The Great
Controversy
Chapter XL- God’s
People Delivered
To be continued…
Those who have
sacrificed all for Christ are now secure, hidden as in the secret of the Lord’s
pavilion. They have been tested, and before the world and the despisers of
truth they have evinced their fidelity to Him who died for them. A marvelous change has come over those who have
held fast their integrity in the very face of death. They have been suddenly
delivered from the dark and terrible tyranny of men transformed to demons.
Their faces, so lately pale, anxious, and haggard, are now aglow with wonder,
faith, and love. Their voices rise in triumphant song: “God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the
sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake
with the swelling thereof.” [Psalm 46:1-3.]
While these words of
holy trust ascend to God, the clouds sweep back, and the starry heavens are
seen, unspeakably glorious in contrast with the black and angry firmament on
either side. The glory of the celestial city streams from the gates ajar. Then
there appears against the sky a hand holding two tables of stone folded
together. Says the prophet, “The heavens shall declare His righteousness; for
God is judge himself.” [Psalm 50:6.]
That holy law, God’s
righteousness, that amid thunder and flame was proclaimed from Sinai as the
guide of life, is now revealed to men as the rule of judgment. The hand opens
the tables, and there are seen the precepts of the decalogue, traced as with a
pen of fire. The words are so plain that all can read them. Memory is aroused,
the darkness of superstition and heresy is swept from every mind, and God’s ten
words, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, are presented to the view of
all the inhabitants of the earth.
It is impossible to
describe the horror and despair of those who have trampled upon God’s holy
requirements. The Lord gave them his law; they might have compared their
characters with it, and learned their defects while there was yet opportunity
for repentance and reform; but in order to secure the favor of the world, they
set aside its precepts and taught others to transgress. They have endeavored to
compel God’s people to profane his Sabbath. Now they are condemned by that law
which they have despised. With awful distinctness they see that they are
without excuse. They chose whom they would serve and worship.
“Then shall ye
return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that
serveth God and him that serveth him not.” [Malachi 3:18.]
The enemies of God’s
law, from the ministers down to the least among them, have a new conception of
truth and duty. Too late they see that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is
the seal of the living God. Too late they see the true nature of their spurious
sabbath, and the sandy foundation upon which they have been building. They find
that they have been fighting against God.
Religious teachers
have led souls to perdition while professing to guide them to the gates of
Paradise. Not until the day of final accounts will it be known how great is the
responsibility of men in holy office, and how terrible are the results of their
unfaithfulness. Only in eternity can we rightly estimate the loss of a single
soul. Fearful will be the doom of him to whom God shall say, Depart, thou
wicked servant. The voice of God is heard from Heaven, declaring the day and
hour of Jesus’ coming, and delivering the everlasting covenant to his people.
Like peals of
loudest thunder, his words roll through the earth. The Israel of God stand
listening, with their eyes fixed upward. Their countenances are lighted up with
his glory, and shine as did the face of Moses when he came down from Sinai. The
wicked cannot look upon them. And when the blessing is pronounced on those who
have honored God by keeping his Sabbath holy, there is a mighty shout of
victory. Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the
size of a man’s hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour, and which
seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this
to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it
draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is a great
white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of
the covenant.
Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror. Not
now a “man of sorrows,” to drink the bitter cup of shame and woe, he comes,
victor in Heaven and earth, to judge the living and the dead. “Faithful and
True,” “in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” And “the armies in Heaven
follow him.” [Revelation19:11,14.]
With anthems of celestial melody the holy
angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend him on his way. The firmament seems
filled with radiant forms,—“ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands.” No human pen can portray the scene, nor mortal mind is adequate to
conceive its splendor. “His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full
of his praise. And his brightness was as the light.” [Habakkuk 3:3, 4.]
As the living cloud comes still nearer, every
eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head,
but a diadem of glory rests on his holy brow. His countenance outshines the
dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. “And he hath on his vesture and on his
thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” [Revelation 19:16.]
Before his presence,
“all faces are turned into paleness;” upon the rejecters of God’s mercy falls
the terror of eternal despair. “The
heart melteth, and the knees smite together,” “and the faces of them all gather
blackness.” [Jeremiah 30:6; Nahum 2:10.]
The righteous cry
with trembling, “Who shall be able to stand?” The angels’ song is hushed ,and
there is a period of awful silence. Then the voice of Jesus is heard ,saying,
“My grace is sufficient for you.”
The faces of the
righteous are lighted up, and joy fills every heart. And the angels strike a
note higher, and sing again, as they draw still nearer to the earth. The King
of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The heavens are rolled
together as a scroll, the earth trembles before him, and every mountain and
island is moved out of its place. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep
silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round
about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth ,that he
may judge his people.” [Psalm 50:3, 4.]
“And the kings of the earth, and the great
men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains; and said to the mountains and
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who
shall be able to stand?” [Revelation 6:15-17.]
To be continued…
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