“The Desire of Ages”

In the four volumes of The Spirit of Prophecy series, the story of the life of Christ occupies one full volume and more than half of another—more than a third of the total pages of the series; but still Mrs. White felt that she had not written enough. After the completion of Patriarchs and Prophets, her attention was again turned to the life of the Saviour. In her correspondence there are repeated references to her desire to expand and complete her work on the life of Christ. It was about this time that she went to Australia for nine years, and there she was able to do the work she had been looking forward to with such anticipation. Much time was spent over a period of half a dozen years, from 1892 to 1898, in writing chapters for the book. While Ellen White always wrote with the utmost care and feeling, it is unlikely that any other of her books provoked such deep thought and consecration, or called forth such earnest prayers for divine wisdom as did this one, that the life of the Redeemer might be fittingly represented. Combined with her intense desire to give only the best kind of representation of the life of Christ, one must think of the physical suffering through which she passed during part of the time of the preparation of this book. Not long after she reached Australia, Mrs. White began to suffer from inflammatory rheumatism, and was in constant pain for eleven months. During this time she wrote these lines in a letter to Elder O. A. Olsen, the president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists:APAY 310.3

“This is indeed a period of physical weakness for me, and of almost absolute dependence upon others. So new is this experience to me that I have felt amazed that it should be so. But though almost helpless in body, in heart I feel no sense of age.APAY 311.1

“This week I have been enabled to commence writing on the life of Christ. O, how inefficient, how incapable I am of expressing the things which burn in my soul in reference to the mission of Christ. I have hardly dared to enter upon the work. There is so much to it all. And what shall I say, and what shall I leave unsaid? I lie awake nights pleading with the Lord for the Holy Spirit to come upon me, to abide upon me. I present these words, ‘Without Me ye can do nothing.’ Jesus means to be with the worker in every line of the work. And the reason so many fail to have success is that they trust in themselves altogether too much, and they do not feel the positive necessity of abiding in Christ, as they go forth to seek and save that which is lost. Until they have the mind of Christ, and teach the truth as it is in Jesus, they will not accomplish much. I walk with trembling before God. I know not how to speak or trace with pen the large subjects of the atoning sacrifice. I know not how to present subjects in the living power in which they stand before me. I tremble for fear, lest I shall belittle the great plan of salvation by cheap words. I bow my soul in awe and reverence before God, and say, Who is sufficient for these things? How can I talk, how can I write to my brethren so that they will catch the beams of light flashing from heaven? What shall I say?” Ellen G. White Letter 40, 1892.APAY 311.2

After her illness, Mrs. White was not free to pursue the writing of the life of Christ as she wished. She was called on to take an active part in the expanding work of Adventists in Australia. Preaching, correspondence, counsel, and assistance in general lines occupied much of her time. But, a little at a time, material was gathered from what she had written in the past, for she had already penned hundreds of pages on the life of Christ. New articles were written and arranged in their logical order with the earlier articles and selections. Then additional chapters and passages were written to fill in the gaps and make connections. As the work neared completion, it was apparent that there was too much material for one book. The parables were lifted out and published as Christ’s Object Lessons. The detailed account of the Sermon on the Mount became Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing. A portion also went into The Ministry of Healing. The Desire of Ages, a detailed account of Christ’s life, was published in 1898.APAY 312.1

In the story of the life of the Master, as told in these books, is revealed an insight not only into events but into vital Christian experience. In Ellen White’s personal acquaintance with Jesus Christ, perhaps even more than the divine revelations that opened to her so many details of the Saviour’s life, lies the reason for the heart-appeal of these messages. She wrote to a friend in 1895: “You know that my whole theme, both in the pulpit and in private, by voice and pen, is the life of Christ.” Letter 41, 1895. Christ was the theme of her life as well as of her words. Only out of that kind of experience could such a book as The Desire of Ages emerge.APAY 312.2