1844 and Being Like Jesus

What do the message and experience of 1844 mean for Christian living today?

The black cloud of the 1844 disappointment had a silver lining so bright that it can be called a "magnificent disappointment." The silver lining was Jesus Christ and the many new things He then began to do for us, affecting everything we believe. Dr. Damsteegt in this issue calls attention to some of the marvelous blessings that 1844 has brought to those who believe in it. Indeed, a whole book could be written about this "magnificent disappointment" and one has!

If 1844 is, first of all, a special message about Jesus, it is also

• the basic reason the Seventh-day Adventist movement exists,

• the unique reason that Seventh-day Adventists are "Adventists,"

• the motivating reason why they keep the seventh day,

• the principal reason behind their vast mission program,

• the spiritual reason for their classic lifestyle,

• the most impelling sign that Jesus is coming soon,

• the most forcible argument for Christian education, and

• a most persuasive reason for seeking to be "like Jesus."

1844 derives its special significance from being:

• the end of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14,

• a major sign of the end time,

• the beginning of the final judgment,

• the onset of heaven's Day of Atonement, and

• the cue for the first angel to announce, "The hour of His judgment is come." Thus 1844 triggers also the second angels' message, and the third.

Inasmuch as discussing all these implications of 1844 can fill a book, I would like to confine our attention in this article to only one aspect, some of the implications of the great disappointment for coming to be like Jesus.

The Adventist movement grew out of William Miller's discovery that Jesus was his friend. "The Scriptures became my delight," he wrote, "and in Jesus I found a friend."

The Millerite Adventist movement was a preparation to meet Jesus. The people "longed to behold Him whom their souls loved."1 Because they loved Jesus and longed to see Him, they sought earnestly to pattern their lives after His.

But let me interrupt myself; I cannot keep from telling you something that you may or may not approve. For at least 40 years I have cherished the famous passage near the top of Christ's Object Lessons, p. 69: "Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own."

This passage used to be a favorite of virtually all the Seventh-day Adventists I knew. If you were an Adventist back, say, in the 1950s, I expect you also enjoyed it then. If you were indeed an Adventist in the 1950s, you probably still enjoy it.

No one need be alarmed by the term, "perfectly reproduced." It is not describing a fanatic perfection. It is certainly not defending that grossly false concept of "perfectionism" that perversely excuses immorality. No, no. It is talking about the perfection of our dear friend Jesus! It says, "Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church." It goes on to say that "when the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own."

Be like Jesus, this my song, 

In the home and in the throng; 

Be like Jesus, all day long, 

I would be like Jesus.

Can you think of anything in the entire universe that you would rather be, all day long, than like Jesus? If you love Him-and I believe you do love Him-I know you want to be like Him. And Jesus wants us to be like Him! "Jesus is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church."

I make no secret of it. I am enthusiastic in my desire, by God's mercy, to be part of that "final generation" that some Adventists talk about. If everyone in it is going to be like Jesus, doesn't this mean that they are all going to be nice? Who wouldn't like to be part of a big bunch of nice people?

How Jesus was Nice. Jesus was nice, wasn't he?

He wasn't wimpy nice, to be sure. His was niceness with guts.

He had the gift of constructive confrontation. One night He dared to tell an important man like Nicodemus that even he needed to be born again! He said it in such a way that Nicodemus came to love Him for it.

Another time, Jesus had the honest courage to tell a group of leading ministers, to their faces in public, that they were hypocrites; but He told them with the voice of a man who was offering to be executed in their place before the week was out.

Jesus did niceness. He spent time with people, traveled distances to help them, and went without things so He could be generous. Instead of getting cross with awkward people, He was patient and encouraged them.

Jesus was polite, courteous, and thoughtful. He was kind. Completely honest. Prompt to do the right thing. Unafraid to stand up for others. Absolutely fair.

At the same time, He was a true Sabbath keeper, for He was "two-table" nice.

"Two-table" nice?

Yes! Didn't Jesus Himself summarize the two tables of the law as two core commandments? - "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40). "Two-table nice" means adhering to both tables of the law, to the first four commandments about obeying God written on one table of stone, and to the other six commandments about how to treat people, written on the second table of the law.

The enemy doesn't mind which table of the law we emphasize provided we neglect the other one.

Some people who aren't religious pride themselves on being polite and honest. Other people who are rude and discourteous pride themselves on being very religious. Neither is better than the other. The enemy of our souls doesn't mind which table of the law we emphasize provided we neglect the other one.

Jesus was both courteous and religious. He was "two-table" nice. He honored both tables of the law, the one about loving God with one's heart, soul, and strength, and also the one about loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Because God teaches us to love one another, Christ's total loyalty to His heavenly Father made Him completely unselfish.

He was two-table nice. Good and nice.

Even the onlooking angels, accustomed to having one another be good and nice for thousands of years, were astonished at Christ's supernatural goodness and niceness.

Jesus is waiting with longing desire for the reproduction of Himself in His church!

Please don't cheat yourself by saying it can't be done. Christ's character qualifications are listed as the "fruit of the Spirit" in Galatians 5:22, 23. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."

These characteristics are the fruit of the Spirit. They develop in people who are "born of the Spirit" (see John 3:5). People who are born of the Spirit experience not merely an "improvement" of their old ways, marvelous as that would be, but a "transformation of nature," says The Desire of Ages.

"The Christian's life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether. This change can be brought about only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit."2

You were born with a sinful nature. You know this. Now please don't hang on to your sinful nature as if you were proud of it. Get a new nature! Get born from above, born of the Holy Spirit, who is as divine as God Himself. Become a partaker of the divine nature.

In daily terms: When you and I are treating people wrong, it does little good to pray that we won't get irritated with them any more or say mean things. What we need is to choose, by God's grace, to have an entirely new attitude toward the people. We need a new birth on this point, a transformation of nature.

When we find that we are selfishly indulging ourselves, it does only a little good to pray for self-control. What we need instead is to choose, by God's grace, to have an entirely new attitude toward our idol. We need a new birth on this point, a transformation of nature.

If the Sabbath seems inconvenient, or too long, or dull, let us go to God and ask for a new attitude, a new birth in respect to Sabbath keeping, a transformation of nature.

In the final analysis, choosing a new attitude by faith is the only way any of us can be among those triumphant "saints" who "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Happily, helping people make

this choice is the special procedure that the Holy Spirit is dedicated to. The Spirit comes to us as the principal divine Agent in the process of sanctification, the process of becoming Christ-like, of becoming nice, with guts. "Christ is waiting with longing desire for the reproduction of His character in His church." Don't say He will have to wait forever! I know better. 1 John 3:3 says, "When He shall appear, we shall be like him"! It's a Bible promise. "It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him."

Our passage in Christ's Object Lessons, p. 69, is also a promise. "When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own."

1844 and the Final Generation. A few moments ago I used the term, "final generation." It's a term that seemed to be used by all the Seventh-day Adventists I knew in my boy-hood, and in academy and college. The final generation would be made up of the people in whom Christ's character was perfectly reproduced. In the 1960s, the concept of a final generation began to fall out of fashion in some quarters, though it's coming back in again, I understand. The reason it was given up, as I remember, was that some Bible teachers said that God would never require more of one generation in human history than of any other generation.

We can all agree that in a very basic sense, God will not require more of the final generation than of any other. Christ's most basic standard in every generation has been that we love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. We quoted the passage a moment ago.

Such a standard is in one sense a limited one. It is limited to what our emotions, our mind, and our health are capable of. God does not ask us to give Him the quantity of devotion expressed, say, by the Four Living Creatures of Revelation, who are able to praise Him without ceasing day and night (see Revelation 4:8). He knows that we need to sleep and eat and earn a living.

So yes, the basic standard of loyalty is a limited one. God takes into consideration our frailties. "He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14). What He really wants in every generation is integrity, single-minded loyalty, honesty free of all hypocrisy.

Precisely because this basic character requirement of honesty and integrity is related to our capability, it varies according to our time and place. Inevitably. God does not ask of us today what He asked of Noah, to spend 120 years building an ark. We aren't facing a world-wide flood and we don't live for 120 years. In our time and place, God is asking us to prepare for the crisis facing our generation, the unleashing of Satan in the most deceptive role he has ever filled.

Remember Christ's warning that "everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required" (Luke 12:48). Here is the integrity principle again, living honestly in harmony with our possibilities. In this case, it means living honestly in harmony with the amount of light we have.

And how much light we do have! Several Bibles in many Seventh-day Adventist homes-and, since 1844, an understanding of fulfilled prophecy such as no generation has had before; and since 1844, light on the Sabbath question such as no generation has had before this side of the cross; and since 1844, the inspired writings of Ellen G. White, occupying several times as many pages as the Bible itself.

Does God require more of the final generation than of any other?

No, not if we mean integrity, living honestly in harmony with all available light. But yes, indeed, He does require more of us in the sense that we have received more light than any previous generation.

If you and I are to qualify for membership among the end-time "saints," who keep the commandments holding onto Jesus, then yes, more is expected of us than of those who have lived before.

1844 and Ellen G. White. A moment ago I mentioned as part of our end-time light the inspired writings of Ellen G. White. Please do join me in looking at the ministry of Mrs. White as one of the means Jesus has chosen to help us develop a character like Christ's and to know better what it means to be holy, loyal, and nice in the "Christ-like" sense.

The "saints" in the third angel's message who "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" show up in Revelation 12:17 as the "remnant" who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus."3 Revelation 19:10, as every well-informed Adventist knows, defines the "testimony of Jesus" as the "spirit of prophecy."

The Spirit of prophecy as manifested in these last days through Ellen G. White is the "testimony of Jesus." It is a series of communications from Christ Himself, our High Priest in the most holy place, the One who is blotting out sins and revealing to the world the radiant glory of true Sabbath observance.

It is no mere coincidence that "Sister Ellen's" first vision came in December 1844. It came right after the great disappointment and bore a communication about the disappointment. It taught that the "midnight cry" about the 10th day of the 7th month was "light," was true light set up at the beginning of the final pathway the saints would be traveling to the holy city.4

Soon afterward (in February, 1845) came the substantial "Bridegroom" vision that showed Father and Son leaving the holy place to enter the most holy place in 1844.5 Two years later came the "Halo of Glory" vision, showing Jesus in the most holy place holding up God's commandments and calling special attention to the Sabbath.6

The visions came because of 1844. The writings of Ellen G. White are a special end-time gift from Jesus designed to show us what faith-in-Jesus commandment keeping is all about, what it means to be sanctified and to live and love like our Lord. They are a gift from our Friend who traveled on clouds of heaven to the judgment scene and is now engaged in making us like Himself in character so we will be able to pass earth's final test-and also so we can complete the gospel commission.

1844 and Global Mission. Being like Jesus is vital to the performance of our part in completing global mission. Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He commissioned His followers to take His message to the whole world. Matthew 28:18-20 contains the words, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, .. teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

Jesus intends His gospel commission to be carried out. In Matthew 24:14 He said to His disciples, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come."

"And then the end will come." As soon as the job is finished, but not until it is finished, will the end come. This explains why the first angel of Revelation 14 is so insistent that in the judgment hour the "eternal gospel" be preached with a "loud voice" to "every nation and tribe and tongue and people." We note that Jesus said it is the "gospel of the kingdom" that will be preached in all the world before the end comes. It is the true gospel, the gospel about the goodness of the King, about His willingness to forgive and His promise to animate us with loyalty to His royal rules. It is the gospel of God's mercy in forgiving our sins and of God's grace in writing His law on our hearts and minds. It is the gospel of faith in Jesus and of commandment keeping the gospel of commandment keeping by faith in Jesus. It is the gospel of the three angels' messages, preached in the setting of earth's judgment hour.

The difference between the gospel of the kingdom in Matthew 24:14 and the eternal gospel in the first angel's message is only the urgency of prophetic fulfillment, of the arrival of judgment hour, and of the time of trouble dead ahead.

The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in 1990 announced a "global mission" to reach all the still "unreached" peoples in the world. The General Conference was right to do this. We must cooperate in every suitable way.

Within the dimensions of global mission there are numerous unreached persons living quite close to us-in our neighborhoods and in the places where we work. On the personal level, 1844 challenges us to represent Jesus by becoming like Him in order to win those nearest to us. Our quotation from page 69 of Christ's Object Lessons continues with this in mind: "It is the privilege of every Christian, not only to look for, but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:12). Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain."

Individually, we can deprive ourselves of this "privilege of every Christian." We may choose not to become fully like Jesus, or we may simply not make any focused choice. But if we choose to become like Jesus, our passage promises that we can indeed enjoy the privilege of hastening Christ's return. "Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world [global mission] would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain."

1844 means that we should seek to be like Jesus, not only because being like Jesus is the most beautiful thing we can experience and not only so we can overcome all the end-time deceptions, but even more so, in order to attract the people around us to love Jesus and thereby help save their souls and hasten the second coming.

NOTES

This article is adapted from Magnificent Disappointment: what really happened in 1844 and its meaning for today (Pacific Press, 1994).

1. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 403.

2. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p.172.

3. The KJV translation of Revelation 12:17, used here, is more faithful to the underlying Greek than some modern translations. For a discussion of the translation of Revelation 12:17 that shows the superiority of the King James Version in this instance, see God Cares, 2:403-405.

4. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pp. 13-17.

5. Ibid., pp. 54-56.

6. Ellen G. White, Life Sketches, pp. 95-96, 100-103.