threatened against those who worship the beast and his image and receive
his mark,(1074) will be poured out. The plagues upon Egypt when God was
about to deliver Israel, were similar in character to those more terrible
and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the
final deliverance of God’s people. Says the revelator, in describing those
terrific scourges: “There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men
which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image.”
The sea “became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in
the sea.” And “the rivers and fountains of waters ... became blood.”
Terrible as these inflictions are, God’s justice stands fully vindicated.
The angel of God declares: “Thou are righteous, O Lord, ... because Thou
hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and
Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.”(1075) By
condemning the people of God to death, they have as truly incurred the
guilt of their blood as if it had been shed by their hands. In like manner
Christ declared the Jews of His time guilty of all the blood of holy men
which had been shed since the days of Abel; for they possessed the same
spirit, and were seeking to do the same work, with these murderers of the
prophets.
In the plague that follows, power is given to the sun “to scorch men with
fire. And men were scorched with great heat.”(1076) The prophets thus
describe the condition of the earth at this fearful time: “The land
mourneth; ... because the harvest of the field is perished.” “All the
trees of the field are withered: because joy is withered away from the
sons of men.” “The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid
desolate.” “How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed,
because they have no pasture.... The rivers of waters are dried up, and
the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.” “The songs of the
temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be
many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with
silence.”(1077)
These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be
wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most awful scourges that have ever
been known to mortals. All the judgments upon men, prior to the close of
probation, have been mingled with mercy. The pleading blood of Christ has
shielded the sinner from receiving the full measure of his guilt; but in
the final judgment, wrath is poured out unmixed with mercy.
In that day, multitudes will desire the shelter of God’s mercy which they
have so long despised. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I
will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from
sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro
to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.”(1078)
The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while persecuted
and distressed, while they endure privation, and suffer for want of food,
they will not be left to perish. That God who cared for Elijah, will not
pass by one of His self-sacrificing children. He who numbers the hairs of
their head, will care for them; and in time of famine they shall be
satisfied. While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels
will shield the righteous, and supply their wants. To him that “walketh
righteously” is the promise, “Bread shall be given him; his waters shall
be sure.” “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and
their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of
Israel will not forsake them.”(1079)
“Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no
meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd
in the stalls:” yet shall they that fear Him “rejoice in the Lord,” and
joy in the God of their salvation.(1080)
“The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The
sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall
preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul.” “He shall
deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome
pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings
shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt
not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by
day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the
destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side,
and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only
with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High,
thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling.”(1081)
Yet to human sight it will appear that the people of God must soon seal
their testimony with their blood, as did the martyrs before them. They
themselves begin to fear that the Lord has left them to fall by the hand
of their enemies. It is a time of fearful agony. Day and night they cry
unto God for deliverance. The wicked exult, and the jeering cry is heard,
“Where now is your faith? Why does not God deliver you out of our hands if
you are indeed His people?” But the waiting ones remember Jesus dying upon
Calvary’s cross, and the chief priests and rulers shouting in mockery, “He
saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him
now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.”(1082) Like Jacob,
all are wrestling with God. Their countenances express their internal
struggle. Paleness sits upon every face. Yet they cease not their earnest
intercession.
Could men see with heavenly vision, they would behold companies of angels
that excel in strength stationed about those who have kept the word of
Christ’s patience. With sympathizing tenderness, angels have witnessed
their distress, and have heard their prayers. They are waiting the word of
their Commander to snatch them from their peril. But they must wait yet a
little longer. The people of God must drink of the cup, and be baptized
with the baptism. The very delay, so painful to them, is the best answer
to their petitions. As they endeavor to wait trustingly for the Lord to
work, they are led to exercise faith, hope, and patience, which have been
too little exercised during their religious experience. Yet for the
elect’s sake, the time of trouble will be shortened. “Shall not God avenge
His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him?... I tell you that He
will avenge them speedily.”(1083) The end will come more quickly than men
expect. The wheat will be gathered and bound in sheaves for the garner of
God; the tares will be bound as fagots for the fires of destruction.
The heavenly sentinels, faithful to their trust, continue their watch.
Though a general decree has fixed the time when commandment-keepers may be
put to death, their enemies will in some cases anticipate the decree, and
before the time specified, will endeavor to take their lives. But none can
pass the mighty guardians stationed about every faithful soul. Some are
assailed in their flight from the cities and villages; but the swords
raised against them break and fall as powerless as a straw. Others are
defended by angels in the form of men of war.
In all ages, God has wrought through holy angels for the succor and
deliverance of His people. Celestial beings have taken an active part in
the affairs of men. They have appeared clothed in garments that shone as
the lightning; they have come as men, in the garb of wayfarers. Angels
have appeared in human form to men of God. They have rested, as if weary,
under the oaks at noon. They have accepted the hospitalities of human
homes. They have acted as guides to benighted travelers. They have, with
their own hands, kindled the fires of the altar. They have opened prison
doors, and set free the servants of the Lord. Clothed with the panoply of
heaven, they came to roll away the stone from the Saviour’s tomb.
In the form of men, angels are often in the assemblies of the righteous,
and they visit the assemblies of the wicked, as they went to Sodom, to
make a record of their deeds, to determine whether they have passed the
boundary of God’s forbearance. The Lord delights in mercy; and for the
sake of a few who really serve Him, He restrains calamities, and prolongs
the tranquillity of multitudes. Little do sinners against God realize that
they are indebted for their own lives to the faithful few whom they
delight to ridicule and oppress.
Though the rulers of this world know it not, yet often in their councils
angels have been spokesmen. Human eyes have looked upon them; human ears
have listened to their appeals; human lips have opposed their suggestions
and ridiculed their counsels; human hands have met them with insult and
abuse. In the council hall and the court of justice, these heavenly
messengers have shown an intimate acquaintance with human history; they
have proved themselves better able to plead the cause of the oppressed
than were their ablest and most eloquent defenders. They have defeated
purposes and arrested evils that would have greatly retarded the work of
God, and would have caused great suffering to His people. In the hour of
peril and distress, “the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that
fear Him, and delivereth them.”(1084)
With earnest longing, God’s people await the tokens of their coming King.
As the watchmen are accosted, “What of the night?” the answer is given
unfalteringly, “ ‘The morning cometh, and also the night.’(1085) Light is
gleaming upon the clouds above the mountain tops. Soon there will be a
revealing of His glory. The Sun of Righteousness is about to shine forth.
The morning and the night are both at hand,—the opening of endless day to
the righteous, the settling down of eternal night to the wicked.”
As the wrestling ones urge their petitions before God, the veil separating
them from the unseen seems almost withdrawn. The heavens glow with the
dawning of eternal day, and like the melody of angel songs, the words fall
upon the ear, “Stand fast to your allegiance. Help is coming.” Christ, the
almighty victor, holds out to His weary soldiers a crown of immortal
glory; and His voice comes from the gates ajar: “Lo, I am with you. Be not
afraid. I am acquainted with all your sorrows; I have borne your griefs.
You are not warring against untried enemies. I have fought the battle in
your behalf, and in My name you are more than conquerors.”
The precious Saviour will send help just when we need it. The way to
heaven is consecrated by His footprints. Every thorn that wounds our feet
has wounded His. Every cross that we are called to bear, He has borne
before us. The Lord permits conflicts, to prepare the soul for peace. The
time of trouble is a fearful ordeal for God’s people; but it is the time
for every true believer to look up, and by faith he may see the bow of
promise encircling him.
“The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion;
and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness
and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. I, even I, am He that
comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that
shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and
forgettest the Lord thy Maker; ... and hast feared continually every day
because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and
where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he
may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread
should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves
roared: the Lord of hosts is His name. And I have put My words in thy
mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand.”(1086)
“Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of His
people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even
the dregs of the cup of My fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: but I
will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to
thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as
the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.”(1087)
The eye of God, looking down the ages, was fixed upon the crisis which His
people are to meet, when earthly powers shall be arrayed against them.
Like the captive exile, they will be in fear of death by starvation or by
violence. But the Holy One who divided the Red Sea before Israel, will
manifest His mighty power and turn their captivity. “They shall be Mine,
saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will
spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”(1088) If the
blood of Christ’s faithful witnesses were shed at this time, it would not,
like the blood of the martyrs, be as seed sown to yield a harvest for God.
Their fidelity would not be a testimony to convince others of the truth;
for the obdurate heart has beaten back the waves of mercy until they
return no more. If the righteous were now left to fall a prey to their
enemies, it would be a triumph for the prince of darkness. Says the
psalmist, “In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the
secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me.”(1089) Christ has spoken:
“Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about
thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.”(1090) Glorious will be the
deliverance of those who have patiently waited for His coming, and whose
names are written in the book of life.
40. GOD’S PEOPLE DELIVERED.
[Illustration: Chapter header.]
When the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn from those who honor
the law of God, there will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement
for their destruction. As the time appointed in the decree draws near, the
people will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be determined to
strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall utterly silence the voice
of dissent and reproof.
The people of God—some in prison cells, some hidden in solitary retreats
in the forests and the mountains—still plead for divine protection, while
in every quarter companies of armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels,
are preparing for the work of death. It is now, in the hour of utmost
extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the deliverance of
His chosen. Saith the Lord: “Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a
holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth ... to
come into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Mighty One of Israel. And the
Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the
lighting down of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and with the
flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and
hailstones.”(1091)
With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs of evil men are
about to rush upon their prey, when, lo, a dense blackness, deeper than
the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth. Then a rainbow, shining
with the glory from the throne of God, spans the heavens, and seems to
encircle each praying company. The angry multitudes are suddenly arrested.
Their mocking cries die away. The objects of their murderous rage are
forgotten. With fearful forebodings they gaze upon the symbol of God’s
covenant, and long to be shielded from its overpowering brightness.
By the people of God a voice, clear and melodious, is heard, saying, “Look
up,” and lifting their eyes to the heavens, they behold the bow of
promise. The black, angry clouds that covered the firmament are parted,
and like Stephen they look up steadfastly into heaven, and see the glory
of God, and the Son of man seated upon His throne. In His divine form they
discern the marks of His humiliation; and from His lips they hear the
request, presented before His Father and the holy angels, “I will that
they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.”(1092) Again a
voice, musical and triumphant, is heard, saying: “They come! they come!
holy, harmless, and undefiled. They have kept the word of My patience;
they shall walk among the angels;” and the pale, quivering lips of those
who have held fast their faith, utter a shout of victory.
It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His
people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow
in quick succession. The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the
scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their
deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. The
streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds come up, and clash against each
other. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of
indescribable glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many
waters, saying, “It is done.”(1093)
That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake,
“such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake,
and so great.”(1094) The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory
from the throne of God seems flashing through. The mountains shake like a
reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a
roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard
the shriek of the hurricane, like the voice of demons upon a mission of
destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea.
Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way.
Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports
that have become like Sodom for wickedness, are swallowed up by the angry
waters. Babylon the Great has come in remembrance before God, “to give
unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.”(1095) Great
hailstones, every one “about the weight of a talent,” are doing their work
of destruction. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly
palaces, upon which the world’s great men have lavished their wealth in
order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes.
Prison walls are rent asunder, and God’s people, who have been held in
bondage for their faith, are set free.
Graves are opened, and “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
... awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt.”(1096) All who have died in the faith of the third angel’s
message come forth from the tomb glorified, to hear God’s covenant of
peace with those who have kept His law. “They also which pierced
Him,”(1097) those that mocked and derided Christ’s dying agonies, and the
most violent opposers of His truth and His people, are raised to behold
Him in His glory, and to see the honor placed upon the loyal and obedient.
Thick clouds still cover the sky; yet the sun now and then breaks through,
appearing like the avenging eye of Jehovah. Fierce lightnings leap from
the heavens, enveloping the earth in a sheet of flame. Above the terrific
roar of thunder, voices, mysterious and awful, declare the doom of the
wicked. The words spoken are not comprehended by all; but they are
distinctly understood by the false teachers. Those who a little before
were so reckless, so boastful and defiant, so exultant in their cruelty to
God’s commandment-keeping people, are now overwhelmed with consternation,
and shuddering in fear. Their wails are heard above the sound of the
elements. Demons acknowledge the deity of Christ, and tremble before His
power, while men are supplicating for mercy, and groveling in abject
terror.
Said the prophets of old, as they beheld in holy vision the day of God:
“Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a
destruction from the Almighty.”(1098) “Enter into the rock, and hide thee
in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty. The
lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be
bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day
of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and
upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” “In that
day a man shall cast the idols of his silver, and the idols of his gold,
which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the
bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged
rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He
ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”(1099)
Through a rift in the clouds, there beams a star whose brilliancy is
increased fourfold in contrast with the darkness. It speaks hope and joy
to the faithful, but severity and wrath to the transgressors of God’s law.
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.”(1100)
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.”(1101)
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.”(1102)