Suppose that one day I begin walking from San Francisco to Pacific Union College–the Promised Land! You come along in your car and stop and offer me a ride. If I get in and ride with you, I will get to PUC quicker; I will be saved a lot of blisters. But I was headed there anyway.

Let’s reverse it. One day I begin walking from San Francisco to Reno–the other place! You come along in your car, and stop, and offer me a ride. If a get in and ride with you, I will get to Reno quicker; I will be saved a lot of blisters along the way (although I’ll get a lot more blisters when I get there!). But I would have gotten to Reno anyway.

This is an attempt at a parable on the subject of witnessing– and our part in going and telling and sharing the gospel. Sometimes theologians argue about special revelation versus general revelation. Those in favor of special revelation say that in order for someone to be saved, he has to hear the story of Christ and accept it specifically. The special revelationist insists that unless those who have already come to Christ will go and tell and share, people will be lost eternally.

On the other hand, the general revelationist believes that God will judge each individual on the basis of the light he has received, and that if the most a person knew in his lifetime was to respond to God in nature, that will be enough.

You can look at it from a philosophical standpoint and conclude that since God is a God of love, and since God is fair and just, He could not cause someone else to be lost on the basis of what I do or don’t do. There is some pretty good support for this, position from inspired sources as well. John 1:9 says that Christ is the Light,

“which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

A comment in the Review and Herald, June 22 1 1911, reads,

“In the day of judgment, when the question comes to you as to why you did not obey the commandments of God, you can not make an acceptable excuse on the plea of another’s disobedience.”

Without question, we can bring the good news of salvation to others and be used as God’s instruments to reach them for Him. As in the parable about walking to the Promised Land, we can cut short their search for God, perhaps by years, if we go and tell and share. But God does not leave it with us to determine their eternal destiny.

If this is true, then what is the purpose of the Christian witness? We have often heard appeals to help spread the gospel for the sake of those “out there.” But if God can reach them without our help, why does He ask us to become involved. Wouldn’t it have been better to leave the work of soul-winning to the angels, who surely are more capable than we will ever be? We are told that in the end, angels will do the work men might have done. See Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 118.

If that is going to happen at the end, then why not now, and save all of the mistakes we make in our attempts to share our faith.

The answer is found in understanding God’s purpose in giving us a part to act in Christian witness. If you want the best summary of Christian witness, read one chapter in Steps to Christ, “The Work and the Life.”

“The effort to bless others will react in blessings upon ourselves. This was the purpose of God in giving us a part to act in the plan of redemption.” – Page 79.

Testimonies, volume 3, page 391, states it even more clearly:

“Whatever necessity there is for our agency in the advancement of the cause of God, He has purposely arranged for our good.”

Sometimes people are afraid that if we accept this truth, it will destroy all motivation for going and telling and sharing! It seems self-centered to become involved in service for our own sake, rather than for the sake of others. But please notice that there is a difference between God’s purpose in involving us in the Christian witness and our purpose in becoming involved. We become active in service for Him because we have something to tell and can’t wait to share it. We become involved in service because we want others to understand the truth that has set us free.

We reach out to others because we have been honored with the privilege of being workers together with God. As we reach out, for the sake of others and for the sake of God Himself, the inevitable result is that our own souls are blessed. And from God’s perspective, that’s what He had in mind all along!