WHY SHOULD ADVENTISTS, WHO believe that we live in the end-time, invest any effort or money to improve deteriorating conditions in the world? Adventists have a special responsibility summarized in the three angels' messages in Revelation 14:6-12. But are we simply to warn the world of its destruction, or are we also to help alleviate the suffering of people and protect the life-supporting ecology of the earth?

Adventists expect the end of this world, Christ's return, and a new order inaugurated by God. Although we do not claim to know the time of Christ's coming, we live, think, work, and serve in the belief of His soon coming. Therefore, we must be convinced that ADRA's work is linked to our eschatology.

In 1844 some Adventists neglected to plant crops, with the expectation that they would not be needed. Since then nearly all Adventists have chosen to become fully engaged in this world, with the awareness that the future is in God's hands. Our church organization, our educational and health institutions, and our financial planning all testify to our strong commitment to the present world while we watch for the next.

Precisely what motivates us to work in a world whose end is coming? To answer that, we must look at the books of Daniel and Revelation. I believe we have rightly understood these and related scriptures to outline the trials and final triumph of God's people. But there are other very important themes that we have neglected; themes that help us understand how ADRA's work finds its place in the end-time message of our church.

The Ten Commandments and Social Responsibility
In Revelation 14:12 we encounter those who observe the commandments of God and keep faith in Jesus, a call for loyalty to God. How do we express that loyalty? Simply by declaration? Christ answers the question in Matthew 25 with brutal clarity: it is the way we live that authentically expresses our loyalty.

Of the ten commandments, eight are proscriptions and two are prescriptions. The latter two, the fourth and fifth commandments, form an important part of the entire design of the Decalogue. This approach to the heart of the law is used in Leviticus 19:3 and Luke 10:27.

The fourth commandment answers the question How do we worship God? Each of the first three commandments offers a preliminary clarifying answer. Only one God can be worshiped. No images of Him may be made; we humans must not define or limit God. His name must not be misused.

The conclusive answer is provided in the fourth commandment. We worship God in sacred time, devoid of secular pursuits. And we do it together-all of us, without exception-parents, children, servants, guests, even domestic animals. This is revolutionary because, rightly observed, this commandment would radically restructure our society, its classes of people, and its economic systems. Social and economic barriers would be broken. Relationships redefined. The rhythm of life would change for everyone.

The fifth commandment focuses on the most important social unit, the family. It is not simply about family harmony, but also social and economic stability, to "live long in your land (Ex. 20:12, NIV)." Consequent social responsibilities are then outlined in commandments six through 10 about killing, stealing, lying, adultery, and greed.

The first of the two centerpiece commandments, Sabbath worship, has long been associated with the three angels' messages of Revelation 14, where the connecting link is the reference to God's creation of the whole world (Rev. 14:7). However, a careful reading of Daniel and Revelation indicates that the second part of the Decalogue's centerpiece dealing with the family and attendant social responsibilities must also be at work among God's end-time people. The unifying purpose is to honor God in all aspects of human life.

God's people should stand between those two positive commandments, acknowledging God as Creator of the whole world and taking responsibility toward one's neighbor. Both impose obligations towards this world and its people. With equal determination and conviction, we are to respond to each obligation until the very end, and that connects our end-time message with the type of work ADRA does as it protects and affirms the value of human life, the natural world, and social responsibility.

Individualism and Universalism
One of the characteristics of Old Testament apocalyptic prophecy (such as in Daniel) is the juxtaposition of individualism and universalism. The believer finds salvation on their own, not simply through membership in a group. The end-time messages of the prophet Amos include a series of prophecies questioning Israel's privileged position among the nations. First the prophet agrees that other nations are sinful, but counters that Israel and Judah sin in the same measure as their neighbors (Amos 1-2). Then he tells Israel that those other nations also were called by God and experienced an exodus from a distant place into the lands they now occupied. What defines God's people is not belonging to a nation, but the individual's relationship to God.

In Ezekiel 1-9 the story of God's displaced throne illustrates the theme of universalism. He saw in vision the throne of God flying overseas on wings of cherubim to settle in exile. That is the simple meaning of the vision of the four cherubs, the wheels within wheels, that God joined His people in exile. Ezekiel 8-10 portrays acts of sin in the Jerusalem Temple so serious that God is (so to speak) driven from His place.

His throne moves from the Most Holy Place to the holy place to the courtyard, then out of the Temple, and finally into exile. God Himself settled among the Babylonians, and, according to the contemporary prophet Daniel, established a relationship with its king, first Nebuchadnezzar and later Cyrus, who is portrayed by the prophet Isaiah as a model of the Messiah (Isa. 45:1-7). In other words, the work of God is now among the nations. All nations play a role in God's plan, and all people are invited to belong to His kingdom (Isa. 56:1-8).

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is just now discovering these prophetic principles in a dramatic way. It is changing from a national church to an international church. By divine providence ADRA developed just as our church stepped back from being an American church to becoming a universal church. ADRA thus has a twofold mission to perform. One is toward needy individuals and families in every nation. Second, ADRA must help the church understand clearly that God's work in the world includes everyone, regardless of identity and origin.

ADRA helps pave the way for a new self-understanding of our church in the twenty-first century. In pointing our church in this new direction, ADRA helps it become a genuine eschatological church. This is not accidental, but providential. It binds the mission of church and ADRA together in a unique way ordained by God. If we accept this premise, outlined by the prophets, the church and ADRA can symbiotically shape the way we present God's final message to the world.

The Righteousness of God
Revelation 16:5 says God is "just (NIV)." Eschatology focuses on judgment and justice. The word "just" is also translated "righteous," and refers to the character of God as He brings the world to its end in order to impose His righteousness on an unrighteous world. Daniel 8:14 uses the same word in relationship to the sanctuary in the last days; it will be made right.

The meaning of God's righteousness has to do with the idea of restoring things, circumstances, or relationships to their rightful condition. It means that there is a normative way for life in the world, but that the norm has been disrupted and awaits complete restoration. That restoration happens when God, the creator, intervenes in the end of time. In a comprehensive study of this term in the Hebrew Bible, H. H. Schmid discovered that restoration to the norm applies to the practical activities and relationships of everyday life.

God's judgments are against evildoers and in support of suffering people (Ps. 9:9; 82:1-3; 99:4). Only God is able to set the world right and alleviate innocent suffering. He initiates this through His appointed agents and will accomplish it once and for all in the end.

Government is appointed by God to maintain justice (Ps. 72:1, 3, 7). The prophets point out that Israel's kings, among others, failed repeatedly in this task (Amos 5:7) and transferred this role to the Messiah (Isa. 9:6; 11:4, 5; Zech. 9:9). In short, the call for righteousness in the end-time world extends to what we may consider governmental responsibilities.

Righteousness is used in Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes to deal with the physical and social environment in which we live. This environment was designed by God to conform to a certain order. A wise person can observe and follow these rules while realizing that ultimately they cannot manipulate the world order. The vindication of God's righteousness in the end of time includes the ordering of the world, physical and social (Rev. 21, 22). Righteousness, while dealing primarily with the actions and attitudes of God and humanity, also applies to things, such as the words we speak (Prov. 8:8) and the measures we use in business (Eze. 45:10).

Life in the end-time requires God's people to pay special attention to righteousness. Decisions, whether individual or social, must be characterized by righteousness. Even the physical world is made by God to follow a certain order to which people must adhere if nature is to continue its support of life. Revelation concludes by describing practical measures of righteousness that characterize God's new earth, including a central government, ample production of food, adequate clean water, health care, safety, and peace among all citizens (Rev. 21, 22). These practical, righteous concerns-sometimes called social justice issues-constitute the arena of ADRA's ministry and witness in the end time.

The End of the World, the Messiah, and ADRA
When will the Messiah come? What are the signs of the end? How do we prepare for that event? These are not merely Adventist questions, but eternal questions, and they relate to our understanding of ADRA in the time of the end.

Luke records an incident in the life of Jesus when these questions were asked and answered. John the Baptist was imprisoned by King Herod. He evidently began to wonder whether his ministry had been in vain. Was Jesus of Nazareth really the Christ? John sent his disciples to inquire (Luke 7:20). Christ was curing disease, casting out evil spirits, and restoring sight to blind persons. He sent the disciples of John back with this answer: "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them" (Luke 7:22, 23, RSV).

These works of compassion, along with the preaching of the good news, characterize the time of the Messiah. Speaking about the end, the book of Revelation calls for the patience of the saints, for those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12). Traditionally we have associated this patience with waiting, but the very next verse connects it with pious works (verse 13). The rest promised to those end-time workers is not sleep or relaxation, but the rest from the works of compassion that characterize God's eschatological people (Matt. 25:31-46).

The end-time theology of Revelation repeatedly points out that its message extends to the entire world. God first chose a nation (Israel) to do His work, and then He reduced that choice out of necessity to a remnant in Israel, and finally He reduced it further to one person, the Messiah, in order to assure the successful outcome of His plan. Christ chose a small group of followers, first 12, then 70, then an entire church. Paul helped take the church to the whole world. That, therefore, is where God's work must be done in the end of time: not in a nation or in a church or among Christians, but in the world. And that is the role of ADRA as an international agency. It patiently does the work that Jesus mandated us to do.

ADRA is inspired by Christ, responding to the call that He first extended to His followers at the lakeside when He said, "Follow Me;" help the blind receive sight, assist the lame to walk, cleanse the lepers, let the deaf hear, bring the dying back to life, and give good news to the poor.

And what about the time of the end, when the world is crumbling, society is failing, and all creation is groaning? According to biblical eschatology the end-time calls us to greater involvement in meeting the needs of the world in response to the law of God and the call for divine righteousness. It does not authorize us to abandon our responsibility to the world in the last days.

As ADRA responds to the needs of the world, it contributes to the core of the church's mission though it has its own organizational structure and unique funding and working relationships. It is the shared mission that unites us all-believers, local churches, denominational departments and institutions, and ADRA, the international humanitarian agency of the church.

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Niels-Erik Andreasen is president of Andrews University.