The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

Arthur G. Daniells

Foreword

For a third of a century it has been my privilege to present, with increasing fullness, certain of the evidences centering in the theme of this book, “The Abiding Gift of Prophecy.” Particularly is this true of those features treated in the early and latter sections, dealing, first, with the Biblical evidences concerning the continuance of spiritual gifts, but more especially of their latter-day bestowal upon the remnant church. For years, ministerial groups and General Conference Councils have gone on record asking that these studies be placed in book form. This was duly promised by the author, and the work has been pursued with much pleasure and satisfaction.

This volume deals with but one theme--The Abiding Gift of Prophecy. That prophetic gift has been God’s chosen method of revealing Himself to the human race after man had been ruined through sin. Before being estranged from God by this blighting, alien curse, he had free and open access to the presence of his Creator. But after the fall this open way was closed. Since then, an obscuring veil has separated man from the presence of God.

Only through men chosen and called by His sovereign will has God clearly disclosed His purposes and fully revealed the future. The bestowal of the prophetic gift upon an individual has made that person a prophet. The operation of this gift, therefore, is wholly planned and utilized by the Lord Himself. Concerning those whom He calls to the prophetic office, He says: “Hear now My words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” (Numbers 12:6)

At the birth of John the Baptist, the prophetic power of the Spirit came upon his father Zacharias. Being “filled with the Holy Ghost,” he “prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people.” In the midst of an outburst of joy over the advent of the long-expected Messiah, “to give knowledge of salvation” by the remission of sins through faith in His name, Zacharias

testifies that God had spoken “by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began.” (Luke 1:67-70) This most expressive and significant statement of the early bestowal and continuance of the prophetic gift was repeated by the apostle Peter, who declared that God “hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21)

This prophetic gift bestowed was to abide with the church from Adam to the second advent of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when He comes to take His redeemed people to Paradise. It did not cease with the apostles, but is traceable through the centuries to the last days of human history, just before the return of our Lord. When that supreme event of the ages shall occur, then--and not until then--shall come to pass that which is spoken of by the apostle Paul:

“Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.” (1 Corinthians 13:8-10, A.R.V.)

The tracing of the manifestations of this gracious gift through the ages has been a fascinating and most enlightening study. As may be surmised, it has required a vast amount of research. For much of this, and for the critical reading and improvement of the manuscript, I am greatly indebted to a number of my friends who have been deeply interested in the production of this volume.

Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

Humington Park, California,

March 3, 1935

Introduction

Long has the church awaited the coming of this volume, and long has it been needed. Dealing, as it does, in a unique and larger way with the divine provision for the abiding of the gift of prophecy in God’s true church in all ages and dispensations, it presents a full-rounded survey of the most misunderstood and maligned of the three great identifying marks of the true church of the last days. These are “the commandments of God,” “the faith of Jesus,” and “the spirit of prophecy.” It is this remnant church which completes the arrested Reformation of the sixteenth century, which restores the fullness of apostolic faith and practice, and which, significantly enough, is to have as one of its distinguishing characteristics, the manifestation of the promised gifts of the Spirit.

The church has greatly needed this book, not only for the uniqueness and largeness of its concept, but for the comprehensiveness and adequacy of its treatment. It has needed it for the soundness and saneness of its conclusions, and for the reasonableness and winsomeness of its approach. Serious misconceptions have obtained, in the minds of many, concerning all spiritual gifts, but especially as regards the gift of prophecy. Crude and distorted concepts have been formed and fostered by others. Deceptive counterfeits have appeared to simulate and harass the true bestowals, thus to bring the whole divine provision into doubt and disrepute.

It is truly refreshing, therefore, to have a presentation so conspicuous for soundness and balance. These basic qualities have been happily blended with unswerving loyalty to the word of truth, and fidelity to the facts of record. Dignified, chaste, scholarly, and Biblical,--these are terms that may fitly describe this presentation, destined, I believe, to be a classic in its field.

This volume lifts the gift of prophecy wholly above the strange, weird, and fantastic, and presents it as God’s chosen, revealed, established, and uniform method of communicating with the people of His choice on earth, separated as they have been from His presence, since the fall of man, by that dreadful thing--sin.

As the supreme claim to our acceptance of this gift, the author presents the character and content of the prophetic messages themselves. The internal evidence is set forth as the determining factor, subject to definite and well-defined moral tests. Physical phenomena--which may, or may not, accompany the giving of visions and revelations from God--may serve at times to arrest attention and to convince the beholder. These unquestionably have their time and place in the manifestation of the gift to the church, especially in the early exercise of the gift, before there are written records or a body of literature prepared and authorized by the chosen instrument. But when such appear as the fruitage of the gift, these then become, logically and inevitably, the supreme test of validity, and the criteria of truth or falsity.

The material phenomena, Satan can and has duplicated in connection with false prophets, to the harassing and bewilderment of those who would judge chiefly by the physical tests. But neither man nor devil can simulate the exalted purity, the truth, and the consistency of the genuine, marked as it is by harmony with historic and scientific fact, fidelity to the principles of truth, the dictates of conscience, and the mandates of common sense,--and, to crown all, insight into both the secrets of human hearts and the wisdom and foreknowledge of God. The author has given us satisfying evidence on the basis of these determining factors, particularly as relates to the manifestation of this gift in the last days.

It is this high concept that at once removes the gift in the remnant church from the realm of something new and strange; something heretofore unknown or inoperative, and therefore difficult for the conservative and the incredulous to receive. Such a comprehensive view takes away that instinctive and otherwise inevitable hesitancy about presenting the evidence of the latter-day manifestation of the gift to a materialistic and scoffing world. It banishes that very natural inclination to keep it in the background because of the odium that commonly attaches to the name and thought of “prophet” in these skeptical and unspiritual--albeit professedly advanced and highly enlightened--days.

One of the distinct contributions of this volume is the section spanning the centuries between the death of the apostles and the gracious bestowal of the prophetic gift upon the remnant church. No one, so far as I am aware, has before attempted so comprehensive a survey. The presentation here given is not offered as an exhaustive and final statement, but rather as an introduction. It is designed to establish, upon evidence, the fundamental principle and attested fact of the continuance of the prophetic gift beyond the death of the apostles through the present as well as all other ages and dispensations since the fall of man.

The fundamental premise of the writer is incontrovertible--that when sin had broken direct communion between heaven and earth, God gave the prophetic gift to men, vouchsafing it to His church, and that gift has never been permanently withdrawn since its bestowal. There have, of course, been intervals when no prophetic voice was heard. But this, as well as the other spiritual gifts, has reappeared periodically through the centuries, to direct in crises, to instruct and to warn, and at times to predict, as God might elect and as the church might need.

Now a word as to the fitness of the author for preparing this work. No one has been better qualified by close and unique relationship both to the remnant church at large, and to the one whom God chose to be His special messenger and mouthpiece in these closing days of human history. For fifty years a minister in the Seventh-dayAdventistChurch, he was for twenty-one years president of our General Conference. And the time of his world leadership of the advent movement included the period not only of laying the foundations for its great expansion, but also the time of certain of its greatest crises. It embraced, likewise, the consummating years of Ellen G. White’s wonderful witness to the advent movement, together with the cessation of her life activities in the sleep of death,--though her writings live on, and speak forth increasingly the marvelous messages she was commissioned to impart to the remnant church.

The author’s personal acquaintance with Mrs. White covered the last twenty-eight years of her life, which ended in 1915. For the last twenty-three years of this time--while he was president, first of the Australasian Conference and then of the General Conference--there existed, because of the official relationships involved, a close and continuous contact that afforded every opportunity of knowing her life, her character, and her work.

The episodes set forth by the author as illustrative of the conspicuous and satisfying evidence of this divine gift in the remnant church have been drawn from this large background of personal contact and observation, but have never before been written out in comprehensive form. The early incidents of Mrs. White’s life, already available in print, are not stressed in this volume, but rather those larger, later experiences in which mighty issues were involved, and in some instances wherein the very destiny of the denomination was at stake. These consequently form an invaluable record for our learning and admonition, and they constitute incontrovertible evidence for the confirmation of our faith.

Brought forth in the sunset of the author’s life, this volume embodies the matured conclusions of long and effective study, strengthened by decades of oral presentation on every continent, and ripened by recent years of intensive review and research. Though profound as to principles involved, it is simple in style and direct in statement, as befits a theme of such lofty character. This treatise has attached to it, therefore, a maturity of appeal and a weight of utterance that is most satisfying. It is bequeathed as a sacred legacy to the church so greatly beloved by our veteran leader, and in whose ministry he so long and fruitfully served. It is sent forth with his benediction to bless and to enlighten, to comfort and to strengthen, the church of God’s tender choice and care.

LeRoy Edwin Froom.

Los Angeles, California,

February 24, 1935.

Chapter 1

The Prophetic Gift Bestowed

The gift of prophecy is one of God’s choicest gifts to the human family. Indeed, it ranks next to the supreme gift of His only-begotten Son and of His Holy Spirit to a world estranged and separated by sin.

But the giving of His Son made necessary the bestowal of another gift--the gift of prophecy. This was imperative. It was required as a medium of communication through which the Lord might tell a lost, perishing world why He gave His only Son. Through this channel--the prophetic gift--God has held communion with man since the fall. By this method of communication He has ever given messages of information, guidance, warning, and entreaty to the entire human family.

In doing this the Lord has mercifully lifted the curtain that separates His world of light from our world of darkness. Through the opening thus made, the glorious light of His sinless world pours into our world enshrouded in moral darkness. The coming in of that light has brought the new vision, the new hope, and the transformed life God purposed in the giving of His Son.

The revelations that have come from God to men through the prophetic gift have, in part at least, been recorded and preserved for the benefit of the whole world through all time. It has made possible the Bible--that sacred and divine record bearing the name, “The word of God.”

The Marvelous Origin of Man

That Inspired Record throws a flood of light on all that we behold--above, below, and around us. It takes us back to the beginning. It reveals the origin of things--of our world, of the human race, and of that mysterious disorder we call sin. It sheds a floodlight on the meaning of the present situation in which we find ourselves. It foretells the future to the end of time.

In the Inspired Word there is given a brief, rational account of the origin of man and the beginning of the history of the human family,--indeed, the only authentic and satisfactory account that men possess. The opening statement reads:

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

Then follows the record of creation week. The account of the sixth day of that week describes the origin of man:

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” (Genesis 1:27)

According to this Inspired Word, man was created by Him who made the myriads of mighty worlds that fill the universe. As related to this world, man was the crowning work of the Creator, grander, nobler, and more marvelous than all else that God had created. Endowed with perfect physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual qualities, he occupied the highest place in the world over which he was given dominion by his Maker.

Adam and his companion, Eve, were, before the intrusion of sin, honored and blessed with free, direct association with their Creator and other members of the heavenly family. They were permitted to behold the glory of God, and to hold communion with Him “without a dimming veil between.” In this close association with their Creator, it is but reasonable to believe that they received from Him the information they needed regarding His great purpose in creation, also their relationship to their Creator and to the world in which they were placed.

The Beginning of Human History

“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.” (Genesis 2:8)

This perfect man and woman were placed in a perfect environment, with the most alluring and glorious possibilities. Paradise was their home. They were to be the parents of the human family. They were to have dominion over the whole earth, and it was to be a glorious dominion. In it there was to be not one inharmonious note. There was to be no sin; hence the dire results of sin as we know them today--disease, pain, suffering, sorrow, and death--would be unknown. The earth was to be filled with a sinless race, and everything in that realm was to give joy to the inhabitants throughout all eternity.

“God’s first man, then, was perfect; he was put in a perfect environment and he had perfect fellowship with God. Harmony reigned within himself, within all his relationships both with the inferior creatures beneath him and with the sovereign Creator above him. There was everything within and without his life to foster complete submission to the sovereignty of God and perfect obedience to His will.” “Life on the Highest Plane,” [1]