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Kingdoms
This lesson is taught in a wonderful symbolic representation given
to the prophet Ezekiel during his exile in the land of the Chaldeans. The
vision was given at a time when Ezekiel was weighed down with sorrowful
memories and troubled forebodings. The land of his fathers was desolate.
Jerusalem was depopulated. The prophet himself was a stranger in a land
where ambition and cruelty reigned supreme. As on every hand he beheld
tyranny and wrong, his soul was distressed, and he mourned day and night.
But the symbols presented to him revealed a power above that of earthly
rulers. {Ed 177.2}
Upon the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel beheld a whirlwind
seeming to come from the north, "a great cloud, and a fire infolding
itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the
color of amber." A number of wheels, intersecting one another, were
moved by four living beings. High above all these "was the likeness
of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness
of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon
it." "And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's
hand under
their wings." Ezekiel 1:4, 26, 10:8. The wheels were so complicated
in arrangement that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion; but
they moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by
the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, were impelling these wheels;
above them, upon the sapphire throne, was the Eternal One; and round about
the throne a rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy.
{Ed 177.3}
As the wheellike complications were under the guidance of the hand
beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events
is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that
sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of the earth.
{Ed 178.1}
The history of nations that one after another have occupied their
allotted time and place, unconsciously witnessing to the truth of which
they themselves knew not the meaning, speaks to us. To every nation and to
every individual of today God has assigned a place in His great plan.
Today men and nations are being measured by the plummet in the hand of Him
who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny,
and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.
{Ed 178.2}
The history which the great I AM has marked out in His word,
uniting link after link in the prophetic chain, from eternity in the past
to eternity in the future, tells us where we are today in the procession
of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come. All that
prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been
traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is
yet to come will be fulfilled in its order. {Ed
178.3}
The final overthrow of all earthly dominions is plainly foretold in
the word of truth. In the prophecy uttered when sentence from God was
pronounced upon the last king of Israel is given the message:
{Ed 179.1}
"Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the
crown: . . . exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will
overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until He come
whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Ezekiel 21:26, 27.
{Ed 179.2}
The crown removed from Israel passed successively to the kingdoms
of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. God says, "It shall be no
more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him."
{Ed 179.3}
That time is at hand. Today the signs of the times declare that we
are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in
our world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour's
prophecy of the events to precede His coming: "Ye shall hear of wars
and rumors of wars. . . . Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in divers places." Matthew 24:6, 7.
{Ed 179.4}
The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living.
Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority,
thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the
events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless
relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is
taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that
something great and decisive is about to take place--that the world is on
the verge of a stupendous crisis. {Ed
179.5}
Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, that they
may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a
storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth; and when God shall bid
His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen
can picture. {Ed 179.6}
The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of these things
(NOT LEFT BEHINDS). Here are revealed the great final scenes in the
history of our world, events that already are casting their shadows
before, the sound of their approach causing the earth to tremble and men's
hearts to fail them for fear. {Ed
180.1}
"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste,
and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
. . . They have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the
everlasting covenant (REMEMBER THE ARK OF THE COVENANT ?
INSIDE WAS THE COVENANT OF COURSE AND THIS IS THE CONTEXT).
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein
are desolate. . . . The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that
rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth." Isaiah 24:1-18.
{Ed 180.2}
"Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as
a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. . . . The seed is rotten
under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken
down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of
cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of
sheep are made desolate." "The vine is dried up, and the fig
tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple
tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is
withered away from the sons of men." Joel 1:15-18, 12.
{Ed 180.3}
"I am pained at my very heart; . . . I cannot hold my peace,
because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole
land is spoiled." {Ed
180.4}
"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void;
and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo,
they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there
was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo,
the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were
broken down." Jeremiah 4:19, 20, 23-26.
{Ed 181.1} (LEFT BEHIND SENERIO ?
I THINK NOT)
"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is
even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it."
Jeremiah 30:7. {Ed 181.2}
"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." Isaiah 26:20.
"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."
Psalm 91:9, 10.
And called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the
going down thereof.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence."
"He shall call to the heavens above,
And to the earth, that He may judge His people. . . .
And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; For God is judge Himself." Psalm 50:1-3; 50:4-6, R.V. {Ed 181.3}
"O daughter of Zion, . . . the Lord shall redeem thee from the
hand of thine enemies. Now also many nations are gathered against thee,
that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they
know not the thoughts
of the Lord, neither understand they His counsel." "Because they
call thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh
after," "I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee
of thy wounds, saith the Lord." "I will bring again the
captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places."
Micah 4: 10-12; Jeremiah 30:17, 18.
We have waited for Him, and He will save us:
This is the Lord; we have waited for Him, We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." {Ed 181.4}
"He will swallow up death in victory; . . . and the rebuke of
His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath
spoken it." Isaiah 25:9, 8. {Ed
182.1}
"Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall
see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken
down. . . . For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord
is our king." Isaiah 33:20-22. {Ed
182.2}
"With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth." Isaiah 11:4.
{Ed 182.3}
Then will the purpose of God be fulfilled; the principles of His
kingdom will be honored by all beneath the sun. "Violence
shall no more be heard in thy land,
Wasting nor destruction within thy borders;
But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, And thy gates
Praise."
Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not
fear:
Isaiah 60:18; 54:14. {Ed
182.4}
The prophets to whom these great scenes were revealed longed to
understand their import. They "inquired and searched diligently: . .
. searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify. . . . Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto
themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now
reported unto you; . . . which things the angels desire to look
into." 1 Peter 1:10-12. {Ed
183.1}
To us who are standing on the very verge of their fulfillment, of
what deep moment, what living interest, are these delineations of the
things to come--events for which, since our first parents turned their
steps from Eden, God's children have watched and waited, longed and
prayed! {Ed 183.2}
At this time, before the great final crisis, as before the world's
first destruction, men are absorbed in the pleasures and the pursuits of
sense. Engrossed with the seen and transitory, they have lost sight of the
unseen and eternal. For the things that perish with the using, they are
sacrificing imperishable riches. Their minds need to be uplifted, their
views of life to be broadened. They need to be aroused from the lethargy
of worldly dreaming. {Ed
183.3}
From the rise and fall of nations as made plain in the pages of
Holy Writ, they need to learn how worthless is mere outward and worldly
glory. Babylon, with all its power and its magnificence, the like of which
our world has never since beheld,--power and magnificence which to the
people of that day seemed so stable and enduring, --how completely has it
passed away! As "the flower of the grass" it has perished. So
perishes all that has not God for its foundation. Only that which is bound
up with His purpose and expresses His character can endure. His principles
are the only steadfast things our world knows. {Ed
183.4}
It is these great truths that old and young need to learn. We
need to study the working out of God's purpose in the history of nations
and in the revelation of things to come, that we may estimate at their
true value things seen and things unseen; that we may learn what is the
true aim of life; that, viewing the things of time in the light of
eternity, we may put them to their truest and noblest use. Thus,
learning here the principles of His kingdom and becoming its subjects and
citizens, we may be prepared at His coming to enter with Him into its
possession. {Ed 184.1}
The day is at hand. For the lessons to be learned, the work to be
done, the transformation of character to be effected, the time remaining
is but too brief a span. {Ed
184.2}
"Behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he
seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are
far off. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; There shall
none of My words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken
shall be done, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel 12:27, 28.
{Ed 184.3} MORE:
When
the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will
have an entirely different religious experience. They will be given
such glimpses of the open gates of heaven that heart and mind will be
impressed with the character that all must develop in order to realize the
blessedness which is to be the reward of the pure in heart. The Lord will
bless all who will seek humbly and meekly to understand that which is
revealed in the Revelation. This book contains so much that is large with
immortality and full of glory that all who read and search it earnestly
receive the blessing to those "that hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written therein." One thing will
certainly be understood from the study of Revelation--that the connection
between God and His people is close and decided.
{FLB 345.3}
Let us give more time to the study of the Bible. We do not
understand the Word as we should. The book of Revelation opens with an
injunction to us to understand the instruction that it contains. . . .
When we . . . understand what this book means to us, there will be seen
among us a great revival. {FLB
345.4} The
Crowning Act of Deception
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man
deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and
shall deceive many. Matt. 24:4, 5. {FLB
346.1}
As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself
will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the
Saviour's advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver
will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth,
Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling
brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in
the Revelation. . . . The shout of triumph rings out upon the air,
"Christ has come! Christ has come!" The people prostrate
themselves in adoration before him. . . . In gentle, compassionate tones
he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour
uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed
character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and
commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. . . .
{FLB 346.2}
Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures, and
who have received the love of the truth, will be shielded from the
powerful delusion that takes the world captive.
{FLB 346.3}
The Saviour has warned His people. . . , and has clearly foretold
the manner of His second coming. "There shall arise false Christs. .
. . Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go
not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as
the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:24-27. This
coming, there is no possibility of counterfeiting. It will be universally
known--witnessed by the whole world. . . .
{FLB 346.4}
Are the people of God now so firmly established upon His Word that
they would not yield to the evidence of their senses? Would they, in such
a crisis, cling to the Bible, and the Bible only? {FLB
346.5} Saved
From Violence
Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is
kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into
the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel. Isa. 30:29.
{FLB 347.1}
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. . . .
{FLB 347.2}
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. . . .
{FLB 347.3}
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 . . .
spans the heavens, and seems to encircle each praying company. . . .
{FLB 347.4}
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." John 17:24. 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. {FLB
347.5} "Even
so, Come, Lord Jesus"
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13.
{FLB 348.1}
One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed in the
Bible is that of Christ's second coming, to complete the great work of
redemption. . . . The doctrine of the Second Advent is the very keynote of
the Sacred Scriptures. . . . {FLB
348.2}
The coming of the Lord has been in all ages the hope of His true
followers. {FLB 348.3}
The patriarch Job in the night of his affliction exclaimed with
unshaken trust: "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth: . . . in my flesh shall I see God:
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not
another." Job 19:25-27. . . . {FLB
348.4}
The Saviour's parting promise upon Olivet, that He would come
again, lighted up the future for His disciples, filling their hearts with
joy and hope that sorrow could not quench nor trials dim. Amid suffering
and persecution, the "appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ" was the "blessed hope." . . .
{FLB 348.5}
On rocky Patmos the beloved disciple hears the promise,
"Surely I come quickly," and his longing response voices the
prayer of the church in all her pilgrimage, "Even so, come, Lord
Jesus." Rev. 22:20. . . . {FLB
348.6}
"This aged world is not far from its end," said
Melanchthon. Calvin bids Christians "not to hesitate, ardently
desiring the day of Christ's coming as of all events most
auspicious." . . . "The thoughts of the coming of the
Lord," said Baxter, "are most sweet and joyful to me."
"It is the work of faith and the character of His saints to love His
appearing." . . . {FLB
348.7}
"This is the day that all believers should long,
and hope, and wait for, as being the accomplishment of all the work of
their redemption, and all the desires and endeavors of their souls."
"Hasten, O Lord, this blessed day!" {FLB
348.8} The
King Appears in Person
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. Ps. 50:3, 4. {FLB
349.1}
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.
{FLB 349.2}
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 which were in heaven followed him." Rev. 19:11, 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; no 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." Hab. 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." Rev. 19:16. {FLB
349.3}
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." Jer. 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." {FLB
349.4} Preparation
for Translation
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was
not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he
had this testimony, that he pleased God. Heb. 11:5.
{FLB 350.1}
We are living in an evil age. The perils of the last days thicken
around us. Because iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold. Enoch
walked with God three hundred years. Now the shortness of time seems to be
urged as a motive to seek righteousness. Should it be necessary that the
terrors of the day of God be held before us in order to compel us to right
action? Enoch's case is before us. Hundreds of years he walked with God.
He lived in a corrupt age, when moral pollution was teeming all around
him; yet he allowed his mind to be trained to devotion, to love purity.
His conversation was upon heavenly things. He educated his mind to run in
this channel, and he bore the impress of the divine. His countenance was
lighted up with the light which shineth in the face of Jesus.
{FLB 350.2}
Enoch had temptations as well as we. He was surrounded with
society no more friendly to righteousness than is that which surrounds us.
The atmosphere he breathed was tainted with sin and corruption, the same
as ours; yet he lived a life of holiness. He was unsullied with the
prevailing sins of the age in which he lived. So may we remain pure and
uncorrupted. He was a representative of the saints who live amid the
perils and corruptions of the last days. For his faithful obedience to God
he was translated. So, also, the faithful, who are alive and remain, will
be translated. They will be removed from a sinful and corrupt world to the
pure joys of heaven. The course of God's people should be upward and
onward to victory. {FLB
350.3}
Enoch's translation to heaven just before the destruction of the
world by a flood represents the translation of all the living righteous
from the earth previous to its destruction by fire. The saints will be
glorified in the presence of those who have hated them for their loyal
obedience to God's righteous commandments. {FLB
350.4} This
Same Jesus Shall Return
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Acts 1:11.
{FLB 351.1}
The angels who lingered upon Olivet after Christ's ascension,
repeated to the disciples the promise of His return: "This same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
{FLB 351.2}
Precious, indeed, was this promise to those sorrowing disciples,
that they should again see Jesus, who was greatly beloved by them all.
Precious also is this promise to every true follower of Christ. None who
truly love Jesus will be sorry that He is coming again. . . .
{FLB 351.3}
Jesus is coming! But not to listen to the woes of mankind, and to
hear the guilty sinner confess his sins, and to speak pardon to him; for
every one's case will then be decided for life or death. Those who have
lived in sin will remain sinners forever. Those who have confessed their
sins to Jesus in the sanctuary, Hebrews 8:1-2 , have made Him their friend
and have loved His appearing, will have pardon written for all their sins.
. . . {FLB 351.4}
Jesus is coming as He ascended into heaven, only with additional
splendor. He is coming with the glory of His Father, and all the holy
angels with Him, to escort Him on His way. Instead of the cruel crown of
thorns to pierce His holy temples, a crown of dazzling glory will deck His
sacred brow. . . . He will not wear a plain seamless coat, but a garment
whiter than snow--of dazzling brightness. Jesus is coming! But not to
reign as a temporal prince. He will raise the righteous dead, change the
living saints to a glorious immortality, and, with the saints, take the
kingdom under the whole heaven. . . .
{FLB 351.5}
Dear reader, seek a thorough preparation to meet Jesus, that when
He appears you may exclaim with joy, "Lo, this is our God; we have
waited for him, and he will save us." Isa. 25:9. Eternal life will
then be yours, and you will be a partaker with Christ of His glory, ever
to hear His glorious approving voice and behold His lovely person.
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