Chap. 269--No Martyrs After Probation Closes

"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I
will deliver him, and honour him. Psalm 91:15.
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....
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 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.” Malachi 3:17. 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.” Psalm 27:5. 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.” Isaiah 26:20, 21. Glorious will be the deliverance of those who
have patiently waited for His coming and whose names are written in the book of
life".
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Chap. 263- The Wicked During the Plagues

"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. Amos 8:11, 12.
And as mercy’s sweet voice died away, fear and horror seized the wicked. With
terrible distinctness they heard the words, “Too late! too late!”
Christ [on the cross] felt much as sinners will feel when the vials of God’s wrath
shall be poured out upon them. Black despair like the pall of death will gather about
their guilty souls, and then they will realize to the fullest extent the sinfulness of sin.
Those who had not prized God’s Word were hurrying to and fro, wandering from
sea to sea, and from the north to the east, to seek the Word of the Lord. Said the
angel, “They shall not find it. There is a famine in the land; not a famine of bread,
nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord. What would they not
give for one word of approval from God! ...
Many of the wicked were greatly enraged as they suffered the effects of the
plagues. It was a scene of fearful agony. Parents were bitterly reproaching their
children, andchildrentheirparents, brotherstheirsisters, andsisterstheirbrothers....
The people turned upon their ministers with bitter hate and reproached them, saying,
“You have not warned us. You told us that all the world was to be converted, and
cried, Peace, peace, to quiet every fear that was aroused. You have not told us of
this hour; and those who warned us of it you declared to be fanatics and evil men,
who would ruin us.” But I saw that the ministers did not escape the wrath of God.
Their suffering was tenfold greater than that of their people.
In the time when God’s judgments are falling without mercy, oh, how enviable
to the wicked will be the position of those who abide “in the secret place of the
most High”—the pavilion in which the Lord hides all who have loved Him and have
obeyed His commandments!"
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Chap. 256-Close of Probation Passes Unnoticed

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night. 1 Thessalonians 5:1, 2.
The righteous and the wicked will still be living upon the earth in their mortal
state—men will be planting and building, eating and drinking, all unconscious that
the final, irrevocable decision has been pronounced in the sanctuary above. Before
the flood, after Noah entered the ark, God shut him in, and shut the ungodly out; but
for seven days the people, knowing not that their doom was fixed, continued their
careless, pleasure-loving life, and mocked the warnings of impending judgment.
“So,” says the Saviour, “shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Silently,
unnoticed as the midnight thief, will come the decisive hour which marks the fixing
of every man’s destiny, the final withdrawal of mercy’s offer to guilty men.
The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the
outpouring of the wrath of God.
The Lord in judgment will at the close of time walk through the earth, the fearful
plagues will begin to fall. Then those who have despised God’s word, those who
have lightly esteemed it, 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....
The ministers of God will have done their last work, offered their last prayers, shed
their last bitter tear for a rebellious church and an ungodly people.
The eye of Jesus, looking down the ages, was fixed upon our time when He said,
“If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!” It is still thy day, O church of God, whom He has made the depositary of His law. This day of trust and probation is drawing to a close. The sun is fast westering. Can it be that it will set and thou wilt not know “the things which belong unto thy peace!”? Must the irrevocable sentence be passed, “But now they are hid from thine eyes” (Luke 19:42)?
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Chap. 257- Pressing Against the Current

"Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said
unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Luke 13:23, 24.
When we read that many will seek to enter in and shall not be able, then we
want to understand what we shall do in order to succeed. This to us is a mournful
statement, that there are those who will fail to enter in at the strait gate because they
only seek to enter in, and do not strive....
We are in a world where sin and iniquity prevail, and we want to know what we
shall do in order to inherit life. We cannot any of us afford to miss the great reward
that is presented before the overcomer. We want to know that the steps that we are
taking are heavenward instead of earthward....
A great and solemn responsibility rests upon us who profess to obey God’s
commandments, to show to the world around us that we are bending our steps
heavenward. And as we press against the current that is bearing all down, then we
should know for what we should strive. We are to press toward the mark of the
prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus. We cannot remain in listless resistance
and yet gain the prize....
We are to grow up to the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus, and
we are thus growing up a precious temple unto the Lord. He says, “I will dwell in
them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2
Corinthians 6:16).... What we want is the Spirit of God in our souls. We want our
faces set constantly heavenward. And when we see that sin in us is striving for the
mastery, then we must strive....
The pitying Saviour stands right by your side to help you. He would send every
angel out of glory while you are struggling to overcome sin, so that Satan cannot
have the victory over you. Christ ... took man’s human nature upon Him that He
might come right down to man in the temptation wherewith man is beset. The
pitiful Redeemer knows just how to help us in every one of our strivings."

Chap. 250 - Victory in the Mighty Name of Jesus

The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and
is safe. Proverbs 18:10.
It was in the time of greatest weakness that Christ was assailed by the fiercest
temptations. Thus Satan thought to prevail. By this policy he had gained the victory
over man. When strength failed, and the will power weakened, and faith ceased to
repose in God, then those who had stood long and valiantly for the right were
overcome. Moses was wearied with the forty years’ wandering of Israel, when for
the moment his faith let go its hold upon infinite power. He failed just upon the
borders of the Promised Land. So with Elijah, who had stood undaunted before
King Ahab, who had faced the whole nation of Israel with the four hundred and
fifty prophets of Baal at their head. After that terrible day upon Carmel, when the
false prophets had been slain and the people had declared their allegiance to God,
Elijah fled for his life before the threats of idolatrous Jezebel. Thus Satan had taken
advantage of the weakness of humanity....
Whenever one is encompassed with clouds, perplexed by circumstances, or
afflicted by poverty or distress, Satan is at hand to tempt and annoy. He attacks
our weak points of character. He seeks to shake our confidence in God, who suffers
such a condition of things to exist. We are tempted to distrust God, to question
His love. Often the tempter comes to us as he came to Christ, arraying before us
our weakness and infirmities. He hopes to discourage the soul and to break our
hold upon God. Then he is sure of his prey. If we would meet him as Jesus did,
we should escape many a defeat. By parleying with the enemy we give him an
advantage....
JesusgainedthevictorythroughsubmissionandfaithinGod, andbytheapostle
He says to us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you” (James 4:7). We cannot save ourselves from the tempter’s power;
he has conquered humanity, and when we try to stand in our own strength, we shall
become a prey to his devices; but “the name of the Lord is a strong tower: the
righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Satan trembles and flees before the weakest
soul who finds refuge in that mighty name.
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Chap. 249 The Battle of Armageddon Joins

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for
he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and
chosen, and faithful. Revelation 17:14.
We need to study the pouring out of the seventh vial. The powers of evil will not
yield up the conflict without a struggle. But Providence has a part to act in the battle
of Armageddon. When the earth is lighted with the glory of the angel of Revelation
eighteen, the religious elements, good and evil, will awake from slumber, and the
armies of the living God will take the field.
Four mighty angels hold back the powers of this earth till the servants of God
are sealed in their foreheads. The nations of the world are eager for conflict; but
they are held in check by the angels. When this restraining power is removed, there
will come a time of trouble and anguish. Deadly instruments of warfare will be
invented. Vessels, with their living cargo, will be entombed in the great deep. All
who have not the spirit of truth will unite under the leadership of satanic agencies.
But they are to be kept under control till the time shall come for the great battle of
Armageddon.
Every form of evil is to spring into intense activity. Evil angels unite their
powers with evil men, and as they have been in constant conflict and attained an
experience in the best modes of deception and battle, and have been strengthening
for centuries, they will not yield the last great final contest without a desperate
struggle. All the world will be on one side or the other of the question. The battle
of Armageddon will be fought, and that day must find none of us sleeping. Wide
awake we must be, as wise virgins having oil in our vessels with our lamps....
The power of the Holy Ghost must be upon us, and the Captain of the Lord’s
host will stand at the head of the angels of heaven to direct the battle. Solemn events
before us are yet to transpire. Trumpet after trumpet is to be sounded, vial after vial
poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth. Scenes of stupendous
interest are right upon us.
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