March 23  The Nature Of Present Truth-1

Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 2Peter 1:12.

Each of the founders of Sabbatarian Adventism had a dynamic understanding of what they called "present truth." Of course, the use of the term wasn't unique to them. The Millerites earlier had employed the term to refer to the imminent return of Jesus. And later they applied it to the seventh-month movement (i.e., the proclamation that Jesus would arrive in October 1844). Thus even in the Millerite use of "present truth" we find a progressive dynamic in understanding.

It was no accident that James White chose the title Present Turth for the first Sabbatarian Adventist periodical. Bates had used it as early as January 1847 to refer to the Sabbath and related truths.

James White in the first edition of his little publication in July 1849, after quoting 2 Peter 1:12, which speaks of being "established in the PRESENT TRUTH," wrote that "in Peter's time there was present truth, or truth applicable to that present time. The church [has] ever had a present truth. The present truth now, is that which shows present duty, and the right position for us who are about to witness the time of trouble." He agreed with Bates on the content of present truth. The  present trutn now, is that which shows present duty, and the right position for us who are about to witness the time of touble." He agreed with Bates on the content of present truth. The first two angels of Revelation 14 had sounded-now it was time for a third.

The early Sabbatarians definitely belived they had something the world needed to hear, but they realized that God still had more to reveal to them. That is, they saw truth as dynamic and progressive. As a result, Ellen White could write in relation to the theological issues related to the 1888 General Conference session that "that which God gives His servants to speak today would not perhaps have been present truth twenty years ago, but is is GOd's mesage for this time"(MS 8a, 1888).

The Whites and Bates were open to further develpment of truth. And younger leaders evidenced the openness of the founders. Thus uriah Smith, for example, wrote in 1857 that the Sabbatarians had discovered increasing truth since 1844. "We have," he noted, "been enabled to rejoice in truths far in advance of what we then perceived. But we do not imagine that we yet have it all. . .We trust to progress still, our way growing continually brighter and brighter."

How is it with me today? Is my mind still open for God's leading as He reveals truth in His Word?

If Christ is in you "the hope of glory," you will have no disposition to watch others, to expose their errors. Instead of seeking to accuse and condemn, it will be your object to help, to bless, and to save(TFMB, 128).