Impossible Odds

Whenever I drive through a big, crowded city, or sit in a plane as it soars above a teeming metropolis of skyscrapers and high-rise, high-density living spaces, two thoughts grip my mind. First, there are so many people who need to hear the gospel, and second, how on earth can we reach them all? In 2 Peter 3:12 the apostle makes a remarkable acknowledgment that it is within our power to help hasten the day of Christ’s return. How? By carrying the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

From what I could find online, historians estimate that the world’s population during the time of the early church was approximately 200 million. Acts tells us there were 120 believers in the upper room, which means it was a ratio of 1 believer to 1.7 million people. Today the Seventh-day Adventist Church has a membership of more than 23.6 million, and the world population is currently about 8.24 billion. I calculated the ratio, and found that there is approximately one Seventh-day Adventist to roughly 350 people in the world. That’s much better odds than what the early church faced.

But the early church didn’t have a printing press or publications like the Adventist Review. They didn’t have the church organization we are blessed with today. They didn’t have the internet, planes, cars, television networks, radio, social media, hospitals, universities, seminaries, schools, phones, laptops, AI, and so much more! And yet the church was successful in its mission of reaching the world. In Acts 5:28 the apostles were accused of turning Jerusalem upside down with their doctrine, and by Acts 17:6 the accusation was “These . . . have turned the world upside down . . .” Even Paul said in Colossians 1:23 that “the gospel . . . was preached to every creature under heaven.” That’s amazing! Despite the incredible odds stacked against them, the early church exploded, and they reached the world! Why were they so successful when they didn’t have half the tools we have for spreading the gospel today? The only thing I can attribute it to is this: they had the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Despite the incredible odds stacked against them, the early church exploded, and they reached the world! Why were they so successful?

The Holy Spirit is mentioned repeatedly in the book of Acts. He is the reason the church remained unstopped by persecution, obstacles, and incredible odds. He is mentioned once in every 19 verses throughout the book. Ellen White wrote this inspiring statement: “Why has the history of the work of the disciples, as they labored with holy zeal, animated and vitalized by the Holy Spirit, been recorded, if it is not that from this record the Lord’s people today are to gain an inspiration to work earnestly for Him? What the Lord did for His people in that time, it is just as essential, and more so, that He do for His people today. All that the apostles did, every church member today is to do. And we are to work with as much more fervor, to be accompanied by the Holy Spirit in as much greater measure, as the increase of wickedness demands a more decided call to repentance.”[*]

Prophecy tells us that what God did then, He will do again, only this time, at the end of time, He will do it with even greater power than what He did back then. Yes, there are incredible odds stacked against the preaching of the gospel to the world today; however, the Holy Spirit can do in five minutes what would take us five years. May each one of us make it our daily prayer to pray earnestly for the baptism of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus is coming soon; let’s do all we can to hasten His return. Matthew 24:14 is not just a prophecy; it is a promise. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

[*] Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol.7, p. 33.