"Occupy till I come." As a Church we have always had a problem with this one. Either we have been so busy watching for the coming that we have forgotten what else we should have been doing; or we have been so busy occupying that we have forgotten what we were waiting for. In the latter days of the Advent movement it is certainly true that occupying has become the major focus, with the aspect of watching for the coming taking a definite second place.

That the Church has recognized this state of affairs is evident from the many appeals of Ellen White, a large number of articles through the years in the Review (especially from long-time editor Uriah Smith--as well as later editors), and the actions of church councils, most notably the "Earnest Appeals" of the Annual Councils of 1973 and 1974.

The Early Adventist Experience

In the early days of the Advent movement, the extreme positions taken indicate that the stress on the imminence of the Second Coming could prevent accomplishment of the mission of the Church. Some believers thought there was no time left for anything, not even the mission.

Even normal activities should be suspended, according to some. James White wrote in 1845 of two Adventists who had "denied their faith, in being published for marriage. We all look on it as a wile of the Devil. The firm brethren in Maine who are waiting for Christ to come have no fellowship with such a move. We are looking for redemption in the morning. Watch." (James White letter to Brother Jacobs, Day Star, October 11, 1845.)

Interestingly, James White married Ellen Harmon the very next year, admitting that their marriage had caused concern to some of the brethren. Ellen White wrote that she never expected to be married, in view of the Lord's soon coming. (Unpublished letter to Brother Collins, August 26, 1846; Ellen G White Estate Document Release 310).

One congregation even censured one of their members for building a house, on the basis that they felt that house-building denied faith in the soon return of Jesus.

Such tensions between being ready and occupying till the Lord's return led James White to write in 1868 that "The position of suspense is not the most happy one" (James White, Life Incidents, Vol. 1, Battle Creek, Michigan: Steam Press of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association., 1868, p 337).

Over-intense emphasis on the soon return led some to conclude they were in the waiting time, so that no more mission was possible. The shut door theory also worked against the outward focus on occupying till He comes.

Early Adventist writing views this world as a very temporary and negative phase. Expressions were used such as "the land of the dying," "this sin-burdened earth," and "pilgrims and strangers on the earth."

Later this emphasis became modified as the realization dawned that much mission work remained to be done. Ellen White writes frequently on this theme, identifying the second advent as a motivator for outreach, not a restriction of it.

"Living power must attend the message of Christ's second coming in the clouds of heaven. We must not rest until we see many souls converted to the blessed hope of the Lord's appearing. . . . The message for this time is positive, simple, and of the deepest importance. We must act like men and women who believe" (Ellen G White, letter to Professor C W Irwin, September 22, 1902).

"Is Christ soon to come in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory? Is the end of all things at hand? If so, those who claim to be followers of Christ must work in proportion to their faith. Our part is not to wait in idle expectancy, but to act in accordance with our faith in the word of God. . . . Heart-work reveals itself in actions. . . . We are not in a dreamland of inaction" (Review and Herald, April 12, 1898, pp 1, 2). (See also Review and Herald, November 12, 1914, p 21; May 15, 1903, p 7; 6T, 440.)

The realization was that the second advent needed to become integrated into the life experience of every believer in a practical way. Hence a "motto" from Ellen White which we would all do well to learn:

"The Lord is soon coming. Talk it, pray it, believe it. Make it a part of the life" (7T 237).

George I Butler, General Conference President, remarked on this change of emphasis. "The change from the strong expectation of the immediate appearing of the Lord, to the 'waiting,' 'watching' position they later occupied was very great" (G I Butler, Review and Herald, March 10, 1885, p 153).

Gerard Damsteegt comments, "The urgency of the imminent parousia changed into a view which expected the Second Advent in the near future, creating in turn a climate in which missionary consciousness could gradually develop to a concept of a world-wide mission responsibility" (Foundations, 270).

Adventists of the past century were convinced they were living in the last hours of earth's history. Once the problem of an over-imminent Advent had been dealt with, mission then was seen as the truly urgent task: warning the world before the end came.

This was given even greater impetus by the conviction that those who had seen the signs of the times would live to see Christ come. The popular Adventist interpretation of Matthew 24:34 was that "the generation in which the signs appeared shall not pass till all the wonders of the second advent shall be accomplished" (E J Waggoner, Prophetic Lights, Oakland, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1888, p 127).

For some, the absolute nature of this interpretation is very definite: "Without a doubt there will be some living when the Lord comes who saw the falling of the stars in 1833" (C B Haynes, The Return of Jesus, Washington DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1926, p 293).

"The present generation [1918] is the one which is destined to see the second coming of Christ. Just as surely as the great period of tribulation of the church came to pass, just as surely as this period was followed by the occurrence of the dark day in 1780, just as surely as this in turn was followed by the falling of the stars in 1833, just so surely will the coming of Christ take place in the present generation. This is the clear teaching of the Word of God, and the Scriptures cannot be broken" (C B Haynes, Our Lord's Return, Nashville, Tennessee: Southern Publishing Association., 1918, p 56).

You cannot get more assertively definite than that! Ellen White was more circumspect, but she does make statements which might be taken to support the sign generation interpretation:

"He [Christ] says of those who see the signs, 'This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.' These signs have appeared. Now we know of a surety that the Lord's coming is at hand" (DA 632).

Of course, as time passes this direct and definite correlation of the existing sign generation as that of the second advent is harder and harder to maintain, at least in the original sense of the word generation.

In the anonymous book, The World's Crisis, written about the time of the First World War, the following defence is offered for the continuing validity the sign generation:

"The Saviour's assurance [Matt 24:34] justifies us then in concluding that when the stars fell in 1833 the last generation was then on the stage. When He comes again in glory there will be some alive to see Him who were alive when the stars fell. Any such must now be well over eighty years of age, but it is not unheard of for men and women to outlive a century, so it may yet perhaps be a score of years or more before the coming of the Lord takes place" (Anonymous, The World's Crisis, Watford, England: International Tract Society, p 49).

After just that score of years or so later, A G Daniells returns to the problem in a Ministry article, "Is Christ's Second Coming Being Delayed? If So, Why?" Here the crisis of delay which results from the sign generation approach is now clearly evident:

"We are well aware of the strong faith and positive teaching of the pioneers regarding the signs of His coming as given by our Lord and recorded in Matthew 24. We are also aware of their positive views and teaching regarding 'this generation' of verse 34. They sincerely, whole-heartedly believed that the signs recorded in that chapter were sure heralds of His coming. They believed and taught with great assurance that 'this generation,' which 'shall not pass away, till all these things shall be accomplished,' was the generation in which they were living, and that the Saviour would come in that generation.

"More than fourscore years have come and gone since those earnest, God-fearing leaders reached these conclusions. The Saviour has not yet come. Those pioneers are now in their graves."--A G Daniells, "Is the Second Coming of Christ Being Delayed? If So, Why?" Ministry, November 1930, pp 5ff

Present Adventist interpretation can no longer follow the former interpretation without some redefinition. What is happening is a further reinterpretation of the word generation--so that not only are Christ's words to His generation expanded to mean more than the literal generation, but also the sign generation of the last days is expanded to mean more than a literal generation. This re-defining is clear in this note from the SDA Bible Commentary: "Christ declared that the 'generation' that sees the last of the signs, shall not pass before 'all these things (Christ's coming and the end of the world) be fulfilled'" (5BC 503). It is significant that the word generation is in quotes.

The Significance of Adventist History on the Expectation of the Advent

Why the history lesson? Because it highlights the continuing challenge that we face today--to make sure what we are doing and saying is relevant to the world to which we want to witness. It also puts into focus the importance of Christ's words to "Occupy till I come."

There is a tension between the two events or activities. We are to be living with one eye on the here and now and the other focused on the skies. Looking in two different directions can cause problems of focus, of seeing clearly where we should be going.

It was a conviction of Christ's soon return that gave the Adventist mission work its drive and power. The slogan "the gospel message to all the world in this generation" was of utmost importance if you believed this was also the last generation. The second advent component of the Advent message gave it urgency and great conviction.

Today we have many aspects of motivation which are all relevant. We wish to alleviate hunger and misery. We desire to improve people's education and life prospects. We are committed to helping others have a healthy lifestyle. We have adopted a slogan which promotes "a quality of life that is complete in Christ."

Yet the truly Advent part of the Adventist message must always be the emphasis on Adventists as the Church of Hope, the ones who are looking for Jesus' soon return. Without this vital part of our witness, we are no longer Adventists.

The Advent in Adventist Message and Mission

Think of some of the statements we noted last time. The second advent is mentioned 316 times in the New testament--once in every 25 verses.

What do we do with our belief in the return of Jesus? Does it affect us? How does it affect us? What do we think about it? Do we think about it? Has the heart of Adventism grown cold?

I can share a personal testimony of what drew me to the Adventist Church. Specifically, how the mission of the Church was fulfilled in one schoolboy talking to another in a grammar school classroom in Portsmouth, England.

I remember when I first heard that Jesus was coming again. I had been brought up in a Christian home and had attended church regularly every Sunday. But I do not remember hearing a sermon on the second coming. So when I met an enthusiastic Adventist at school who told me Jesus was coming again, I was surprised, disbelieving, and above all, terrified!

He took out his little Gideon Bible and showed me what the Bible said: Matthew 24, John 14, Mark 13, Luke 17 and 21, Revelation 21, 22 and 1 Thessalonians 4. I was amazed!

I had never seen it before--can you believe it? Even though the return of Jesus is mentioned so often I had missed it. And now I was terrified--thinking of the return of such an awesome Judge. So I studied and studied!

I even completed a PhD thesis of 518 pages! Today my reason for believing is so different. I desperately want Jesus to come. What about you?

"The doctrine of the second advent is the very keynote of the Sacred Scriptures" (GC 299).

The very keynote of the sacred scriptures? Why not salvation or righteousness by faith? Because the second advent is the ultimate focus, the realization of hope, the fulfilment of promises.

Knowing that Jesus is coming soon is what makes us want to jump up and tell others, not from the perspective of doom and impending disaster, but because of the wonderful hope this is and the meaning it brings to life in the present.

More than anything else to day, our need is for certainty--certainty that our message and mission is right, that it is still relevant, that we still are on course, that Jesus is still coming soon.

Recently I had the real delight and privilege to be in Guatemala and Barbados, attending the Inter-American Division Festival of the Laity. Once again I am reminded that "The message for this time is positive, simple, and of the deepest importance" (Ellen White, Letter 150, 1902, pp 2, 3. MS release 844).

It is not complex. The motivation is the two-fold advent: Christ has come, Christ will come. That is what is at the center of our message.

In the words of non-Adventist Lukas Vischer: "In order for a non-Adventist to understand the missionary impetus of their Church, he must realize the importance given in their preaching and missionary witness to the imminence of the second coming. The belief that men are living in the climactic period of this world's history gives urgency to the proclamation of their message and accounts in part for the expansion and growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church all over the world" (Lukas Vischer, "Seventh-day Adventists," Ecumenical Review, Vol 19, Number 1, 1967, p 25).

A PhD thesis from the Catholic University of America comments on this aspect of Adventist theology in relation to mission: "It would be easy to dismiss this notion of an imminent second advent as naïve and visionary, but it should be remembered that this is essentially a New Testament emphasis and a strong motivation in the early church.

"This emphasis on the imminence of the Lord's coming has given a sense of urgency and a strong impetus to the Seventh-day Adventist missionary spirit. It is an emphasis which has to some extent to be restored to the proclamation of the total Christian message" (C Rubencamp, "Immortality and Seventh-day Adventist Eschatology," PhD thesis, Catholic University of America, 1968, p 77).

The importance of being convinced of where we have come from, where we are, and where we are going--that defines who we are!

Occupying and Imminence

Note though that the following text was given by Jesus in response to an over-emphasis on imminence: "And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, 'A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.'"--Luke 19:11-15

Adventists who are fulfilling their mission confront everyone with three questions:

Where are you going? What are you doing? And why?

The answers to these questions say much about us and our mission in life.

World's Wake-up Call

We have a wake-up call for the world.

I was returning from an extended bird watching trip. My friend and I had made the trip from the northern Shetland Islands to London by boat and train. Now we were hitch-hiking the rest of the way to Portsmouth--to save ourselves money! But our long trip meant that by this time we had been awake for over 36 hours. We were desperately tired.

A car stopped to pick us up near Guilford for the last leg of our homebound trip. My kind friend dived into the back seat saying it was his turn, and within moments he was fast asleep. I was stuck in the front seat with our kind driver who was talking away. It soon became clear that he had only stopped to pick us up because he wanted some company. He asked where we were from, and where we were going, and what for. . . .

After a few minutes of this my brain switched off. I kept on waking up with a jerk as my head fell forward. I said to myself: I will not go to sleep, I will not go to sleep! But try as I might, I just kept on nodding off and jumping awake as if I were one of those nodding dogs you see in the back windows of cars.

I just could not stay awake--whatever I wanted!

Have you ever had that experience? It is hard, isn't it? It is as though some unknown force were tying down your eyelids and loosening your neck muscles! But the worst of this example is that so many of us are in a similar state of spiritual dozing. Even in the church we have become comfortable and we start nodding off. Our lives are quiet and prosperous, and we feel at ease.

What about the idea of sleeping while someone we hardly know serves as our driver--taking us who knows where?!

We truly DO need to wake up--and STAY awake. But we also need to be awake to ourselves--to see the way we are--to realize our deficiencies and our needs!

When he was young--about three years old--my son Paul would sometimes come in to see us in the morning. He would be quiet for a while, but then he would come over and put his fingers in my eye and say "Daddy, woke up, woke up." Paul was "woke up" and he wanted everybody else to be "woke up." Isn't there a lesson for us here--not that we should go around putting our fingers in people's eyes, but that we should encourage them to "WOKE UP"!

Recognizing the future element that impacts the present is the answer to our first question: Where are we going?

So the second question: What are we doing? In Jesus' words, we cannot serve God and mammon. We cannot serve two masters. In our mission we reflect the motivation at the core, the blessed hope.

But even if all this is so, we can be so misguided. That is why we have to ask that all important last question: WHY? Why do we then do what we do?

Many people strive to follow God, to do as He commands--for all the wrong reasons. The religious leaders of Christ's time were doing what they thought was right. They were very scrupulous to do exactly as God said. But in the end they were absolutely and totally wrong.

Look at them and see if there are any parallels with yourself. Were they expecting the Messiah? Did they believe in His coming? YES.

Did they keep the seventh-day Sabbath? YES.

Did they pay tithe? YES--even of the herbs in their gardens!

Did they believe in God-centered education? Yes--they had a better religious school system than we have today!

Did they give offerings to God? YES--most of them gave more than we do!

Did they practice health reform? YES--they ate no unclean meats . . . and so on.

But they put to death the Lord of glory. Even belief in the second Advent, and all the work we may do, will be nothing unless we recognize the spiritual principles and values of God's kingdom now.

So it is high time to awake out of sleep. Time rushes on, and our wish must be that of the waiting God, who is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

These words are even more urgent, as we rightly occupy and use our time:

"While much has been accomplished in pushing our work into new fields, much remains to be done. . . . this is the time for labor. . . .

"Now is the time to work; now is the time to step into the openings created by God's special providence to be filled at this present hour. . . .

"This is the critical moment. The golden opportunity, if let pass, may never come again. It is this year, not next; to-day, not tomorrow. . . .

"Soon will the time of labor be ended. Soon will the harvest be overpast. . . .

"Already the hilltops are glimmering with the light of the dawning day. Already the earth is trembling with the tread of the coming Conqueror. Let none look back now. . . .

"Now is God's time, and let his time be your time. . . .

"Our all is what God asks of us at this time."--General Conference Bulletin, Fourth Quarter, 1896, pp 772-774

The second advent is both the goal and the process for mission. Occupying with the work of sharing the gospel is our joy as we eagerly anticipate the return of our Loving Lord.

A Parable of Day's End:

The day is soft, warm, bright. The date is early October--now. The time is early evening. Autumn goldness is everywhere, deeper than summer, and the better for being unexpected.

Searching the brambles round the lakeshore, hunting blackberries among the thorns. Man, woman, and child; a family full of life's goodness, the goodness of God.

Over the shimmering lake the sun spreads a sparkling net, fish are jumping. Swallows and martins splashing down, flittering on a thousand wings in their summer endtime--before the migration journey begins.

The boy laughs. Eyes full of beauty: everywhere he looks life is crammed full of wonder. He stops to watch a water rat paddling towards the shore. "Look, mummy, look." A pheasant calls out in excitement, the boy points and shouts.

There is a crab-apple to pick and taste, sharpsouring the tongue, but good for all that. Rabbits skipscampering, prancing in the goldlight, fur ashine. Air so still, expectant, awaiting.

Ready for a better place, an earth made new. A family together forever. A time when God shall be with them and be their God. A time when even this autumn beauty will seem like faded leaves, shrivelled and brown. A time when blackberry picking will not be marred by thorns that rip and cut, wounds that bleed. A time when thorns will no longer be the crown.

The path leads on. The sun falls low among the oaks, blazing the leaves. The swallows stop their playing to gather on the wires, still chittering. Ready to leave.

The berry basket is full. The sun has gone. The path leads home.

And the day has ended. The father calls: "Are you ready? It is time to go." Are you ready?