-inforcement in battle” (Waggoner, Christ and His
Righteousness, pp. 36, 37).
“Surely all doubt as to acceptance with God ought to be set at rest.
But it is not. The evil heart of unbelief still suggests doubts. ‘I believe all
this, but—.’ There, stop right there; if you believed you wouldn’t say
‘but.’ When people add ‘but’ to the statement that they believe, they
really mean, ‘I believe, but I don’t believe.’ But you continue: ‘Perhaps
you are right, but hear me out. What I was going to say is, I believe
the Scripture statements that you have quoted, but the Bible says that
if we are children of God we shall have the witness of the Spirit, and
will have the witness in ourselves; and I don’t feel any such witness,
therefore I can’t believe that I am Christ’s. I believe His word, but I
haven’t the witness.’…
“Now as to your believing His words, yet doubting if He accepts
you, because you don’t feel the witness in your heart, I still insist that
you don’t believe” (ibid., pp. 74, 75).
“Faith is ‘the gift of God’ (Ephesians 2:8); and that it is given to
everybody is plainly stated in the Scriptures: ‘God hath dealt to every
man the measure of faith’ (Romans 12:3). This measure of faith which
‘God hath dealt to every man’ is the capital with which God endows
and starts ‘every man that cometh into the world;’ and every man is
expected to trade upon this capital—cultivate it—to the salvation of
his soul.
“There is no danger of ever lessening this capital when it is used:
as certainly as it is used at all, it will increase, it will grow exceedingly.
And as certainly as it grows, the righteousness, the peace, the joy, of
the Lord, are assured to the full salvation of the soul” (Jones, Lessons on
Faith, pp. 21, 22).
“There are many who love the Lord in sincerity and who accept
Him in humility, who observe another day than that which God has
given as the sign of rest in Him. They simply have not learned the
full and proper expression of faith. … When such hear God’s gracious
31
warning they will forsake the sign of apostasy as they would a plague-
stricken house” (Waggoner, Lessons on Faith, pp. 77, 78).
“Can every believer have grace enough to keep him free from
sinning?—Yes. Indeed, everybody in the world can have enough to
keep him from sinning. Enough is given; and it is given for this purpose.
If any one does not have it, it is not because enough has not been
given. …
“It is given also ‘for the perfecting of the saints.’ The object of it is
to bring each one to perfection in Christ Jesus—to the perfection too,
that is fully up to God’s standard; for it is given for the building up of
the body of Christ, ‘till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ.’ …
“If sin yet has dominion over any one, where lies the fault?—Clearly
it lies only in this, that he will not allow the grace to do for him and in
him that which it is given to do. By unbelief he frustrates the grace of
God. …
“But the power of God is ‘unto salvation to every one that
believeth.’ Unbelief frustrates the grace of God. Many believe and
receive the grace of God for the salvation from sins that are past, but
are content with that, and do not give it the same place in the soul,
to reign against the power of sin, that they did to save from sins of
the past. This, too, is but another phase of unbelief. So as to the one
great final object of grace—the perfection of the life in the likeness
of Christ, they do practically receive the grace of God in vain” (ibid.,
pp. 86-88).
“We receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. .. It is the mind
of Christ by which we may comprehend, investigate, and revel in, the
deep things of God which He reached down and brings forth to our
understanding and sets them before us in their plainness. That is what
we must have, in order to have the presence of Christ, in order to
have the righteousness of Christ, in order that we may have the latter
rain, in order that we may give the loud cry” (ibid., p. 246).
“Let us thank the Lord that He is dealing with us still, to save us
from our errors, to save us from our dangers, to keep us back from
wrong courses, and to pour upon us the latter rain, that we may be
translated. That is what the [1888] message mean—translation—to
you and me. Brethren, let us receive it with al the heart, and thank
God for it” (Jones, General Conference Bulletin, 1893, p. 185).
“The Lord cannot keep us from sinning when we do not believe
Him” (ibid., p. 207).
32
 “The heart that rests most fully upon Christ will be most earnest
and active in labor for Him. That is what real faith is. That is faith that
will bring to you the outpouring of the latter rain, … to prepare us for
the loud cry and the carrying of the third angel’s message in the only
way in which it can be carried from this Conference” (ibid., p. 302).

Ellen White’s View

“There are old, yet new truths still to be added to the treasures of
our knowledge. We do not understand or exercise faith as we should.
… We are not called to worship and serve God by the use of the means
employed in former years. God requires higher service now than ever
before. He requires the improvement of the heavenly gifts. He has
brought us into a position where we need higher and better things
than have ever been needed before” (Review and Herald, February 25,
1890).
“Great truths that have lain unheeded and unseen since the day
of Pentecost, are to shine from God’s word in their native purity”
(Fundalmentals of Christian Education, p. 473).
“We have been hearing His voice more distinctly in the message
that has been going for the last two years [1888-1890], declaring unto
us the Father’s name. … O that we might gather up our forces of faith,
and plant our feet on the rock Christ Jesus! You should believe that
He will keep you from falling. The reason why you do not have more
faith in the promises of God, is that your minds are separated from
God, and the enemy meant it should be so. He has cast his shadow
between us and our Saviour, that we may not discern what Christ is to
us, or what He may be. The enemy does not desire us to understand
what a comfort we shall find in Christ. We have only just begun to get
a little glimmering of what faith is. … For nearly two years we have
been urging the people to come up and accept the light and the truth
concerning the righteousness of Christ [the 1888 message], and they do
not know whether to come and take hold of this precious truth or not.
… Shall we not arise and get out of this position of unbelief?” (Review
and Herald, March 11, 1890).
“No one has said that we shall find perfection in any man’s
investigations, but this I do know, that our churches are dying for the
want of teaching on the subject of righteousness by faith in Christ, and
for kindred truths” (ibid., March 25, 1890).

33
 GOSPEL T he 1888 message is especially “precious”
because it joins together the true biblical
idea of justification by faith with the unique
TRUTH

#10
idea of the cleansing of the heavenly
sanctuary. This is a Bible truth that the world
is waiting to discover. It forms the essential
element of truth that will yet lighten the
earth with the glory of a final, fully developed
presentation of “the everlasting gospel” of
Revelation 14 and 18.

The Bible Teaching

(a) The ancient Hebrew sanctuary and its services were a type or
pattern of the ministry of the plan of salvation in the heavenly sanctuary
(Leviticus 25:8, 9).
(b) The priests served “unto the example or shadow of heavenly
things” (Hebrews 8:5).
(c) Christ is the true High Priest of the plan of salvation (Hebrews 3:1;
4:14-16; 5:5-10; 7: 24-28, etc).
(d) The worlds final day of judgment way typified by the annual
Hebrew day of atonement (Leviticus 16:26-32).
(e) For God’s repentant people, that day meant a special preparation,
a judgment of acquittal, vindication, and a cleansing of heart (Leviticus
16:29-31).
(f) Daniel’s prophecy pinpointed the commencement of the
antitypical (or cosmic) Day of Atonement at the end of 2300 years in 1844
(Daniel 8:14).
(g) We are living today in the grandest era of world history when
the plan of salvation is to be concluded with victory for Christ (Hebrews
9:11-15, 23-28).
(h) The heart-cleansing preparation for the second coming of Christ
will be a special ministry of justification by faith in the Day of Atonement
(10:36-38; 11:22-28; Revelation 14:6, 7, 12).

How Jones Understood These Truths

“If the Lord has brought up sins to us that we never thought of before,
that only shows that He is going down to the depths and He will reach
the bottom at last and when He find that last thing that is unclean or
34
impure that is out of harmony with His will and brings that up and shows
that to us and we say, ‘I would rather have the Lord that that,’ then
the work is complete and the seal of the living God can be fixed upon
that character. [Congregation: ‘Amen.’] Which would you rather have, a
character—[someone in the congregation began praising the Lord and
others began to look around]. Never mind. If lots more of you would
thank the Lord for what you have got, there would be more joy, in this
house tonight.
“Which would you rather have, the completeness, the perfect fullness
of Jesus Christ or have less that that with some of your sins covered up
that you never know of? If there be stains of sin there, we cannot have the
seal of God. He cannot put the seal, the impress of His perfect character,
upon us until He sees it there. And so He has got to dig down to the deep
places we never dreamed of, because we cannot understand our hearts.
But the Lord tries the conscience. He will cleanse the heart, and bring up
the last vestige of wickedness. Let Him keep on His searching work.

What makes our choice easy. “There is no [difficulty] in making

the choice when we know what the Lord has done, and what He is to
us. The choice is easy. Let the surrender be complete. And when these
sins come up—why, they were surrendered long ago. That is all they are
brought up for, that we can make the choice. This is the blessed work of
sanctification. If the Lord should take away our sins without our knowing
it, what good would it do us? That would simply be making machines of
us.
“We are always intelligent instruments—not like a pick or a shovel.
We will be used by the Lord at our own living choice” (General Conference
Bulletin, 1893, sermon No. 17, condensed).

Justification by faith and the Day of Atonement. “This cleansing

of the sanctuary [in the typical service] was the taking out of and away
from the sanctuary all ‘the uncleanness of the children of Israel’ ‘because
of their transgressions in all their sins,’ which, by the ministry of the
priesthood in the sanctuary had been brought into the sanctuary during
the service of the year.
“The finishing of this work of the sanctuary and for the sanctuary
was, likewise, the finishing of the work for the people. … The cleansing
of the sanctuary extended to the people, and included the people, as
truly as it did the sanctuary itself. …
“And that cleansing of the sanctuary was a figure of the true, which
is the cleansing of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle which the
35
Lord pitched and not man, from all the uncleanness of the believers in
Jesus because of all their transgressions in all their sins. And the time
of this cleansing of the true is declared in the words of the Wonderful
Numberer to be ‘unto two thousand and three hundred days,’ … in
A.D. 1844. …
“This is done in the cleansing of the true sanctuary, only in the
finishing of transgression and making an end of sins in the perfecting of
the believers in Jesus, on the one hand; and on the other hand in the
finishing of transgression and making an end of sins in the destruction
of the wicked and the cleansing of the universe from all taint of sin that
has ever been upon it.
“The finishing of the mystery of God is the ending of the work of
the gospel. And the ending of the work of the gospel is, first, the taking
away of all vestige of sin and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness
—Christ fully formed—within each believer, God alone manifest in the
flesh of each believer in Jesus; and, secondly, on the other hand, the
work of the gospel being finished means only the destruction of all
who then shall not have received the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10);
for it is not the way of the Lord to continue men in life when the
only possible use they will make of life is to heap up more misery for
themselves. …
“The service in the earthly sanctuary shows also that in order for
the sanctuary to be cleansed and the course of the gospel service there
to be finished, it must first be finished in the people who have a part
in the service. That is to say: In the sanctuary itself, transgression could
not be finished, an end of sins and reconciliation for iniquity could not
be made, … until all this had been accomplished in each person who
had a part in the service of the sanctuary. The sanctuary itself could
not be cleansed until each of the worshipers had been cleansed. The
sanctuary itself could not be cleansed so long as, by the confessions of
the people and the intercessions of the priests, there was pouring into
the sanctuary a stream of iniquities, transgressions, and sins. … This
steam must be stopped at its fountain in the hearts and lives of the
worshipers, before the sanctuary itself could possible be cleansed.
“Therefore the very first work in the cleansing of the sanctuary was
the cleansing of the people. …
“And this is the very object of the true priesthood in the true
sanctuary. … The sacrifice, the priesthood, and the ministry of Christ in
the true sanctuary does take away sins forever, does make the comers
thereunto prefect, does perfect ‘for ever them that are sanctified’ (The
Consecrated Way, pp. 113-119).
36
 Waggoner Agreed with Jones

“When Christ covers us with the robe of His own righteousness,

He does not furnish a cloak for sin, but takes the sin away. And this
shows that the forgiveness of sins is something more than a mere form,
something more than a mere entry in the books of record in heaven,
to the effect that the sin has been canceled. The forgiveness of sins
is a reality; it is something tangible, something that vitally affects the
individual. It actually clears him from guilt; and if he is cleared from
guilt, is justified, made righteous, he had certainly undergone a radical
change. He is, indeed, another person” (Christ and His Righteousness,
p. 66).
“Though all the record of all our sin, even though written with the
finger of God, were erased, the sin would remain, because the sin is
in us. Though the record of our sin were graven in the rock, and the
rock should be ground to powder—even this would not blot out our
sin.
“The blotting out of sin is the erasing of it from nature, the being
of man [from other statements made in 1901 it is plain he does not
mean the eradication of the sinful nature].
“The erasing of sin is the blotting of it from our natures, so that
we shall know it no more. ‘The worshippers once purged’ [Hebrews
10:2, 3]—actually purged by the blood of Christ—have ‘no more
conscience of sins,’ because the way of sin is gone from them. Their
iniquity may be sought for, but it will not be found. It is forever gone
from them—it is foreign to their new natures, and even though they
may be able to recall the fact that they have committed certain sins,
they have forgotten the sin itself- they do not think of doing it any
more. This is the work of Christ in the true sanctuary” (The Review
and Herald, September 30, 1902).
“That God has a sanctuary in the heavens, and that Christ is priest
there, cannot be doubted by anyone who reads the Scriptures. …
Therefore it follows that the cleansing of the sanctuary—a work which
is set forth in the Scriptures as immediately preceding the coming of
the Lord—is coincident with the complete cleansing of the people of
God on this earth, and preparing them for translation when the Lord
comes. …
“The life [character] of Jesus is to be perfectly reproduced in His
followers, not for a day merely, but for all time and for eternity” (The
Everlasting Covenant, pp. 365-367).
37
 “We have not time or space here to enter into details, but it must
suffice to say that a comparison of Daniel 9:24-26 with Ezra 7 shows
that the days mentioned in the prophecy began 457 B.C., and so reach
to 1844 A.D. … But some one will ask: What connection has 1844 with
the blood of Christ, and that blood is no more efficient at one time than
another, how can it be said that at a certain time the sanctuary shall be
cleansed? Has not the blood of Christ continually been cleansing the
living sanctuary, the church? The reply is, that there is such a thing as
‘the time of the end.’ Sin must have an end, and work of cleansing will
one day be complete. …Now it is a fact that since the middle of the
last century new light has shone forth, and truth of the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus is revealed as never before, and the loud
cry of the message, ‘Behold your God!’ is being proclaimed” (British
Present Truth, May 23, 1901).

Ellen White Supported This Message

“Forgiveness has a broader meaning than many suppose. … God’s

forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from
condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from
sin. It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart”
(Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 114).
“The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should
be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge
for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest.
Otherwise it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which
is essential at this time or to occupy the position which God designs
them to fill. …
“The sanctuary in heaven is the very center of Christ’s work in
behalf of men [justification by faith]. It concerns every soul living upon
the earth. It opens to view the plan of redemption, bringing us down
to the very close of time and revealing the triumphant issue of the
contest between righteousness and sin.
“The correct understanding of the ministration in the heavenly
sanctuary is the foundation of our faith” (Evangelism, p. 221).
“The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the
mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to view a complete
system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand
had directed the great advent movement, and revealing present duty as
it brought to light the position and work of His People” (ibid., p. 222).
38
 “God’s people are now to have their eyes fixed on the heavenly
sanctuary, where the final ministration of our great High Priest in the
work of the judgment is going forward—where He is interceding for His
people” (ibid., pp. 223).
“We are in the day of atonement, and we are to work in harmony
with Christ’s work of cleansing the sanctuary from the sins of the people.
Let no man who desires to be found with the wedding garment on,
resist our Lord in his office work. As He is, so will His followers be in
this world. We must now set before the people the work which by faith
we see our great High Priest accomplishing in the heavenly sanctuary”
(Review and Herald, January 21, 1890).
“Christ is in the heavenly sanctuary, and He is there to make an
atonement for the people. … He is cleansing the sanctuary from the
sins of the people. What is our work?—It is our work to be in harmony
with the work of Christ. By faith we are to work with Him, to be in
union with Him. … A people is to be prepared for the great day of
God” (ibid., January 28, 1890).
“The mediatorial work of Christ, the grand and holy mysteries of
redemption, are not studied or comprehended by the people who
claim to have light in advance of every other people on the face of the
earth” (ibid., February 4, 1890).
“Christ is cleansing the temple in heaven from the sins of the people,
and we must work in harmony with him upon the earth, cleansing the
soul temple from its moral defilement” (ibid., February 11, 1890).
“The people have not entered into the holy place [most holy],
where Jesus has gone to make an atonement for his children. We need
the Holy Spirit in order to understand the truths for this time; but there
is spiritual drought in the churches” (ibid., February 25, 1890).
“Light is flashing from the throne of God, and what is this for?—It
is that a people may be prepared to stand in the day of God” (ibid.,
March 4, 1890).
“You have been having light from heaven for the past year and a
half, that the Lord would have you bring into your character and weave
into your experience. …
“If our brethren were all laborers together with God, they would
not doubt but that the message he has sent us during these last two
years is from heaven. …
“Suppose that you blot out the testimony that has been going during
these last two years proclaiming the righteousness of Christ, who can you
point to as bringing out special light for the people?” (ibid., March 18,
1890).
39
 FOR FURTHER STUDY
THE 1888 MESSAGE: AN INTRODUCTION
by Robert J. Wieland
Much has been published by the official
Adventist press about “1888,” but this book
has a special purpose. It allows the 1888
messengers, Alonzo T. Jones and Ellet J.
Waggoner, to tell the Adventist grand jury in
their own words what their message actually
was (and is). The author demonstrates that the
message of 1888 is not merely a “doctrine,” but
a living, vital experience based on doctrine,
with relevance in today’s world. The reader
will find hope and encouragement that will
enable the final generation to be “saints” who
“keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12).
Recommended reading for every member of the Adventist community,
from those who have spent a lifetime in the Church to those who have
been newly baptized. Sixteen chapters, appendixes, and indexes; 192
pages. [10138]. Also available in Spanish [02105].

THE GLAD TIDINGS: GALATIANS MADE CLEAR

by E. J. Waggoner

The book that sparked the current revival

of interest in the 1888 message. This verse-by-
verse study of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians was
originally published in 1900, but it never loses
its impact. Waaggoner’s stupendous vision of
the cross of Christ is relevant present truth.
Excellent for personal and group study. Six
chapters, 144 pages. [00113]. Also available in
Spanish [02101].

40
“1888” FOR ALMOST DUMMIES
by Robert J. Wieland
There’s tremendous meaning buried in
“1888.” And the One who keeps bringing it up
is the Holy Spirit. It marks the beginning of the
world’s second Pentecost, and people everywhere
are at last beginning to ferret out the story. “1888”
For Almost Dummies tells in a simple way, and in
as few words as possible, what happened, and
what the message still is today. Ten chapters and
appendix. 126 pages. [00240].

WAGGONER ON ROMANS:
THE GOSPEL IN PAUL’S GREAT LETTER
by E. J. Waggoner

A companion book to The Glad Tidings, this

verse-by-verse study of Romans was printed
in Signs of the Times in 1895-96. In1889-90
Ellen G. White said, “Let us have all of Romans
and all of Galatians.” Sixteen chapters plus an
appendix in question-and-answer format, 226
pages. [00140].

THE CONSECRATED WAY TO

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION
by A. T. Jones
Jones presents Christ our Saviour in the
three offices of prophet, priest, and king, and
focuses on His high priestly ministry in the
heavenly sanctuary. Relates justification by faith
to the unique Adventist idea of the cleansing
of the sanctuary. Seventeen chapters, 92 pages.
[00210].

41
CHRIST AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
by E. J. Waggoner
Waggoner penetrates centuries of spiritual
fog to rediscover the inherent power of pure
New Testament justification by faith. He puts his
finger on the true reason for our many spiritual
defeats—unbelief. But he brings spiritual
sunshine to the reader by demonstrating how
to overcome that sinful paralysis—by believing
how good the Good News is. Thirteen chapters,
96 pages. [00208]. Also available in Spanish
[02102].

LESSONS ON FAITH
by A. T. Jones & E. J. Waggoner
A selection of articles and sermons gathered
from the Review and Herald and Signs of the
Times beginning immediately after 1888.
Readers witness to the blessings this book brings.
Twenty-six selections, including six on Galatians
by Jones, 144 pages. [00214].

THE 1888 MESSAGE STUDY COMMITTEE

8784 Valley View Drive, Berrien Springs, MI 49103 USA
Order line: (269) 473-1888
A shipping & handling charge will be added to all book orders.
[Visa, MasterCard, and Discover accepted]
42
Notes
Notes
 Why doesn’t “1888” die?

It can’t, not until the world is lightened with the glory of that
fourth angel of Revelation 18.

The reason? The message was “the beginning” of that final

movement. A people must be prepared for translation at the
coming of Christ.

The question most often asked is, “What was the message?”

Is it the “righteousness by faith” that the Evangelical Sunday-

keeping churches preach? Like a TV dinner, can we microwave
it, add it to our “law” preaching, and have the message that will
lighten the earth with glory?

Or was “1888” a message as uniquely Adventist as the truth of

the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary?

Why this long delay since “the loud cry” began? Have we
missed something?

In capsule form, here are distilled the essential elements of the

message which prompted Ellen White when she first heard it to
say, “every fiber of my heart said, amen.” Brought together in
this book are:

• The Bible insights.

• The Jones and Waggoner contributions.
• The Ellen White “amens.”

The 1888 Message Study Committee

Berrien Springs, MI 49103