At the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session, Elders Ellet J. Waggoner and Alonzo T. Jones presented to the then Seventh Day Adventist Church a precious message that would come to be known as “Christ Our Righteousness”. The message was heartily accepted by some, others would later come to accept it but for some notable and leading brethren, the message was wholly rejected and the messengers scorn.  

We here today are fortunate to see the message of ‘Christ our Righteousness’ as a cornerstone of our faith and its proclamation as our Advent mission in these last days. Inspiration tells us of this messages importance, that had it have been wholeheartedly accepted in 1888, the work of probation and preparation would have come to its end.   

I also saw that if you had accepted their message, we would have been in the kingdom in two years from that date (1888), but now we have to go back into the wilderness… – [General Conference Bulletin, May 9, 1892 (Melbourne, Australia)] 

Knowing full well the importance of accepting ‘Christ our Righteousness’ as individuals and as a church, the question must continually come before the mind of every Advent believer; why hasn’t Christ come yet? Next year will mark 130 years since the rejection of the 1888 message, Christ has not yet come so we must take serious consideration as to whether today we are still rejecting this message? This of course is something we must individually consider but perhaps to aide our considerations we should examine through the pen of inspiration what caused the message to be rejected in the first place. 

Speaking retrospectively of the Minneapolis meeting Sr White stated: 

Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family. All power is given into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure – [Testimonies to Ministers, 92.1] 

Many had lost sight of Jesus. If they were not looking at Jesus, what were they looking at?  

“Why do you much cherish such bitterness against Elder A.T. Jones and Elder Waggoner? It is for the same reason Cain hated Abel. Cain refused to heed the instruction of God, and because Abel sought God, and followed His will, Cain killed him. God has given brother Jones and brother Waggoner a message for the people. You do not believe that God has upheld them, but He has given them precious light, and their message has fed the people of God. When you reject the message borne by these men, you reject Christ, the giver of the message.”  – [1888 Materials, 1353.3] 

The rejecters of the 1888 message had turned their eyes away from Jesus and placed them firmly on themselves and on the messengers whom God has chosen to proclaim the message.  

“To accuse and criticize those whom God is using, is to accuse and criticize the Lord who sent them….The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis are not dead by any means….The roots have been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect, in regard to the message and the messengers. – [Pamphlet 133, 117.1-2] 

Despite the convicting truth of the Third Angels Message, despite the advances and mercies, the wisdom that God had imparted on the Adventist pioneers; among Adventism’s strongest supporters and teachers arouse a deep jealously for these young men. They felt hurt that the present truth did not impart from their lips, that they had not come to be the messengers and finding no certain fault with the message itself they turned their attention and the attention of others to the faults of the messengers.   

God calls a man to do a certain work; and when he has carried it as far as he is qualified, the Lord brings in others to carry it farther. But many feel that the success of the work depends on the first laborer. Jealousy comes in, and the work of God is marred. The one unduly honored is tempted to cherish self-confidence. The people rely on man for guidance and are led away from God. – {From Heaven with Love, 115.4} 

And so the closing work of probation was delayed because jealousy caused men to turn away their hearts and in doing so the hearts of those that looked up to those men. 130 years and it is still being delayed. Could it be possible that this further delay is because those who are proclaiming the message now are being hindered from within the Church because of the same envy? Without a doubt it is for as we know there is no new thing under the sun.  

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. – [Matthew 9:37] 

There are so few labours in this closing work of probation and despite this fact there is also so many among the workers vying for power, for position and for gain. All because of envy.  How many a time has God chosen to speak through the human agent of his own choosing and when the beautiful message is presented, when God has placed His Holy Fire on the tongue of the presenter, does it arouse envy rather than conviction of heart, assurance and inspired hope. 

The word of the Lord came to Elijah; he did not seek to be the Lord’s messenger, but the word came to him. God always has men to whom He entrusts His message. His Spirit moves upon their hearts and constrains them to speak. Stimulated by holy zeal, and with the divine impulse strong upon them, they enter upon the performance of their duty without coldly calculating the consequences of speaking to the people the word which the Lord has given them. But the servant of God is soon made aware that he has risked something. He finds himself and his message made the subject of criticism. His manners, his life, his property, are all inspected and commented upon. His message is picked to pieces and rejected in the most illiberal and unsanctified spirit, as men in their finite judgment see fit. Has that message done the work that God designed it should accomplish? No; it has signally failed because the hearts of the hearers were unsanctified. – {5T 299.2} 

Is the message of the Third Angel still falling on deaf ears and hardened hearts today in our church? Are some of our believers still carrying out the same spirit that was manifested at Minneapolis? It most certainly is and we most certainly as a people and as individuals should feel terribly ashamed about this. That there are among us so called brethren who are investigating the personal lives of the messengers so as to find fault with them. Despite the convincing truths that are taught, they are imbued with a spirit of self-declared supremacy. At least in 1888 the message was new, it had to be put to the Berean test to see ‘whether those things were so’ but what excuse do we have to stand on today? Are we not blessed with more wisdom of God’s will then in any other age? Sure, we may also be in the most sinful of ages but doesn’t it say in Romans 5:20 that ‘where sin abounded, grace did much more abound’? I don’t know about you brothers and sisters, but I am tired of coming to a dead church. I am tired of seeing people seeking their own gain, seeking position and seeking power above seeking God and encouraging his messengers. In 1888 the message was lost because as we read ‘many has lost sight of Jesus’, I’m afraid here and now many in the Church are losing sight of Jesus too.  

Envy and jealousy are diseases which disorder all the faculties of the being. They originated with Satan in paradise…. Those who listen to his [Satan’s] voice will demerit others and will misrepresent and falsify in order to build up themselves. But nothing that defiles can enter heaven, and unless those who cherish this spirit are changed, they can never enter there, for they would criticize the angels. They would envy another’s crown. They would not know what to talk of unless they could bring up the imperfections and errors of others. – {Mind, Character and Personality 2, 792.1} 

An envious mind permeates into everything in its environment. It is a disease that spreads from person to person through continual contact. It works to promote self and undermine all others that it perceives to be a threat to its power and position. It has a stench of death that sucks the life out of a Church.  

Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? Open rebuke is better then secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. – [Proverbs 27:4-6] 

You know I have heard these verses separately on many occasions but placed together they paint an all too real picture of envy’s power and actions. When someone is angry or outraged at you they attack you outright, they make it known you are their enemy, but envy works in the shadows and quite often it works in those whom we call our brethren. That especially is what makes envy so hard to stand before. In the Church it is especially grievous because here it is you come to find sanctuary, to find encouragement and to uplift your soul. When envy permeates through a church it turns the sacred into the unsanctified. It makes church a place of anxiety rather than a place of rest, a place of suspicion rather than protection. There is something terribly wrong when you feel the outside world is safer than the church because at least in the world you know who your enemies are. In the church you may not know who is conspiring against you whilst also saying God bless you or who is passing on your faults to others whilst disregarding the genuine love God has placed in your heart for them.    

I am fearful now, more than at any other period of time, that Christians, as individuals, may separate from God because they lose sight of the Pattern, Jesus Christ, and think it is safe to walk in the sparks of their own kindling, deceiving the soul with thinking it is the way of the Lord. – [Selected Messages 2, 324.3] 

That was written in 1893 so how much more of a concern should this be for us today? So what can you do when faced with this tremendous dilemma? How do you make good of a bad situation? How do you find the courage to press on in spite of this great discouragement? In spite of an evil spirit sweeping over your place of sanctuary? Well you do exactly what the rejecters of the message are not doing. You look to Jesus and you dare not look elsewhere.  

Look unto Jesus at all times and in all places, offering a silent prayer from a sincere heart that you may know how to do His will. Then when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard for you against the enemy. When you are almost ready to yield, to lose patience and self-control, to be hard and denunciatory, to find fault and accuse – this is the time for you to send to heaven the prayer, “Help me, O God, to resist temptation, to put all bitterness and wrath and evilspeaking out of my heart. Give me thy meekness, Thy lowliness, Thy long-suffering, and Thy love. Leave me not to dishonour my Redeemer, to misinterpret the words and motives of my wife, my children, and my brethren and sisters in the faith. Help me that I may be kind, pitiful, tender-hearted, forgiving. Help me to… represent the character of Christ to others. ‘ [Adventist Home, 214.2]  

If this is your constant prayer then you will have peace. You will be assured that as you work to proclaim the message of Christ our Righteousness you will also receive it in your life. This is the only safeguard from envy’s diseasing influence. 

A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones. – [Proverbs: 14:30] 

It’s interesting to note that the word sound in this instance means ‘healthy or free from flaw, defect or decay’. That is exactly the working of Righteousness is it not? Envy and Righteousness are so far a part from each other but the heart is the very seat of either one but never of both.   

It is with the heart, and not with the mind merely, that man believeth unto righteousness. (Rom. 10:10). Heart belief represents not only an acknowledgement of the truth, but a love of it. And love of the truth is but another expression for love of God; for all truth is a manifestation of God, and all truth culminates in Him. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” To love the truth which God has revealed is to love Him; and to love Him is to open our hearts to Him so that His will may have free course in our lives. When the heart is open to God freely, He comes and dwells in it; not by a figure of speech, but actually, and His presence there is made manifest by love, for God is love, and love has no other source. “We know that we have passed from death into life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). – [Ellet J. Waggoner, The Present Truth, August 16, 1894] 

The 1888 message is a message that is not only to be heard but to be experienced, cherished and lived. There were many Advent believers who failed to receive the latter rain then. It was as though it was falling all around, they could hear it falling and yet the stood in the field under an umbrella. To receive the rain is to let it permeate into every aspect of your life, to soak through your clothes and under your skin and into the inner workings of you heart. You see in the midst of what appears to be a stain on the church, what appears to be a dry experience, the message of ‘Christ our Righteousness’ is to be heard and to be applied. It is your only safeguard from the permeating disease of envy. To the messengers and to those who genuinely want the message there is a silver lining to this experience. To those who are attacking the messengers there is a stern warning to bring to your conscience the gravity of your actions in rejecting God’s appointed message and methods.    

If you have not laid aside your envy, your jealousies, your hatred one against another, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You would only carry the same disposition with you; but there will be nothing of this character in the world to come. Nothing will exist there but love and joy and harmony. Some will have brighter crowns than others, but there will be no jealous thoughts in any heart among the redeemed. Each one will be perfectly satisfied, for all will be rewarded according to their work  – [Selected Messages 3, 155.4] 

Jesus was to come in a few short years and can still come in but a few short years now. Ask God to search your heart, ask him to sincerely show you the faults that you don’t want to see and then repent of those fault. If you hold envy against your brethren, if you entertain Satan’s spirit of fault finding or if you are striving for supremacy and position today the message is being spoken to you. Harden not your heart but instead say as did John the Baptist, He must increase, but I must decrease.

Br. Steven Caruana