The Gathering Time-3

March 21  The Gathering Time-3

 


How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation. Isa. 52:7.

The initial phase of what White termed the gathering time lasted from 1848 through 1850. The Sabbatarian conferences of those years were the avenue that Bates and the Whites utilized to form a core of believers on the platform of the three angels' messages of Revelation 14. But conferences weren't the only means that God would use.

At the one held in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in November 1848 Ellen White had a vision that would forever change the shape of Adventism.

After coming out of vision, she said to her husband, "I have a message for you. You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world"(LS 125;italics supplied).

Now 160 years later that statement may not seem all that impressive. After all, in the early twenty-first century Adventist publications do circle the earth, pumped out by the millions each year in hundreds of launguages from scores of publishing houses.

But that is the fulfillment, not the prophecy.

What must have the early believers thought of such in a vision? After all, in November 1848 there were probably less than 100 Sabbatarian Adventists, and most of those wrer poor.

Beyond that, they all believed in the shut door concept, including Ellen White herself. As she later put it, "With my brethren and sisters, after the time passed in forty-four I did believe no more sinners would be converted. But I never had a vision that no more sinners would be converted"(1SM 74).

The publishing vision, in fact, contradicted her personal belief and that of her fellow Sabbatarians. Here was an open door vision in the midst of a shut door people.

Yet, in spite of their beliefs, Adventist publications, including the "little paper," have gone like strams of light "round the world."

Thank You, God, that Your sight is better than ours. Help me today to see with Your eyes rather than mine.