January 4, 2024 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Greetings, friends! At the start of a new year, people often think about making New Year’s resolutions, and it’s not surprising that resolutions have been around for a long time.
Thousands of years ago a resolution rang out from the Israelites as they trembled at the foot of Mount Sinai: “All that the Lord has said, we will do!” (Exodus 19:8). Unfortunately, like many resolutions today, it didn’t last long.
On the other hand, many people have found that focusing on mission, rather than resolutions, can bring lasting, eternal results.
Jesus is our best example of a mission-driven life. By age 12 He had a clear understanding of His mission. And when returning to Nazareth as an adult, He plainly articulated His mission to those living in His hometown. While in the Synagogue, Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah. He turned to the place where the Messiah’s mission is described, beginning with “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me . . .” (Isaiah 61:1, 2a).
We are told in the wonderful book, The Desire of Ages, that as Jesus explained this passage, “He spoke of the Messiah as a reliever of the oppressed, a liberator of captives, a healer of the afflicted, restoring sight to the blind, and revealing to the world the light of truth.” The hearts of the hearers were moved, and “they responded with fervent amens and praises to the Lord” (The Desire of Ages, p. 237).
The rejoicing, however, ended abruptly when Jesus announced, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). As the meaning of Christ’s words began to sink in, the people of Nazareth were deeply offended, and they even tried to kill him.
Throughout His earthly life, Christ’s mission to seek and save the lost was the focus of everything He did. When His mission here was accomplished, His parting words to the disciples became known as the “Great Commission” as recorded in Matthew 28. Following the promised Pentecost, Christ’s early followers carried out the Great Commission and turned the world upside down!
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Satan to be about his mission, seeking to confuse, discourage, neutralize, and destroy the early Christian church. By the middle of the second century A.D. a false form of Christianity was in place, which no longer taught or observed the plain truths of Christ. God’s faithful followers, as predicted in Revelation 12:6, had to “flee into the wilderness” for 1,260 years. During those dark ages, many were martyred for their faith as they stood firmly for Bible truth.
Toward the end of that time, reformers such as John Wycliffe, Huss and Jerome, Luther, Zwingli, Tyndale, and others began drawing attention to biblical truths that had been distorted or hidden over the centuries, and Christ’s true teachings began to emerge as God’s Word was brought to the people in their own languages.
Eventually, out of that great Protestant reformation movement grew the Seventh-day Adventist Church with a prophetic mission. That mission continues the reformation by turning people back to the true worship of God, focusing on Christ and His truth found in the Bible and the Bible alone.
Seventh-day Adventists have long understood that their very character and unique mission springs from the prophecies found especially in the books of Daniel and Revelation, and specifically, in the Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14.
A correct theological understanding will drive a correct approach to mission. Seventh-day Adventist theology and mission are inseparable—our Christ-centered mission is driven by our Christ-centered message! To deny the special message that God has given to us and claim that we aren’t so different from other Christians is one of the fastest and most effective ways to neutralize the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Across the world today, more than 2 billion people identify as Christian. Additionally, approximately 41,000 Christian denominations and organizations have been identified worldwide. Of course, these Christians love Jesus and appreciate His sacrifice on the cross, as we do as Seventh-day Adventists. So, what makes us different? Many people are sincerely asking that question, and we should be prepared to answer them.
Most first generation Seventh-day Adventists will tell you that they chose to become an Adventist because they “found the truth.” Jesus Himself knows the longings of the human heart, and much of His earthly mission involved healing and teaching. Another word for “teaching” is “doctrine,” and at the heart of every one of our 28 Fundamental Beliefs or doctrines is Jesus Christ.
The Jews wondered how it was that Jesus was so knowledgeable, and He “answered them . . ., ‘My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority’” (John 7:16, 17).
In his letter to Timothy, Paul instructs the young minister to be “nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed,” and to “give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” He then admonishes Timothy to “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Tim. 4:6, 12-13, 16).
So, what is our mission as Seventh-day Adventists? It is to “make disciples of all people, communicating the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12, leading them to accept Jesus as personal Savior and unite with His remnant Church, discipling them to serve Him as Lord and preparing them for His soon return.”
This remnant church was called and formed by God Himself at a specific time in earth’s history to proclaim the last warning message to the world. Some may say that in today’s world of political sensitivities, the messages of Revelation 14 are not appropriate to bring to the forefront of our mission. But the three angels’ messages are the final appeal of God to this world to help everyone prepare to meet Jesus.
We are told that “In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. . . . They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention” (Testimonies to the Church, vol. 9, p. 19).
As Seventh-day Adventists, we are all called to share the truth as it is in Jesus with a dying world. You have a part to play in proclaiming God’s final message.
So, as this new year begins, I invite you to join with me in prayer, asking the Lord to implant His mission within our hearts and give us the courage to reach out to a world in need.
Father in Heaven, we ask that you will fill our hearts, not only with the message of truth, but with the wonderful privilege of sharing that truth. The mission that you have entrusted to us. We ask that you will help us to fully appreciate our relationship with you every day through Bible study, through prayer, through the study of the spirit of prophecy, and then to share that with others. Thank you for this marvelous opportunity. As we look forward to Jesus soon, coming to share with others the great hope that we have in Jesus. We ask all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior, our coming King, our best friend, Jesus Christ. Amen.