REVIVAL AND REFORMATION PRECEDE

THE GREAT AND DREADFUL DAY OF THE LORD

TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,

MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS

SABBATH, SEPTEMBER 27, 1947

MT. CARMEL CHAPEL

WACO, TEXAS

Our subject for this afternoon is found partly in Daniel 2, Matthew 4, Jeremiah 51, Micah 5, and Malachi 4, but mainly in Joel, chapters 2 and 3. We shall first turn to Malachi:

Mal. 4:5, 6 – “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Here we have the promise that God is to send someone before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and when he comes, whether he accomplishes anything else, he is to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

Now, it appears somewhat puzzling that the hearts either of the fathers or of the children need to be turned toward the other. But if we consider that the work of Elijah is not of a domestic nature, but spiritual, then we shall see that Elijah’s message is to intensify in the heart of the parents, as well as in the hearts of the children, a burden for the salvation of the other. Parents are very anxious to labor with other people’s children but seldom with their own. Likewise children are anxious to preach to others, but not so anxious to preach to their own parents. Elijah’s message of revival and reformation, however, will place the burden of saving souls primarily where it belongs. His message will be seen to be of real importance rather than a theory. And when its followers fully realize that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is at the door, they will be seen pleading first for those who are nearest their hearts.

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Revival and Reformation Precede the Great and Dreadful of the Lord