THE GOSPEL COMMISSION
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15.
A WORLD-WIDE MOVEMENT
FORETOLD IN THE PROPHECY OF REVELATION 14
While the work of the judgment hour, or period,—the cleansing of the sanctuary,—is proceeding in the heavenly temple above, the Lord sends to the world a special message of preparation for the coming of the Lord.
It would not be the divine way to let this solemn judgment in heaven come unheralded to men. Daniel's prophecy had fixed the time of its beginning; and the question asked in the prophet's hearing, "How long shall be the vision ... to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?" suggested that when the time came, the truths of God that had been trodden underfoot through the ages would be lifted up and proclaimed anew to all the world.
With the coming of the judgment hour, in the year 1844, there arose just such a work, a definite gospel movement, that has ever since been carrying the message for the hour to the ends of the earth.
The Way Prepared for the Rise of the Movement
But there was a preliminary work to be done, to prepare the way for the definite advent movement and message.
In the days of Israel of old, as the time for the cleansing of the sanctuary drew near, the people were forewarned of the approach of the solemn hour. The day of atonement—"the tenth day of the seventh month"—was a typical hour of judgment. All the people were to prepare their hearts for that great day.