21 Minutes
We must be always rehearsing the truths of God. Distance will not separate us, darkness cannot separate us. The dark time of trouble is more significant perhaps than we realize. It is truth in all its reality and yet it is also a kind of symbolic thing. As we study the bible, we reason with God to learn by revelation that often the things that happen in nature are reflected in the spiritual significance of the events. Example: when Jesus died on the cross, there was an earthquake that shook the land. The quake was symbolic of judgment. This was a shaking...
SOP - I saw some, with strong faith and agonizing cries, pleading with God. Their countenances were pale and marked with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle. Firmness and great earnestness was expressed in their countenances; large drops of perspiration fell from their foreheads. Now and then their faces would light up with the marks of God's approbation, and again the same solemn, earnest, anxious look would settle upon them. {EW 269.1}
Evil angels crowded around, pressing darkness upon them to shut out Jesus from their view, that their eyes might be drawn to the darkness that surrounded them, and thus they be led to distrust God and murmur against Him. Their only safety was in keeping their eyes directed upward. Angels of God had charge over His people, and as the poisonous atmosphere of evil angels was pressed around these anxious ones, the heavenly angels were continually wafting their wings over them to scatter the thick darkness. {EW 269.2}
As the praying ones continued their earnest cries, at times a ray of light from Jesus came to them, to encourage their hearts and light up their countenances. Some, I saw, did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. They seemed indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them, and it shut them in like a thick cloud. The angels of God left these and went to the aid of the earnest, praying ones. I saw angels of God hasten to the assistance of all who were struggling with all their power to resist the evil angels and trying to help themselves by calling upon God with perseverance. But His angels left those who made no effort to help themselves, and I lost sight of them. {EW 270.1}
I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this is what will cause a shaking among God's people. {EW 270.2}
Though the wicked are under the judgment of God, there will be some who have thought to be saved yet accepted not the truth revealed and therefore face a time of ruin and mourning, so that the only thing left for an unrepentant person is to mourn the destruction of their life! Woe! Indeed, this dark distressful day will bring about a day against Israel far worse than even the destruction of Jerusalem! Not all will be saved.
And so again nature concurs with revelation. The reason for the darkness in the time of trouble is because God wants to convey to us symbolically the fact that this time is directly connected with the fulness of the sin of the whole world. The time of trouble is as our cross. It is the greatest symbol of God’s love. And it is in this time of trouble that God will dramatically demonstrate the depth and intensity of His love and His desire to keep faith with His children. Darkness opposes reflected light and honor, and so forebodes the contempt and scorn to which the hostility toward the people of God should be exposed. Darkness is opposed to wisdom and penetration and foreshadows the confusion and folly which the fanatics should discover at that time. It is opposed to pleasure and joy, and so signifies their anguish and vexation of spirit, when their calamities thus come upon them. This darkened time of woe will be threatening to all, but ruining to all the implacable enemies of God's kingdom among men.
There is this very something different about this final, tempestuous time of events. While earth's history has certainly been punctuated with episodes of horror and terror, God has patiently blunted the full impact of sin's destructive power. But here, finally at the coming near the end of the age, God will lift the restraint and expose the true reality that is the dark underside of the insurrectionary rebellion. While this lifting of restraint is an act of divine judgment and revelation, like all manifestations of "the wrath of God," there is a component of "letting alone" so that the true principles of God's enemy and the natural outworking of the sin principle are revealed.
Romans 1:18
SOP - A storm is arising that will wrench and test the spiritual foundation of every one to the utmost. Therefore avoid the sand bed; hunt for the rock. Dig deep; lay your foundation sure. Build, oh, build for eternity! Build with tears, with heartfelt prayers. Let every one of you from henceforth make your life beautiful by good works. Calebs are the men most needed in these last days. That which will make our churches vigorous and successful in their efforts is not bustle, but quiet, humble work; not parade and bombast, but patient, prayerful, persevering effort. {5T 129.2}
SOP - All the members of the church, if they are sons and daughters of God, will have to undergo a process of discipline before they can be lights in the world. God will not make men and women channels of light while they are in darkness and are content to remain so, making no special efforts to connect with the Source of light. Those who feel their own need, and arouse themselves to the deepest thought and the most earnest, persevering prayer and action, will receive divine aid. There is much for each to unlearn with respect to himself, as well as much to learn. Old habits and customs must be shaken off, and it is only by earnest struggles to correct these errors, and a full reception of the truth in carrying out its principles, by the grace of God, that the victory can be gained. {4T 485.3}
As believers, we are called to live in anticipation of what the truth in the bible says. We must begin to think differently than we did before knowing the last day revealed truths that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to teach us. The world we live in is filled with the distractions of the enemy. Regardless, our purpose is to keep our minds focused on the truth of God. Equally important is our obligation to share this truth. It is far too important to keep to ourselves. Following Jesus is not a part-time endeavor; Jesus is life. Everything we do should be pointed in one direction. Our preparation for the return of Jesus centers on our love for God and our desire to share that love with those around us. When our minds are fully absorbed by our spiritual calling, our being chosen, we are ready for perfecting in Jesus.
The dark time of trouble will phase into the final plagues after probation closes. Many will be shouldered off the fence, while multitudes offer allegiance to the beast creature. Everybody alive will have made a decision about whom they will worship. It is the preaching of the gospel to the whole world that ushers in the most significant sign of the soon coming of Jesus; the darkest time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. The Sunday law and the leaving the cities are constructed in the time of trouble. It is in this time of the heaviest blackness of darkness, in our exhaustion, that we will feel the touch signaling that we have power with God. It is the time of affirming our trust in God. The prologue has fitted us to endure unto the end the final last plagues. The preceding time of trouble necessitates that we think and act both collectively and individually about our faith and duty.
There is a great need for God’s people to be reminded anew of the basis for the creation and preservation of the “people of God” and of the responsibilities which accompany this great privilege. Those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, are the “people of God.” Whosoever will, can become a part of this people by faith in Christ. But understand this clearly: those who reject any part of any truth of Christ are not, and cannot be a part of the privileged “people of God.” Many may profess or appear to be a part of the “people of God,” but there are far fewer than it may seem. These are self-deceived. Those of us who have become the “people of God,” by faith, should be humbled by the knowledge of our own sinfulness and of God’s infinite grace. We are in no way better than others for having been chosen as God’s people. Our being chosen is only on the basis of the provision of God in Jesus Christ. Our privilege is not something that we own. It is a stewardship for serving, based upon our response to God’s standards of holiness as revealed in the Word. We are God’s possession. A people who trust in God and obey His commandments knowing that God is always faithful to His covenant with men.
I Corinthians 1:24-31
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