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Prophetic History Repeated - File 3


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Matthew 24


      The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is presented to me again and again as something that is to be brought to the attention of all. We are today living in the time when the predictions of this chapter are fulfilling. Let our ministers and teachers explain these prophecies to those whom they instruct. Let them leave out of their discourses matters of minor consequence, and present the truths that will decide the destiny of souls. {GW 148.2}
      What present truth is there in Matthew 24 “that will decide the destiny of souls?”
      The Saviour’s prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God’s mercy and trampled upon His law. Dark are the records of human misery that earth has witnessed during its long centuries of crime. The heart sickens, and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Terrible have been the results of rejecting the authority of Heaven. But a scene yet darker is presented in the revelations of the future. The records of the past, —the long procession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions, the “battle of the warrior . . . with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood” (Isaiah 9:5), —what are these, in contrast with the terrors of that day when the restraining Spirit of God shall be wholly withdrawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check the outburst of human passion and satanic wrath! The world will then behold, as never before, the results of Satan’s rule. {GC 36.2}
      The world is no more ready to credit the message for this time than were the Jews to receive the Saviour’s warning concerning Jerusalem. {GC 38.1}
      Christ forewarned His disciples of the destruction of Jerusalem and the signs to take place prior to the coming of the Son of man. The whole of the twenty-fourth chapter
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of Matthew is a prophecy concerning the events to precede this event, and the destruction of Jerusalem is used to typify the last great destruction of the world by fire. (Ms 77, 1899) {LDE 18.1}
      The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew gives an outline of what is to come upon the world. We are living amid the perils of the last days. Those who are perishing in sin must be warned. {TDG 152.3}
      Read this whole twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. The Lord, we know, is near, at the door, and we must move carefully, in the Lord’s way. Christ has warned us of the judgments that will come upon cities because their inhabitants have greatly dishonored God. Now is our opportunity to warn the world that the end of all things is at hand. {21MR 80.3}
      Jesus did not answer His disciples by taking up separately the destruction of Jerusalem and the great day of his coming. He mingled the description of these two events. Had He opened to His disciples future events as He beheld them, they would have been unable to endure the sight. In mercy to them He blended the description of the two great crises, leaving the disciples to study out the meaning for themselves. When He referred to thedestruction of Jerusalem, His prophetic words reached beyond that event to the final conflagration inthat day when the Lord shall rise out of His place to punish the world for their iniquity, when the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. This entire discourse was given, not for the disciples only, but for those who should live in the last scenes of this earth’s history. {DA 628.1}
      Is Jesus asking the same from this last generation; to study out the meaning for ourselves? Are we asking the questions, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Jesus gives the answers!
      The death of Jesus as fully destroyed their hopes as if He had not forewarned them. So in the prophecies the future is opened before us as plainly as it was opened to the disciples by the words of Christ. The events connected with the close of probation and the work of preparation for the time of trouble, are clearly presented. But multitudes have no more understanding of these important truths than if they had never been revealed. Satan watches to catch away every impression that would make them wise unto salvation, and the time of trouble will find them unready. {GC 594.1}

Matthew 24:3
      After hearing Christ’s words in regard to the destruction of Jerusalem, the disciples came to him with the question, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” In answer, Christ gave them important lessons, interweaving with the destruction of Jerusalem a still greater destruction, —the final destruction of the world. The warning here given as to what the disciples would have to meet at the hands of their fellow men is a warning to us also. {RH April 19, 1898 par. 1}

Matthew 24:4,5
      “Take heed that no man deceive you,” Christ said. “For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” (Matt. 24:4,5) False messiahs will appear, claiming to work miracles, and declaring that the deliverance of the Jewish nation has come. These will mislead many. Christ’s words were fulfilled. Between His death and the siege of Jerusalem, many false messiahs appeared. But this warning is given to those also who live in this age of the world. The same deceptions practised prior to the destruction of Jerusalem will be practised again. The events that took place at the overthrow of Jerusalem will be repeated. {ST Feb. 20, 1901 par. 3}

Matthew 24:6-8
      We need to stay our faith upon God, for there is just before us a time that will try men’s souls. Christ, upon the Mount of Olives, rehearsed the fearful judgments that were to precede His second 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. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” [Matt. 24:6-8] While these prophecies received a partial fulfillment at the destruction of Jerusalem, they have a more direct application to the last days. {5T 753.1}
      Do we study the words of Jesus in Matthew 24 as revealing a more direct application to the last days? Is this present truth? —Type and antitype of prophecy?
      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.
      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.
      Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, that they may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom [Rev. 7:1]; but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth [Rev. 6:1; 8:5]; and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture. [Rev. 8:13; 9:13-15]
      The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of these things. 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
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the earth to tremble and men’s hearts to fail them for fear. [Luke 21:26] {Ed 179.4-180.1}
      “Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour’s prophecy [in Matthew 24] of the events to precede His coming.” Where are we told to find the correct view of the great final scenes? —“In the history of our world.” We then conclude that prophetic history is to be repeated in a very short space of time in the last days. For it is prophetic history that casts its shadows before us to lighten our path.
      Already kingdom is rising against kingdom. There is not now a determined engagement. As yet the four winds are held until the servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads. Then the powers of earth will marshal their forces for the last great battle. How carefully we should improve the little remaining period of our probation! (RH Nov. 27, 1900)
      Just before we entered it [time of Jacob’s trouble], we all received the seal of the living God. Then I saw the four angels cease to hold the four winds. And I saw famine, pestilence and sword, nation rose against nation [Matt. 24:6,7], and the whole world was in confusion. (Day-Star, March 14, 1846 par. 2)
      Everything in the world is in an unsettled state. The nations are angry, and great preparations for war are being made. Nation is plotting against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The great day of God is hasting greatly. But although the nations are mustering their forces for war and bloodshed, the command to the angels is still in force, that they hold the four winds until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. (RH Jan. 28, 1909) {7BC 968.10-12}

Matthew 24:9,10
      [Matt. 24:9,10 quoted.] These words will be fulfilled. Those who have been our companions in Christian association will not always maintain their fidelity. Envy and evil-surmising, if cherished, will separate very friends. When a man loses the shield of a good conscience, he loses the co-operation of heavenly angels. God is not working in him. He is controlled by another spirit. {RH April 19, 1898 par. 2}
      Every individual in our world will be arrayed under one of two banners.
      The two armies will stand distinct and separate, and this distinction will be so marked that many who shall be convinced of truth will come on the side of God’s commandment-keeping people. When this grand work is to take place in the battle, prior to the last closing conflict, many will be imprisoned, many will flee for their lives from cities and towns, and many will be martyrs for Christ’s sake in standing in defense of the truth. {Mar 199.1,2}
      The 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious star containing Jesus’ new name. At our happy, holy state the wicked were enraged, and would rush violently up to lay hands on us to thrust us into prison, when we would stretch forth the hand in the name of the Lord, and they would fall helpless to the ground. {EW 15.1}

Matthew 24:11
      In these days of peril we are not to accept everything that men bring to us as truth. As professed teachers from God come to us declaring that they have a message from God, it is proper to inquire carefully, How do we know that this is truth? Jesus has told us that “false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many.” [Matt. 24:11] But we need not be deceived; for the Word of God gives us a test whereby we may know what is truth. The prophet says, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
      From this statement it is evident that it becomes us to be diligent Bible students, that we may know what is according to the law and the testimony. We are safe in no other course of action. Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” [Matt. 7:15] (RH Feb. 23, 1892) {7BC 951.7,8}
      All genuine experience in religious doctrines will bear the impress of Jehovah. All should see the necessity of understanding the truth for themselves individually. We must understand the doctrines that have been studied out carefully and prayerfully. It has been revealed to me that there is among our people a great lack of knowledge in regard to the rise and progress of the third angel’s message. There is great need to search the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation, and learn the texts thoroughly, that we may know what is written. [Hosea 4:6]
      The light given me has been very forcible that many would go out from us, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. [1Tim. 4:1] The Lord desires that every soul who claims to believe the truth shall have an intelligent knowledge of what is truth. False prophets will arise and will deceive many. [Matt. 24:11] Everything is to be shaken that can be shaken. Then does it not become everyone to understand the reasons for our faith? In place of having so many sermons, there should be a more close searching of the Word of God, opening the Scriptures text by text, and searching for the strong evidences that sustain the fundamental doctrines that have brought us where we now are, upon the platform of eternal truth.
      My soul is made very sad to see how quickly some who have had light and truth will accept the deceptions of Satan, and be charmed with a spurious holiness. When men turn away from the landmarks the Lord has established that we may understand our position as marked out in prophecy, they are going they know not whither. (Undated Manuscript 148) {Ev 363.2-364.1}

Matthew 24:12
      Christ had foretold that deceivers would arise, through whose influence “iniquity” should “abound,” and “the love of many” should “wax cold.” Matthew 24:12. He had warned the disciples that the church would be in more danger from this evil than from the persecution of her enemies. . .
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      The warnings of the word of God regarding the perils surrounding the Christian church belong to us today. As in the days of the apostles men tried by tradition and philosophy to destroy faith in the Scriptures, so today, by the pleasing sentiments of higher criticism, evolution, spiritualism, theosophy, and pantheism, the enemy of righteousness is seeking to lead souls into forbidden paths. To many the Bible is as a lamp without oil, because they have turned their minds into channels of speculative belief that bring misunderstanding and confusion. The work of higher criticism, in dissecting, conjecturing, reconstructing, is destroy-ing faith in the Bible as a divine revelation. It is robbing God’s word of power to control, uplift, and inspire human lives. By spiritualism, multitudes are taught to believe that desire is the highest law, that license is liberty, and that man is accountable only to himself. {AA 473.3-474.1}
      [Matt. 24:12 quoted.] The very atmosphere is polluted with sin. Soon God’s people will be tested by fiery trials, and the great proportion of those who now appear to be genuine and true will prove to be base metal. Instead of being strengthened and confirmed by opposition, threats, and abuse, they will cowardly take the side of the opposers. {5T 136.1}

Matthew 24:13
      We are to watch vigilantly for the coming of the Lord. . . . Every moment is to be faithfully employed. “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” [Matthew 24:13] (RH February 3, 1903 par. 2) {SD 351.5}
      The work of salvation is not child’s play, to be taken hold of at will and let alone at pleasure. It is the steady purpose, the untiring effort, that will gain the victory at last. It is he who endureth to the end that shall be saved. [Matthew 24:13] It is they who patiently continue in well-doing that shall have eternal life and the immortal reward. . . All who are engaged in this warfare with Satan and his host have a close work before them. They must not be as impressible as wax, that the fire can melt into any form. They must endure hardness as faithful soldiers, stand at their post, and be true every time.
      . . . Now is the hour of probation. Now is the day of salvation. Now, now, is God’s time. {2T 101.1-102.1}
      I now entreated that if I must go and relate what the Lord had shown me, I should be preserved from undue exaltation. Said the angel: “Your prayers are heard, and shall be answered. If this evil that you dread threatens you, the hand of God will be stretched out to save you; by affliction He will draw you to Himself, and preserve your humility. Deliver the message faithfully; endure unto the end [Matt. 24:13], and you shall eat the fruit of the tree of life and drink of the water of life.” [Rev. 22:1-4]
      After recovering consciousness of earthly things, I committed myself to the Lord, ready to do His bidding whatever that might be. {CET 68.1,2}

Matthew 24:14
      There is a day that God hath appointed for the close of this world’s history: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” [Matt. 24:14] Prophecy is fast fulfilling. More, much more, should be said about these tremendously important subjects. The day is at hand when the destiny of souls will be fixed forever. . . . {LDE 16.4}
      Hundreds, yea, thousands, who have heard the message of salvation are still idlers in the market place, when they might be engaged in some line of active service. To these Christ is saying, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” and He adds, “Go ye also into the vineyard.” Matthew 20:6,7. Why is it that many more do not respond to the call? Is it because they think themselves excused in that they do not stand in the pulpit? Let them understand that there is a large work to be done outside the pulpit by thousands of consecrated lay members.
      Long has God waited for the spirit of service to take possession of the whole church so that everyone shall be working for Him according to his ability. When the members of the church of God do their appointed work in the needy fields at home and abroad, in fulfillment of the gospel commission, the whole world will soon be warned and the Lord Jesus will return to this earth with power and great glory. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14. {AA 110.3-111.1}
      Why has the history of the work of the disciples, as they labored with holy zeal, animated and vitalized by the Holy Spirit, been recorded, if it is not that from this record the Lord’s people today are to gain an inspiration to work earnestly for Him? What the Lord did for His people in that time, it is just as essential, and more so, that He do for His people today. All that the apostles did, every church member today is to do. And we are to work with as much more fervor, to be accompanied by the Holy Spirit in as much greater measure, as the increase of wickedness demands a more decided call to repentance. {7T 33.1}

Matthew 24:10-14, 24-27
      The people of God should carefully study the words of Christ concerning these last days. Why is it that the people of God do not read and understand the specifications concerning the dangers that will surely come? Why is it that they rush on blindfolded, receiving messages that are not true? With prophetic eye Christ looked down the stream of time to the very end of earth’s history, and marked out with prophetic pencil the very things that would take place in these last days. He lifted the danger-signal, and declared: [Matt. 24:24-27 quoted.]
      [Matt. 24:10-14 quoted.] {YI, Nov. 18, 1897 par. 9,10}

Matthew 24:15
Destruction of Jerusalem = The end of the World
      After speaking of the end of the world, Jesus comes back to Jerusalem, the city then sitting in pride and arrogance, and saying, “I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow.” (See Rev. 18:7) As His prophetic eye rests upon Jerusalem, He sees that as she was given up to destruction, [so] the
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world will be given up to its doom. The scenes that transpired at the destruction of Jerusalem will be repeated at the great and terrible day of the Lord, but in a more fearful manner. . . .
      As men throw off all restraint, and make void His law themselves, as they establish their own perverted law, and try to force the consciences of those who honor God and keep His commandments to trample the law under their feet, they will find that the tenderness which they have mocked will be exhausted. . . . {3SM 417.1,2}
      The ruin of Jerusalem was a symbol of the final ruin that shall overwhelm the world. The prophecies that received a partial fulfillment in the overthrow of Jerusalem have a more direct application to the last days. We are now standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. A crisis is before us, such as the world has never witnessed. And sweetly to us [Rev. 10:10], as to the first disciples, comes the assurance that God’s kingdom ruleth over all. The program of coming events is in the hands of our Maker. [Rev. 5:5; 10:2] The Majesty of heaven has the destiny of nations, as well as the concerns of His church, in His own charge. {MB 120.2-122}
      Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God. {GC 22.1}
      But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem’s destruction, God’s people will be delivered, everyone that shall be found written among the living. . . {GC 37.1}
      With the overthrow of Jerusalem the disciples associated the events of Christ’s personal coming in temporal glory to take the throne of universal empire, to punish the impenitent Jews, and to break from off the nation the Roman yoke. The Lord had told them that He would come the second time. Hence at the mention of judgments upon Jerusalem, their minds reverted to that coming; and as they were gathered about the Saviour upon the Mount of Olives, they asked: “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
      The future was mercifully veiled from the disciples. Had they at that time fully comprehended the two awful facts —the Redeemer’s sufferings and death, and the destruction of their city and temple— they would have been overwhelmed with horror. Christ presented before them an outline of the prominent events to take place before the close of time. His words were not then fully understood; but their meaning was to be unfolded as His people should need the instruction therein given. The prophecy which He uttered was twofold in its meaning; while foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of the last great day. {GC 25.2,3}
      Could it be that we have come to understand the main premise for prophecy repeated? Could it be that Jesus is teaching us in Matthew 24 how the fulfilled prophecies of history are to be a template for the same prophecies fulfilled in the last days? If Matthew 24 is to have a more direct application in the last days, then should not the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation also be specifically repeated? (See 5T 753.1 in Matt. 24:6-8 section, p. 28.)
      His word will bring as serious consequences upon God’s people today as did the same sin upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which He will no longer delay His judgments. The desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern Israel, that the corrections given through His chosen instruments cannot be disregarded with impunity. {4T 167.1}
      With rapid steps we are approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin. (Manuscript 51, 1899) {Ev 235.1}
      The retribution to come upon Jerusalem could be delayed only a short time; and as Christ’s eye rested upon the doomed city, he saw not merely its destruction, but the destruction of a world. He saw that as Jerusalem was given up to destruction, so the world will be given up to its doom. He saw the retribution that will be visited on the adversaries of God. The scenes that were transacted at the destruction of Jerusalem will be repeated at the great and terrible day of the Lord, but in a more fearful manner. {RH December 7, 1897 par. 9}
      When He leaves the sanctuary, darkness covers the inhabitants of the earth. In that fearful time the righteous must live in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. The restraint which has been upon the wicked is removed, and Satan has entire control of the finally impenitent. God’s long-suffering has ended. The world has rejected His mercy, despised His love, and trampled upon His law. The wicked have passed the boundary of their probation; the Spirit of God, persistently resisted, has been at last withdrawn. Unsheltered by divine grace, they have no protection from the wicked one. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old. {GC 614.1}

What is the abomination of desolation?
      All the signs in Matthew 24 are more or less general; they have been in the world since the beginning of sin, except for the abomination of desolation it is specific. Does it have a specific application to these last days for the last generation? Is there a truth here that will decide the destiny of souls? (See GW 148.2 in Matthew 24 section, page 27.)
      It is not time now for God’s people to be fixing their affections or laying up their treasure in the world. The time is not far distant, when, like the early disciples, we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal
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for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation [U.S.A.] in the decree enforcing the papal sabbath will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains . . . Every talent lent of God should be used to His glory in giving the warning to the world. {5T 464.3}
      —The sign for the disciples’ generation was the Roman Armies at the wall of Jerusalem.
      —The sign for the last-day generation is when our nation, the United States, passes a decree enforcing the papal sabbath, Sunday sacredness! (Again, the Roman armies at the wall of God’s Law.)
      By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union [Rev. 16:13,14], our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.
      As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign [abomination of desolation] to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign [abomination of desolation] to us that the limit of God’s forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation’s iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return. The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as the time of Jacob’s trouble. The cries of the faithful, persecuted ones ascend to heaven. And as the blood of Abel cried from the ground, there are voices also crying to God from martyrs’ graves, from the sepulchers of the sea, from mountain caverns, from convent vaults: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” [Rev. 6:9-11 —The fifth seal] {5T 451.1,2}
      Not only is the abomination clearly identified here in these two paragraphs as the National Sunday Law, but it is what causes the persecution of the fifth seal, repeated!
      The question of Sabbath and Sunday observance is to be agitated everywhere, and the deceptions of Satan will flood the world. The man of sin has instituted a spurious sabbath, and the Protestant world has taken this child of the papacy and cradled and nurtured it. Satan means to make all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of the fornication of Babylon. Men are binding themselves together in bonds of union to show their disloyalty to the God of heaven. The first day of the week is to be exalted and presented to all for observance. Shall we be partakers of this cup of abomination? Shall we bow to the authorities of earth and despise God? The powers of darkness have been gathering their forces to bring this crisis about in the world, so that the man of sin may exalt himself above God. [Dan. 11:36] {RH April 15, 1890 par. 12} [See also GC 536.3]
      Jesus says that if we want to know more about “the abomination of desolation,” we are to go to the book of Daniel. The “abomination of desolation” is mentioned in Daniel four times.
      1&2. Daniel 11:31 and 12:11“The abomination that maketh desolate,” which is at the beginning of the time periods of the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days.
          3. Daniel 8:13“Transgression of desolation,” which is at the beginning of the 2300 days.
          4. Daniel 9:26,27“For the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,” which is in point of prophetic time (a day = year), the only use in Daniel that can be applied to the disciples’ generation and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. (See 4BC 855.6; 5BC 499.3-6)
      It is clear, even by taking a quick glance at these four uses in Daniel, that the “abomination of desolation” is much larger in meaning than just its application to 70 A.D. And in fact, the “abomination of desolation” is the “great issue” throughout the entire book of Daniel, both historic and prophetic chapters, which shows that the golden image will again be “set up” in Babylon. Dare we conclude that Sun(day) worship is the “abomination of desolation” and that Daniel warns the last generation of Sun(day) laws which are to be “set up” in the last days of earth’s history? “Whoso readeth, let him understand.” Matt. 24:24.

Who will be involved?
      In the near future we shall see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution. {4SP 397.2}
      The vision that Christ presented to John, presenting the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, is to be definitely proclaimed to all nations, people, and tongues. The churches, represented by Babylon [Rev. 17:5], are represented as having fallen from their spiritual state to become a persecuting power [Rev. 17:6] against those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. [Rev. 12:17] To John this persecuting power is represented as having horns like a lamb [U.S.–Rev. 13:11], but as speaking like a dragon. . . . [Satan–Rev. 12:9] {TM 117.4}
      [Rev. 12:17 quoted.] In the near future we shall see these words fulfilled as the Protestant churches unite with the world and with the papal power against commandment keepers. The same spirit which actuated papists in ages past will lead Protestants to pursue a similar course toward those who will maintain their loyalty to God.
      Church and state are now making preparations for the future conflict. Protestants are working in disguise to bring Sunday to the front, as did the Romanists. Throughout the land the papacy is piling up her lofty and massive structures, in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions are to be repeated. And the way is preparing for the manifestation, on a grand scale, of those lying wonders by which, if it were possible, Satan would deceive even the elect. [Matt. 24:24] {5T 449.2,3}

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How Wide-Spread Will This Abomination Be?
      . . . Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world. {6T 395.1}
      . . . As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example. {6T 18.2}

What will be made desolate?
      Men will continue to erect expensive buildings, costing millions of money: special attention will be called to their architectural beauty, and the firmness and solidity with which they are constructed, but the Lord has instructed me that despite the unusual firmness and expensive display, these buildings will share the fate of the temple in Jerusalem. That magnificent structure fell. Angels of God were sent to do the work of destruction, so that one stone was not left one upon another that was not thrown down. (MS 35, 1906) {5BC 1098.7} [See 21MR 80.3, page 28]

“The Earth Desolated” is the title of this section in Early Writings!
      My attention was again directed to the earth. The wicked had been destroyed, and their dead bodies were lying upon its surface. The wrath of God in the seven last plagues had been visited upon the inhabitants of the earth... After the saints had been delivered by the voice of God, the wicked multitude turned their rage upon one another. The earth seemed to be deluged with blood, and dead bodies were from one end of it to the other.
      The earth looked like a desolate wilderness. Cities and villages, shaken down by the earthquake, lay in heaps. Mountains had been moved out of their places, leaving large caverns. Ragged rocks, thrown out by the sea, or torn out of the earth itself, were scattered all over its surface. Large trees had been uprooted and were strewn over the land. Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years. Here he will be confined, to wander up and down over the broken surface of the earth and see the effects of his rebellion against God’s law. For a thousand years he can enjoy the fruit of the curse which he has caused. Limited alone to the earth, he will not have the privilege of ranging to other planets, to tempt and annoy those who have not fallen. During this time, Satan suffers extremely. Since his fall his evil traits have been in constant exercise. But he is then to be deprived of his power, and left to reflect upon the part which he has acted since his fall, and to look forward with trembling and terror to the dreadful future, when he must suffer for all the evil that he has done and be punished for all the sins that he has caused to be committed. {EW 289.3-290.1}
      What does this statement say is the cause (or the abomination) that leads to the desolation of the earth? —Rebellion against God’s law. “The great issue that is coming will be on the seventh-day Sabbath.” {4BC 1162.9}

How Will This Desolation Happen?
      Before the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven, everything in nature will be convulsed. Lightning from heaven uniting with the fire in the earth, will cause the mountains to burn like a furnace, and pour out their floods of lava over villages and cities. Molten masses of rock, thrown into the water by the upheaval of things hidden in the earth, will cause the water to boil and send forth rocks and earth. There will be mighty earthquakes and great destruction of human life. But as in the days of the great Deluge Noah was preserved in the ark that God had prepared for him, so in these days of destruction and calamity, God will be the refuge of His believing ones . . . [Ps. 91:9,10; 27:5 quoted.] (Letter 258, 1907)
      The hand of Omnipotence is at no loss for ways and means to accomplish His purposes. He could reach into the bowels of the earth and call forth His weapons, waters there concealed, to aid in the destruction of the corrupt inhabitants of the old world. . . .
      Water will never destroy the earth again, but the weapons of God are concealed in the bowels of the earth, which He will draw forth to unite with the fire from heaven to accomplish His purpose in the destruction of all those who would not receive the message of warning and purify their souls in obeying the truth and being obedient to the laws of God. [Dan. 12:10] (ST Jan. 3, 1878)
      In the bowels of the earth God has in reserve the weapons that He will use to destroy the sinful race. Since the Flood, God has used, to destroy wicked cities, both the water and the fire that are concealed in the earth. In the final conflagration God will in His wrath send lightning from heaven that will unite with the fire in the earth. The mountains will burn like a furnace, and pour forth streams of lava [Nahum 1:5,6; Ps. 144:5,6 quoted.] (MS 21, 1902) {7BC 946.7-10}
      Those majestic trees which God had caused to grow upon the earth, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the old world, and which they had used to form into idols, and to corrupt themselves with, God has reserved in the earth, in the shape of coal and oil to use as agencies in their final destruction. As He called forth the waters in the earth at the time of the Flood, as weapons from His arsenal to accomplish the destruction of the antediluvian race, so at the end of the one thousand years He will call forth the fires in the earth as His weapons which He has reserved for the final destruction, not only of successive generations since the Flood, but the antediluvian race who perished by the Flood. (3SG 87) {1BC 1090.8}

Matthew 24:21
      The same spirit which in the Dark Ages consigned men and women to prison, to exile, and to death, which conceived the exquisite torture of the Inquisition, which planned and executed the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, and which kindled the fires of Smithfield, is still at work with malignant energy in unregenerate hearts. The history of truth has ever been the record of a struggle between
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right and wrong. The proclamation of the gospel has ever been carried forward in this world in the face of opposition, peril, loss, and suffering. {AA 84.3}

Matthew 24:22
      When Jesus leaves the most holy, His restraining Spirit is withdrawn from rulers and people. They are left to the control of evil angels. Then such laws will be made by the counsel and direction of Satan, that unless time should be very short, no flesh could be saved. {1T 203.1}

Matthew 24:23
      In the proclamation of the messages, every specification of prophecy has been fulfilled. Those who were privileged to act a part in proclaiming these messages have gained an experience which is of the highest value to them; and now when we are amid the perils of these last days, when voices will be heard on every side saying, “Here is Christ,” [Matt. 24:23] “Here is truth,” while the burden of many is to unsettle the foundation of our faith which has led us from the churches and from the world to stand as a peculiar people in the world, like John our testimony will be borne: [John 1:1,3 quoted.] {2SM 387.3}

Matthew 24:24
      As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. {GC 624.2}
      It is impossible to give any idea of the experience of the people of God who shall be alive upon the earth when celestial glory and a repetition of the persecutions of the past are blended. They will walk in the light proceeding from the throne of God. By means of the angels there will be constant communication between heaven and earth. And Satan, surrounded by evil angels, and claiming to be God, will work miracles of all kinds, to deceive, if possible, the very elect. [Matt. 24:24] God’s people will not find their safety in working miracles, for Satan will counterfeit the miracles that will be wrought. God’s tried and tested people will find their power in the sign spoken of in Exodus 31:12-18. They are to take their stand on the living word: “It is written.” This is the only foundation upon which they can stand securely. {Mar 205.4}
      Satan has come down in these last days to work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. His satanic majesty works miracles in the sight of false prophets, in the sight of men, claiming that he is indeed Christ Himself. Satan gives his power to those who are aiding him in his deceptions; therefore those who claim to have the great power of God can only be discerned by the great detector, the law of Jehovah. The Lord tells us if it were possible they would deceive the very elect. [Matt. 24:24] {FW 45.1}
      In these days of delusion, every one who is established in the truth will have to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. Every variety of error will be brought out in the mysterious working of Satan, which would, if it were possible, deceive the very elect, and turn them from the truth. . . . [Matt. 24:24]
      There will be false dreams and false visions, which have some truth, but lead away from the original faith. The Lord has given men a rule by which to detect them: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” [Isa. 8:20] If they belittle the law of God, if they pay no heed to His will as revealed in the testimonies of His Spirit, they are deceivers. They are controlled by impulse and impressions which they believe to be from the Holy Spirit and consider more reliable than the Inspired Word. They claim that every thought and feeling is an impression of the Spirit; and when they are reasoned with out of the Scriptures, they declare that they have something more reliable. But while they think that they are led by the Spirit of God, they are in reality following an imagination wrought upon by Satan. (BE Sept., 1886) {7BC 952.1,2}

Matthew 24:25
      The warnings Christ has given mean something to us. See Matthew 24:21-23.
      Satan will work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness to personate Jesus Christ; if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect. [Matt. 24:24] Now if the counterfeit bears so close a resemblance to the genuine, is it not essential to be on your guard, that no man deceive you? Christ enforces His warnings, saying, “Behold, I have told you before.” (Matt. 24:25) Brethren, preach the Word, call not the people to rest their faith upon uncertain things or to place confidence in the human agent. {2SM 87.2,3}
      Further Study—
      Satan Personating Christ on Earth. {Mar 205.1-206.7}

Matthew 24:28
      For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
      There are no EGW comments that I know of regarding this verse. What is Jesus saying in this context?
      Is it a warning? Are we eagles gathered about the dead men of the world (false prophets) eating in great unchewed gulps their teachings which lead to eternal death? It is the dead and dying that you will find the eagles gathered about, fighting over theirremains. Let us pray that we are eating of the leaves of the tree of life, the Bible, which bring eternal life.
      Or, could it be that there is yet another lesson in this verse?
      We are composed of what we eat, and if we subsist largely upon the flesh of dead animals we shall partake of their nature. . . You have used the fat of animals, which God in His word expressly forbids: “It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.” [Lev. 3:17] “Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.” [Lev. 7:26,27] {2T 60.4}
      The eating of flesh meats has made a poor quality of blood and flesh. Your systems are in a state of inflammation, prepared to take on disease. You are liable to acute attacks of disease and to sudden death because
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you do not possess the strength of constitution to rally and resist disease. {2T 61.1}
      Those who profess to be fitting for translation [the 144,000] should not become butchers. {2T 60.3}

Matthew 24:29-35
      Let men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to them in the words of Christ. As He warned His disciples of Jerusalem’s destruction, giving them a sign of the approaching ruin, that they might make their escape; so He has warned the world of the day of final destruction and has given them tokens of its approach, that all who will may flee from the wrath to come. Jesus declares: “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations.” Luke 21:25; Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-26; Revelation 6:12-17. Those who behold these harbingers of His coming are to “know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:33. “Watch ye therefore,” are His words of admonition. Mark 13:35. They that heed the warning shall not be left in darkness, that that day should overtake them unawares. But to them that will not watch, “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” 1Thess. 5:2-5. {GC 37.2}
      December 16, 1848, the Lord gave me a view of the shaking of the powers of the heavens. I saw that when the Lord said “heaven,” in giving the signs recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, He meant heaven, and when He said “earth” He meant earth. The powers of heaven are the sun, moon, and stars. They rule in the heavens. The powers of earth are those that rule on the earth. The powers of heaven will be shaken at the voice of God. Then the sun, moon, and stars will be moved out of their places. They will not pass away, but be shaken by the voice of God.
      Dark, heavy clouds came up and clashed against each other. The atmosphere parted and rolled back; then we could look up through the open space in Orion, whence came the voice of God. The Holy City will come down through that open space. I saw that the powers of earth are now being shaken and that events come in order. War, and rumors of war, sword, famine, and pestilence are first to shake the powers of earth, then the voice of God will shake the sun, moon, and stars, and this earth also. I saw that the shaking of the powers in Europe is not, as some teach, the shaking of the powers of heaven, but it is the shaking of the angry nations. {EW 41.1,2}
      Don’t we teach that these signs in the sun, moon, and stars were fulfilled in prophetic history? Yes. [See 5BC 502.2-4; 7BC 779.5-10.] —But in this comment, they are placed in the future.
      In the time of trouble we all fled from the cities and villages, but were pursued by the wicked, who entered the houses of the saints with a sword. They raised the sword to kill us, but it broke, and fell as powerless as a straw. Then we all cried day and night for deliverance, and the cry came up before God. The sun came up, and the moon stood still. The streams ceased to flow. Dark, heavy clouds came up and clashed against each other. But there was one clear place of settled glory, whence came the voice of God like many waters, which shook the heavens and the earth. The sky opened and shut and was in commotion. The mountains shook like a reed in the wind, and cast out ragged rocks all around. The sea boiled like a pot and cast out stones upon the land. And as God spoke the day and the hour of Jesus’ coming and delivered the everlasting covenant to His people, He spoke one sentence, and then paused, while the words were rolling through the earth. . .
      . . . Soon appeared the great white cloud. It looked more lovely than ever before. On it sat the Son of man. At first we did not see Jesus on the cloud, but as it drew near the earth we could behold His lovely person. This cloud, when it first appeared, was the sign of the Son of man in heaven. [Matt. 24:30] {EW 34.1-35.1}

Matthew 24:33,34
      From the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ passed on to a much greater event, —the last link in the chain of this earth’s history, —the coming of the Son of God in majesty and glory. [Matt. 24:29-31 quoted.]
      Christ gave special directions in regard to this event. “Now learn a parable of the fig tree,” he said; “when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation [the generation that saw the signs] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” [Matt. 24:32-35 quoted.] {RH December 27, 1898 par. 6,7}
      Please note: The above brackets and phrase, “[the generation that saw the signs],” are in the comment and were NOT added by the compiler.
      Jesus, looking down to the last generation, saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. {GC 22.2}
      Are we to wait until the fulfillment of the prophecies of the end before we say anything concerning them? Of what value will our words be then? Shall we wait until God’s judgments fall upon the transgressor before we tell him how to avoid them? Where is our faith in the word of God? Must we see things foretold come to pass before we will believe what He has said? In clear, distinct rays light has come to us, showing us that the great day of the Lord is near at hand, “even at the doors.” [Matt. 24:33] Let us read and understand before it is too late. {9T 20.1}
      The complete verse says, “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” There is only one generation that will see all these signs, —it is the last generation! Why? Because only the last generation sees all the signs, including the abomination of desolation (Sunday laws), and the last great event, Jesus coming in the clouds!
      We need now to take heed to ourselves. Warnings have been given. Can we not see the fulfillment of the
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predictions made by Christ and recorded in the twenty-first chapter of Luke? How many are studying the words of Christ? How many are deceiving their own souls and cheating themselves out of the blessings that others might secure if they would believe and obey? Probation still lingers, and it is our privilege to lay hold of the hope set before us in the gospel. Let us repent and be converted and forsake our sins, that they may be blotted out. [Luke 21:33-36 quoted.]
      Shall the warnings given by Christ be passed by unheeded? Shall we not make diligent work for repentance now, while Mercy’s gracious voice is still heard?
      [Matthew 24:42-51 quoted.] {9T 268.2-269.2}

Matthew 24:36
      Though no man knoweth the day nor the hour of His coming [Matt. 24:36], we are instructed and required to know when it is near. We are further taught that to disregard His warning, and refuse or neglect to know when His advent is near, will be as fatal for us as it was for those who lived in the days of Noah not to know when the flood was coming. {GC 371.1}

Matthew 24:37-39
      The scenes of persecution enacted during Christ’s life will be enacted by false religionists till the close of time. Men think that they have a right to take into their charge the consciences of men, and work out their theories of apostasy and transgression. History will be repeated. Christ declared that prior to His second coming the world would be as it was in the days of Noah [Matt. 24:37-39], when men reached such a pass in following their own sinful imagination that God destroyed them by a flood. {12MR 413.2}
      The world is following in the steps of the inhabitants of the Noachian world and of the Sodomites. [Gen. 6:5 quoted.] [Jude 7 quoted.]
      Here is presented to us a state of things which has been, and history will be repeated. [Jude 14,15 quoted.] Then Jude speaks, [Jude 17-21 quoted.] {19MR 105.1,2}
      Jesus, seated upon the Mount of Olives, gave instruction to His disciples concerning the signs which should precede His coming. He said: [Matt. 24:37-39 quoted.]
      The same sins exist in our day which brought the wrath of God upon the world in the days of Noah. Men and women now carry their eating and drinking to gluttony and drunkenness. This prevailing sin, the indulgence of perverted appetite, inflamed the passions of men in the days of Noah and led to general corruption, until their violence and crimes reached to heaven, and God washed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood.
      The same sins of gluttony and drunkenness benumbed the moral sensibilities of the inhabitants of Sodom so that crimes seemed to be the delight of the men and women of that wicked city. Christ thus warns the world: [Luke 17:28-30 quoted.]
      . . . This is the very condition of things which He declares will exist at His second coming.
      Will men and women be warned? Will they cherish the light, or will they become slaves to appetite and base passions? Christ presents to us something higher to toil for than merely what we shall eat, and what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed. Eating, drinking, and dressing are carried to such excess that they become crimes, and are among the marked sins of the last days, and constitute a sign of Christ’s soon coming. Time, money, and strength, which are the Lord’s, but which He has entrusted to us, are wasted in needless superfluities of dress and luxuries for the perverted appetite, which lessen vitality and bring suffering and decay. It is impossible to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God when they are filled with corruption and disease by our own sinful indulgence. {3T 163.1-164.2}

Matthew 24:42-51
      Read this whole twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. The Lord, we know, is near, at the door, and we must move carefully, in the Lord’s way. Christ has warned us of the judgments that will come upon cities because their inhabitants have greatly dishonored God. Now is our opportunity to warn the world that the end of all things is at hand.
      [Matt. 24:42-44 quoted.]
      The Lord is sending His judgments to arouse the inhabitants of the world from their condition of apathy.
      [Matt. 24:45,46 quoted.] Where are the faithful and wise servants in our cities today?
      [Matt. 24:47 quoted.] That servant who diligently searches the Word, speaking the words of truth in faithful warnings, calling attention to the dangers that beset the world, Christ calls a faithful and wise servant. Let those in each town and city who have read these warnings manifest a diligent concern for souls. Let them speak of the truths of the Word of God. [Matt. 24:46 quoted.] May the Lord arouse us from our sleeping indifference!
      [Matt. 24:48-51 quoted.]
      Will the inhabitants of the cities heed the warnings of God? We are thankful that Oakland suffered but lightly, but will the inhabitants of Oakland now repent of their sins? Will they continue to allow the saloons to deal out liquor to make men insane, when they know the sure result? It is the privilege of men of influence to cooperate with God and with the One who gave His life to redeem every son and daughter of Adam. But when men in authority permit the open saloons, which leads to such awful results, these men will have a serious account to settle with the great Judge of the earth.
      I feel alarmed for the cities of our land, unless men will heed the words of warning from the great Ruler of the universe, unless people believe His word and arise to sweep away the curse of drink. Where are our temperance workers? How does our great Ruler regard the conditions that exist in our wicked cities?
      “Woe unto them,” He declares, “that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink.” [Isa. 5:11]
      The men who rule need to be brought under control to the all-wise God, who will certainly punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The time is near at
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hand when “the earth shall disclose her blood, and no more cover her slain.” [Isa. 26:21] This chapter [Matthew 24] should be printed in a tract and circulated everywhere. {21MR 80.3-81.5}
      Chapter 25 opens with the words: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.” Here is brought to view the church living in the last days, the same that is pointed out in the close of chapter 24. {GC 393.2}

Matthew 24 —Conclusion
      The horrible cruelties enacted in the destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan’s vindictive power over those who yield to his control.
      We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have great reason for gratitude for God’s mercy and long-suffering in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy. Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God’s hatred of sin and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty.
      Let men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to them in the words of Christ. As He warned His disciples of Jerusalem’s destruction, giving them a sign of the approaching ruin, that they might make their escape; so He has warned the world of the day of final destruction and has given them tokens of its approach, that all who will may flee from the wrath to come. Jesus declares: “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations.” Luke 21:25; Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-26; Revelation 6:12-17. Those who behold these harbingers of His coming are to “know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:33. “Watch ye therefore,” are His words of admonition. Mark 13:35. They that heed the warning shall not be left in darkness, that that day should overtake them unawares. But to them that will not watch, “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” 1Thess. 5:2-5.
      The world is no more ready to credit the message for this time than were the Jews to receive the Saviour’s warning concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on in its unvarying round; when men are absorbed in pleasure, in business, in traffic, in money-making; when religious leaders are magnifying the world’s progress and enlightenment, and the people are lulled in a false securitythen, as the midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and ungodly, “and they shall not escape.” Verse 3. {GC 35.3-38.1}

Mark 13

      He had those in view who were living near the close of time, when He said: “Take heed to yourselves.” [Mark 13:9] It is our work, each for himself, to cherish in the heart the precious graces of the Holy Spirit. {5T 102.2}

Luke 21

      History will be repeated. The time will come, Christ tells us, when many deceivers will go forth declaring themselves to be the Christ. The Saviour says, “Go ye not after them” [Luke 17:23] We need not be deceived. {19MR 358.5}
      The remnant church will then be brought into great trial and distress. Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will feel the ire of the dragon and his hosts. Satan numbers the world as his subjects; he has gained control even of many professing Christians. But here is a little company who are resisting his supremacy. If he could blot them from the earth, his triumph would be complete. As he influenced the heathen nations to destroy Israel, so in the near future he will stir up the wicked powers of earth to destroy the people of God. Men will be required to render obedience to human edicts in violation of the divine law.
      Those who are true to God will be menaced, denounced, proscribed. They will be “betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends,” even unto death. Luke 21:16. Their only hope is in the mercy of God; their only defense will be prayer. {PK 587.2-588.1}
      The strength given to Christ in the hour of bodily suffering and mental anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane, has been and will be given to those who suffer for his dear name’s sake. The same grace given to Jesus, the same comfort, the more than mortal steadfastness, will be given to every believing child of God, who is brought into perplexity and suffering, and threatened with imprisonment and death, by Satan’s agents. Never has a soul that trusts in Christ been left to perish. The rack, the stake, the many inventions of cruelty, may kill the body, but they can not touch the life that is hid with Christ in God.
      [Luke 21:10-18 quoted.] [John 16:33 quoted.] {ST June 3, 1897 par. 14,15}
      Christ said of Himself, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”
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Matthew 10:34. The Prince of Peace, He was yet the cause of division. He who came to proclaim glad tidings and to create hope and joy in the hearts of the children of men, opened a controversy that burns deep and arouses intense passion in the human heart. And He warns His followers, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” “They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.” “Ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.” John 16:33; Luke 21:12,16.
      This prophecy has been fulfilled in a marked manner. Every indignity, reproach, and cruelty that Satan could instigate human hearts to devise, has been visited upon the followers of Jesus. And it will be again fulfilled in a marked manner; for the carnal heart is still at enmity with the law of God, and will not be subject to its commands. {AA 84.2,3}
      A world is represented in the destruction of Jerusalem, and the warning given then comes sounding down along the line to our time: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.” [Luke 21:25] Yes, the sea shall pass its borders, and destruction will be in its track. It will engulf the ships that sail upon its broad waters; and with the burden of their living freight, these will be hurled into eternity. {RH December 7, 1897 par. 10}
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