The Exodus
movement, during which the Israelites travelled from Egypt
to Canaan, is a type of modern spiritual Israel, an is intended by God to
teach us valuable lessons. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 Paul mentions some of the
incidents of the journey. Then he draws this conclusion: “All these things that
happened to them were symbolic, and were record for our benefit as a warning.
For upon us the fulfilment of the ages has come” verse 11). The Advent Movement
is a counterpart of the Exodus movement. It has a revelation of truth, by the
hand of God, appropriate for this end-time.
Today it is
easy to believe that God was in the Exodus movement. Anyone who accepts the
Bible record is bound to admit this. We know that God led the Israelite by the
pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. We know that that
movement finally carried the people of God triumphantly into the Land of Promise.
Can we be
sure that the present Advent Movement is as truly led of God as was the Exodus
movement? Can we be certain that the God of heaven is leading this movement
today and that it will complete its journey into the heavenly Canaan, as the
Exodus movement ended in the earthly Canaan?
These are
important questions. To answer them let us compare the two movements, and if we
find the latter has parallels with the former we shall have ground for
adherence to the Advent Movement.
Let us
first compare the fundamental purpose of each movement. Why did God call Israel from Egypt to be a separate people?
“He brought
forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: and gave them the
lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; that they
might observe his statutes, and keep his laws” (Ps. 105:43-45). God’s major
desire was to develop an obedient people – a people through whom He could make
known the principles of the truth to the rest of the world.
Similarly,
He has called spiritual Israel
to be obedient to His laws. The call of God is for His people to come out of Babylon, that we “be not
partakers of her sins” (Rev. 18:4). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1
John 3:4). And, as previously noted, when, in the prophecies of Revelation, God
refers to the last-day people, He points to them as keeping His commandments
(Revelation 12:17; 14:12). So, on this point, we can drive down a stake to
indicate that both movements began with the same divine objective.
In
connection with the call from Egypt,
God tested His people on the point of the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath
(Exodus 16:4, 5, 26). The test was given in connection with food, called manna
that God miraculously provide for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna
was provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided
daily but would not keep overnight. However, God instructed them to gather
extra for the Sabbath each Friday. Then, on the Sabbath none came, and that
which was held over did not spoil. The record tells us that they made the
necessary preparations on Friday and kept the seventh day holy, proving they
were obedient to God. (Exodus 16:22-25). Those who did not make the preparation
on the sixth day broke God’s holy Sabbath by going out hoping to find manna on
the seventh day (Exodus 16:27, 28).
So today
God is calling a people out of Babylon
and asking them to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. The Israelite had practically
lost sight of God’s holy Sabbath during their stay in Egypt. So today
nearly all the Lord’s professed people have lost sight of the true Sabbath.
Nearly all
Christians acknowledge the validity of nine commandments of the Decalogue, but
many find excuses to avoid keeping the seventh day required by the fourth
commandment. Thus the fourth commandment becomes a test. It becomes a test
because it is one of the Ten Commandments. God still requires it to be kept,
and, therefore, when people understand this, they show their attitude to God by
their attitude to the fourth commandment.
In the
Revelation 14 prophesies God’s last invitation and warning for the world, found
in a message borne by three symbolic angels, Revelation 14:9-11. carry the
warning that anyone who receives the mark of the beast will “drink of the wine
of the wrath of God.” Adventists understand the mark to be not a literal brand
on the forehead or hand but some sign of allegiance to the power symbolized by
the beast.
Because the
prophesied struggle revolves around God’s law. Particularly the fourth
commandment, Adventists understand that Sunday will be that sign. The Sabbath
is the sign of allegiance to God (Eze. 20:12). The issue will be the keeping of
the Sabbath, or seal or mark of God,
versus the receiving of the mark of the beast. The people of the world will
decide their eternal destiny in the setting of this issue.
Ancient Israel was tested on the point of the Sabbath,
and God’s last Israel,
His church, will be tested on the same point. And as Israel was distinguished from the
surrounding nations by the keeping of the Sabbath, so God’s faithful ones in
the last days will be distinguished in the same manner.
Ancient Israel came out of Egypt at the time appointed by God.
He appointed that 430 years from the time Abraham left Haran
to go into Canaan his descendants, the Israelites, would leave Egypt to go into Canaan
(see Gal. 3:16,17). Did this come true? The record says, “If came to pass at
the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to
pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Ex.
12:41). The Exodus movement began at the
time appointed by the Lord.
The Advent
Movement began in 1844 at the time God had previously appointed, as revealed to
Daniel the prophet (see Daniel 8:13,14). In chapter six we say that this
prophecy began in 457 a.c.
and ended in A.D. 1844. This latter years was the very time the Advent Movement
was born. And it came into being as a result of a group of Bible students
examining the subject of the cleansing of the sanctuary prophesied in Daniel 8.
Seventh-day
Adventists did not originate as an offshoot from some other religious body. They
did not begin because some men wanted to start a new denomination. God raised
up the Adventist people to proclaim His threefold message to all the people in
the world in fulfilment of His last-day message of Revelation 14:6-12.
Note a
number of ways in which the Advent movement is God’s counterpart to His Exodus
movement:
1-
God
unfolded to the Israelites the message of salvation as typified by the earthly
sanctuary (see Ex. 25:8; Heb. 8:4,5). He raised up the Advent people and gave
them an understanding of the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary
(Heb.8:1-3).
2-
God
gave Israel
the Ten Commandments as His supreme law of righteousness (Ex. 20:1-17), based
on love to God with all the heart (Deut. 6:5). This same law, as interpreted by
the Lord Jesus (Matt. 22:36-40) and coupled with the true faith in Jesus (Rev.
14:12), is the foundation of Adventism.
3-
God
gave the Israelite the tithing system as a means for supporting His ministers
(Num. 18:21; Lev. 27:30-33). The same divine financial plan is followed in the Advent
Movement.
4-
The
Exodus movement had the spirit of prophecy connected with it: “By a prophet
(Moses; Ps. 77:20) the Lord brought Israel
out of Egypt,
and by a prophet was he preserved” (Hosea 12:13). The remnant church that keeps
God`s commandments has the same gift (Rev. 12:17; 19:10).
5-
The
Exodus movement was an organized movement. It had companies of tens, fifties,
hundreds, and thousands (Deut. 1:15). Then there were the seventy elders – a
sort of Supreme Court for making decisions on important questions (Num. 11:16,
17, 24, 25). The Advent Movement is similarly organized. It has local churches,
local conferences, union conferences, division conferences, and the General
Conference.
6-
The
Israelites had the seventh-day Sabbath as the sign of the only true God, the
Creator of heaven an earth (Ex. 20:8-11; 31:16, 17; Eze. 20:20), and also as a
sign of sanctification (Ex. 31:13; Eze. 20:12). Similarly, Adventist uphold the
same Saturday Sabbath as the sign of Jesus as the Creator and Sanctifier (Col.
1:16; 1 Cor. 1:2).
In this time of uncertainty many people are
foundering in perplexity and confusion. But God has given us in His Word
evidences by which we may know where to find a star and an anchor. He has His
people who are following the Star, and who have the Anchor. That Star, that
Anchor, is Jesus Christ and His truths revealed in the Word.
The Advent Movement is looking to that Star an
is stabilized by that Anchor. Is you, reader, have not set your sights on the
Star. If you, reader, have not set your sights on the Star, if you have not
found that Anchor for your lives, we invite you to carefully study the Guiding
Principles at the end of this book, comparing them with your Bible,
prayerfully, with open heart and mind. And let the Holy Spirit lead you.
